The only thing easy about Henry Coe State Park is the decision to go there. Easy because you can camp out almost anywhere you want without reserving a campsite. The odds are heavily in your favor that you’ll have much…
Overnighters I’ve done
Photo essays from one-night backpacking trips taken by Tom Mangan of Two-Heel Drive
Overnighter at Mississippi Lake
by tmangan • April 23, 2006 • 2 Comments
Acronym of the week: PUDS is thru-hiker shorthand for “pointless ups and downs”, referring to the less interesting sections of mountains thru-hikers encounter from time to time; several PUDS in a row are MUDS, which is shorthand for “mindless ups…
24 hours at Carson Pass
by tmangan • February 5, 2006 • 0 Comments
It’s four hours past sunset and I’m attempting to sleep on snow seven feet deep. I’m about 50 yards from the Pacific Crest Trail, an hour’s slog (on snowshoes) south of Carson Pass in the High Sierra south of Lake…
Back in the hills of Henry Coe
by tmangan • November 20, 2005 • 5 Comments
Weather last week was wonderful, except when it was gorgeous. I checked the San Jose forecast around Tuesday — blue skies and highs in the 70s through the weekend triggered my inner Boy Scout, which made it impossible to think…
Back to Big Basin
by tmangan • July 18, 2005 • 2 Comments
So I’m sitting on the end of fallen redwood six miles into the semi-wilds of Big Basin State Park (it’s far too popular with humans to be truly wild). I’m in a lush valley near a creek that burbles, roars…
Big Sur, for sure
by tmangan • July 10, 2005 • 0 Comments
“No camper has ever been turned away from Andrew Molera State Park,” Teresa told us. Teresa’s the co-founder of the East Bay Backpacking Club. She planned an easy weekend trip at the park, which is perched on the Big Sur…
Cache and dogs
by tmangan • June 27, 2005 • 3 Comments
If you hike the trails around the Bay Area you’re bound to see people hiking with their dogs, who always seem to be having about 19 times more fun than their human companions (people don’t own their dogs out here,…
Everything’s heavy at Henry Coe
by tmangan • June 20, 2005 • 5 Comments
I proved yesterday that I can walk five miles uphill with 40 pounds of camping gear strapped on. Actually, I sorta knew I could because I’d done it with a bit less weight last month, but I hadn’t done it…
Backpacking at long last
by tmangan • May 30, 2005 • 2 Comments
Every week it’s a new class of Outdoors 101 in the University of the Great Outdoors. Hiking is the land-grant college — economical, close to home, plenty to offer to motivated students, just tough enough to weed out the slackers.…