Dan's Outside

Egret Alights, Whalers' Cove

Reposted here, just because…

Egret Alights, Whalers’ Cove. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. November 30, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved. (large)

An egret flies close to the kelp covered surface of Whaler’s Cove at Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

As I arrived at Whaler’s Cove I was hoping to perhaps be able to photograph sea otters up close. Although this was a high surf day along the coast, Whalers Cove is sheltered and I had heard that it is a good place to look for wildlife. After parking my car I did not see any otters, but I immediately saw this egret hunting in the kelp right next to the road. I grabbed the long lens and found a comfortable spot close by and began observing and photographing. The bird was apparently hunting for small fish in the kelp bed. It stood on top of the kelp and would occasionally make a lunch into the water, on one occasion coming up with a fish in its bill.

One of the things I like most about this photograph is the shadow of the bird’s curving neck cast on the translucent feathers of its wing.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

(Second try to post this… sorry if you got it twice in your RSS. :-)

December 12, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Egret Alights, Whalers' Cove

This is Nuts

But cool…

wingsuit base jumping from doubleA on Vimeo.

Watch the whole thing. I gets more amazing as the clip continues.

(Seen at

December 10, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on This is Nuts

Root of All Good?

Seen at Quotes of the Day:

Soren Kierkegaard. “Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good.”

(For those who don’t already know, although grunting and sweating your way up steep trails with too many pounds on your back is a part of this hiking/backpacking thing, productive idleness is perhaps a more important goal. :-)

December 6, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Root of All Good?

Glacier Point Road Open Again

I saw this at the West Coast Imaging blog yesterday:

GLACIER POINT ROAD TO OPEN IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
The Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park will open for all vehicles on Friday, November 21, 2008, at 8:00 a.m. The road has been closed due to ice and snow on the road. However, with the recent warm weather, the road will reopen to all traffic.

After the October and November storms – especially the early November storm – trans-Sierra highways and roads like the Glacier Point Road closed, at it seemed likely that the closures might be for the season. But since that time we’ve had “good” weather in California, and apparently the early snow has melted.

November at Glacier Point is a special time. If you go at dawn there is a very good chance that you may have Sunrise over the Clark Range and the Sierra crest entirely to yourself!

November 22, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Glacier Point Road Open Again

Closing Part of Curry Village – A Wise Decision

In my previous post I wrote about staying in a tent cabin at Curry Village in early November… and hearing rockfall from the cliffs above this lodging area.

I saw an article in SFGate this afternoon reporting that the park will close about a third of the units at Curry Village after deciding that the risk is too great. If I read the article correctly, experts have determined that the rockfall above this portion of Curry Village is not just a case of a few rocks occasionally coming down (a fairly normal thing in a place like this) but evidence of the unstable nature of portions of the cliffs in this area.

It doesn’t take a geologist to see that rockfall is a normal part of the Valley’s history, and that this particular area of the Valley is prone to it. One can easily see lighter areas on the cliff where “chunks” have come loose, and it is also easy to see that some of this is in an area of an overhang above Curry. If you visit the area along the base of the cliff you also quickly recognize that the big rocks on the Valley floor had to come from somewhere!

November 21, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Closing Part of Curry Village – A Wise Decision

Recipe for a Poor Night's Sleep

Plan a photography trip to Yosemite Valley. A couple days beforehand, realize that the weather is going to be “interesting” and that camping is not going to be a really wonderful idea. “Upgrade” to a Curry Village “tent cabin, unheated” – hey, it is cheap! Spend Saturday photographing (the wonderful fall colors) in the rain. Check in to your “tent cabin, unheated” and get yourself snug just as the rain starts. The rain increases until it is more or less pouring. The wind begins to rise.

The “tent cabin, unheated” is reasonably snug and dry, but soon you remember news stories about boulders from a rockslide that crashed into Curry Village a few weeks ago, crunching an unoccupied cabin or two. The rain increases. The wind strengthens.

Suddenly there is a loud clap of thunder. Followed by the sound a large rocks and boulders crashing down from the cliffs above.

More thunder. Several times during the night you hear more boulders coming off the cliff. You wonder whether anyone has reconsidered the wisdom of locating Curry Village right beneath this cliff.

Just sayin’.

November 3, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | 4 Comments

Early Eastern Sierra Fall Colors? Mixed Reports…

I’ve started to follow the various reports on the fall color season in the eastern Sierra. So far the reports are mixed, but something seems to be starting. Somre reports I’ve seen include:

• Reports that not much is happening yet – though some of these reports are now about a week old. (Seen in a report at the Calphoto Yahoo group.)
• Some color is showing up at the higher elevations around 8500′ to 9500 (see at http://www.calphoto.com/fall.htm). One report I read suggested that some decent color may be starting to show at Monitor Pass. I don’t have confirmation, but that could be in line with my past observation that these trees change color a bit earlier than those in some other area.
• Some photographs at the Lake Sabrina Fishing Report page definitely show some colors along the shoreline. (If the trees are changing color here, I think that there is a very good chance that North Lake may be showing color as well… but, again, I have no first hand reports.)

The forest service fall color page that I mentioned in my previous post has become active… but it only shows a post from November 2007!

For my part, there is a chance that I may make a quick reconnaissance to the east side this weekend. It could take the form of my Epic One Day Aspen Chase adventute – e.g. a loop over Carson Pass, down Hope Valley, over Monitor Pass, on to the Lee Vining area, and then back over Tioga Pass. Or I might do it the other way around. Or, if I get some good reports from Sabrina, North/South Lakes I could try to head down there and spend at least one night camping.

Anyone else getting information on the aspens yet?

September 22, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | 3 Comments

A New Terrain Rating System?

Hikers and climbers are familiar with systems designed to quantify the difficulty of particular routes. Those of us who occasionally wander across trail-free Sierra passes relax when we see one rated as class 1 but prepare for some hard slogging when the pass is rated class 3. Climbers are familiar with the various sub-flavors of class 5 – 5.1 being easy and 5.13 requiring you to be part fly and part contortionist.

Tom Mangan shares an alternative system that he recently encountered while reading a post by a city woman.

Rating system:

• Heels: So easy you can hike it in heels
• Flip-flops: Too long or hard to hike in heels, but flat flip-flops would work
• Pumas: A nice stroll not much harder than walking in the city
• Trailblazers: If you want to be nice to your feet on this hike, they’ll need some more serious protection and support.
• Hiking boots: Pull out the ugly shoes and summon your closet granola. This hike is going to kick your ass.

I love it!

(Click the links for more…)

August 21, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on A New Terrain Rating System?

Turtle Don on Mount Whitney

Early on August 11, 2008 I began my climb from Guitar Lake towards the summit of Mt. Whitney along the final section of the John Muir Trail/High Sierra Trail. A short distance beyond Guitar Lake the trail passes another small lake and then begins climbing in earnest through the rocky terrain of the high valley to the west of Whitney. As I slowly climbed I caught up with a man climbing the trail even more slowly than I. As I pulled even with him I noticed that he was, shall we say, a bit older than the typical Mt. Whitney climber. In fact, if you saw him in more civilized surroundings you might take him for a somewhat frail, elderly man.

But you would be very, very wrong.

He wasn’t in a hurry so we stopped and talked a bit – and he shared parts of a story that I eventually discovered he shares with everyone he meets on the trail. He goes by the name of “Turtle Don,” a trail name he said he gave to himself while thru-hiking the Appalachia Trail (yes, that’s right!) recently. On a day when everyone seemed to be passing him he came upon a little turtle – the first thing going slower than he was on the trail.

I didn’t quite catch the whole story, but he has apparently hiked several other major thru trails in the US. Now he was/is working on the Pacific Crest Trail. He’s not exactly thru-hiking it (e.g. doing the whole thing in one uninterrupted rush) but he had already completed a good portion of the Southern California desert section and was now working his way north through the Sierra in 8-9 day segments, and meeting his wife between these intervals to stay in a motel and resupply.

Don is 74 years old. He gives me hope that I have more than a few years of backpacking left in my legs and lungs! Don is slow, but he seemingly cannot be stopped. After I left him – finally tearing myself away as he continued his stories – I continued on up the mountain thinking I wouldn’t see him again. Not so. As I took a break at the junction to the final two-mile traverse to the summit of Whitney there he was, slowly and steadily working his way up this very high and very exhausting trail. He arrived at the junction – where I made this photo – and we talked a bit more before I continued on to the summit. Later, as I was descending back to the trail junction, I found him still working his way towards the summit where he planned to spend the night!

Photography and text copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

August 20, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Turtle Don on Mount Whitney