Exploration Guides

22/02/2020

I wrote this up for the Appalachian Trail Class of 2020 group, but wanted to share it here, too.

Looking at the picture, it's clear I need more gear. I don't have a single UV purifier.

http://www.explorationguides.com/info/783/water-purification-in-the-backcountry/

Lots of people drink straight from springs and seem to do just fine, but the fact is, surface water quality is always unknown, often questionable, and it’s declining, especially in and near heavily used backcountry areas. Even away from those areas heavily traveled by humans, animals can and do sp...

15/09/2019

Trying out the new toy. Let's me communicate without cellular or wifi. Should be very useful for an upcoming adventure next spring.

12/09/2019

So you can post to facebook without an internet connection now? Looks like no pictures, though.

01/11/2018

I've got some bad news. Apparently it wasn't really aliens. It's just possible that Stargate SG1 wasn't actually a completely factual documentary series.

Standing proudly at 139 meters (456 feet) tall, the Great Pyramid was the world’s largest human-created structure for 3,871 years. Over 4,500 years ago, th

20/09/2018

Some museums have gotten really expensive, and sometimes you just don't have the cash to pay for that admission, but here's an opportunity to get in free.

Museums and zoos across the country are letting visitors in admission-free. Here are some highlights.

16/07/2018

Looks like heat waves really are good for something. It's certainly not the first they've ever experienced, but it's the first time it's been so easy to look for signs.

A Neolithic henge has been revealed on private land near Newgrange in eastern Ireland by the current heat wave and resulting drought conditions.

archaeology.org/news/6786-180712-ireland-boyne-valley

(Courtesy Anthony Murphy)

16/07/2018

Anyone need the exact recipe for ancient Egyptian mummification? Looks like we may finally have it.

https://www.sciencealert.com/saqqara-egypt-necropolis-mummification-workshop-silver-funerary-mask

An entire previously unknown burial complex has been uncovered in the Egyptian desert necropolis of Saqqara. The finds centre on a mummification workshop, where priests prepared the bodies of the deceased for burial - a burial shaft in its middle tun

11/07/2018

Sometimes, explorers search for decades to find something. Sometimes, great discoveries are made in the (new) basement.

Archaeological digs around ancient Egyptian sites still have plenty of secrets to give up yet – like the huge, black granite sarcophagus just discovered at an excavation in the city of Alexandria, on the northern coast of Egypt.

11/05/2018

Some people think that tattooing is a modern craze that's just recently taken off in the last couple decades. The reality is that, even today's heavily tattooed people wouldn't be considered out of place in many prehistoric societies, where tattoos were considered important marks of identity, inclusion, individuality, and, ultimately, of a person's culture.
..much as they are today.

The findings lend insight into ancient Native American inking traditions.

14/02/2018

I've only seen snow rollers once, at Proud Lake State Recreation Area. You can find them, if you're lucky, on some hills, if the conditions are right.

Another interesting thing to look for, if you're in frozen wetlands without snow, are frost curls sprouting from the surface, which I've only seen a couple times.

04/02/2018

It's not just in Egypt that archaeologists are making new, potentially huge, discoveries.

Archaeologists in Mexico will soon begin excavating a secret tunnel thought to lead beneath a pyramid built by the ancient Maya, at Chichen Itza.

04/02/2018

New technology, whether Google Maps or LiDAR or any of countless other systems, is making it possible to explore huge areas and re-examine old ones to find new discoveries. Hopefully, we will be seeing a lot of new sites in the near future.

The technology provides them with an unprecedented view into how the ancient civilization worked and lived, revealing almost industrial agricultural infrastructure and new insights into warfare.

02/02/2018

Possible new chambers in the Great Pyramid (or possibly not) and now, hopefully, an answer to possible sealed chambers in Tut's tomb. Not a bad time to be an Egyptologist.

Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities announced today that a third round of ground penetrating radar scanning is underway.

11/01/2018

Well, the Great Pyramid has only been around for a few thousand years. I guess it's to be expected that we'll find new stuff from time to time.

POLITECNICO DI MILANO—In early November 2017, Nature published the results of the Scan Pyramids project, led by Mehdi Tayoubi (Hip Institute, Paris) and Kunihiro Morishima (University of Nagoya, Japan): there is a "huge void", at least 30 meters long, within the Pyramid of Cheops.

19/12/2017

Don't laugh. I bet it works.

OK, go ahead and laugh, but I still bet it works.

With just a few easy moves, this dance will have you fighting off hypothermia and dazzling all your hiking buddies.

03/12/2017

Explorers have just discovered a new underground passage, complete with stalactites and a lake, all buried beneath the city of Montreal — and they don't know where it ends yet.

28/11/2017

Can't make it to Egypt? Maybe Egypt can come to you, instead. Engineers and artists have figured out a way to make "perfect" reproductions of ancient Egyptian tombs. These can be exhibited far from the originals, of course, but also near the originals, reducing damage to the originals, as well as wait times for visitors.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/news/egyptian-tomb-3d-printer-switzerland-pharaoh-seti-i-valley-kings-factum-foundation-luxor-basel-a8052606.html?utm_content=buffer9ddff&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

An Ancient Egyptian tomb has been resurrected using a 3D printer - 2,000 miles away in Switzerland. A team of archaeologists and artists is working to create a perfect copy of the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I, one of the largest and most elaborate in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. The eventual aim of the fi...

18/11/2017

Most museums aren't terribly controversial. The newly opened Museum of the Bible, however, has had little else. It's unfortunate, really.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with putting reproductions in a museum, as long as you acknowledge that they're reproductions. There's also nothing wrong with acquiring new artifacts, as long as it's done ethically and legally. Unfortunately, this museum has run afoul of both, and, while not admitting to wrongdoing, has agreed to return artifacts which were not legally acquired.

A hundred years ago, museums were much more "flexible" in how they acquired their collections. It resulted in lots of fakes, lots of looting, and lots of lost history. Today, the vast majority of museums have learned the lesson and comply with international standards for their collections.

When a museum doesn't comply with those international standards, when their practices result in looting, smuggling, and forgery, can it still call itself a museum? Can you trust the integrity of anything in its collection?

Biblical history, whether viewed as absolute truth or a spiritual guiding document, is worth preserving and studying. The Museum of the Bible has had serious ethical and legal problems with its collection. They've admitted to at least some of that. They've made at least some improvement. How many problems remain? While I hope most of the issues have been resolved, and the rest will be soon, I'm afraid that this will never really be a museum.

With the museum’s support, scholars are racing to understand the disputed Biblical texts.

02/11/2017

Just when you think you know a pyramid...

The gaping hole could help answer questions about how the ancient wonder was built.

24/10/2017

America's National Parks are seeing record visitation as more and more people seek a return to nature. Unfortunately, the current administration is cutting funding for for the parks, and trying to reduce the nation's natural areas overall in order to open up more resource exploitation.

A few weeks ago, word leaked out that some parks were looking to require reservations, with limited numbers of permits, just to enter the parks.

Today, we hear that the national treasures we're already paying for with out taxes may now double entry fees, to as much as $70.

When I was in college, when I was working soon after, national parks were an inexpensive way to spend a vacation. Now, they're looking at charging nearly a week's pay (at minimum wage, after taxes) just to spend one, single day in a park.

While we try to stay non-political at Exploration Guides, it's hard to sit by as OUR NATIONAL TREASURES, passed down over several generations, are now being stolen from us and given away. National Parks, National Monuments, and National Forests are OUR PROPERTY, and are also OUR RESPONSIBILITY. They should free to enter, properly funded through taxes, and protected from resource exploitation forever.

Would more than double prime-time entrance costs, as administration seeks to cut National Park Service's budget.

05/10/2017

Bigger than London. Bigger than Paris. The largest pyramid in the western hemisphere. A multi-cultural metropolis which welcomed immigrants and acted as a center of trade.

Still think we should call Native Americans "primitive"?

25/09/2017

Sorry. No UFO's. No tractor beams. No anti-gravity. No crystal power. Just some intelligent people, basic engineering, and a lot of labor.

Kinda like archaeologists have been saying for a long, long time.

In a new documentary, aired by Channel 4 on British television last week, archaeologists presented new evidence describing how the Great Pyramid was constr

05/09/2017

Forty years ago today, Voyager 1 launched to explore outer planets Jupiter and Saturn.

Today, we're celebrating with a special webcast at 12:30 pm ET. We hope you join us by tuning in! http://s.si.edu/2iYBfqE

Image caption: This model hangs in our Exploring the Planets gallery at our Museum in Washington, DC.

03/09/2017

I love that new stuff is still being found.

This is the second find in Europe this year that shows humans may have actually evolved there, rather than Africa. It's not yet considered conclusive, and the scientific community isn't universally accepting the conclusion, but the nice thing about science is that when new evidence shows up that contracts current belief, it's at least considered.

Are there multiple possible explanations for this? Sure. Here's just a few:

1) It's real and humans really did evolve in Europe, rather than Africa.
2) Humans split into multiple populations much earlier than previously thought.
3) It was a non-permanent population in Europe.
4) The evidence is being misinterpreted.
5) The evidence is fake.
6) Lots of other things.

It'll take more evidence to decide if we need to rewrite the history books, but as long as we've got people looking, we'll get there.

If the discoveries over the past few decades have told us anything, it’s that the evolution of humans is anything but simple. Now, a new discovery on the M

30/08/2017

No matter what you like, there's a museum out there for you. Unfortunately, due to funding cuts from governments, and decreasing donations, and especially if you have a big family, some museums are pricing themselves to the point they've become inaccessible.

Museum Day, on 9/23, gives you a chance to go visit a museum completely FREE!.

If this day doesn't work out for you, there are still some other options, of course. Check with your local library, as many have programs, such as the Michigan Activity Pass (http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/05/24/michigan-discount-free-passes-library-card/102090170/), sponsored by a combination of public companies, private donations, and public funding. These provide free or discounted admission to museums regularly, often every, single day.

Still not enough? Most museums offer free days. There are a couple kinds of these. First, free admission for all locals. This is great, if you're local, but not so great if you're not.

The other type of free day is through corporate sponsorships, like Target Free Days (https://corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility/community-events), providing free admission for everyone on select days, often once a week.

Finally, a lot of museums have "recommended admission." At NYC's Met, for example (http://www.metmuseum.org/), "recommended adult admission" is $25. If you buy your tickets in advance on-line, that's your only choice. If you buy at the door, however, they are quite clear that "what you pay is up to you." If you can easily afford $25, by all means, pay it. If you can only afford $20 for your family of five, don't let the admission fee scare you away. Just walk up to the admission desk and tell them this is what you can pay for your family. Trust me. They'll be happy to have you and your family.

Want another option? If you visit often, or travel to other museums, look into a museum membership. They'll nearly always give you free admission to that museum for a year, but most also give you free or discount admission to dozens, sometimes hundreds, of other museums through reciprocal programs.

Want to know what options are available at a museum near you? Just check their web site, or give them a call. Museum prices have gotten high, but they really, really want you to visit, and are happy to have you, no matter what program you're using to get there.

With all the programs out there, even with the sometimes high prices at museums today, with a little flexibility, there's really no reason not to visit.

And, of course, if you feel guilty about taking advantage of a free program or paying less than the "recommended admission," you can always consider volunteering!

Join us for the 13th Annual Museum Day Live! on Saturday, September 23, 2017

26/08/2017

Plenty of theories have come and gone, but this is the first to have experimental data confirming a possible (likely?) fate of the Hunley.

The H.L. Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy warship. On the evening on February 17, 1864 during the American Civil War, this two-bit contrapti

26/08/2017

A few years ago, archaeologists and anthropologists generally thought humans arrived in North America just fifteen thousand years ago. New discoveries have been pushing that date back quickly, now going nearly ten times longer.

130,000 years ago is impressive enough, but that's not really the end of it. That's only where we have evidence of human habitation in North America. There's no reason to believe that was the first human here. It's not only possible, but quite likely, that humans were actually around for generations by that time.

This puts humans in North America not far from the oldest evidence of humans in Europe, and it's not inconceivable that we could find further evidence showing humans in North America even before Europe.

Humans may have been present in North America 130,000 years ago.

20/08/2017

Eclipses aren't really once in a lifetime events but they are pretty rare. If you're near the path of totality, it'll certainly be worth a drive. I expect a lot of people will be calling in sick to work tomorrow, too. Personally, I'm hoping to be atop a remote mountain.

Remember, if you're not in the path of totality tomorrow, you'll need special glasses to watch the eclipse the entire time. If you are the path of totality, you need glasses the entire time, too, except during totality.

Towering flares and daytime planets are among the unique sky shows in store for people in the path of totality.

19/08/2017

I spent a lot of time at Mammoth Cave, and there were always new discoveries, big and small. The discoveries continue today and, I hope, will continue far into the future. There's still plenty to explore.

27/07/2017

Exploring off the beaten track is a good thing, but sooner or later, you'll probably want to get back. Nature can tell you how, if you know what to look for.

Learn to navigate with the moon, stars, trees, and more.