Dan's Outside

I go, I see, I do, I walk, I think, I like…

NASA Satellite Image of SoCal Fires

NASA photograph of smoke plume from the Southern California fires.

More on this topic at Earth Observatory.

October 23, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on NASA Satellite Image of SoCal Fires

Another Wildfire Link

Also see the California Fire News web site.

October 23, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on Another Wildfire Link

Firefighter Blog

If there were ever a time to subscribe to the Firefighter Blog it would be now. There is lots of information from the front lines of the southern California fires.

October 23, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on Firefighter Blog

Sunday's Trip: Muir Woods

It has been a very long time since I’ve really visited Muir Woods north of San Francisco. Well, I did go a few years back with a group of friends, but we were really there to sample beers at the “guest house” in the hills above the park. In any case, yesterday I decided to combine a bit of photography in the Marin Headlands area with a visit to Muir Woods.

Since I had been at the Golden Gate Bridge early enough to do some sunrise photography, even though I made a short stop near Fort Cronkite first, I still was at Muir Woods quite early. Even with my early arrival the close-in parking lot was already full, so I went down the road a few hundred yards to the overflow lot.

The main section of this park is a redwood forest surrounding a creek that flows through the bottom of a small valley. Trails meander up and down this valley from the entrance. Actually, for someone accustomed to cross-country travel above timberline, “trail” seems like the wrong word. A good number of the paths are boardwalk, in places separated from the forest by fences. I generally don’t like being separated from my “wilderness,” but some protection from the hordes of visitors is no doubt necessary.

About the visitors… There are tons of them. By the time I finished my little photographic amble through the park around noon the place was crawling with people, and not only was the overflow parking lot (where mine had been the only car when I arrived) now completely full, but cars were lining the roadway for a good distance beyond. It didn’t take long to figure out that Muir Woods is on the San Francisco tourist loop, as there were quite a few people arriving by tour bus, and I heard accents and languages from most of the planet.

Even though the crowds are not to my liking, I do understand that areas like this are necessary and, in fact, do serve to expose some people who would not otherwise have the experience to something that feels a bit like wilderness. Among the visitors I saw quite a few who seemed truly impressed by the tall trees and the quiet stillness of this patch of forest.

Of course, I also saw a few humorous things as well. It appeared that some people, wearing clothing and shoes more appropriate for shopping in downtown San Francisco, might have accidentally left the boardwalk trail and ended up on real trails. Good for them for being a bit more adventurous, but some looked more than a bit uncomfortable stepping over downed branches and mud. Since I was in full photographer mode (biggish camera, large lenses, backpack, full size tripod) I also had to endure (enjoy? suffer? laugh at? laugh with?) the comments/antics of people reacting to me and my equipment: “Are you a photographer?” “Did you get a good picture?” It is all in good fun though – I often ask if they would like me to use their camera to take a photo of their whole group for them.

October 22, 2007 Posted by | Commentary, Places, Trails | 1 Comment

Ultralight Equipment: Ideas I May Adopt

Since I often go into the mountains carrying a big load of camera equipment, lowering the weight of the rest of my backpacking load has become more important. I’ve already moved to a much lighter sleeping bag, lighter backpacks, and I prefer to use a bivy rather than a tent in most situations.

My backpacking buddy, Owen, has moved more completely (some say obsessively… :-) to ultralight gear over the past few seasons. While I remain skeptical of some of the equipment, other elements of it are starting to make more sense. He sure carries a much lighter pack than I do, and in many ways he doesn’t seem to suffer as a result. (Though I’m still waiting to see what happens on the first trip where he has to weather a real storm in his parka/poncho/tarp/tent…)

With this in mind, I’m considering a few changes for next season:

Alcohol stove – Owen introduced me to some small alcohol stoves that barely weight an ounce or two, and which burn maybe an ounce or two of fuel per day – fuel that you can carry in a tiny plastic squeeze bottle. Since most of my “cooking” really comes down to boiling water, one of these should work well.

Water Treatment – There is apparently a water treatment system available now that uses the same technology used in municipal water systems – no iodine or iodine taste. Since any water filter that actually works adds a pound to the pack along with significant bulk, this sounds like a great idea.

October 20, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on Ultralight Equipment: Ideas I May Adopt

Park Access – How and for Whom?

Tom Mangan (Two-Heel Drive) raises some interesting questions:

Report: Wilderness too far from inner city. I’m hoping my colleagues in the biased news media have unfairly portrayed the contents of a recent report, which slams the East Bay Regional Parks System for the unmitigated gall of having all its parks in areas full of rich white people.

In a new application of the environmental justice theme, a San Francisco law professor says low-income minorities in the East Bay’s flatlands deserve better access to regional parks located mostly in the hills near affluent homes.

The East Bay Regional Park District should do more to improve bus service to its parks, and consider putting more emphasis on acquiring lands in flat areas like Richmond and Oakland, according to a new report released today by Paul Kibel, an adjunct professor at the Golden Gate School of Law.

“The majority of East Bay Parks acreage is located adjacent to affluent white neighborhoods,” Kibel wrote, “and the amount of agency holdings in or near low-income minority neighbors is still fairly minimal.”

You can read the rest of Tom’s post by following his title link.

I do have a concern about the ethnic, economic, and other imbalances in many of our parks. (At least in some cases, but not in others – hike Mission Peak for an wonderful and atypically integrated outdoor experience.) For the moment I’ll pass on that very important topic and just jump the transit question.

I, too, would be very pleased to see better transit opportunities for those of us who want to get “out there” without burning excess fuel. While I’m able to leave my car at home on most work days and take the bus, I can’t really do the same when I want to head out for a weekend hike in the South SF Bay Area – at least not in the vast majority of the cases, and in some of those cases where transit is available I would end up spending more time getting there and back than hiking, unless you count the long walks on city streets between the transit stops to the trailheads.

Given that buses run on greatly reduced schedules on weekends, at least where I live, I wonder if it might be possible to run something along the lines of “recreation express service” to some of the destinations where the parking lots are otherwise full of cars on weekends. I know I’d take advantage of this.

October 19, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on Park Access – How and for Whom?

Fedak: Big Basin to the Sea

Fedak posts description of his hike from Big Basin State Park HQ to Waddell Beach. I’ve wanted to do this hike, or at least a similar version, for some time. I’ve hiked a ways up the trail from Waddell Beach a couple of times, and I’ve hiked out from Big Basin HQ to a point where I could see down to the ocean – just haven’t found the time (or worked out the car shuttle) to do the whole thing.

October 15, 2007 Posted by | Commentary, Trips | Comments Off on Fedak: Big Basin to the Sea

'It is forbidden to touch the trees in any way…'

A hilarious (or pathetic, perhaps?) sign posted next to a chestnut grove warns of a different kind of “inappropriate touching.”

October 14, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on 'It is forbidden to touch the trees in any way…'

But Even When The Aspens Have Dropped All Their Leaves…

… there is still plenty to see.


Piute Crags and North Lake. Sierra Nevada, California. October 7, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I spent last weekend in the eastern Sierra, photographing some of the last, best aspen color of the 2007 season. However, is some places the color had already gone by the time I arrived, including North Lake. North Lake can produce some of the most sublime aspen color displays in the Sierra – if you time your visit just right. There is an astonishing aspen “tree tunnel” along the side of the lake, and above the far shore a large grove extends from near the shore to far up the mountainside.

But I arrived too late this year. I already knew this while driving the gravel road to the lake, as I had seen past-prime aspen groves at lower elevations nearby. But all was not lost: a dusting of new autumn snow covered Piute Crags, which were reflected in the still waters of the lake.

While aspen season is astonishing, the Sierra is spectacular just about any time of the year.

October 14, 2007 Posted by | Commentary, Sierra Nevada | Comments Off on But Even When The Aspens Have Dropped All Their Leaves…

Eastern Sierra Fall Color: Going, Going…

… and soon gone, especially if you are looking for aspens.

I follow a bunch of reports on the net (including the Calphoto fall color report) and it is clear from the reports and my own visits over the past few weeks that the aspen show in the eastern Sierra is for the most part over – although there are scattered reports of a few good groves here and there, mostly at lower altitudes and some further north in the range.

What’s left? While the aspens are my primary interest in early October, there are other spectacular subjects elsewhere. I especially like some of the lowland trees and meadows/pastures in the valleys east of the Sierra, Owens Valley in particular. The area just north of Bishop (Round Valley?) nestles up against a steep portion of the eastern Sierra escarpment and features beautiful pastures and trees that were just turning last week.

The lower country in the western foothills also begins to provide some great color this time of year. Oaks and dogwoods are starting to turn. (As I drove out of Yosemite after dark last weekend I could see that there were some extensive groves of colorful dogwoods.) I love visiting Yosemite Valley around the last weekend of October or possibly the first weekend of November when the colors there are spectacular. (I have a hunch that erring on the early side will be a good idea this year.)

October 13, 2007 Posted by | Commentary, Sierra Nevada | Comments Off on Eastern Sierra Fall Color: Going, Going…

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