South Bay folks may be interested in this announcement from the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council: Festival in the Park- Where Wellness Meets FUN! Date: Sunday, June 22, 2008 Location: Hellyer County Park, San Jose Description: Hellyer County Park and…
Author Archive for tom
Twitter: Resistance is futile
by tom • May 14, 2008 • 5 Comments
Winehiker Russ told me this would happen: Initial resistance overcome by temptation, then adoption. For those who haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid, Twitter is essentially a rolling chatroom that can be updated via web, Crackberry, iPhone and any other implement of…
Boating ban on Santa Clara County reservoirs
by tom • May 14, 2008 • 0 Comments
That means all boats, including canoes and kayaks, on 10 reservoirs in Santa Clara County: From this morning’s Mercury News: Citing the need to protect the local water supply from invasive shellfish that have hitchhiked to California on the bottoms…
Governor dumps plan to close 48 state parks
by tom • May 13, 2008 • 7 Comments
Arnold Schwarzenegger has dumped his plan to close 48 state parks. The Sacramento Bee reports: Backpedaling from his earlier plan, the Republican governor will not seek to close 48 state parks, ask for early release of 22,000 inmates or give…
Overdue blog shout-outs
by tom • May 13, 2008 • 1 Comment
The first goes out to Brittney Gilbert and her Eye On Blogs blog at KPIX, CBS-5. She has dozens of Bay Area blogs to choose from and has thoughtfully concluded that all those TV news-watching couch potatoes need tips on…
Wow, somebody reads my column
by tom • May 13, 2008 • 1 Comment
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,…
Meadow hiking at Wilder Ranch State Park
by tom • May 12, 2008 • 10 Comments
The ocean side of Wilder Ranch State Park gets all the tourists, picnickers and naked sunbathers. Hardly anybody goes to the backcountry on the north side of Highway 1, and almost none of them travel on foot. Hikers probably read…
Latest Hikes column: Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve
by tom • May 8, 2008 • 4 Comments
From my column in today’s Mercury News Skyline Ridge is one of a string of preserves managed by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District along Skyline Boulevard in the Santa Cruz Mountains crest west of the Santa Clara Valley. The…
Wanted: Local hiker lore
by tom • May 7, 2008 • 2 Comments
Hiker lore: stories that practically beg to be shared. What are yours? One from my mental archives: I hiked to the top of Monument Peak at Ed Levin County Park one time with a Persian pharmacist who had lived in…