Outdoor Reads: Bad attitude ruin your trip? Lifelong dream turned nightmare?

What did the SNEWS team read this week that other industry insiders might find interesting? Read on to find out!

• We’re pretty sure you dog-loving, outdoor enthusiasts will want to know which hotels will welcome you and your pooch before or after an epic adventures. Top picks in this USA Today story include the Little Nell in Aspen, Colo. and Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego, Calif.

• A bad attitude can hold you back from all kinds of things — including good times in the mountains. This Kearny Hub story said the first thing you ought to pack when going on outdoor adventures is a good attitude. Tell us: Was there a time when you or somebody else in your crew ruined a trip because of a bad attitude?

• Geraldine Largay’s lifelong dream was to hike the Appalachian Trail. She started on July 21, and hasn’t come home. Her husband, George Largay, talks to the Tennessean about his wife in this story. Though he and his family are planning a memorial service, he said the uncertainty of what happened to his wife is the hardest part. But she was, he said, exactly where she wanted to be.

• If this story isn’t inspiring, we really don’t know what is. Matt Dewitt doesn’t have any hands, but that didn’t stop the Iraq war veteran from killing it at the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race. Dewitt was a member of a team of wounded veterans featured in the story who completed the endurance race. He said you can get through anything if you put your mind to it, and he finished the grueling race because, “My mind was made up in the morning.”

• Another inspirational tale is that of vegan hiker Josh Garrett, who recently broke the Pacific Crest Trail speed record despite collapsing from heat stroke in the middle of the journey. He took 24 hours off to recuperate and said he’s glad he did. He did the hike from Mexico to Canada in 59 days, 8 hours and 59 minutes. His goal was to do it under 60 days. Check out this feature story on Garrett, who kept himself motivated thinking his pain was not as bad as the pain of animals in factory farms.

• As we gear up for a trail clean-up today, we look forward to getting our tan on. Don’t worry, we’ll wear sunscreen, but we agree with this article that suggests that rather than donning your bathing suit and laying on a beach somewhere to tan, you can sport your workout clothes and do some outdoor volunteering.

• Do you love to hear nature sounds while recreating in national parks? This story reports that the National Park Service is conducting a study to determine the value of a quiet national park environment. The agency plans to canvass 514 people on how noise conditions (specifically human-caused noise) affect them. For more information on the study, click here. To submit your comments about the subject, email Phadrea Ponds, information collection coordinator.

• We’ve read before that couples who sweat together, stay together so we’re thinking the Pasadena, Calif. couple featured in this story are in it for the long haul. Bill and Linda Hassell have completed 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) hikes in all 50 states and in 25 different countries. It’s their way of getting exercise, they said. We wonder what gear they used for all this.

• Safety is a big topic in the outdoor industry, so we were pleased to learn that the book featured in this story teaches outdoor safety lessons via a couple of cute bunnies. The book is called “Bunny Foodie Adventures,” and in addition to focusing on safety, it also improves reading comprehension and encourages youngsters to value family time.

• We know this: If there were a free outdoor yoga class in our neighborhood we’d be all over that. Someone once told us that it’s easier to introduce people to yoga outdoors because there’s less pressure to be perfect. Perhaps it has to do with the abundance of space and fresh air. Check out this story on how a free outdoor yoga class led to a new group of yogis, some of whom have been attending the class for months.

Did you read anything interesting this week? Email it to us because we want to check it out, too.