Murietta Falls musings: The thing to do when you’re already hiking 12 miles with over 4,300 feet of uphill climb is to tag a few more on because the view’s a little better. Another thing to do is stand in…
Monthly Archives: February 2008
Murietta Falls: Perfect weather to check it out
by tom • February 25, 2008 • 4 Comments
My days off are Sunday-Monday these days, which means I get a trails-to-myself day at least once a week if I want it. Today strikes me as perfect one to check out Murietta Falls on the Ohlone Trail: a day…
Totally off topic, but I reviewed the movie that just won Best Picture
by tom • February 24, 2008 • 0 Comments
It’s over at my home page. (Well, a lot of the movie happens in the outdoors and the central character does a bit of hiking to find a bunch of money that he decides to keep, putting a homicidal lunatic…
Why we hike, Version 413,463,271.3
by tom • February 24, 2008 • 4 Comments
The Hiking group at flickr.com weighed the question, which I haven’t revisited in a while so I figured what the heck, why not post a link. I used to have all the standard reasons — solitude, exercise, communing with nature,…
Sunday rainy-day read: Outside mag circa 2003
by tom • February 24, 2008 • 1 Comment
Remember Eric Rudolph, that zany abortion clinic bomber who fled into the western Carolina woods and evaded a massive federal manhunt for five years? Well, I went slumming this morning and tracked down and Outside Online article from 2003 that…
Montbell ThermaWrap: perfect for Bay Area weather
by tom • February 23, 2008 • 2 Comments
Last winter I picked up a Montbell ThermaWrap jacket mostly because it was on sale, but it’s turned out to be something I wear almost every day during the cool, rainy months. It’s not toast-your-innards warm and it’s not defy-a-downpour…
News media scaring common folks away from the backcountry?
by tom • February 22, 2008 • 15 Comments
Steve sounds like he thinks this might be a bad thing. Steve has a point: the only way a hiker gets his name in the paper is when he dies dramatically, stupidly, wastefully, or otherwise -fully. (Although there are, ahem,…
Are you left-legged or right-legged?
by tom • February 22, 2008 • 0 Comments
The Uncooped blog, which shows more promise with each new post, points to the time-honored human habit of going in circles, which results from one leg being slightly stronger than the other. The post links to an English-language summary of…
Shoe-lace strategies for finicky feet
by tom • February 22, 2008 • 2 Comments
Here’s something that never occurred to me: you can adjust your shoe-lacing method according to the shape of your feet and whatever aches and pains they might be sending your way. For instance: Wide forefoot with narrow heel 1. Separate…