Dan's Outside

Welcome

“Hello and welcome” to visitors arriving here from the sidebar of the article in the Washington Times about global warming skeptics. (“The Tempest“).

Not that I’m particularly sympathetic to the subjects of the article, obsessive skeptics of the evidence that global warming is an issue of concern. A quote:

“They sit in this ivory tower, playing around, and they don’t tell us if this is going to be a hot summer coming up. Why not? Because the models are no damn good!”

Well, no.

While the models are, well, models and, as such, cannot perfectly replicate reality, models certainly can be some “damn good.” Many of the skeptics’ arguments are, at their core, largely a recognition that the evidence from those who find compelling evidence of global warming are something short of absolutely perfect.

Unfortunately, I do have to agree with the following from the article:

The skeptics don’t have to win the argument, they just have to stay in the game, keep things stirred up and make sure the politicians don’t pass any laws that have dangerous climate change as a premise. They’re winning that battle. The Senate had hearings on climate change this spring but has put off action for now.

I am more hopeful that the tide is beginning to shift.
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June 14, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Welcome

Connecting Two Trails

I took one of those satisfying hikes today that connects two hikes that I have taken previously. I have frequently hike the Javelina Loop (and cross-country variations) at Calero Park. Last week I hike out on the Bald Peaks trail to where it enters Rancho Cañada del Oro. Today I turned these two hikes into one really big loop.

I started at the main entrance to the trails at Calero and turned right onto Javelina Loop at the old corral. I followed this out to just about the point where it heads up and over the ridge to start back – but instead took the Cottle Trail. This mostly follows a gently ascending dirt road through the bottom of a canyon before turning to the right and ascending to the Cottle Rest Area after an unmarked fork.

From here the trail becomes, well, a trail. It appears to be seldom used, judging by the overgrown condition. It ascendes, with alternat steep sections and flatter sections between sub-ridges. Eventually it follows an old fence line up the hill and finally emerges at the Bald Peaks Trail. From here it is a pretty straightforward route back to where I started.
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June 10, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Connecting Two Trails

Crowds are often inversely proportional to miles walked

Sometimes, anyway. Today I hiked at Almaden Quicksilver, starting at the MacAbee Road entrance – where there were so many hikers and runners that it was actually hard to find a parking space. There were tons of people up to the first fork in the trail. After that there were still a pretty good number, but the stream of hikers/runners was not constant. Another junction leads to the trail that follows the ridgeline to the intersection of Mine Hill and Castillero trails. Here there were only a few hikers, cyclists, runners, and equistrians enjoying the amazingly clear vista that stretched from San Francisco south to distant hills.
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June 4, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Crowds are often inversely proportional to miles walked