Outdoors

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — With less than 250 miles to go in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Mitch Seavey took the lead Sunday after he was first to reach Unalakleet.

The 2004 champion was greeted by dozens of townspeople and awarded $2,500 in gold nuggets and a trophy.

WHITESBURG, Ky. — Officials say more than three dozen Pennsylvania college students visiting Kentucky for a mission trip are all safe after becoming lost when a sightseeing mountain hike unexpectedly stretched into the night.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Last year’s runner-up in Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has grabbed the lead in the 1,000-mile trek.

Aliy Zirkle was the first to leave the Yukon River village of Anvik, departing at 7:21 a.m. Friday.

Four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser was first into the checkpoint at 2:17 a.m. Friday.

This month’s featured Take-A-Hike article focuses on Strongs Canyon located at the 36th Street trailhead just above Weber State University. The trail is within minutes of downtown Ogden and provides varying levels of exercise.

One of the unique features of the Wasatch Front is the variety in geologic phenomena that you encounter along the mountain front. At Strongs Canyon, hikers and bikers travel up the gravels of the ancient Lake Bonneville shoreline and travel back in time more than two and a half billion years as they enter the Farmington Canyon Complex. This is a collection of metamorphic rocks that are the basement rock for the Wasatch Front.

KATMANDU, Nepal — It’s the world’s highest glass ceiling. Of the 3,755 climbers who have scaled Mount Everest, more than half are Nepalese but only 21 of those locals are women.

Aiming to change the all-male image of mountaineering in their country, a group of Nepalese women have embarked on a mission to shatter that barrier by climbing the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents.

The women, aged between 21 and 32, have already climbed Everest in Asia, Kosciuszko in Australia and Elbrus in Europe. They are preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa to mark International Women’s Day this week.

As February turns to March, we can all see spring is drawing near. 

Here is the Top of Utah outdoors calendar, and fishing report. Enjoy and remember to dress for conditions.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The towering giant sequoias at Yosemite National Park would go unprotected from visitors who might trample their shallow roots. At Cape Cod National Seashore, large sections of the Great Beach would close to keep eggs from being destroyed if natural resource managers are cut.

Gettysburg would decrease by one-fifth the numbers of school children who learn about the historic Pennsylvania battle that was a turning point in the Civil War.

As America's financial clock ticks toward forced spending cuts to countless government agencies, The Associated Press has obtained a National Park Service memo that compiles a list of potential effects at the nation's most beautiful and historic places just as spring vacation season begins.