ZION NATIONAL PARK -- The Angels Landing Trail in Zion National Park is the roller coaster of outdoor hikes.
The 2.5 mile trail to Angels Landing takes hikers on a very aggressive, but mostly paved trail 1,488 feet above the Virgin River, which quietly winds its way through Utah’s first national park.

There are two numbers there that are important: 1,488 feet and 2.5 miles. Any fifth-grader putting that on a graph will understand that that’s a steep hike, really steep. Imagine going on a two-mile walk then taking the stairs to the top of the Empire State Building (1,250 feet) or the The Willis Tower in Chicago (1,451 feet), and back again.

When the late summer nights start to feel cool again, I know deer season is right around the corner.

If you plan to be outside on any public land, you’ll want to keep the following dates in mind.

In North Carolina, hunting season begins on Sept. 11 for bow hunters only. Muzzelloader/black powder hunters can head out on Oct. 2 and rifle season (technically called “Firearm” season) begins on Oct. 16.
Huh. Who knew? Certainly not me.

Although I’m a relative newcomer to the area, I always get a little nostalgic when I start to see ads for blaze orange clothing, ammunition and other hunting gear.

I’ve got an overnight hiking trip planned into North Carolina’s backcountry in a couple of weeks, and I am sure that once I step off the blacktop, I’ll encounter a hunter or two, at least it’s a very real possibility.

The doctor told me to add some regular exercise to my routine and lay off the Girl Scout Cookies.

Hikers and backcountry enthusiasts — some of the friendliest folks you’ll ever run into — sometimes are disturbed when they see rifle toting hunters on their beloved trails and wandering through their unspoiled forests.

Most of my hunting these days is done with a telephoto camera lens, and most of the wild food I bring home has been handed to me through the window of a Wendy’s drive-thru.

But I’ve found over the years that there’s plenty of room for everyone in the woods, whether you’re hunting with a long lens or a long gun.

BLACKFOOT -- Police ended a six-hour standoff with a moose Tuesday along Airport Road in Blackfoot when the animal vanished into fields east of the Blackfoot Golf Course.

AT RIGHT, Blackfoot COP officer Delbert Brown watches traffic to make sure the female moose wasn’t a hazard. Blackfoot Police and Idaho Fish and Game officials talked about how best to tranquilize the moose so they could transport it back into the wild.

Jason Beck with Fish and Game in Pocatello said officials would continue to watch for the animal in the next few days to

ensure it stays away from residents.

“We want to keep the wild things in the wild,” he said.

He said it is not uncommon for moose to venture into the area from their natural habitat along the Snake River or the hills east of Blackfoot, although he said it was difficult to say where this moose came from.

Police and Fish and Game urged residents to keep away from the moose.

The Napoleons

THE NAME: Known as the workhorse of the Civil War, the 12-pound field gun first appeared in the 1850s in France and was named in honor of French Emperor Napoleon III. Generically, its name is the 1857 was gun howitzer.

WEIGHT: The tube weighs about 1,300 pounds. Together with the carriage, the cannon weighed almost one-and-half-tons. It was pulled by a team of six horses.

SEE THEM IN ACTION: The Napoleons will be fired again Oct. 4-5 at Freezeout Hill in Emmett.

The sound of 12-pound Napoleons echoing across the hills and valleys of Virginia, Pennsylvania and the battlefields of the Civil War once signaled the approach of war.

During their use in the 1850s and '60s, the two-and-a-half-ton cannons struck fear among troops ordered to fight within their range.

They could fire a 12-pound cast iron ball or exploding shot about a mile and were accurate up to almost a half a mile.

For close-range fighting, their gunners filled the cannons' bellies with shrapnel and fired them like giant shotguns, cutting down wide swaths of enemy forces.

The hamster died (note to mother: not the rabbit).

This is not code. The hamster really did die, or is nearly dead as I write this. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to make it through the night. And come morning, we’ll have another addition to the Kennard family pet cemetery located under the

tree house in the back yard.

The running total of four-legged family members who have checked out is four: a cat, two bunnies and hamster No. 1, aka Hamtaro. The fish just get flushed — and I’ve lost track of how many anyway.