Latest news with #NorthCascades
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
WA hiker's viral video shows overgrown trails, full toilets in national park
The Brief Federal budget cuts to the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service have led to noticeable deterioration in trail conditions, with overgrown paths and overflowing facilities, as highlighted by outdoor content creator Ame Manser. Manser's viral video from the Hidden Lake Trail in North Cascades National Park shows unprecedented maintenance issues, worse than during COVID-era closures, affecting high-traffic routes. Budget cuts have resulted in reduced staffing, delayed trail openings, and minimal upkeep, raising concerns about the future condition of public lands and their economic value. NEWHALEM, Wash. - Outdoor lovers warned months ago that federal budget cuts to the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service would hit hard come summer. Now, with summer in full swing, many say the impact is undeniable. One of them is Ame Manser, a Spokane-based outdoor recreation content creator who recently posted a now-viral Instagram reel showing overgrown trails, overflowing pit toilets, and rutted paths on one of her favorite hikes in North Cascades National Park. What they're saying "We hike a lot in the Pacific Northwest, and we have been noticing it quite a bit more this year than previous years," Manser told FOX 13. "We are avid hikers and backpackers. We are out most weekends." Manser's video, taken on the Hidden Lake Trail — which crosses both National Park and Forest Service lands — shows high brush crowding the path. In her recording, Manser shared she was "so disappointed in the trail conditions." She says the lack of maintenance is unprecedented and worse than what she saw during COVID-era closures. "The past few months this has been a pattern that we keep seeing over and over again," said Manser. Why you should care She cited not just unkempt vegetation, but basic facility issues: pit toilets filled to the brim, no toilet paper, and trails blocked by downed trees. Hidden Lake, she said, is a well-loved, high-traffic route, making the disrepair even more concerning. Earlier this year, hundreds of positions were slashed across the National Park Service, resulting in delayed trail openings, reduced visitor center hours, closed campgrounds, and minimal upkeep on popular routes. "The trajectory currently is making me feel like these issues will continue if the status quo also continues," said Manser. She believes the economic value of well-maintained public lands has been overlooked in budget decisions. MORE NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE Tacoma hospital says its 'reviewing everything' following fatal ER shooting Seattle Mariners to hold week of festivities in honor of Ichiro Washington State Fair ranks 3rd most popular state fair based on social media Pete Carroll, Geno Smith return to Seattle with Raiders Dozens of animals rescued from cruelty case in Thurston County To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter. Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news. The Source Information in this story comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter Lauren Donovan. Solve the daily Crossword
CNET
28-07-2025
- CNET
My First Look at T-Mobile's Unique Starlink T-Satellite Service Made Me Head Far From Home
Is T-Mobile's new T-Satellite service worth $10 a month to be able to text from almost anywhere outside cellular coverage areas? The Starlink-based satellite service can be a convenience if you're camping or hiking remote areas, but also a communications lifeline for people who don't have regular cellular access or need emergency aid. To test it out, though, I had to find a cellular dead zone. T-Mobile estimates there are 500,000 square miles in the US with no cell coverage, so I left my home in Seattle to find one. After three hours of driving to the wooded North Cascades, I got my chance to see if satellite texting is as easy as everyday cellular texting, and how T-Satellite differs from other satellite services. Watch this: Hands-On with T-Mobile's T-Satellite Service 01:55 How T-Satellite differs from other satellite services Satellite texting is now a big deal: the wireless providers and phone-makers including Apple are betting satellite connectivity is the answer for travelers and people who live in remote areas (and even those impacted by emergencies such as the massive flooding in Texas). It also isn't new. Apple started offering SOS communication backed by Globalstar on the iPhone 14. And later, that allowed emergency texting when you're outside coverage areas -- a literal lifesaver for people injured, lost or stranded in remote areas. The feature also allowed you to share you location via satellite in the Find My app. Apple then expanded the service to include any texting using the Messages app, as well as calling for roadside assistance. CNET's David Lumb used Messages via satellite on his iPhone 15 Pro to text friends and share his thoughts when he summited Mount Haleakalā's peak in Hawaii. Google has a similar feature in its Pixel 9 phones, except the Pixel 9A, which works with satellite provider Skylo. Samsung Galaxy phones, like the recently released Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, can use Verizon for satellite texting and to contact emergency services through Skylo, too. However, that communication involves a few steps to activate the feature. You need to be outdoors with a clear view of the sky -- no trees or buildings -- and point your phone at a passing satellite, keeping it steady to maintain the connection. With T-Satellite, the experience is quite different. Texting is almost indistinguishable from when you're within cellular coverage. On a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with a T-Mobile plan, opening the Messages app showed the phone already connected to satellite, with a banner reading "You're messaging by satellite." A small satellite icon appears in the menu bar with radiating curves to indicate the status of the connection. The phone has automatically connected to the T-Satellite network, as indicated by its (teeny) status icon. Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET This is due in part to the fact that there are now more than 650 Starlink satellites overhead providing wider coverage, but also because they use a frequency band compatible with most phones sold in the last four don't need a specific phone model that has satellite messaging hardware, such as the Motorola Razr Ultra. The experience of setting up T-Satellite on my iPhone 16 Pro was generally the same. One unique thing about T-Satellite is that T-Mobile is offering the service to anyone, even if they use another carrier for cellular service. In my case, I set up the T-Satellite beta using the second eSIM slot on my phone, and turned off the primary service (AT&T) in order to test just T-Mobile's feature. A solid black satellite icon appears in the menu bar. I should note that I performed this testing a couple days before T-Satellite went live, so it was technically during the T-Satellite beta period, and using a beta version of the Messages app on Android. Plus, I didn't attempt to make an emergency call, either, which on the T-Satellite service would mean dialing 911 in the phone app, versus initiating an SOS text communication using Apple's service. Texting, but sometimes slower Mostly, texting via satellite is just like texting via cellular. The data pipe between the phone and a satellite flying overhead at 17,000 miles per hour is small, so occasionally texts would take several seconds to go through. But sometimes a conversation would happen without any extended lag. By comparison, when CNET's Patrick Holland tested Apple's Messages via satellite feature, he noted that "most sends were nearly instantaneous, others took 15 to 20 seconds with one taking over a minute." One feature going live today for Android is the ability to send images, videos and audio files using Multimedia Messaging Service over the satellite network. On the Galaxy S25 Ultra, I snapped a photo of the lake and sent it using Messages as I normally would. The only difference over satellite is that it took around two and a half minutes to send. On Android, you can send photos via MMS even over the satellite connection. The feature is coming later for iOS. Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET However, MMS is currently only supported on Android; iOS support is coming later. Also arriving in the future -- October, specifically -- is the ability for apps to send and receive data over the satellite connection. T-Mobile has cited AllTrails as an example of apps that'll be compatible with the service. This would be a great use of data for other mapping tools. Although I was never lost on this trip --I pulled into a well-marked scenic overlook to test with a stunning view -- I also made a point of downloading an offline map of the area using Apple Maps while I was still within cellular range. Lingering questions and challenges Not every message went through, and after my limited testing, there are a few areas where more clarity would help. For example, on Android, it wasn't always obvious when I'd lost satellite connection. In theory, with many Starlink satellites overhead, you shouldn't have to worry about pointing at a specific patch of sky to maintain a connection. But at one point after sending a message, some text below it said the app was waiting to connect. Only then did I notice the tiny satellite icon was showing thin gray bars instead of thin black bars. Compare that to Apple's implementation, which uses Dynamic Island to show an impossible-to-miss green status button to indicate a solid connection to a satellite. Or Google's Satellite SOS service, with its full-screen visual prompts that help you stay connected to a satellite or connect to a new one if needed. The prominent green icon in the Dynamic Island indicates a satellite connection when using Apple's satellite texting feature. (The red icon shows that the screen is being recorded and isn't related to the connection.) Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET I also ran into some confusion with my iPhone 16 Pro running T-Satellite as a secondary eSIM. When attempting to text a friend who came along with me and was using Apple's method on his iPhone, I got a message that he was connected via satellite and was given the option to tap Send via Satellite. What I didn't realize at the time was that the connection dropped as I was typing the text. On further research, I discovered that an active third-party satellite connection shows "SAT" in the menu bar. When SAT is replaced by a black satellite icon, it means T-Satellite is no longer connected, but that Apple's satellite option is available; I thought it meant that I was still connected. At one point, I was unable to text my friend who was also using satellite access, even though it appeared to be connected (see the satellite icon in the menu bar). (The red button in the Dynamic Island shows that the screen is being recorded.) Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET Look up, and ahead Will satellite services cover the remaining dead zones and allow easy communication even in remote areas? Based on my experience, the potential is definitely there. It's been less than two years since Apple first launched Emergency SOS via satellite on the iPhone and it's impressive how satellite connectivity has expanded so quickly with the ability to support texting. I appreciate that the T-Satellite implementation is similar to the way millions of people communicate every day via text. Removing friction is key to adopting technologies like this. As companies build up the capacity and performance of satellite services, it's easy to see a near future where you don't have to think about how you're getting data, just as we currently don't ever think about which cellular tower is relaying our data. As someone who lives in cellular-saturated Seattle, I probably won't need to rely on satellite data. But the North Cascades is where I've gone camping for years, so I can see it being occasionally useful, especially if there's ever an emergency situation. As I was juggling my phones and pestering my friends and family with texts, a couple approached to ask what I was doing. They were visiting the area from a small town in northern Idaho near the Canadian border, where cellular coverage is a rarity. After talking for a few minutes, I realized that being able to connect wirelessly via satellite could be a real boon for them, especially in emergencies, but also everyday annoyances when other forms of communication aren't available, like during power outages.
CNET
23-07-2025
- CNET
I Tested T-Mobile's Satellite Service: The Hardest Part Was Finding a Dead Zone
Driving the wooded highways of the North Cascades in Washington state, I deliberately pointed my car toward nothing. Specifically, I needed to get out of Seattle to find an area with no cellular coverage so I could try out T-Mobile's new Starlink-based satellite texting service, T-Satellite, with my phone. It was more difficult than I expected. Most areas of the US are covered by some level of cellular service. But that still leaves around 500,000 square miles of wireless dead zones, according to a T-Mobile estimate. For those rural and remote areas, the carrier, other wireless providers and phone-makers including Apple, are betting satellite connectivity is the answer. The wireless bars on my phone finally abandoned me at Lake Diablo, about two and a half hours northeast of Seattle, giving me a chance to bounce messages back and forth from space to test whether T-Mobile has made satellite texting as easy as everyday cellular texting. How T-Satellite differs from other satellite services On one hand, driving 120 miles just to text someone seems like overkill. But texting -- or any immediate outside communication -- slams to a halt when cellular coverage disappears. Satellite texting isn't new. Apple started offering SOS communication backed by Globalstar on the iPhone 14. And later, that allowed emergency texting when you're outside coverage areas -- a literal lifesaver for people injured, lost or stranded in remote areas. The feature also allowed you to share you location via satellite in the Find My app. Apple then expanded the service to include any texting using the Messages app, as well as calling for roadside assistance. CNET's David Lumb used Messages via satellite on his iPhone 15 Pro to text friends and share his thoughts when he summited Mount Haleakalā's peak in Hawaii. Google has a similar feature in its Pixel 9 phones, except the Pixel 9A, which works with satellite provider Skylo. Samsung Galaxy phones, like the recently released Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, can use Verizon for satellite texting and to contact emergency services through Skylo, too. However, that communication involves a few steps to activate the feature. You need to be outdoors with a clear view of the sky -- no trees or buildings -- and point your phone at a passing satellite, keeping it steady to maintain the connection. With T-Satellite, the experience is quite different. Texting is almost indistinguishable from when you're within cellular coverage. On a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with a T-Mobile plan, opening the Messages app showed the phone already connected to satellite, with a banner reading "You're messaging by satellite." A small satellite icon appears in the menu bar with radiating curves to indicate the status of the connection. The phone has automatically connected to the T-Satellite network, as indicated by its (teeny) status icon. Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET This is due in part to the fact that there are now more than 650 Starlink satellites overhead providing wider coverage, but also because they use a frequency band compatible with most phones sold in the last four don't need a specific phone model that has satellite messaging hardware, such as the Motorola Razr Ultra. The experience of setting up T-Satellite on my iPhone 16 Pro was generally the same. One unique thing about T-Satellite is that T-Mobile is offering the service to anyone, even if they use another carrier for cellular service. In my case, I set up the T-Satellite beta using the second eSIM slot on my phone, and turned off the primary service (AT&T) in order to test just T-Mobile's feature. A solid black satellite icon appears in the menu bar. I should note that I performed this testing a couple days before T-Satellite went live, so it was technically during the T-Satellite beta period, and using a beta version of the Messages app on Android. Plus, I didn't attempt to make an emergency call, either, which on the T-Satellite service would mean dialing 911 in the phone app, versus initiating an SOS text communication using Apple's service. Texting, but sometimes slower Mostly, texting via satellite is just like texting via cellular. The data pipe between the phone and a satellite flying overhead at 17,000 miles per hour is small, so occasionally texts would take several seconds to go through. But sometimes a conversation would happen without any extended lag. By comparison, when CNET's Patrick Holland tested Apple's Messages via satellite feature, he noted that "most sends were nearly instantaneous, others took 15 to 20 seconds with one taking over a minute." One feature going live today for Android is the ability to send images, videos and audio files using Multimedia Messaging Service over the satellite network. On the Galaxy S25 Ultra, I snapped a photo of the lake and sent it using Messages as I normally would. The only difference over satellite is that it took around two and a half minutes to send. On Android, you can send photos via MMS even over the satellite connection. The feature is coming later for iOS. Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET However, MMS is currently only supported on Android; iOS support is coming later. Also arriving in the future -- October, specifically -- is the ability for apps to send and receive data over the satellite connection. T-Mobile has cited AllTrails as an example of apps that'll be compatible with the service. This would be a great use of data for other mapping tools. Although I was never lost on this trip --I pulled into a well-marked scenic overlook to test with a stunning view -- I also made a point of downloading an offline map of the area using Apple Maps while I was still within cellular range. Lingering questions and challenges Not every message went through, and after my limited testing, there are a few areas where more clarity would help. For example, on Android, it wasn't always obvious when I'd lost satellite connection. In theory, with many Starlink satellites overhead, you shouldn't have to worry about pointing at a specific patch of sky to maintain a connection. But at one point after sending a message, some text below it said the app was waiting to connect. Only then did I notice the tiny satellite icon was showing thin gray bars instead of thin black bars. Compare that to Apple's implementation, which uses Dynamic Island to show an impossible-to-miss green status button to indicate a solid connection to a satellite. Or Google's Satellite SOS service, with its full-screen visual prompts that help you stay connected to a satellite or connect to a new one if needed. The prominent green icon in the Dynamic Island indicates a satellite connection when using Apple's satellite texting feature. (The red icon shows that the screen is being recorded and isn't related to the connection.) Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET I also ran into some confusion with my iPhone 16 Pro running T-Satellite as a secondary eSIM. When attempting to text a friend who came along with me and was using Apple's method on his iPhone, I got a message that he was connected via satellite and was given the option to tap Send via Satellite. What I didn't realize at the time was that the connection dropped as I was typing the text. On further research, I discovered that an active third-party satellite connection shows "SAT" in the menu bar. When SAT is replaced by a black satellite icon, it means T-Satellite is no longer connected, but that Apple's satellite option is available; I thought it meant that I was still connected. At one point, I was unable to text my friend who was also using satellite access, even though it appeared to be connected (see the satellite icon in the menu bar). (The red button in the Dynamic Island shows that the screen is being recorded.) Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET Look up, and ahead Will satellite services cover the remaining dead zones and allow easy communication even in remote areas? Based on my experience, the potential is definitely there. It's been less than two years since Apple first launched Emergency SOS via satellite on the iPhone and it's impressive how satellite connectivity has expanded so quickly with the ability to support texting. I appreciate that the T-Satellite implementation is similar to the way millions of people communicate every day via text. Removing friction is key to adopting technologies like this. As companies build up the capacity and performance of satellite services, it's easy to see a near future where you don't have to think about how you're getting data, just as we currently don't ever think about which cellular tower is relaying our data. As someone who lives in cellular-saturated Seattle, I probably won't need to rely on satellite data. But the North Cascades is where I've gone camping for years, so I can see it being occasionally useful, especially if there's ever an emergency situation. As I was juggling my phones and pestering my friends and family with texts, a couple approached to ask what I was doing. They were visiting the area from a small town in northern Idaho near the Canadian border, where cellular coverage is a rarity. After talking for a few minutes, I realized that being able to connect wirelessly via satellite could be a real boon for them, especially in emergencies. We've seen this recently when T-Mobile opened T-Satellite access in communities affected by massive flooding in central Texas -- but it's also useful when other forms of communication aren't available, like during power outages.
Fast Company
08-07-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Out of the bad data wilderness: How to solve the data challenges slowing your AI initiatives
There's a good chance your company is stuck in the wilderness. Not the North Cascades or the Olympic Peninsula, which rise up on either side of where I live in Washington, but a data wilderness where far too many companies are stranded. They usually don't realize it, though, until they move forward with AI initiatives. One moment, they are safely on the right path, making progress toward their AI goals. The next moment, they are off trail with limited options on which direction to go. DATA QUALITY: THE BOTTLENECK TO MANY AI INITIATIVES The data wilderness hits major technology initiatives like AI projects when obstacles are created by data accuracy, quality, and accessibility. Fast Company has put a spotlight on the make-or-break impact of data quality on AI initiatives in a number of recent articles. I have also discussed this in my recent Fast Company Executive Board column. Data can suffer from many quality issues. Is it accurate? Is it precise enough and rich enough for how AI will use it? Is it accessible when you need it? Is it current? Is it in the right format? Is it properly structured? Is it compliant with evolving regulatory requirements like privacy laws? These issues arise particularly with technical data, where accuracy, precision, timeliness, and other characteristics are crucial for an organization's operations. Examples include geospatial/GIS data, infrastructure operations data, manufacturing/industrial systems data, IoT implementations data, and more, which are critical across a wide range of industries. For organizations that rely on this complex technical data, ensuring that the data is truly AI-ready can be challenging. The traditional remedies tend to be slow and costly because they rely on manual review of data sets and manual fixes to make the data points more accurate, remove errors, enrich the data, improve dataflows that fix latency issues, and so forth. Given how vital data is to every aspect of an organization's operations, investing in greater data quality pays dividends. But how can your organization accomplish this in a way that is cost- and resource-effective, while also moving at the speed needed to achieve aggressive AI initiative timelines? COULD AI ITSELF BE THE SOLUTION? My team offers a surprising answer to that question: Making data truly AI-ready may require the use of AI. To illustrate this, let's look at a municipality in Illinois that is working with TRC to deploy AI to drive operational efficiencies related to infrastructure management and delivery of public services. As is true of many organizations, an audit of its data revealed data quality issues that would stand in the way of successfully building and training the AI models. And like most organizations, this client has limited resources to address these data issues with the time-consuming techniques I discussed above. But limitations drive creativity and necessity drives invention. That is how we began experimenting with using AI to automate the process of identifying and resolving data quality problems. Based on an assessment of the quality issues we were seeing and anticipating in the municipality's data, we trained a generative AI model to review massive datasets for missing data points, outlier data points that might be errors, data latency issues that would require improved dataflows, and more. We also trained the AI model to assess data quality and precision in the most complex datasets, allowing the model to assess data with some of the same expertise and nuance that a trained professional would use in reviewing the data. After reviewing the assessments, the AI model was trained to perform fixes for common quality issues and escalate others for manual resolution. These automated steps were overseen by professionals, acting as a force multiplier that allowed a small team to perform data enhancement to massive datasets that would have been impossible otherwise. Nothing can replace the data enhancement work that a trained professional with domain expertise can perform, but these pilot projects show that AI has an important role to play in augmenting teams who face urgent timelines for ensuring that data is AI-ready. I have a career's worth of working on data enhancement projects, and I was pleasantly surprised at how effective this approach was. My team has used a similar approach with other projects, and the outcomes are equally positive. The result is a process that could prove to be a valuable blueprint for other organizations trying to make it through the data wilderness and get their AI initiatives back on track. MOVING FORWARD WITH DATA It is important that organizations understand what data quality means to them and have a data governance program that meets its own set standards for quality. Begin with a consensus about how to define data quality. This foundational definition will give your organization a clear standard for diagnosing and resolving issues in order to be AI-ready. My next column will cover this topic in depth. Until then, if you get stuck in the data wilderness on the way to achieving your AI objectives, don't worry. AI may be exactly what you need… to take full advantage of AI.
Washington Post
15-05-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Sole survivor of a 400-foot rock climbing fall told 911 dispatcher he could 'hardly breathe'
A rock climber who survived a long fall that killed his three companions hiked back to his car despite serious injuries and told a 911 dispatcher that he could 'hardly breathe,' according to a recording obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. Anton Tselykh and his climbing partners were descending a gully between towering granite spires in Washington's North Cascades mountains on Saturday evening when an anchor securing their ropes tore out the rock. All four plummeted hundreds of feet. Tselykh lost consciousness and awoke several hours later in a tangle of ropes. He managed to trek to his car over snowy and rocky terrain and drive about 40 miles (64 kilometers) to the unincorporated community of Newhalem, where he called 911 early Sunday. He apologized to the dispatcher for his voice and said he could barely breathe. He reported that three of his companions had been killed in the fall, but he could only find two of their bodies in the dark. 'The whole team went down,' Tselykh said. 'We basically slid and rolled down, like all of us, to the bottom of the couloir and a little bit lower.' A couloir is a sheer gully that runs down a mountain. Despite suffering brain trauma and other serious internal injuries, he told the dispatcher that he didn't think he needed immediate medical help. 'My face is very well beaten, hands and my ribs, I can hardly breathe,' said Teslykh. 'But I feel OK, I mean, I don't need emergency.' The dispatcher asked him to stay were he was so that medics could check him out and authorities could take his report. He was later hospitalized. By Wednesday morning, he was in satisfactory condition at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, meaning he was not in the intensive care unit, Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman for UW Medicine, said in an email.
