Dan's Outside

Quicksilver hike

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January flowers. Almaden Quicksilver Park. January 31, 2004.

I took a different route today. Instead of heading staight for the ridge I took a roundabout route though some overgrown valleys. The new grass is coming up like crazy and flowers are starting to appear.

Trees and grass. Almaden Quicksilver Park. January 31, 2004.
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January 31, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Quicksilver hike

Plans change

Of that I’m sure. Last night I thought for awhile that I’d be running up to the Sierra to ski for the day. But my skiing buddy wanted to leave at 5:00 am… from Concord. That’s an hour from my home, so I would have had to get up at 3:30. After a very busy week I’m afraid that was just too early so I bagged it. Instead I had another beautiful hike at Almaden Quicksilver.

This was one of those “shoulder season” days – with the cold and clear air of winter along with the sight (and smell) of new grass. It is quite awhile before spring really arrives, but all of the signs were there today.

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January 25, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Plans change

Photo experiments

I have been experimenting with different sizes for the photographs I post here. Originally I was limiting myself to image widths of 500 pixels, but I was not comfortable with the loss of details.

Recently I switched to 650 pixel width images. (See the Castle Rock State Park images posted last week.) Horizontally-formatted photos work great this way – at least in my browser and on my computer. However, when vertically-formatted photos are this wide, they are too tall to fit on the screen – not a good situation. I’m leaning towards compromising on a 600 pixel width.
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January 24, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Photo experiments

I'm back

Updates have been spotty over the past week and a half due to a dsl outage from my provider, speakeasy.net. (I’ve posted details elsewhere for those who are interested in such things.)

In any case, my service came back up last night on day 9 of the outage and I’m optimistic that it will stay that way, allowing me regular access to post updates. There will be one more service downtime later today when I move the server box back here and point to the new IP. Thanks for your patience.
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January 24, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on I'm back

More weekend photos

Fog and trees near Goat Rock. January 19, 2004.

Branch, grass, and trees at Castle Rock State Park. January 19, 2004.
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January 20, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on More weekend photos

Castle Rock State Park Photographs

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***About this page

The name Castle Rock(s) is used to describe geological features in many different places. (A Google search will confirm this.) This Castle Rock is in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Central California, located on a ridge between San Jose and Santa Cruz, perhaps 50 miles south of San Francisco.

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Tree and Rain. (Monochrome) Castle Rock State Park, California. February 24, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. (Sales)

Tree and Rain. Castle Rock State Park, California. February 24, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. (Sales)

Creek and Moss. Castle Rock State Park, California. February 24, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. (Sales)

Castle Rock. Castle Rock State Park. September 8, 2005. © Copyright Dan Mitchell.

Tree-covered Ridge. Castle Rock State Park. May 15, 2005. Photo copyright Dan Mitchell.

Rocks and Roots. Castle Rock State Park. April 30, 2005. Photo copyright Dan Mitchell.

Rock and Lichen. Castle Rock State Park. April 30, 2005. Photo copyright Dan Mitchell.

Lupine, Fog, and Tree. Castle Rock State Park. April 24, 2005. Photo copyright Dan Mitchell.

Rain, trail, and trees. Castle Rock State Park. February 27, 2005. Photo copyright Dan Mitchell.

On the ridge trail in the rain. Castle Rock State Park. February 27, 2005. Photo copyright Dan Mitchell.

Rocks, trees, and moss at Castle Rock State Park. February 19, 2005. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Castle Rock State Park. July 31, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Rocks, leaves, and sun. Castle Rock State Park. July 31, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Rocks and roots. Castle Rock State Park. July 31, 2003. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Grass and tree trunks. Castle Rock State Park. July 31, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Madrone Leaves. July 31, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Fence near Goat Rock. Castle Rock State Park. July 31, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Trees, rock, and poison oak. Castle Rock State Park. July 31, 2003. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Fog and trees at Castle Rock State Park. May 22, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Rocks and trees at Castle Rock State Park. January 19, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Trail to the falls. Castle Rock State Park. May 22, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Grafitti Rock. Castle Rock State Park. May 22, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Iris. May 22, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Trees in fog. May 22, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Madrone root. May 22, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Oak and rocks at Castle Rock State Park. April 25, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Castle Rock trail detail. April 25, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Castle Rock creek. January 19 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Tree and Fog. Castle Rock State Park. January 19, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Fog and trees near Goat Rock. January 19, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Fog and trees near Goat Rock. January 19, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.

Branch, grass, and trees at Castle Rock State Park. January 19, 2004. Photograph copyright Dan Mitchell.
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January 19, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Castle Rock State Park Photographs

Coming up

I’m still suffering from lack of dsl service at my home while speakeasy.net’s lame excuse for tech support tries to figure out what went wrong… 5 days ago.

But that’s not keeping me at home. In addition to today’s Castle Rock hike, I was on the trail at Almaden Quicksilver County Park on Saturday. I hopeful that I’ll be able to post more photos from both trips in the next day or two.
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January 19, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Coming up

Castle Rock State Park hike

It was a gray, foggy day at home. At Castle Rock State Park the sun was occasionally out on the ridgelines but fog filled the creek beds, valleys, and hollows.

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January 19, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Castle Rock State Park hike

Finally, a hike!

&Earlier I wrote that I like to go on a New Years Day hike. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate this year. Then we did some family stuff before my kids headed back to school. Then I headed back to a busy first week of a new term at the college. By the time I finally found time for a “New Years Hike” the first month of the new year was a third gone.

But it was a beautiful day for a hike at Almaden Quicksilver yesterday.

Amazingly, there are still colorful leaves in January, side-by-side with new growth.

Forested section of the Prospect #3 trail

Fog clears from the Mt. Umunhum ridge.
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January 11, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Finally, a hike!

2004: A life in free fall

Tom Steinstra in SFGate: “Bay Area waterfalls are great places to think about New Year’s resolutions.”

Although waterfalls provide some of the prettiest places in nature, it is the power and flow that stays with you long after the adventure is over.

The best time to experience this is now in the Bay Area, from New Year’s through early spring, when Pacific storms recharge watersheds and the canyon streams that lead to free falls, cascades, cataracts, chutes and stair steps.

The article includes descriptions of and directions to many Bay Area waterfalls.
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January 1, 2004 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2004: A life in free fall