It’s presumed there’s safety in numbers on a hike. But the tragedy at Yosemite last week demonstrates that there can be danger in numbers, too. While every additional hiker on an outing improves the chances that bears and mountain lions…
Author Archive for tom
Why waterproof boots are overrated
by tom • July 24, 2011 • 11 Comments
Back when I was first getting into hiking, I figured it couldn’t hurt to pay a little extra for Gore-Tex or eVent in my footwear. These so-called waterproof-breathable fabrics worked well enough under mild duty — quick strolls across dewy…
Another sunrise at Tanglewood
by tom • July 24, 2011 • 2 Comments
Tanglewood is the park near our place. Lately I’ve been challenging myself to find interesting snapshots there — I feel like this one qualifies. One frustration out outdoor photography on this side of the U.S. is we never get that sublime blue sky of the West that is so perfect it even looks great in black and white. We get a lot of haze and a lot days where the sky just isn’t much help.
However, I’m finding that the early morning sun gives the haze a certain shimmer it never has the rest of day. So, better pictures.
Got any tips for shooting a sunrise? Share with the class, please.
The real payoff of hiking: mental clarity
by tom • July 22, 2011 • 4 Comments
An old Latin saying — solvitur ambulando — means “it is solved by walking.” The phrase captures one of the immutable charms of hiking: it makes it easier for the brain to work things out. I can’t count the number…
Where would you hike this weekend?
by tom • July 21, 2011 • 11 Comments
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post on hiking in the heat, how about y’all passing along where you’d hike this weekend if it were up to you. And consider this a challenge to all you lurkers in RSS feed land…
Waterfalls are not pretty, folks
by tom • July 20, 2011 • 6 Comments
A waterfall is simply a river pouring over a cliff and smashing onto the rocks below. The awesome spectacle blinds mere humans to the reality that a waterfall can kill with the efficiency of a white shark and the caprice…
Sweating the details of summer hiking
by tom • July 20, 2011 • 7 Comments
I’ve come home drenched from my last half-dozen hikes, and it’s only getting hotter with the Dog Days of August just around the bend, so I might as well revisit the sweaty realities of summer on the trail. Jeff at…
Why hiking is really an indoor activity
by tom • July 19, 2011 • 8 Comments
We instinctively think hiking happens in the outdoors, but on this morning’s hike it occurred to me that the experience is actually happening indoors: inside our consciousness. Everything that happens to us on a hike reflects our ability to perceive…
Toward building a hiking brain
by tom • July 18, 2011 • 6 Comments
Yesterday I had it in my head that “mindfulness” — just existing in the now, mentally — was a great way to get your head in the game, hike-wise. It worked wonders in 30-second bursts: There’s nothing like emptying the…