The Dispatch: America's First National Park City, High-Speed Rail's Future and Starlink's Competition
Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga, Tennessee on a sunny summer afternoon. | Sarah Swainson via Unsplash
The Dispatch is your monthly dose of travel news from the editors of Wildsam. This month we dig into the first National Park City in North America, a battle for satellite internet provider supremacy, and the future of high-speed rails in America.
Chattanooga is the First National Park City in North America
Chattanooga has come a long way since the 1970s. Once considered a top polluted city in the United States, it recently earned the honor of first National Park City in North America. The Tennessee city is one of only three cities with the distinction in the world joining London, which received the designation in 2018, and Adelaide, Australia, in 2021.
Located along the Tennessee River at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, including its iconic Lookout and Signal mountains, Chattanooga now has more than 70 parks and more than 200 miles of trails within 30 miles of downtown. The city's evolution from its unchecked emissions on railroads and coal furnaces to a place of cleaner air, care for biodiversity and a plethora of green spaces and access to the outdoors for fishing, mountain biking, hang-gliding, and other pursuits, helped the city earn its designation.
The nonprofit National Park City Foundation is not a part of The National Park Service, but its website notes that it takes inspiration from the national parks and their relationship to land and culture
— Jennifer Justus
The Future of High-Speed Rails in North America
Wouldn’t it be great if you could hop on a train and travel at blazing speeds? Traveling America by train is a lost art, but high-speed rails (train systems that go at least 186 mph) could change that. There are only a few dozen countries in the world with high-speed rails— most in Western Europe or East Asia—but not one in the Americas. Yet.
Now, this mode of transportation won’t be coming to the United States anytime soon, but projects across the country are developing the necessary infrastructure and tech. Brightline West broke ground last year and will take passengers from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga, California, at 218 mph. It’s expected by 2028. In the Pacific Northwest, Cascadia, a line that will connect Portland, Seattle and Vancouver at 250 mph. There are also plans for one in Texas—a plan that was originally proposed in the 1990s.
— H. Drew Blackburn
Starlink is About to Get Some Competition From Amazon
Move over Elon Musk, there’s a new satellite internet provider that’s ready for takeoff. The Amazon-backed Project Kuiper is now deploying its first satellites, bringing some much-needed competition to the market. The new service can potentially deliver download speeds of up to 400 Mbps, which is more than twice as fast as Starlink’s current performance. Pricing and availability have yet to be revealed, but once Project Kuiper officially goes online, it should give customers a reliable alternative for working, streaming, and posting from remote places.
— Kraig Becker
The Teardrop Camper Built for Mountain Bikers
If you’re a mountain biker looking for the ultimate camping trailer, we may have found exactly what you’re looking for. A company called Escapod had launched a new model based on its popular Topo2 teardrop trailer. The new Topo MTB model includes a specially designed hitch mount that rotates out of the way, granting full access to a galley kitchen, even while loaded with two bikes. The rig also comes with a Küat bike rack and a professional-grade bike tool kit to ensure your ride is always fully operational. Add in a cozy cabin, plenty of onboard storage, and off-road wheels and suspension, and you have the perfect base camp for any outdoor adventure.
— Kraig Becker
