Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive continued to be closed Wednesday due to the blizzard that crippled the city of Chicago and a significant portion of the midwest earlier this week. Hundreds of stranded motorists had already been rescued. The city estimated that 700 to 900 vehicles were effected by the standstill.

If you are already bored with keeping up with your New Year’s Resolution to get fit, you might want to consider making things a bit more exciting by training for a 2011 Adventure Race.

Designed with the extreme outdoor enthusiast in mind, Adventure Races typically combine two or more endurance disciplines such as mountain biking, canoeing or kayaking, climbing, and cycling. These disciplines are often paired with some form of orienteering or navigation and the races are typically done in teams. Some races last hours and some last a few days or even weeks. Each team or participant must prednisone carry with them certain mandatory safety and race related items and it should be noted that, due to the grueling nature of the races, not everyone crosses the finish line, but that is hardly the point.

Think you have what it takes? Check out one of these sites for their 2011 schedule of races:

Colorado and Utah: Adventure Xstream Series – here

Arkansas: Ozark Extreme Adventure Racing – here

Pennsylvania: American Adventure Sports – here

Maryland and Virginia: EX2 Adventures – here

British Columbia:  Raid the North – here

Nationwide (as well as Australia and British Columbia): The Warrior Dash – here (This race is more of an obstacle course with lost of mud, some fire and also beer. At least one of us  here at OutdoorView.org is scheduled for a Warrior Dash in 2011…stay tuned for race results sometime this summer!).

While many of our nation’s 394 national parks charge no entrance fee, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently announced that the National Park Service will waive entrance fees to all of its national parks this weekend, January 15 – 17, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.  On January 17th’s Day of Service, many parks will even be hosting volunteer events to honor tadalafil Dr. King.

You probably live within a few hours of a national park. Wouldn’t this free entrance weekend be a great time to visit one? A list of participating parks by state can be found on the NPS website.

This 4-day exposition, said to be the largest in Northern California, features seminars and presentations on camping, Dutch oven cooking, and fly fishing, among others topics, as well as outdoor products represented by more than 500 vendors.

On Thursday, January 21, a free fair for children under 12 will focus on introducing them to camping, hiking, and fishing through hands-on activities.

Also part of the exposition is a DockDogs challenge where dogs compete by jumping off a dock into water. The winner is invited to a national competition.

Info:

Sacramento International Sportsmen’s Exposition

Jan 20-23, 2011

Cal Expo

1600 Exposition Blvd

Sacremento, CA

Adults $15; ages 16 and under are free

Parking: $10

Source: sacbee.com