Dan's Outside

2003 February

***2/1
– Short hike up Waddell Creek.

***2/2
– Quick hike up past English Camp to the ridgeline at Almaden Quicksilver County Park.

***2/15
– Almaden Quicksilver.

***2/23
– Telemark and cross-country skiing at Northstar.

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May 11, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003 February

2003 May

***5/3
Hiked a different route on today’s 7 1/4-mile Almaden walk. Started at the Mockingbird Hill entrance and then followed the New Almaden trail to the junction with Prospect #3. Took Prospect #3 up to the ridge and then via Bull Run to English Camp. Descended the main trail and took the Capehorn Pass segment of the Hacienda trail back to the parking lot. The white lupine on the ridge near the mine are still not quite at their peak yet.

***5/10
Climbed to Windy Hill from the Alpine Road area via (mostly) a fire road. About 5.5 or 6 miles? This was my first time on this trail. I often passed the part of the park on Skyline Blvd. when I used to bicycle up there, but I never even got off the bike to take a look.

***5/11
Quick hike up to the ridge-top mine on the Castillero trail to take pictures of the White Lupine display, which seemed to be at its peak today. Went up the Mines Trail and down the English Camp trail.

***5/17
Up the English Camp trail and down the Mines Trail. Completely forgot to look for the lupine patch near the mine – I was busy talking to Bill, a fellow I met on the trail up the hill. He claims to have hiked here as early as 1959 (?) before many of the mining facilities had been removed.

***5/24 – 2/26
Telemark and cross-country skiing at Mammoth. On Saturday left town late and drove to Mammoth – arriving around 11:30 to camp in the desert. Sunday, telemark skied at Mammoth resort – quite a lot of snow left. Spent the better part of the day skiing beginning run (Discovery Chair?) and practicing telemark technique. Monday cross-country skied out to Minaret Summit to lie in the warm sun for an hour or so and admire the snow-covered view. Drove back over newly-opened Sonora Pass with incredible snow-covered scenery and lots of flowing meltwater.

***5/31
An aborted end-of-month hike today at Almaden Quicksilver. I headed up the trail and was all ready for a 11-12 mile outing but thought I’d call home first to see if others had awakened yet. (I left very early.) They had, and I needed to take Jameson to a rehearsal, so I reversed course and headed back home with only about 2 miles of hiking under my belt. There’s always tomorrow…

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May 11, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003 May

2003 April

***4/2
– Bull Run loop and Almaden Quicksilver – up the main drag and down the English Camp trail.

***4/4 – 4/6
– Cross-country ski overnight in Yosemite. Camped in Yosemite Valley the first night since a cold late-season storm had closed the road to Badger Pass. Next day we drove to Badger Pass and skied out on the Glacier Point road to an overlook of the Clark Range where we set up camp. Skied out on day 3.

***4/19
– After not getting out last week it was good to hike today. Did the middle-length route at Almaden – out Randol, up the lateral to the ridge trail, past Bull Run. The white lupine near the mine on the ridge are just beginning to bloom.

***4/26
– Back to New Almaden today – as usual. I think I need to try some other trails… ;-) But really, it is nice to have a nearby place that I feel like I really know. Today was unusual for California spring. It is supposed to be getting drier and warmer now, but it rained most of the week and was unusually cold – so the trail to English Camp and beyond was very wet and muddy. Still keeping an eye on the White Lupine patch near the mine on the ridge – more flowers today but the peak is perhaps still a week away.

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May 11, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003 April

2003 March

***2/1
– Short hike up Waddell Creek.

***2/2
– Quick hike up past English Camp to the ridgeline at Almaden Quicksilver County Park.

***3/1
– Started the new month with the “middle” loop at Quicksilver – out on the Randol (more-or-less) trail to the lateral from the grassy knoll to the Bull Run trail and then back to Almaden.

***3/8
– Typical Saturday morning at Quicksilver park. This time started at the Almaden parking lot, crossed Capehorn Pass and headed out Randol toward Guadalupe Reservoir. At the trail junction just before the reservoir I turned left and headed back up the ridge toward Bull Run, then descending through English Camp back to the car. About 11+ miles.

Didn’t get out much during mid-March due to a really nasty cold that hung on for nearly 3 weeks.

***3/29
– The quick hike up to Bull Run via the easy route and then back down via English Camp – 6.5-7 miles. Posted some new flower pictures on the Photos page.

***3/30
– Back to Almaden Quicksilver the next day! Took the Randol trail out to the grassy overlook and then followed the lateral trail (past many wild flowers) up to the ridge trail. From there went up to Bull Run and then down the main route – with too many mountain bikers… Probably at least 8 miles, maybe a bit more.

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May 11, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003 March

2003 January

***1/1
– New Years hike at Almaden Quicksilver County Park. Did the long loop from New Almaden to near Guadalupe reservoir and then returned via the ridge trail past Bull Run and English Camp and the English Camp trail. 11+ miles.

***1/5
– Almaden Quicksilver loop. Up the old road to Bull Run and then back via English Camp. App. 6 miles.

***1/12
– (or thereabouts) First attempt at telemark skiing at Northstar.

***1/18
– A quick hike up to Bull Run at Almaden Quicksilver. Although it was socked-in and cold in the valley, it was sunny and warm on the ridge.

***1/20
– More telemark skiing at Squaw Valley.

***1/26
– Almaden Quicksilver County Park 7-8 mile loop. Saw first wildflowers of the season!

***January Summary
– I think I forgot to include a few other hikes at Almaden Quicksilver.

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May 11, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003 January