Dan's Outside

Connecting Two Trails

I took one of those satisfying hikes today that connects two hikes that I have taken previously. I have frequently hike the Javelina Loop (and cross-country variations) at Calero Park. Last week I hike out on the Bald Peaks trail to where it enters Rancho Cañada del Oro. Today I turned these two hikes into one really big loop.

I started at the main entrance to the trails at Calero and turned right onto Javelina Loop at the old corral. I followed this out to just about the point where it heads up and over the ridge to start back – but instead took the Cottle Trail. This mostly follows a gently ascending dirt road through the bottom of a canyon before turning to the right and ascending to the Cottle Rest Area after an unmarked fork.

From here the trail becomes, well, a trail. It appears to be seldom used, judging by the overgrown condition. It ascendes, with alternat steep sections and flatter sections between sub-ridges. Eventually it follows an old fence line up the hill and finally emerges at the Bald Peaks Trail. From here it is a pretty straightforward route back to where I started.
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June 10, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Connecting Two Trails

Crowds are often inversely proportional to miles walked

Sometimes, anyway. Today I hiked at Almaden Quicksilver, starting at the MacAbee Road entrance – where there were so many hikers and runners that it was actually hard to find a parking space. There were tons of people up to the first fork in the trail. After that there were still a pretty good number, but the stream of hikers/runners was not constant. Another junction leads to the trail that follows the ridgeline to the intersection of Mine Hill and Castillero trails. Here there were only a few hikers, cyclists, runners, and equistrians enjoying the amazingly clear vista that stretched from San Francisco south to distant hills.
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June 4, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Crowds are often inversely proportional to miles walked

Snapshots

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The Snapshots page holds photos that are, well, snapshots – no pretension here, these are just utilitarian images of people and places, etc.

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June 3, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Snapshots

Sierra Snowmelt and Passes Opening

Tom Stienstra at SFGate writes about prospects for the opening of Sierra Passes:

Chances are good that Highway 108 at Sonora Pass will open by Friday, according to Caltrans, with decent prospects that Highway 4 will open through Ebbetts Pass.

“We’re pretty encouraged about Sonora Pass by the weekend,” said Troy Bowers of Caltrans. “Ebbetts Pass has some challenges yet. We’re not sure yet we’ll have it open. I was up there and there’s still a lot of snow, especially from the 8,000-foot level and up. Banks can be 20 feet high. It’s an awesome sight.”

It also sounds like Glacier Point road will be open by this coming weekend. On the other hand, there is still a lot of plowing to do before Tioga Pass road opens. Last year it opened near the end of June, and I would be very surprised if it opened any earlier this year. (It has opened as late as early July in the past.)

In addition, he has some news about peak river flows (and general waterfall wildness):

Yosemite magic: Several hydrologists sent e-mails about my prediction that the peak snow melt and water volume for Yosemite’s waterfalls will be from May 20-31. Andy King took it a step further and calculated that exact peak flows, based on 80 years of river flow data, will be May 29 — Memorial Day. “It should be even better than last year,” said King, who noted that last year’s waterfall show was sensational for months.

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May 21, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Sierra Snowmelt and Passes Opening

Can You Believe That?

My wife, Patty, posts the following on her blog:

On Jeopardy Just Now. “Yosemite Falls, the largest falls in the United States, is located in this state.”

The two answers given? Wyoming and Montana.

I share some of my photos on one of my faculty web sites at De Anza College. From time to time a student will ask about the photos and I’ll take a moment to talk about them. Sometimes when the question is, “Where did you take that photo?” I’ll ask the class, “Does anyone know where this is?” Often almost no one knows, even though most of the locations are no more than a day away. Most astonishing, I posted a classic winter view of Yosemite Valley recently and no one in one of my classes recognized the location.

I say this not to criticize my students, but to observe how localized their experience is in many ways and how many of them seem disconnected from their physical surroundings – at least those beyond the local freeways and malls. Very few seem to have gotten out an experienced the astonishing landscape of this state, and many are unaware of how close they are to such things as the Sierra Nevade range, the Great Central Valley, the redwoods, the basin and range country.
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May 7, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Can You Believe That?

Mud

This has been a tough (so-called) spring for hiking in the SF Bay Area. While I’m very happy to have all the rain (green hillsides, spring flowers, long Sierra hiking season) it is making a mess of area trails.

Yesterday I hiked what would usually be a very civilized route at Almaden Quicksilver County Park. I started at the MacAbee Road entrance and then turned left on the fire road to get to the New Almaden Trail, which I followed to a point just past the Webb Canyon Trail. From here I continued on a short distance to catch a lateral up to the Randol Trail so that I could start heading back on the main trail along the ridge. Hoping to avoid a very muddy section near the end, I took a detour toward the Senador Mine site.

The mud situation is now well beyond inconvenient. Virtually all trails now include some sections that are almost impossible to walk across – it becomes necessary to use an alternative approach:

• Slog slowly though sticky, sloppy, soggy clay into which you sink a half foot or so
• More quickly, slipping and sliding from one bit of poor footing to the next, never stopping long enough to get traction or sink in.
• Pick your way around the worst spots, using the grassy/rocky areas along the trail.

In must be noted that all of these approaches have their drawbacks, ranging from trail damage to muddy gear to danger of slipping and sliding off the trail.

On the way back to my car on yesterday’s loop hike I chose to take a different trail near the end of my route in order to avoid a particularly nasty muddy section. (This one had forced me to use the “walk next to the trail” approach.) I knew that an alternate trail would take me back without crossing this section, so I took a left turn at the appropriate place and congratulated myself as I started down a single-track path that seemed to be in quite good shape. The trail soon set me straight.

I managed to get through a first small muddy section by stepping carefully on rocks and/or the area along the side of the trail. The second section was a bit worse and I found myself “skiing” through one very slippery section – if I stopped for a second I began to slip so the only practical strategy was to keep moving.

And then… the muddy section from hell.

It must have been over 200 feet long, and there was no way around it since it was in the bottom of a ravine. I slipped, I slid, I sank, and at one point I fell over as both feet slid downhill. At each step my shoes squirted a stream of muddy water a couple of feet to the side. When I reached the bottom of this section there was mud on my shoes, pants, shirt, glasses, hands.

I think I’ll take a walk on the nice neighborhood urban paved hiking/biking trail today…

April 16, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | 2 Comments

I'm Back

A preview is posted here. More later… :-)
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April 6, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on I'm Back

March in Central California

I was just looking over my 2006 hiking log and I noticed I barely hiked at all this month! Of course, we did just set a record for the most rainy days in March.

I did get out for a short hike today. I went to (where else?) Almaden Quicksilver and hiked a loop starting near the Senador Mine, then travelling past the reservoir, and finally returning via the New Almaden Trail. Since it was cloudy and rainy this afternoon I did something I rarely do any more… hiked without my photo gear!
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March 30, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on March in Central California

Talking out of both sides of their mouths

Sierra Club Compass:

Budget Outrage. The fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is once again in play. The Senate budget bill instructs the government to raise $6 billion in leasing fees from the refuge over 10 years, with the figure to be split between the state of Alaska and the federal government. In other words, we’re talking about $3 billion in a budget that approaches $3 trillion total.

As we noted earlier in the week, the Interior Department now estimates that the government will lose at least $7 billion (and as much as $28 billion) in royalties over the next five years thanks to something called the “royalty relief.” As if that weren’t outrage enough, the Bush energy bill extends $2.6 billion in tax breaks to the same oil and gas companies that would stand to profit in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the same oil and gas companies that are currently enjoying record profits.

The House is now considering whether to include Arctic drilling in its version of the budget bill. You can vote on the matter in this poll at MSNBC. [Sierra Club Compass]

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March 29, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Talking out of both sides of their mouths

It is a No-Hike Weekend

My spring quarter ends soon with final exams this coming week. Consequently, I decided to stay home this beautiful spring weekend and grade papers. Of course I’d rather be on the trail, but this work needs to be done… and after I finish with finals I’ll have a week of spring break to enjoy the outdoors.
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March 26, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on It is a No-Hike Weekend