A heartening e-mail arrived in my Mercury News inbox yesterday: A woman who volunteers at the David C. Daniels Nature Center told me she likes to fill in on Mother’s Day because it’s a quiet shift without many visitors. Well, this past Sunday she had over 150 people come through the place, a throng she attributed to my twice-monthly column in the Mercury News. She asked that I inform the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District folks before I write up another park in the district so the volunteers can be ready (funny, I never heard of any crowds showing up for my earthquake hike at Los Trancos).

The last e-mail I got was from a guy in his mid-70s who told me the “easy” hike I recommended at Joseph D. Grant County Park nearly gave him a heart attack. He forgave me after I explained to him that the little hike to Bass Lake was a piker compared to the 14-miler I did the same day I scouted out that pond (not far from my famed rattlesnake run-in).

I don’t get much feedback, so it’s nice to see some people paying attention.