XploreNation

Perhaps no better "bang for your buck" mountain in the Tri-Lakes area! The Panther Mountain Trail is a short hike to an open rocky summit between Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake in Franklin County. The trail is in the Saranac Lake Wild Forest Area. It's steep, gaining 780 feet 0.6 miles and is well-worn and easy to follow. Follow us to the summit on this beautiful day near sunset for some unforgettable views! Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/hartzmann/space-journey License code: ZNWLSDUTKWS2ZNMD

There are a few Owls Head Mountains in the Adirondacks. This one is off NY 73 between the eastern end of the Cascade Lakes and the town of Keene. The turn off NY 73 is on Owl’s Head Road, before you get to Cascade Lake. The Owls Head Trail is a difficult (weekday-only) 1.2-mile out-and-back trail that leads to the summit of Owls Head. The hike features panoramic views into the High Peaks Wilderness including stunning views of Cascade Mountain, Porter Mountain, and Pitchoff Mountain, but also require rock scrambles to reach the top - some of which are dangerous. There's a 450-foot wall near the top that you may encounter rock climbers coming up. Come along for some incredible views on our hike up this little peak!

Armadillos (Spanish for "little armored ones") have a tough leathery shell, and long, sharp claws for digging. They have short legs but can move quite quickly. They are common roadkill due to their habit of jumping 3 ft vertically when startled, many times into the underside of moving vehicles! The average length of an armadillo is about 30 in, including its tail. When threatened by a predator, some species roll up into a ball. All species are native to the Americas, where they inhabit a variety of different environments across Texas and Florida. Another interesting fact is humans can acquire a leprosy infection from armadillos by handling them or consuming armadillo meat. With a little coaxing, Trim was able to guide this guy back to safety. See the tactics he used for the win!

Fishers are found only in North America. Within the US, they're found from New England to Tennessee, the northern Great Lake states, the northern Rockies, and several small West Coast populations in Oregon and California. They are also known as the 'fisher cat', and are large, dark, long-haired member of the weasel family. Their stature is relatively low to the ground, with short legs, small ears and a well-furred tail. The color of their fur varies from dark brown to nearly black. The males weighing between 7 and 13 pounds, and females between 3 and 7 pounds. Total lengths for males range from 35-47 inches, and females, 30-37 inches. Fishers have large, wide feet with five toes on each foot and semi-retractable claws. This makes them well adapted for walking on snow, climbing trees and grasping and killing prey. They are capable of rotating their hind feet nearly 180º, which allows for a headfirst descent from trees. See a few of these elusive creatures that we were able to capture on film in the Adirondack Mountains!

Key West, a U.S. Island city, is part of the Florida Keys archipelago. It's also Florida's southernmost point, lying roughly 90 miles north of Cuba. Famous for its pastel-hued, conch-style houses, it’s a cruise-ship stop also accessible from the mainland via the Overseas Highway. There is a long list of things to do in the city including The Hemingway Home and Museum, Southernmost Point of the Continental U.S.A., Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, Truman Little White House, the Key West Sculpture Garden and the Oldest House in Key West as well as many restaurants and eateries. Come for a stroll with us this week as we make our way around the city of Key West! Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/tropicana License code: GZMI6QDC5KKGMOMM

Adirondack waterfalls come in all shapes and sizes. They are stunning year-round, but you haven't seen anything until you've seen them at their springtime peak. There are 19 waterfalls in the Waterfall Challenge rated as Easy, Easy/Moderate, Moderate, and Difficult, with 1 to 4 points allotted to each; Easy Waterfall Hikes are 1 point, Easy/Moderate are 2, and so forth. Get 12 points or more from visiting the below falls, and you can submit your info for a Challenge patch! https://www.adirondackexperience.com/f/page/917/body/files/2019-waterfall-brochure-final.pdf

A visit to Hot Springs National Park wouldn't be complete heading down to check out Bathhouse Row and soaking in the healing waters. Bathhouse row is an incredible architectural journey. The first ones in town were crude wooden structures built in the early 1800s, the current 8 historic bathhouses were built in the late 1800s and were so luxurious that they rivaled the bathhouses at European spas. 3,000 years ago, Native Americans who discovered Hot Springs named it "Valley of the Vapors." Today most of the springs are capped, however originally all 47 springs bubbled up pure, natural, mineral-enriched 147-degree water. Come for a walk with Trim and Head through the downtown of Hot Springs National Park and get an 'insider's' look at these amazing bathhouses!

A well-worn trail reaches the shore of Nine Corner Lake at 1.0 miles. It's an easy hike with an elevation gain of only 294 feet. It's a great bouldering area in a beautiful lakeside setting. Expect crowds, as the lake is a popular camping/party spot, however these masses rarely if ever venture into the area with the bouldering. The boulders at Nine Corners Lake have more routes than any other spot in the Adirondacks. Most of the boulders are clumped together into four areas. Follow the trail to the dam at the lake's outlet, then cross the dam. A herd path straight ahead leads to Middle Earth, the main area, with The Meadows off to the left, Stonehenge to the right, and the Cliff Area behind Middle Earth. Send away!

Watkins Glen State Park in the Finger Lakes of New York is known for leaving visitors in awe. The Gorge Trail follows a stream and runs over, under and along the park's 19 waterfalls by way of stone bridges and 800+ stone steps. Campers and day hikers can also enjoy the Olympic-sized swimming pool, guided tours through the gorge, tent and trailer campsites, picnic facilities and excellent fishing in nearby Seneca Lake or Catherine Creek, which is renowned for its annual spring run of rainbow trout. In 2015, the park was chosen from 6,000 state parks across the nation as a nominee in the USA TODAY Readers' Choice Poll for Best State Park in the United States and won 3rd place! We were there on Halloween after a heavy rain which made the waterfalls all the more impressive! Come along this week and see what kind of shenanigans we get into this week!

Taughannock Falls, is a 215-foot plunge waterfall that is the highest single-drop waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains! Taughannock is of Native American origins. One translation suggests that the name is derived from a combination of Iroquois and Algonquin phrases meaning "great fall in the woods". Another idea suggests that the name may be a Lenni Lenape (Delaware) chief named Taughannock who died near the falls during a battle. In 1874, Professor Jenkins was to cross a 1,200-foot-long tightrope suspended 350 feet above the creek. He was reported to have crossed twice over a couple of days, once while blindfolded and another wearing "Chinese wooden shoes". Just down the road in the city of Ithaca is Ithaca Falls. The falls are in an amphitheater formed by freezing and thawing of the shale. The pool and creek just below the falls, are a popular spot for fly fishing. From 1880 until its closure in 1987, the Ithaca Gun Company's factory was south of the falls. In the late 90s, environmental testing revealed that much of the soil nearby was contaminated by lead from shotgun testing. A major lead clean-up effort by the US Superfund and the EPA took place from 2002 to 2004. The building was demolished in 2006, and currently luxury apartments are planned for the site.

Part of both the Adirondack Waterfall Hiking Challenge and the Adirondack 50 Falls, this falls is located close to Raquette Lake NY. Find parking on the side of the road along NYS route 28 across from the Golden Beach Campground. Death Brook Falls Trail (49A) is a short, one-third-mile hike ends at a scenic waterfall that drops 70 feet into a shallow pool at its base. It is also known as Secret Falls.

Featuring an award-winning beach and historic bridge, Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys is simply amazing! Bahia Honda is a Spanish name meaning “Deep Bay”. The bay was a natural spot for the sailors back in the day, where they could safely anchor. It also has the historic 1912 saddleback bridge built by Henry Flagler and known as the Overseas Railway. It was destroyed by the severe Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. Bahia Honda is 45 minutes before Key West on the drive down the Keys. See what kind of shenanigans we get into this time on X-PloreNation! Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/genuine-colour/borrowed-perspective License code: XA5DT8MKTILAVQXU

Renowned for being the first undersea park in the United States, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park encompasses an impressive 70 nautical square miles. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1972. The main attraction of the park is it's beautiful, multi-colored coral reefs and the marine life including fish, stingrays, tarpon, manatees, seahorses, and their habitat including shipwrecks! The park named for the late John D. Pennekamp, a Miami newspaper editor, whose environmental efforts helped bring about the Everglades National Park and the preservation of what would later become John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Chill with us on a stellar snorkeling adventure at Pennekamp and see the sea close up and personal!

Pine Key is home to the National Key Deer Refuge. The Key deer is America's smallest deer and is found only in the lower Florida Keys. The majority of the deer population are found on this island. When Key deer were listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1967, there were fewer than 50 remaining in the wild. While driving on Big Pine Key, care must be taken to avoid hitting the diminutive Key Deer. These tiny whitetail deer evolved to be dwarfs after thousands of years living on the island. They are roughly knee-high. Go for a cruise with us to see a few of these little deer as well as a shark feeding this week on X-PloreNation!

Biscayne National Park preserves Biscayne Bay, one of the top scuba diving spots in the United States. Within the national park, which is over 90% water, there is an extensive mangrove forest along the shoreline, the northernmost Florida Keys, coral reefs, undeveloped islands, wildlife, as well as shipwrecks in the shallow water. It is the beginning of the third-largest coral reef in the world. It is the largest marine sanctuary in the U.S. National Parks system. Evidence of 10,000 years of human history is here also. All of this makes Biscayne a major boating, fishing, and diving destination. We were able to spend only a couple of hours here, but the Florida waters in February were still inviting for a couple of snowbirds!

In 1959, near Homestead, Florida, Robert Moehling’s father, a farmer who couldn’t afford to buy boxes for his latest harvest, dumped his surplus cucumbers on the side of the road. He tasked his 6-year-old son to sell them. Robert spent the day by the side of the road, but the cars speeding past did not notice him. To draw some attention to the stand, his father spray-painted a message on a hurricane shutter and placed it beside the cucumbers: “Robert is Here.” Just off US 1, this huge, kitschy shop features produce, jams, fruits, souvenirs, animals (including goats, emu, lizards, chickens, and a petting zoo), a picnic area, and live music on the weekends. The stand has become a landmark for those visiting the Everglades or traveling the highway to Key West. Robert, now well into his 60s, still works there alongside his immediate family. Robert grows many of his offerings across 55 acres of farmland. The stand boasts dozens of unique fruit varieties: egg fruit, Dragonfruit, Monstera Deliciosa, jack fruit, just to name a few. Those looking for a talking piece can leave with an 85-pound jackfruit during the summer growing season. Robert is Here also has milkshakes made from fresh fruit, whole milk, low-fat yogurt, and soft serve ice cream. Flavors such as strawberry key lime, soursop, and strawberry with egg fruit (Robert’s favorite) are so popular that customers have been known to wait in line for more than an hour to get one! Follow us on a walk-thru of the store and see what they have to offer! Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/the-pop License code: SUFBVDR6D2A6OVYW

At 345 feet above sea level, Britton Hill is Florida's highest natural point – and the lowest state highpoint in the United States. Buildings in some urban areas of the state are higher. There are landfills in Florida taller. Yeah, it's kind of a running joke among highpointers across the country, but they still travel to honor the humble elevation. It sets less than 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico just below the Alabama state line. Although it is in Florida, it is in Central time zone, because it is so far west in the panhandle. If you drove straight north up the country, you would be in Indiana. It is inside Lakewood Park and has picnic tables, some basic facilities, and short hiking trails through the nearby woods, but the real attraction is at the hill’s summit. Named after the lumber mill baron who developed the area, William Henry Britton, the record setting peak is marked by a stone marker in the middle of a beat-up rotunda. Come along for a quick night hike up the hill that is Florida's highest peak on this week's episode of X-PloreNation!

The smallest Post Office is located in Ochopee, FL. The building used to be a storage shed (measuring a staggering 61 square feet!) for irrigation pipes of an adjacent tomato farm. It was converted into a Post Office in 1953, after a fire that destroyed a previous Post Office and general store. The town, which sits on the edge of the Everglades, and which reportedly has a population of 10, has been happy with it ever since. An insider from the post office says that she "has the coolest job in the world!" She has a phone, a computer, an air conditioner, a fluorescent tube for light, and a pair of tiny sliding screen doors to keep out the giant horseflies. The job is quiet, although she does get occasional visits from people from all over the world who stop by to get something postmarked (the zip code is 34141). There is a stack of Ochopee Post Office post cards on the counter, pre-stamped both domestic and international, for when the tour buses pull up;) We got to the spot in the wee hours of the night and found the building crawling with lizards and tree frogs! Welcome to Ochopee!

The Gulf Islands National Seashore stretches 160 miles from Cat Island in Mississippi to Santa Rosa Island in Florida and cuts across the state of Alabama.The Florida Areas of the seashore features offshore barrier islands with white sand beaches, miles of undeveloped land, and hiking trails. In April 2010, The Deepwater Horizon oil spill released huge amounts of oil along the Gulf Islands National Seashore. On June 23, 2010, wave after wave of slicks and pools began covering the beaches on Santa Rosa Island, which led to fishing and swimming bans. The oil-spill disaster affected every large island in the group. The government estimated the total discharge of nearly 210 million US gallons! The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is regarded as one of the largest environmental disasters in world history. The cleanup effort was massive and very expensive, but worked as intended. For as much of Santa Rosa has been through, she has made a rosey return and it is a beautiful ride down the Gulf Coast! Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/pryces/lateflights License code: F5YRRUOAE3SQLI7H

The Ozark Howler (AKA the Black Howler, the Hellhound and the Devil Cat) is a legendary creature that supposedly lives in remote areas in Missouri. It's usually described as being the size of a large bear, with a thick body, stocky legs, black shaggy hair, glowing red eyes, and visable horns. Its cry is described as being a combination of a wolf's howl, an elk's bugle, and the laugh of a hyena. The earliest legend of the Ozark Howler is of a meeting between Daniel Boone and the creature in Missouri in the early 1800s! Boone is purported to have fired his gun at the Ozark Howler but must have missed. We learned from the Boone mistake and devised our own way to capture the elusive hellhound! Did it work? Watch the vid and find out!

In the early morning hours of June 11, 2010, a catastrophic flood swept through the Albert Pike campgrounds in in the Ouachita National Forest. Heavy rains (6-8 inches) caused the Little Missouri River and its tributaries to flood the valley, quickly rising to around 23 ft during a short period of time. Most campers were sleeping. The campground quickly filled with water. The water rushed through so violently, it overturned trucks and RVs, tore bridges down and ripped the roads apart. 20 people lost their lives in this tragedy, many were children. The campground was named for Albert Pike, the man that organized the KKK in Arkansas, became a member of the secessionist movement and also was chosen by Mazzini to head the Illuminati (a secret society) operations in America. He was a brigadier general and placed in charge of building an Indian army during the time of war. In 1871, Pike sent a letter to the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini. The letter (displayed at the British Museum before mysteriously disappearing in the 1970s), predicted a series of events that would take place decades after Pike's death. With eerie accuracy, he predicted the czars of Russia would fall during a first great conflict, that Nazism would be destroyed while communism would rise during a second great conflict, and that the Zionists would battle Islamic leaders in a third and final great conflict during which they would “mutually destroy each other.”

Blanchard Springs Caverns is a cave system located in the Ozark National Forest in northern Arkansas that was carved by an underground river. It is considered one of the most beautiful in the country. It is the only tourist cave owned by the United States Forest Service and the only one owned by the Federal government outside the National Park System. Blanchard is a three-level cave system, two of which are open for guided tours. The Dripstone Trail runs through an underground oasis in the upper level of the caverns. The Discovery Trail loops through a 1.2-mile section of the cavern, descending to the lower level of the cave, 366 feet underground, as well as to the Natural Entrance, about 100 feet below ground at that point. This trail includes the Rimstone Dams, which create pools along the stream bed, and the Ghost Room, a small but mind-blowing room in the uppermost level, with its huge white flowstone. Also offered is a "Wild Cave" tour which allows access to undeveloped parts of the cave. It follows the upstream section of the cave, allowing visitors to see all three levels as the original explorers did, continuing beyond where the Discovery Trail ends. Join us for a tour around this little-known cave in Arkansas to see what the hype is all about! Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/infraction/digital-dreams License code: KEZE28UYP71FQNFI

America's Most Toxic Ghost Town. This is Picher, Oklahoma! It used to be a center of lead and zinc production in the Tri-State Mining District but over 100 years of unrestricted digging dangerously undermined most of Picher's town buildings and left huge piles of toxic metal-contaminated tailings piled throughout the area. The discovery of the cave-in risks, groundwater contamination and health effects associated with the chat piles and subsurface shafts—particularly an alarming 1996 study which showed lead poisoning in 34% of the children in Picher — eventually prompted a mandatory evacuation and buyout (via eminent domain) of the entire township by the EPA at Tar Creek. In today’s video we explore this abandoned town and see what is left of this once bustling mining community.

William Jefferson Blythe, III. Named for his father who died before he was born, grew up to become William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States. In this house, he learned many life lessons that later defined his presidency and through his rise as a global statesman. Built in 1917 by Dr. H. S. Garrett, this house is where the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, spent the first four years of his life. The house was owned by Clinton's maternal grandparents, Edith Grisham and James Eldridge Cassidy. They cared for him while his mother, Virginia, was away working as an anesthetist in New Orleans. Come with us on a quick video tour inside the birthplace home of Bill Clinton on this week's episode of X-PloreNation! Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/paul-yudin/sax-on-the-beach License code: JZCQWNOMEEMSDCEJ

Take a ride though a couple of the South's older cities with us on this episode of X-ploreNation. Natchez is the oldest city in Mississippi on the Mississippi River, it’s known for antebellum mansions such as the Melrose estate, part of the Natchez National Historical Park. Trade made possible by the river traffic brought wealth to the region when the Mississippi was the western frontier of the nation and cotton was king. Once a major trade route, Natchez Trace Parkway is now a scenic drive. We timed our arrival to Mobile, Alabama perfectly...right in the middle of the Mardi Gras parade! New Orleans is not the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the U.S. That distinction belongs to Mobile, Alabama when they had theirs in 1703. Also, while cruising through Mobile, we spotted the Battleship Memorial Park, a military history park and museum on Mobile Bay. USS Alabama is a National Historic Landmark. Home to a crew of 2,500 sailors, this war machine’s WWII claim to fame is leading the American Fleet into Tokyo Bay on September 5, 1945. 9 Battle Stars for meritorious service were awarded the “Mighty A” during her 3 years as the “Heroine of the Pacific”. The ship was used in the film USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage starring Nicolas Cage. Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/danger-lion-x/the-street-market License code: 1YT0Q6EGLVHNP4B8