Dan's Outside

The Governator Wants to Close State Parks

… but the odds are it will just turn out to be a bunch of political posturing in the end.

(I heard an interesting commentary on the radio this morning about the craziness of a “10% across the board” cut. If you were having problems with your personal or family cash flow, is that how you would handle it? Doubtful.)

January 15, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | 3 Comments

Yosemite National Park is Falling Apart. Really.

Seen in the West Coast Imaging Blog:

Continuing rockfall activity at Middle Brother From the Yosemite Daily Report:

Due to continuing rockfalls from Middle Brother, Northside Drive between Camp 4 and El Capitan crossover in Yosemite Valley remains closed. Please be aware that this closure includes both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The area was closed following a rockfall on December 18, 2007 that sent one large boulder and several smaller rock fragments onto the road. – Rich Seiling

And…

minor collapse in the pedestrian tunnel at Hetch Hetchy From the Yosemite Daily Report:

Due to a minor collapse in the pedestrian tunnel at Hetch Hetchy, the trail to Wapama and Tueealala Falls is inaccessible at this time. NPS and City of San Francisco staff will be evaluating the situation on Monday. – Rich Seiling

And if that’s not enough…

… a tree fell on Edie’s car.

January 15, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Yosemite National Park is Falling Apart. Really.

Take a Hike!

Tom Stienstra has a great suggestion for your New Years Day activity:

Want to keep a New Year’s resolution? Take a hike. When you look around and observe the general porkification of Americans, you might realize that many people share a universal New Year’s resolution: “I’m gonna get my butt in shape.” It happens every year and yet so many fail. They seem to lack the… [SFGate: Tom Stienstra]

December 30, 2007 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | 1 Comment

Cross-Country Hiking in the Bay Area

One of the great pleasures of hiking in the Sierra, especially the higher portions that I’m attracted to, is that one can hike cross-country via routes that have no official trails. Paths range from “create your own” to “look for the ducks left by previous visitors” to “find the faint use path.”

Generally, this kind of hiking isn’t realistic in the hills of the Bay Area. But right now it is possible in a few places. In late December, especially in a dry year like this one, conditions arrive that make cross-country hiking a possibility in some places, especially in some of the open oak/grassland areas. The old grasses have died down and the new vegetation is barely coming up; poison oak has died back; game trails become visible; and one doesn’t end up with pants, socks, and shoes covered with sticky seeds and worse.

December 28, 2007 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Cross-Country Hiking in the Bay Area

Merry Christmas 2007!

December 25, 2007 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Merry Christmas 2007!

Tom Mangan on Mission Peak

Tom Mangan posted a link to his Mercury-News article on hiking at Mission Peak, one of my favorite destinations. (Though, now that I think about it, I haven’t been up there for several months. Soon, soon…)

One of my favorite parts of the description: “A few hours at Mission Peak Regional Preserve might make you wonder if the United Nations has a West Coast hiking club.” How true! One of the wonderful things about this peak/park is that everyone from everywhere hikes there; this gives me hope that more and more segments of the California population can and will (and do!) enjoy our natural heritage.

A paragraph is loaded with points of connection for me:

Keep your distance from grazing cattle. Dress for working up a sweat, and have a jacket to block the powerful winds at the top. Wear sunscreen; there’s no shade. Park legally – the citations are expensive. If you park on the street off Stanford Avenue, never leave valuables in your car; break-ins are common.

Yes, the cattle… Normally I hike past cattle with barely a thought, but on a couple of occasions I’ve felt threatened by these beasts on some of the less-travelled trails in this park.

Regarding temperature and wind… This time of year, if you hike up on a sunny afternoon you may actually be able to convince yourself that it is summer – it gets that warm on some of the sunny slopes. On the other hand, I’ve experienced gloriously awful conditions on the peak as well: snow, winds blowing so hard I could barely remain standing, thick fog, rain.

And, yes, park legally… In particular do not park in the small parking area just outside the entrance gate on Stanford avenue. It is a spot along a fence that appears to be a perfectly serviceable parking area, and it is obvious that cars park there all the time. In addition, a confusing sign on a nearby fence suggests to reasonable people that there is no parking restriction here. Given the number of well-intentioned park visitors – yes, including me once – who park here, it should be obvious to the city of Fremont that better signage (or some way of blocking this area) would be in order. Perhaps Fremont would rather have the easy income? In any case, if the lot at the trailhead is full, go back down to the bottom of the last hill and turn right to find legal parking.

One final thought: Tom correctly points out that the main trail to the summit is not a place to find solitude. (I’ve even encountered surprising numbers of hikers an hour or more before dawn!) However, there are some ways to escape the hordes if you are willing to try different routes. As an alternative to the main “road” trail there is a footpath route via the Horse Heaven trail that is very nice, though it can be quite muddy during the wet season. Also, from near the summit you can follow a trail south along the ridge toward Monument Peak; you’ll typically encounter very few other hikers up here.

December 21, 2007 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Tom Mangan on Mission Peak