Shopping Bags
Yes, shopping bags.
More than 20 years ago we shopped at a grocery store that offered reusable canvas grocery bags for sale. I balked at the price – while paper bags were free the canvas bags cost a few dollars – but eventually picked up a half dozen or so. On balance it seemed like a reasonable and environmentally aware thing to do.
A few years ago I considered how this has played out since that time. On a typical weekly grocery shopping trip we probably pick up about a half dozen bags of food – though a bit less now that our youngest kid has gone off to college. Doing a bit of math (6 bags per week x 52 weeks per year x 20 years) it seems that:
- We have avoided the use of well over 6000 paper bags!
- Adding up the 5 cents per bag credit for bringing our own bags to the store we have earned back perhaps as much as 100 times the original cost of the bags!
- We now donate our bag credits, helping some charities in a small way. It adds up to $5/month or more – a small amount, that could be significant if multiplied many times over.
Looked at this way:
- A small change has larger effects over time than you might imagine.
- Not only was it “the right thing” to do, but in the end it was cost free.
- The bags are useful for lots of other things. For example, I use them to pack food for car camping trips.
Next time you are at the grocery store, pick up a few canvas grocery bags.
Oak and Dogwood Leaves and Other Things
As my previous hint suggested, I did another one-day photographic trip yesterday – this one to Yosemite Valley to see autumn colors. Up at 3:15 a.m. and on the road before 4:00 a.m. I arrived at the park entrance at 7:00 a.m., still before sunrise. Since there wasn’t yet enought light to photograph dogwood leaves and other autumn foliage along highway 120 I went ahead to the first view of Half Dome and El Capitan and shot a few images there before heading back up 120 to spend some time on the foliage. Then I headed down into The Valley where I found the foliage in abundance – it was just about as colorful as I’ve ever seen in the Valley.
I started at El Capitan Meadow (after a short snooze to make up for my early rise time) where there are a bunch of really beautiful black oaks in the middle of golden grasses. I spent over two hours working this spot before heading on to the Curry Village area. I left the car here and did the “tourist hike” to Vernal Fall, hoping to photograph a tree at the base of the cliff at the fall. When I got back to car it was later than I expected and darkness was arriving a bit early, so I started back down the valley to try to grab a few late shots, but without a whole lot of success – the high overcast was now thicker and there wasn’t much of a sunset.
The light was challenging all with light overcast and occasionally thicker clouds. This is a mixed blessing – large scale scenic vistas were somewhat obscured by haze and flat light; on the other hand the softer light can work well with foliage and similar subjects.
I have posted a few examples in my Gallery – This link should get you to several of them.
What's That I Hear?
Hmmm… This time I think I hear autumn dogwood trees and maybe black oaks calling. :-)
Dan at Muir Woods
Tom at Two-Heel Drive just referenced my recent visit to Muir Woods and made a few observations and comments. A quick reply to Tom…
I agree regarding the comparison to other Redwood locations. While Muir Woods is a beautiful place, it main advantage (?) compared to other local redwood forests is its proximity to San Francisco… and, I suppose, its popularity. While I was there I had the same thought – namely, that other Redwood forests in the area are every bit as beautiful if not more so and they are far less crowded. I’ll take Big Basin over Muir Woods any day.
And, yes, Muir Woods adjoins the Mt. Tamalpais Park and you can easily hike between them.
Another Wildfire Link
Also see the California Fire News web site.
Firefighter Blog
If there were ever a time to subscribe to the Firefighter Blog it would be now. There is lots of information from the front lines of the southern California fires.
Sunday's Trip: Muir Woods
It has been a very long time since I’ve really visited Muir Woods north of San Francisco. Well, I did go a few years back with a group of friends, but we were really there to sample beers at the “guest house” in the hills above the park. In any case, yesterday I decided to combine a bit of photography in the Marin Headlands area with a visit to Muir Woods.
Since I had been at the Golden Gate Bridge early enough to do some sunrise photography, even though I made a short stop near Fort Cronkite first, I still was at Muir Woods quite early. Even with my early arrival the close-in parking lot was already full, so I went down the road a few hundred yards to the overflow lot.
The main section of this park is a redwood forest surrounding a creek that flows through the bottom of a small valley. Trails meander up and down this valley from the entrance. Actually, for someone accustomed to cross-country travel above timberline, “trail” seems like the wrong word. A good number of the paths are boardwalk, in places separated from the forest by fences. I generally don’t like being separated from my “wilderness,” but some protection from the hordes of visitors is no doubt necessary.
About the visitors… There are tons of them. By the time I finished my little photographic amble through the park around noon the place was crawling with people, and not only was the overflow parking lot (where mine had been the only car when I arrived) now completely full, but cars were lining the roadway for a good distance beyond. It didn’t take long to figure out that Muir Woods is on the San Francisco tourist loop, as there were quite a few people arriving by tour bus, and I heard accents and languages from most of the planet.
Even though the crowds are not to my liking, I do understand that areas like this are necessary and, in fact, do serve to expose some people who would not otherwise have the experience to something that feels a bit like wilderness. Among the visitors I saw quite a few who seemed truly impressed by the tall trees and the quiet stillness of this patch of forest.
Of course, I also saw a few humorous things as well. It appeared that some people, wearing clothing and shoes more appropriate for shopping in downtown San Francisco, might have accidentally left the boardwalk trail and ended up on real trails. Good for them for being a bit more adventurous, but some looked more than a bit uncomfortable stepping over downed branches and mud. Since I was in full photographer mode (biggish camera, large lenses, backpack, full size tripod) I also had to endure (enjoy? suffer? laugh at? laugh with?) the comments/antics of people reacting to me and my equipment: “Are you a photographer?” “Did you get a good picture?” It is all in good fun though – I often ask if they would like me to use their camera to take a photo of their whole group for them.
Ultralight Equipment: Ideas I May Adopt
Since I often go into the mountains carrying a big load of camera equipment, lowering the weight of the rest of my backpacking load has become more important. I’ve already moved to a much lighter sleeping bag, lighter backpacks, and I prefer to use a bivy rather than a tent in most situations.
My backpacking buddy, Owen, has moved more completely (some say obsessively… :-) to ultralight gear over the past few seasons. While I remain skeptical of some of the equipment, other elements of it are starting to make more sense. He sure carries a much lighter pack than I do, and in many ways he doesn’t seem to suffer as a result. (Though I’m still waiting to see what happens on the first trip where he has to weather a real storm in his parka/poncho/tarp/tent…)
With this in mind, I’m considering a few changes for next season:
Alcohol stove – Owen introduced me to some small alcohol stoves that barely weight an ounce or two, and which burn maybe an ounce or two of fuel per day – fuel that you can carry in a tiny plastic squeeze bottle. Since most of my “cooking” really comes down to boiling water, one of these should work well.
Water Treatment – There is apparently a water treatment system available now that uses the same technology used in municipal water systems – no iodine or iodine taste. Since any water filter that actually works adds a pound to the pack along with significant bulk, this sounds like a great idea.
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Dan's Outside 
A Fall Weekend in Yosemite
I had the opportunity to make one last fall color trip to Yosemite this past weekend – and this time I didn’t try to cram the whole trip into a single day.
I left reasonably early on Saturday so that I could be in the Valley shortly after dawn. On the first day I spent a fair amount of time chasing the last gasp of the fall foliage. It had been at its peak the previous weekend, so I knew that many of the leaves would have fallen – but there were still some great examples of autumn color, including large maple leaves in some of the shady areas along the south side of the Valley.
I ended the day by shooting the classic view of Half Dome from the meadow near Yosemite Village before camping in Upper Pines on Saturday night. I often wonder what the other nearby campers must think about my “camping” practices. Since I’m generally off photographing until the last light fades, I usually show up in camp after dark. I sit at the campsite picnic table cooking up a quick dinner on my backpacking stove, and then pretty much go right to sleep. Then I’m up an hour or more before sun rise and gone.
On Sunday I was up at 4:45 – somewhat consoling myself that with the time change it was really kind of, sort of, like 5:45 the day before – and leaving without breakfast to drive to Glacier Point to photograph the sunrise. I’m more used the the crowds that often assemble there in the summer to view the sunset, so I was a bit surprised to find only three other people enjoying the stunning view of the Sierra sunrise. (In fact, as near as I could tell, there were only five people on the entire Glacier Point road at this early hour.)
Having had no breakfast and finding nothing open at Glacier Point, I began to think about heading back to the Valley for some coffee and food. An hour or so after sunrise I started to drive back to the Valley, but got distracted by frost on Bridal Veil creek meadow, and then by interesting foliage and a burned area of the Valley floor.
By the time I finished with these distractions I realized that I had barely enough time to get to (what passes for) a coffee shop at Curry Village. Unfortunately – but not surprisingly – they had almost closed up a good half hour before they were scheduled to do so. I decide to forego the last stale looking muffin in their display and instead went back to Upper Pines and broke camp. I figured I might find something to eat over at Yosemite Village, and I made the mistake of getting a “breakfast croissant” at Degnan’s. Let me officially warn other Yosemite visitors against this unwise choice! Mine was made even less palatable when the “cook” neglected to remove the paper from the cheese slices before serving it to me. Yum. Not. At least they had espresso. :-)
Having the rest of the afternoon free before my planned sunset shoot I spent a bit more time in the Valley, including some time photographing meadows and oaks near the Ahwanhee. My plan was to then drive up near the Wawona Tunnel to check out that classic view before sunset. I often forego this overdone view of the Valley unless the conditions are really special, but having sufficient time I thought I’d check it out. My main plan was actually to photograph a different view of Half Dome and El Capitan from Highway 120. When I got to the Tunnel parking lot I quickly realized that a managed fire above El Capitan was interfering with all photographic opportunities at the west end of the Valley, so I decided to do another classic scene at the Sentinel Bridge. This view includes Half Dome and at this time of year a lot of interesting fall foliage over the Merced River.
As the light finally faded I got in the car and started the drive back to the Bay Area, glad that standard time had arrived, allowing me to get home “an hour earlier” than the previous week.
(Photos from this trip will appear at my photography web site over the next few weeks.)
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November 6, 2007 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Places, Trips, Yosemite | Comments Off on A Fall Weekend in Yosemite