Dan's Outside

I go, I see, I do, I walk, I think, I like…

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 | Commentary | Comments Off on This is Nuts

Photographs as Holiday Gifts

It occurred to me today that I should mention the fact that my photographs are available as holiday gifts. (Actually, they are always available for almost any purpose, but that wouldn’t have been a very timely message, would it?)

While I occasionally post photographs here, I post my photographic work daily at my photography blog: G Dan Mitchell | Photography and archive much of it in my online gallery. My photographs feature many images from wild California, especially the Sierra Nevada, the Pacific coast, Central California, and Death Valley.

If you are interested in the photography, wander on over to the first of those two links above. If you are so inclined, you can read the page there concerning print purchases. Since I custom print every photograph it is a good idea to get orders in early.

Thanks,

Dan

December 10, 2008 Posted by | Photography | Comments Off on Photographs as Holiday Gifts

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 | Commentary | Comments Off on Root of All Good?

Article about Castle Rock State Park

SFGate has posted a Tom Stienstra piece about Castle Rock State Park in the hills above Saratoga. This has been one of my favorite locale parks for years – OK, decades – and winter is perhaps the nicest time to visit.

Photo: © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

December 4, 2008 Posted by | Places | Comments Off on Article about Castle Rock State Park

Another Four Wheel Bob Article

I just saw the article on Bob Coomber at SFGate – check it out.

“Bob Coomber cannot walk, but he sure can hike.

The disabled Livermore outdoorsman is preparing for the hike of his life – an ascent of 19,000-foot Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa or 22,841-foot Cerro Aconcagua in South America.”

In a contest between Bob and Kilimanjaro, my money is on Bob.

November 29, 2008 Posted by | People | Comments Off on Another Four Wheel Bob Article

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 | 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 | 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 | Commentary | 4 Comments

Snow? Yeah!

Looks like snow is what we may get in the Sierra this weekend. While it isn’t unusual to get a few dustings in late September and the beginning of October, this storm looks a bit more robust that usual.

If all goes as planned, I may be able to offer a first-person report early next week.

October 2, 2008 Posted by | Sierra Nevada | , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Issues With Photographs on This Site… and an Alternative

Due to some issues with my hosting company, it is quite likely that many of the older photographs on this site will return a broken link. My apologies, but I’m going to take this as an opportunity to change how I handle images on this site. With that in mind, a few comments and guidelines:

  1. The majority of my most interesting photographs are found at my photography web site at http://www.gdanmitchell.com/.
  2. I think I have configured things so that clicking on broken link icons will, in some cases, take you to the original photo in my online gallery.
  3. In the long term, I plan to post far fewer photographs on this site. Instead I’ll continue to post them at the photo site and associated gallery and Flickr.

Dan

September 25, 2008 Posted by | Photography | Comments Off on Issues With Photographs on This Site… and an Alternative

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