Dan's Outside

Gambolin' with the Gambolin' Man

Seen at Two-Heel Drive:

Next hiking meet-up: Las Trampas Feb. 3. Gambolin Man will be the guest of honor/bullseye of blame at Las Trampas Regional Wilderness near San Ramon on Saturday, Feb. 3. For now, let’s make the start time 10 a.m.

Weather will be the wild card. There’s no point making this a rain-or-shine event, because rain will make the trails god-awful mucky, and they’ll stay that way for at least a couple days after the storms pass. I get a perverse thrill from mud hiking, but taking a group of any size along is too hard on the trails. So: Rain will force us to reschedule if it arrives the Thursday and Friday beforehand, too.

Here’s a Google Maps link for the park. Fairly easy to get to from I-680, just head west from the Bollinger Canyon Road exit.

I’ll let the Gamboleer work up a trail itinerary. He’s an adventurous sort so it could turn into a most-of-the-day event.

[Two-Heel Drive]

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January 11, 2007 Posted by gdanmitchell | Events | Comments Off on Gambolin' with the Gambolin' Man

Update: New Years 2006 Hike

Tom Mangan posted an update:

New Year’s Day hike update. The hike is still on. The Illustrious Fedak sends his regrets but Dan Mitchell is a go. The first to volunteer was Tom Clifton. Could we see a Steve Sergeant appearance? I’m guessing that w/all the snow that’s arrived in the Sierra of late, he’ll be out skiing all weekend. But maybe he’ll surprise us.

Remember, this is not a blogger-only event. If you read this blog, you’re welcome to to join.

The key facts, in review:

• Start time is 10 a.m.
• Rain does not cancel.
• Trailhead is at Monte Bello Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
• To get there: Take the Page Mill Road exit off Interstate 280, go west
  on Page Mill for about seven miles up into the hills. For door to door (well,
  trail) directions, check this Google Maps link. Page Mill is curvy and apt
  to be crowded with road bikers, so leave yourself a half-hour to complete
  this stretch of road.
• It’s an easy hike to Black Mountain summit, five or six miles (round trip)
  max and minor elevation change.

More details from a previous post are here.

[Two-Heel Drive]

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December 31, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Events | Comments Off on Update: New Years 2006 Hike

Mission Peak Sunrise Hike – We're Back!

We’re back (Tom Mangan, Tom Clifton, Randy, John Fedak, and I) from the First Annual Pre-Dawn Sunrise Ascent of Mission Peak. It was dark. It was cold – especially on the summit. It was a beautiful sunrise.

Tom Clifton’s photos

Tom Mangan’s story and photos

My photos will be posted later.
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November 23, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Events | Comments Off on Mission Peak Sunrise Hike – We're Back!

Bay Area Turkey Day Hike: Mission Peak

Tom Mangan at Two-Heel Drive (Why do I keep typing “to hell drive”… ? ;-) has suggested a Thanksgiving morning hike to the summit of Mission Peak. At my perverse suggestion, he has agreed to make it a sunrise hike, meaning we’ll start very early, but if the weather cooperates we’ll be rewarded with a stunning sunrise view. The details, including any updates, are posted at Tom’s site.

Bay Area hikers are welcome to join us. We’ll meet at the Stanford trailhead and start up the trail at 5:30 a.m. – Tom says this will get us to the summit in time for the 6:55 a.m. sunrise. (Slow hikers, those carrying large packs, and those who want to watch pre-dawn light may want to start a few minutes earlier.)

This is not an organized, sponsored hike so everyone is on his or her own. Based on my previous hikes at Mission Peak, here are a few random suggestions and observations:

• The small parking lot at the trailhead often is full. Do not park in the dirt areas along the road below the park gate – you’ll get an expensive ticket. Instead go back down to the first paved cross street and park there.
• Bring a headlamp – it is still very dark at 5:30! And there are cattle on the trail, if you get my drift… or, er, squish.
• Be prepared for weather. It will likely be cold this early and it can be windy on the summit. If it rains… all bets are off.
• Bring water and a snack.

And the best thing – besides meeting a few Bay Area outdoor bloggers – is that you’ll have a great story to tell at your Thanksgiving dinner, and you’ll feel less guilty about eating all that food.

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November 19, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Events | Comments Off on Bay Area Turkey Day Hike: Mission Peak

I Speak, Tom Listens… :-)

From Two-Heel Drive:

UPDATE: Turkey Day Mini-Meetup at Mission Peak. CHANGE O’ PLANS: Dan Mitchell wants to do this at dawn to catch the sunrise from the top of the peak. This would require a 5:30 a.m. launch from the trailhead to get up to the top at 6:55. There… [Two-Heel Drive]

Wow! Thanks, Tom. Now I guess I really will have to be there!

A warning for anyone who joins us – and do consider yourself invited… There is a small parking lot at the trailhead that often fills quite early. If it is full when you arrive drive back down the hill to the last cross street and park there. Although it appears that there are some spots to park along the road just outside of the gate, you will get a nasty and expensive ticket from the city of Fremont if you park there!

Can you figure out how I know about that?
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November 15, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Events | Comments Off on I Speak, Tom Listens… :-)

An Outdoor Bloggers Get-Together

Tom Mangan at Two-Heel Drive and others are organizing a Northern California meet-up of outdoor bloggers.

Ho Down update. These are the confirmed bloggers for the Mt. Shasta meetup: Little PoTrout Underground Fedak Wine Hiker GoBlog Best Hikes GoBlog has also invited every biking blogger on earth, but has no takers so far. Note that Rick McCharles, of Best… [Two-Heel Drive]

(I would love to join them, but I’m afraid I have an irreconcilable conflict on the scheduled date.)
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September 15, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Events | Comments Off on An Outdoor Bloggers Get-Together

Rancho Cañada Del Oro Park Opening

Park Opening. Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve. December 3, 2005. © Copyright Dan Mitchell.

I made it – just barely – to the opening ceremony for the new Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve in South San Jose this morning. And, yes, it really is inside the San Jose city limits, though you would never know it from your surroundings.

By the time I arrived for the 10:00 a.m. event (at about 10:05) the main parking lot was full and many cars had been directed up the road to an overflow lot. There were well over 100 people in attendance, perhaps as many as 200 all told. I was quite surprised since the first I had heard of this was yesterday and because the park is not in the most obvious or accessible location. Perhaps the beautiful, clear late-fall day had something to do with it.

Although I recognized almost no one in the crowd, Tom Mangan (of the Two-Heel Drive hiking blog – see photo at right) introduced himself, and we ended up hiking the loop trail to the top of the ridge together. Tom is an interesting guy. Although he is newer to this hiking business, he knows quite a bit about trails in the Santa Clara Valley, especially some in the east hills that I am not as familiar with.

The obvious route would go straight up the valley from the parking lot. However, if I understood correctly, one condition of acquiring this land was that the road used by existing landowners would not be open to the public. So our trail left the valley floor and contoured up and to (more or less) the north, finally intersecting the Bald Peak trail from Calero Park at a very high and open viewpoint. We continued up this ridge trail for awhile, getting to perhaps a half mile from the point where I ended my hike last weekend. Although I would have liked to have continued on to that point and then to the Serpentine Trail, time was getting short. We descended a steeper and shorter route back to the parking lot where I met Debbie Cashman (who works at my college) and her husband.

This seems like a nice addition to the chunk of land around and south of Calero Reservoir. There were still beautiful fall colors along the creeks and plenty of oak forests on the hillsides above, and views from the highest ridges are expansive.

(Note: Tom has told me that he posted his story on this event at his blog: http://tommangan.net/archives/cat_hiking_rancho_canada_del_oro.html)

December 3, 2005 Posted by gdanmitchell | Events | 2 Comments

March of the Penguins

March of the Penguins: “Life in Antarctica can get pretty grim. But don’t tell that to these driven birds.” SFGate:

Director Luc Jacquet and his team have done an incredible job gaining the trust of these penguins and recording their tortuous migration. Some of the shots — such as a mother tenderly passing her unhatched egg to her mate to keep it warm before she goes for food, and the undersea shots of feeding taken from a small submersible — are jaw-dropping.

Just as poetic are the sweeping vistas of ice, with long lines of penguins in the distance inching forward, looking like ants. “March of the Penguins” is in a way an epic adventure film with a cast of thousands — and narrated, as if he were the voice of God, by Morgan Freeman (and let me be the first to lobby for legislation that Freeman narrate all documentaries from now on; I’m phoning my congressman today).

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July 1, 2005 Posted by gdanmitchell | Events | Comments Off on March of the Penguins