Dan's Outside

2003.01.05

***Tracks tell a tale of four-leggeds’ winter foraging
“Finding these tracks was like discovering the first clues in a wildlife mystery: What made them? Where would they lead? What story would they tell of a day in the winter wilderness?” – Tom Stienstra [SFGate]

***Another California “Winter” Hike
today at Almaden Quicksilver. 70 degrees and sunny on the 1400′ ridge. (I note on the remote weather report today that Tuolumne Meadows at 8600′ in Yosemite reached 51 degrees today.)
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January 5, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.01.05

2003.01.03

***Ultralight or Ultranormal
2001 Backpacker magazine article comparing “old-school” and ultralight backpacking.

I wish that Backpacker would do something more creative with its website than recycle print articles from the past three years.
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January 3, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.01.03

2003.01.02

***Climbers getting high on indoor facilities
“Forty years ago, a California climber was a booted, scruffy drifter regularly wearing out a welcome with Sierra rangers, a scrounger of meals from dumpsters and park cafeterias, a youth who divided time between bloodying his knuckles on virgin rock walls and sleeping off hangovers in a weather- beaten tent.”

“Now, a California climber is a fitness buff in sleek tights and tight rubber slippers, who performs gymnastic moves on colorful walls of ersatz rock — often to background music — then grabs a protein smoothie from a cafe at the climbing center before she goes to unwind in its steam room.”[SFGate]

I preferred the old approach…
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January 2, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.01.02

New Years 2003 Almaden Quicksilver Berries

Trailside berries at Almaden Quicksilver Park on New Years Day 2003
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January 1, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on New Years 2003 Almaden Quicksilver Berries

New Years 2003 Almaden Quicksilver Trail

Trail above Guadalupe Reservoir at Almaden Quicksilver County Part on New Years Day 2003
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January 1, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on New Years 2003 Almaden Quicksilver Trail

New Years 2003 Quicksilver Mines Trees

Trees at Almaden Quicksilver County Park on New Years Day 2003
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January 1, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on New Years 2003 Quicksilver Mines Trees

Outside Log 2003

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January 1, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Outside Log 2003

2003.01.01

***Happy New Year!
I’m off for a New Years Day hike at Almaden Quicksilver County Park.

And now I’m back… Lot’s of other people had the same idea on this beautiful New Years Day. There were many hikers and cyclists on the trail… and water everywhere.

***Global Warming Found to Displace Species.
Global warming is forcing species around the world to alter habits in ways that could disrupt ecosystems, two groups of researchers say. By Andrew C. Revkin. [New York Times: Science]
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January 1, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.01.01

2002.12.31

***Temperatures Are Likely to Go From Warm to Warmer.
Climate experts say global temperatures in 2003 could match or beat the modern record set in 1998. By Andrew C. Revkin. [New York Times: Science]
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December 31, 2002 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2002.12.31

About

***About this site
… and some pictures of me.

I started this web site for several reasons, including the following…

To archive and display some of my Photography from my outdoor adventures – mostly in California, but also in Alaska, The Yukon, and British Columbia. While I post lots of photographs on this web site, I post some of those I particularly like at my real photography web site: G Dan Mitchell Photography.

To share stories from my hiking, backpacking, skiing and other trips.

To post and save links to interesting stories on the outdoors, the environment, and related topics.

To publish some information that I think might be useful to others, including my gear list (Equipage) and some trail guides (Trails) and trip descriptions.

(Please read my Disclaimer before you contemplate relying on any of my advice.)

You can
***become a member
of the web site – see the link in the
***Membership
section of the sidebar. Members can post messages in the discussion section of the site.

You might also find the
***Talusdancers
web site interesting. The Talusdancers are a group of friends who go on at least one mountain adventure each year – usually a weeklong (or longer) Sierra pack trip.

The photo at the right was taken during a late-season cross-country ski trip out to Minaret Summit in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

The photo below is from an aborted attempt on Mt. Shasta during the same year. It was taken by my backcountry buddy, Owen Lee. Instead of climbing to the summit we ended up visiting Giddy Giddy Gulch, which is to the left of the main Avalanche Gulch route up the peak.

***Background

I’m not any kind of backcountry professional – not a ranger, a guide, a tour leader, etc. However, I have been backpacking for a long time. If memory serves, my first Sierra pack trip was in the summer of 1968 when I and two friends crossed Rockbound Pass near Lake Tahoe.

Since that time I’ve backpacked over much of the Sierra between Tahoe in the north and Mt. Langley in the south. Oddly enough I’ve still not covered the entire Muir Trail – I’m missing a section betweeen Purple Lake (south of Devil’s Postpile) and the Muir Trail Ranch in the Florence Lake area.

Trips have included many short adventures with my kids starting when they were 3 years old, many trips with friends, several trips of up to two weeks duration with my wife in the 1980s, many solo trips ranging from overnight up to two weeks, a bunch of trips with my friends in the talusdancers, more than a half dozen trips with the Hoover-Lincoln Hiking-Biking club (including the Chilkoot Pass and an 1100 mile bike trip in Alaska and the Yukon), lots of cross-country skiing, more recently some telemark skiing, a few winter ski-camping trips, and a few years of rock climbing.

I once totaled up the number of days I’ve spent on the trail and realized that I could actually measure them in years!

(The slightly manic photo of me at the right was taken by my wife Patty at Olmsted Point in Yosemite.)

***Photography

Virtually all photos on this web site were taken with a digital camera. Until April 2004 I used Olympus D40 Zoom camera, a small and lightweight 4 megapixel model. In April I acquired a Canon Powershot Pro 1 – a very portable 8 megapixel model. A year later I acquired an 8-megapixel Canon Digital Rebel XT with the 17mm-85mm EF-S lens.

The Canon Powershot is a great backcountry camera. The image quality is quite high and the lens provides 28mm to 200mm equivalant range. Shooting in RAW mode I can get over 100 photos on a single 1 gig CF card.

On the other hand, the DSLR Canon Digital Rebel XT is better. One major reason is that it takes a variety of very high quality lenses. Unless I’m travelling very light and I’m less concerned about photo quality I take the heavier gear.

My backcountry photo kit includes:

• Canon Digital Rebel XT
• Canon EF 17-40 f/4 L, Canon EF 24-105 f/4 L IS, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L, and Canon 50mm f/1.4 lenses
• Two (or more) rechargable camera batteries
• Many gigs of CF cards.
• Velbon Carmagne carbon-fiber tripod with Acratech Ballhead, or Velbon Maxi-sf tripod when travelling extra-light.
• Polarizing filter
• LowePro or Tamrac camera bag

This load can add up to around to 10 pounds. Sigh.

More and more, photography has become one of the most important reasons I backpack and hike.

I have written a little more about my camera choices (and some recent changes) on the Equipage page.

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This web site is created and maintained entirely on my own time and at my own expense and is entirely separate and independent from my professional employment as a member of the faculty at De Anza College.
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December 29, 2002 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on About