Bivy thoughts

News from the current interglacial. Backpacker Magazine has some expanded online offerings, and hence the new link to the Daily Dirt blog on the left. There also is an Ask the Expert section with "medicine man" Buck Tilton, who answers questions like 'What are the chances of a rattlesnake crawling into your bivy?' (Answer: Very slim.)

Also, somewhere in my Internet wanderings this week I came across the landform of a monadnock or inselberg. I love obscure landforms. My favorite monadnock is the granite dome of Stone Mountain, Ga., which features the largest bas-relief in the world. The top of the dome includes rock pools that harbor a rare form of clam shrimp and used to have a now extinct fairy shrimp.