Forded the Kennebec River 50 year ago today

 August 1974 would end with the approach to the Kennebec River, first with a 20 mile day from Breakneck Ridge LT to Pleasant Pond LT.  As would be the norm for Maine, it was a wet day, and my boots were constantly wet.  On the last day of August, we crossed the Kennebec early in the morning with no problem.  My journal reported “Big .2 Mile! More like 400 feet or perhaps up to 600 feet. Got up to my crouch or pant legs.  No sweat….Dried out in sun on west bank especially boots and sox.”

The actual river gauge for that week shows the trend.  The river was flowing about 3000 CFS just north of Caratunk, slightly higher than the norm for the date (the Triangle).  Caratunk, is the Abenaki, first nation’s name meaning “forbidding or crooked stream” and interestingly enough Kennebec is “level water river’ or long quiet water.”

Approach road from Trail North.

Volunteer Vaca with AHS

 A chance to volunteer on the AT coming soon to Massachusetts.

Special Abbreviated Trip! Appalachian National Scenic Trail, MA - Volunteer Vacation 2024 - American Hiking Society

Clearing the Appalachian Trail Boundary is an important step for volunteers on the AT.

You can also volunteer here.

Sensory Tourism book to be published soon

 Our book is expected this fall. 

CABI's Website is Home - CABI.org

International Visitors Spent $21.2 Billion in June 2024

A quote from news feed: 

Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in June 2024:

• International visitors spent $21.2 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of June, an increase of more than 14 percent compared to June 2023.
• Conversely, Americans spent more than $20.8 billion traveling abroad during June, yielding a slight balance of trade surplus of $360 million for travel and tourism-related goods and services.

• International visitors have spent nearly $126.2 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date (January through June 2024), an increase of 17 percent when compared 2023; international visitors have injected, on average, nearly $697 million a day into the U.S. economy year to date.
• U.S. travel and tourism exports accounted for 23.1 percent of U.S. services exports during June 2024 and 8.0 percent of all U.S. exports, goods and services alike.

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Composition of Monthly Spending (Travel Exports)

• Travel Spending 
• Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $11.7 billion during June 2024 (compared to $10.0 billion in June 2023), an increase of 16 percent when compared to the previous year. These goods and services include food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation in the United States, and other items incidental to foreign travel.
• Travel receipts accounted for 55 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in June 2024.
• Passenger Fare Receipts
• Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.5 billion in June 2024 (compared to $3.0 billion in the previous year), up 17 percent when compared to June 2023. These receipts represent expenditures by foreign residents on international flights provided by U.S. air carriers.
• Passenger fare receipts accounted for 17 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during June.
• Medical/Education/Short-Term Worker Spending
• Expenditures for educational and health-related tourism, along with all expenditures by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers in the United States totaled $6.0 billion in June 2024 (compared to $5.5 billion in June 2023), an increase of 9 percent when compared to the previous year.
• Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 28 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in June 2024.

The Future of Dark Tourism: Enlightening New Horizons

 

This book offers critical scenarios of dark tourism futures and examines how our significant dead will be remembered in future visitor economies. It aims to inspire critical thinking by probing the past, disrupting the present and provoking the future. The volume outlines key features of difficult heritage and future cultural trauma and highlights the role of technology, immersive visitor experiences and the thanatological condition of future dark tourism. The book provides a collection of informed observations of how future societies might recall their memorable dead, and how the noteworthy dead might be (re)created and retained through dark tourism. The book forecasts a dark tourism future that is not only perilous but also full of possibilities. It is a helpful resource for students and researchers in tourism, heritage, futurology, sociology, human geography and cultural studies.

Preorder from Amazon, too.

Contributors

Philip R. Stone and Daniel W.M. Wright: Preface: Dark Tourism Futures: Thoughts, Ideas, Scenarios

Chapter 1. Philip R. Stone: Vertopia: The Future of Dark Tourism Places and Our Digital Dead

Chapter 2. Rachael Ironside and Craig Leith: Virtual Afterlife: Dark Tourism in the Hereafter

Chapter 3. Santa Zascerinska: From 'Bucket List' to 'Afterlist': (Dark) Tourism for the Afterlife 

Chapter 4. Daniel W.M. Wright: 'Beyond Human': Dark Tourism, Robots and Futurology

Chapter 5. Özge Kılıçarslan, Mehmet Yavuz Çetinkaya and Kamil Yağci: The Future of Technology and Dark Tourism Experiences 

Chapter 6. Diāna Popova, Elizabete Grinblate and Raivis Sīmansons: Bridging Virtual Reality and Dark Heritage 

Chapter 7. Richard Fawcus: 'Virtual Monument Wars': The Digital Future of Difficult Heritage

Chapter 8. Marián Alesón-Carbonell: Language as a Mediator: Commodifying Future Dark Tourism

Chapter 9. Saffron Dale, Crispin Dale and Neil Robinson: 'McDeath' – A Future of Dark Travel and End of Life Palliative Care

Chapter 10. Alix Varnajot: Enlightening Dark Tourism Horizons in a Post-Apocalyptic Arctic: A Geopoetic Approach

Chapter 11. Maximiliano E. Korstanje: 'Shrines and Rites of Passage': Toward a Future of Dark Tourism Chronicles

Chapter 12. Elspeth Frew and Clare Lade: Survivor Voices and Disaster Education: Future Commemoration and Remembrance at Dark Tourism Sites 

Chapter 13. Abit Hoxha and Kenneth Andresen: Future of Dark Tourism in Kosovo: From Divisions to Digital Possibilities

Chapter 14. Ann-Kathrin McLean: Millennials, Transitional Memory and the Future of Holocaust Remembrance 

Chapter 15. Aija van der Steina, Maija Rozite, Inese Runce and Kaspars Strods: Between Revival of Memory and Dark Tourism: The Future of Holocaust-Related Sites in Latvia

Chapter 16. Marta Soligo: 'Mirrors of Society': Cemetery Tourism Futures 

Chapter 17. Janine Marriott: 'Not the Right Sort of Visitors': Future Challenges of Cemetery Tourism

Chapter 18. Allan Brodie: 'Into the horrors of the gloomy jail': Towards a Future of UK Prison Tourism and Penal Architecture 

Chapter 19. Brianna Wyatt: 'Finding a Light in Dark Places': Lighter Dark Tourism Futures

Chapter 20. Luisa Golz and Tony Johnston: Future of Dark Tourism Festivals: Technology and the Tourist Experience

Chapter 21. Robert S. Bristow, Alina Gross and Ian Jenkins: Future Dystopian Attractions: Benign Masochism in Dark Tourism

Chapter 22. Michael Brennan: Future Directions in Death Studies and Dark Tourism

Philip R. Stone: Afterword: Back to the Dark Tourism Future

References

Index

Duncan's, on the AT 50 years ago

 When backpacking on the AT, you would frequently come across a small country store.  Duncan's was a classic example of this.  This two shots were taken by my hiking companion, Ralph, of RPH fame.

I bought a soda, ice cream and cigs for 97 cents!

The original route across the State Route 42 valley looks like this:

And if you use Google Streetview it looks like this in 2021.

Shame, but had the trail still pass this place it might still be open.

Southeast Environment and Recreation Research (SERR)

 Early Call for Papers (CFP)

Please mark your calendars for the 2025 Southeast Environment and Recreation Research (SERR) conference being held at beautiful Unicoi State Park & Lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia. We are excited about having the conference back at a state park where there will be ample opportunities for outdoor adventures as well as social gatherings around the lodge campfire. Don't worry, everyone will have individual hotel-style rooms and Wi-Fi.

When: March 23-25, 2025

Where: Uncoi State Park & Lodge outside of Helen, GA

What: Sessions at SERR include empirical, conceptual, or theoretical work related to:

• Sustainable tourism
• Leisure and recreation behavior
• Management of leisure programs and services
• Methodological aspects of recreation and tourism research
• Nature-based travel and tourism
• Outdoor recreation and education
• Park, protected area, and equivalent reserves planning & management
• Parks, physical activity, and health
• Recreation economics or policy
• Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management

Who: Graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, agency planners, land managers, and researchers are all strongly encouraged to attend the conference and submit a proposal for an oral or poster presentation.

A call for abstracts will be made in the upcoming weeks. More details will be available

at: https://serrconference.org 

Personal Note:  I attended this conference in the late 1980s and found it very useful in my academic career.  

"Validation of Recreation Quality Monitoring Measurements by River Zones.” Annual Southeastern Recreation Research Symposium. Asheville, NC. February 1988.

"Monitoring Recreation Quality River Zones.” Annual Southeastern Recreation Research Symposium. Asheville, NC. February 1987.