Dan's Outside

"Perfect Time to Beat the Crowd"

A Tom Stienstra piece at SFGate reminded me about a September truth: at just the time when fewer and fewer people head to the outdoors, the outdoors is becoming a more and more attractive place to be in many ways.

School is (mostly) back in session and after this Labor Day Weekend (which the news reports like to call “the unofficial end of summer”) is over most people will be back at work full time. But if you can break away now, especially during the week, there is hardly a better time to do so in much of California.

Although the start of the cool and rainy season is likely still at least six to eight weeks away, the likelihood of extreme summer heat starts to diminish. Even the Sierra sun and heat can be intense on some mid-summer days, but by mid to late September many days will be comfortable and feature warm, golden light. Here in Northern California we get some of the best coastal weather of the year – the fog is less constant and the winter storms are a long ways off.

And the people pressure starts to decrease at many places that have been extremely crowded for the last few months. As a Sierra fan – and someone whose work schedule provides some free time in September – I love the post-Labor Day period when the number of people in the mountains diminishes greatly. Heck, I can show up on a weekend and get a wilderness permit on the spot for just about any place I want to go!

September 6, 2009 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | autumn, beat, california, crowd, fall, late, season, september, summer, vacation