Outdoors

ON THE CHEAT RIVER, W. Va. -- It's final exam time and the students are in over their heads.One by one, they drop into the rapids, get shot through a white-water flume and disappear from sight.Instructor Mike Logsdon smiles. Not to worry, his eyes say.Seconds later, 17 brightly colored helmets pop to the surface downriver and classmates carry out a "rescue" as part of their course, "Rafting and River Guiding."When your major is Adventuresports at Garrett Community College, chances are you'll experience the rinse cycle of white water, or teeter on a ledge or eat someone else's dust.

Clicking through the Internet yesterday, Austin Higginbottom discovered new ways to enjoy Maryland's outdoors -- not such an easy task for a boy whose right leg will be in a cumbersome brace much of the summer."

First it was elevators. Then smoking was banned on the job and in restaurants. Now the next frontier in smoking prohibition is in sight: the great outdoors.Around the country, nonsmokers are staking out new territory in their quest to restrict smoking and claim fresh air.Take Santa Cruz, Calif., where smokers can no longer take a puff while standing in line to buy movie tickets or wait for a bus.Or Mesa, Ariz., where smoking is prohibited within 25 feet of any public building.Or Sharon, Mass.

Now being served at Towson High School: cold sandwiches, fruit cups and -- with any luck -- sunny skies.For the next few weeks, most of the school's 1,040 students will have to eat lunch and take physical-education classes outdoors while the cafeteria and gym are renovated as part of the school's long-awaited $16 million overhaul."

In the world of Teresita Fernandez's art, walls melt, the indoors becomes the outdoors and the outdoors the indoors. In the world of Quisqueya Henriquez's art, air appears solid and impenetrable, and words may not look like what they mean.Fernandez and Henriquez are the artists of "X Site 97," the Contemporary Museum's latest exhibit and one of its very best. Baltimore's museum without walls, which brings contemporary art to temporary spaces, this time chose a raw, unfinished space at street level in the Alex.

In the past few years, increasing numbers of women have been participating in outdoor sports, with significant growth in areas such as fly fishing, deer and waterfowl hunting, watersports and hiking and camping.Recognizing this change, the Department of Natural Resources will hold its second annual "Becoming an Outdoors Woman" workshop Sept. 13-15 at Catoctin Mountain National Park near Frederick."This workshop offers women an opportunity to learn outdoors skills in an atmosphere of camaraderie and support," said DNR Secretary John R. Griffin.

After 14 years of indoor soccer with the Blast and the Spirit, Tim Wittman is switching to the outdoor game with the Baltimore Bays.Wittman has never played pro outdoor soccer and hasn't played outdoors at all since 1986, when he dabbled in a summer league here. But he will be in the lineup when the Bays meet the Myrtle Beach Boyz on Friday at 8 p.m. at Cardinal Gibbons School in a U.S. Interregional Soccer League game."I like the idea of playing outdoors for the Bays," Wittman said. Asked if he would play indoors for the Bays, he said: "I don't know.

The autumn view along bucolic Troyer Road in Northern Baltimore County is a mix of grazing horses, golden leaves, and, in one pasture, row after row of chrome and tail fins.The collection of more than 70 vehicles, mostly 1950s and early 1960s vintage, arrived with Michael and Barbara Annen in spring 1993. Their neighbors haven't been the same since, complaining that the cars and a few trucks have ruined the beautiful vistas in White Hall.Now, sparked by such complaints, county officials are to vote today on a proposal that could make Mr. Annen's collection of antique vehicles illegal -- a move Mr. Annen considers government harassment.

The residents of South Center Street in Westminster are not looking forward to summer. With warm weather comes more outdoor activity, social gatherings -- and violence. They had an unwelcome preview last Thursday night in the shooting of Gregory Lamont Howard, 22, in the 100 block of S. Center St.Mr. Howard, who lived in the 1600 block of Old Manchester Road, died of a shotgun blast in the chest. Police arrested Samuel A. Miller, 22, and Daniel J. Leonard, 23, both of Reisterstown, on murder charges a few hours after the killing.

MILWAUKEE -- Relief pitcher Gregg Olson is trying hard not to look back in anger, but it isn't easy. The boos still echo in his mind, though he has given Orioles fans nothing to complain about since April.Olson struggled through the first few weeks of the season and was forced into a brief leave of absence from the closer role, but he has come back to re-establish himself as one of the game's most effective relievers.He recorded six saves in six save opportunities during the club's 10-game winning streak, and saved last night's game to raise his success ratio this season (85 percent)

Bill Burton, who fished with presidents, Colts and Orioles, told generations of Maryland anglers where the big ones were biting and was commissioned an "Admiral of the Chesapeake" by one governor, died early Monday morning of cancer. He was 82. A Pasadena resident, Mr. Burton was for 37 years the outdoors editor of The Evening Sun before taking a buyout in 1992. He continued to write for the Bay Weekly and The Capital in Annapolis until his second retirement in late June. "It's a sad day. We've lost a great guy. He was a legend," said Brooks Robinson, the Orioles Hall of Fame third baseman who fished and hunted with Mr. Burton.

Two decades after he successfully lobbied to turn the old U.S. 50 bridge over the Choptank River into a fishing pier, Bill Burton was honored Wednesday when the state named the popular site after him. At the urging of Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Department of Natural Resources, the Board of Public Works approved the measure Wednesday by a unanimous vote. "It overwhelms me to think that they think enough of me to do that," said Burton, 82. "There's a hell of a lot of pride in that." The Board of Public Works also voted Wednesday to rename the Overlook at Green Ridge State Forest after longtime DNR forester Francis Zumbrun.

LAUREL -- The environmental movement faces a conundrum: While scientists say the need for solutions and action to combat global warming will only become greater, the children who would be the next generation of activists are less likely to spend time playing outdoors becoming connected with nature. At an Earth Day hearing of a House of Representatives subcommittee in the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge, Gov. Martin O'Malley and Rep. John Sarbanes promoted plans to address the situation by improving the environmental literacy of schoolchildren.

Social networking in the outdoors usually starts with borrowing bug spray or scrounging coffee from someone with a thermos or getting a jump start for a dead-as-a-doornail battery. Sometimes, it's interactive: telling the person who's snoring to shut up or being told yourself. Denny Reid, a hunter and farmer from Dorchester County, and his friends figured there had to be a better way. Borrowing from sites such as MySpace and Facebook, Reid and Co. launched CamoSpace.com last August to give hunters and anglers a free place to swap photos, videos, tips and tall tales (Hey, it wouldn't be social networking without some fibbing)

As we wrap up this weekend of turkey and all that goes with it, let us pause to give thanks for one of the true lifesavers of our time: sweat pants. No kidding, where would we be this weekend without our cozy, expandable friends? Of course, there are other reasons to be thankful. For Pat Gary of Millers, it's the freezer full of venison on its way from the butcher after a successful day bow hunting at Prettyboy Reservoir on Nov. 9. Gary, the older brother of state fisheries biologist Marty Gary, took an 8-point buck that weighed 186 pounds field dressed, the largest he has ever taken in 30 years of hunting.

SALT LAKE CITY-- --Well, how smart am I? Leave Baltimore on Wednesday with the temperature pinning the nastymeter at the century mark and the humidity high enough to make licking the flap of an envelope unnecessary. Land here, where the temperature is a refreshing 96. Luckily, the gig that brings me to the land of Romney is the Outdoor Retailer trade show, where those who require the latest and greatest - not to mention the most-expensive - toys meet the manufacturers of said devices in an unholy marketing marriage.

Not everyone can take part in the kinds of adventures seen in the glossy spreads of National Geographic. As a matter of fact, most of us do our "great outdoors-ing" pretty close to home. For us, there's Weekend Explorer 3D, Natty Geo's PC- and Mac-compatible map series that plots vacations in two and three dimensions. Choose a hiking or biking route, check the altitude gain and "fly" over it. Transfer the route's waypoints to a GPS device. Or print maps on any kind of paper - even waterproof.

Marcus Asante is ready to set sail. When the wind is at his back, he plans to pilot his boat Soukous (named for a jazzy type of African dance music that's similar to a rumba) out of the Inner Harbor and into open waters. Founder of the 40-member Universal Sailing Club of Baltimore, Asante is one of an increasing number of African-Americans taking up sports such as sailing, hiking, biking and scuba diving. Groups such as the Universal Sailing Club are making a big impact, according to Charles K. West, publisher of Black Outdoorsman magazine.

Saturday-next Sunday -- Take in Washington's sights and learn about the fascinating world of carp fishing at the 12th annual "Carp-In" at Washington's Tidal Basin, dawn to dusk. Members of the Carp Anglers Group will display the gear they use to reel in massive fish the size of toddlers. The biggest carp ever pulled out of the Tidal Basin was a 57.8-pounder, back in 1983. Details: 301-922-1672. Online More outdoors -- For more outdoors coverage, calendar and photos, go to baltimoresun.

Friday-Saturday -- Buy, sell, swap at the 10th annual East Coast Decoy Collectors Show, all day, rain or shine, Best Western motel, 1228 S. Talbot St., St. Michaels. Free appraisals. Details: 410-745-2955 or john@njdecoys. com. Biking Wednesday -- Learn how to fix a flat, lube a chain and make adjustments at Bike Maintenance 101, 7 p.m., REI Timonium, 63 W. Aylesbury Road. Free. Details: 410-252-5920. Birding Saturday -- Tune up your ears and eyes for spring migrants at Delaware's Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, 8 a.m.-11 a.m. Led by author and professional birder Jeffery Gordon.