Dan's Outside

Talusdancers trip

Talusdancers trip”

The Talusdancers have announced plans for this summer’s annual Sierra trip – a nine-day trip from South Lake to Onion Valley. I can’t wait!
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February 11, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Talusdancers trip

No ski photos

Actually, I did take three pictures at the condo, but that’s it.

I take lots of photos when I hike and backpack but for some reason I can’t seem to get excited about taking pictures at downhill ski areas. I’m not sure if it is because my visual sense is a bit uncomfortable with the contrived nature of the downhill areas, or if I’m just concentrating on the physical sensations of skiing – but the result is the same: no pictures.
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February 9, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on No ski photos

Back from Tahoe

I returned from my ski weekend at 10:30 this evening.

I left for Tahoe from Cupertino at around 4:30 on Friday afternoon – later than any sane person wants to hit the road for the mountains, knowing that everyone else will also be on the road by then. Surprisingly, the traffic wasn’t that bad on the way out of the Bay Area.

I knew that there was a chance of some precipitation on the way up but it was supposed to be light. We picked up some light rain in Sacramento but nothing much after that until we stopped for dinner above Auburn. When we came out of the restaurant it was, much to my surprise, pouring. We headed up Hiway 80 and soon the rain turned into snow and chain requirements were up. (I don’t need chains since I have four-wheel drive, but this still slows things down.) Before long it was snowing like crazy, to the point that it was almost impossible to see the road at times. We must have managed to follow the center of this little front since the snow continued all the way to Truckee. The full moon was out by the time we got over Brockway summit and approached Incline.

The storm was gone on Saturday morning and it was a beautiful, clear, cold Sierra day. We headed over to Squaw Valley. I spend a good deal of time on beginner runs (it is humbling to be a beginner again after cross-country skiing for over 30 years…) and began to get a feeling of control over the skis. As I say, I trying to “make these skis my friends” like I did years ago with skinny skis. I managed to make it down one good intermediate run by the end of the day – though not exactly it great form.

We went over to Heavenly Valley today. Again I spent pretty much the whole day on easy terrain, with a few harder spots thrown in. This was a very productive day for me. First, I remembered something that I learned years ago when I was a semi-obsessive road cyclist. I could descend mountain roads at very high speeds without panic. I learned to do this by doing a lot of descending while staying below the panic threshhold. I believe that by operating in panic mode too often, you train yourself to panic. By staying relaxed, you can train yourself to remain relaxed and not become tense. Today I decided to take that approach with the skiing and by the end of the day I was skiing without the constant fear of going out of control. I could let my speed build up and enjoy it and then manage to check my speed by turning and so on. Late in the afternoon I managed to take a few runs without resorting to snowplowing at all. A few times I found myself aiming for the steeper sections, confident that I’d be able to turn and check my speed or stop if necessary. Good stuff.
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February 9, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Back from Tahoe

Yet another bike trip photo

Another photo from the 2002 Skagway to Anchorage bike trip. This is just over White Pass inside Canada.

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February 5, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Yet another bike trip photo

Another Yukon photo

St. Elias Range near Haines Junction, YT. June 2002.

This picture comes from the roadside north of Haines Junction. I was on a 3-week bicycle trip from Skagway to Anchorage Alaska with a group of middle- and high-school kids. We first saw this range as we arrived in Haines Junction and then followed it north past Kluane Lake.
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February 4, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Another Yukon photo

Sloggin now… skiing soon

Slogging is what I’m doing this week as I attend to my responsibilities as academic senate president at my college. Skiing is what I’m going to do this weekend. Yay!

Some friends and I have a condo at north Tahoe and we plan to telemark ski at Squaw on Saturday and Heavenly on Sunday. Although I’ve cross-country skied for years – and feel pretty comfortable on skinny skis – the whole telemark/downhill thing is really new to me. I did it a few times last season and enjoyed it, but I still feel somewhat awkward about it and am embarrassed to admit that I’m still working at skiing beginner runs with a good degree of control. I’m planning on getting past that this weekend and venturing out onto some intermediate terrain at Heavenly.

The goal of all this – besides having a good time this weekend – is to eventually get to where I can ski competently on interesting terrain in the backcountry.
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February 4, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Sloggin now… skiing soon

Thinking back to 2002

Flock of birds over Yukon River near Whitehorse. June 2002.
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February 3, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Thinking back to 2002

Urban hike

Time was limited today so I did an urban hike on the nearby Los Gatos Creek Trail – which is actually more of a jogging path than a real trail in my view. I was reminded that it is possible to find completely new things in a place you have visited many times. I found an alternative path that lets me hike along the creekbed instead of on the paved trail in an area I’ve walked though many times before.
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February 1, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Urban hike

Dormant tree

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Another picture of January vegetation at Almaden Quicksilver.
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February 1, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Dormant tree

Notes from yesterday's Almaden Quicksilver hike

Hikers and cyclists and equestrians share this park – for the most part without problems. However, a few yahoos (photos at right) have started riding down (always down!) trails that are closed to cyclists. This is becoming a particular problem on the Prospect #3 trail. Obvious signs at both ends of the trail prohibit cyclists. There are several very muddy sections on this trail and cyclists really tear up these areas (see photo). Although the majority of cyclists respect the “No Bikes” signs, the small number who don’t have already caused serious damage this winter. Now a few of them are even riding off the trail and damaging the surrounding terrain.

I’ve written here in the past about my conflicted feelings about cyclists and hikers on the trail. I have been a cyclist for many years – on the road and on the trail. I own a road bike, a touring bike, and a mountain bike. I have ridden my mountain bike at Almaden Quicksilver. The summer before last I rode 1100 miles on a three-week tour though the Yukon and Alaska. So, I’m not a rabid anti-cyclist hiker. When I’m hiking I find that cyclists can be an intrusion. When I ride my mountain bike I feel like hikers can project a holier-than-thou attitude. I’ve been guilty of both.

But there is no excuse for riding on illegal trails when there are obvious signs prohibiting cyclists and there are plainly obvious trail conditions that argue for the prohibition and there are tons of other trials open to cyclists in this park and there are dangers when quickly descending cyclists on a twisting, narrow trail encounter ascending hikers and equestrians and other trail users are not expecting to encounter cyclists and when outlaw behavior by a few cyclists saddles all cyclists with a bad reputation and endangers our legal use of mountain bike trails.

***I hike at this park almost weekly
– (see photos below) and most often start at the Hacienda parking lot and head up the Mine Hill trail or the English Camp trail to do one or another loop out along the main ridge.

Yesterday I started at the Mockingbird Hill entrance and did a loop that I don’t do quite as often. Basically, I traverse right to the Prospect #3 trail on a footpath (rather than fire road) through a series of shaded valleys and grassy, oak-forested ridges, then ascend to the highest ridge and follow the trail to English Camp. I descend the Mine Hill Trail to the junction with the trail back to Mockingbird Hill, which follows a ridge before descending steeply. (More info on my Trails page.)

About halfway between Mockingbird Hill and Prospect #3 I ran into a couple of friendly guys going the other way on the trail. As I often do, I asked about the trail ahead. I ask partly to get information about the trail, but the nature of the answer can also give me an idea of how much credence to give the trail information provided. They suggested a trail splitting off from the main trail I was following. It looked interesting but they couldn’t explain to me where it came out. (I guess it may come out somewhere on the Randol Trail, but I’ll have to follow it some time to make sure.)

I don’t know if I was looking especially incompetent or what, but they seemed concerned that I might get lost… ;-) To reassure them I described the route I was following and the other trails that I could connect to make a loop back to where I started. Their replies struck me as a bit humorous. “You mean you parked your car at Mockingbird Hill and just started walking!?” Well, yes. “Wow, that loop must take, like, three hours!” Yes, again.

Actually, I was thinking that a three-hour loop was not quite long enough… ;-)
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February 1, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Notes from yesterday's Almaden Quicksilver hike