4WheelBob on the way to White Mountain’s summit. You could just ask 4WheelBob where he goes, but Bob gave up on “accessible” trails years ago. Web sites of the various park districts are all over the map on telling folks…
Hiking
Who’s up for El Toro in Morgan Hill on Saturday?
by tom • April 2, 2008 • 5 Comments
You’ll have to be up just past the crack of dawn to get there on time. I’ve decided to go ahead and bag the peak so it’ll stop whispering “climb me” every time I go south on Highway 101. (What,…
Weekend hikes in East Bay Parks
by tom • April 2, 2008 • 0 Comments
A few hike suggestions for this weekend, courtesy of the East Bay Regional Parks District (click on the links to sign up; note some have fees): Saturday: Spring Splendors Hike at Bishop Ranch, 2-4pm – Bishop Ranch Open Space, San…
Mulling the SPOT Satellite Messenger
by tom • April 1, 2008 • 8 Comments
I’ve been putting off looking into the SPOT Satellite Messenger, but I noticed this morning that the company is based in Milpitas, so it seems like a local connection obliges me to say something. First, how it works: It tracks…
Why local parks have so few visitors
by tom • March 28, 2008 • 9 Comments
Because people are lazy, American Idol-watching couch potatoes, or because the trails in our parks are too steep, and littered with cow poop? A guy named, appropriately enough, Ted Stroll, brought this up in a commentary in the Chronicle last…
Scouting Santa Teresa County Park
by tom • March 27, 2008 • 3 Comments
This has to be the most-documented local park I’ve never been to. It’s in south San Jose about a mile beyond the terminus of the Santa Teresa light-rail line. It has one large hill and respectable wildflower action in the…
Crafting a pot cozy
by tom • March 25, 2008 • 3 Comments
A blog called Source to Sea offers step-by-step guidance for making a pot cozy. A pot cozy saves fuel and creates and alternative to simmering when you’re using, say, a one-burn, one-setting alcohol stove, but I’d take one along even…
Useful site: survivaltopics.com
by tom • March 18, 2008 • 0 Comments
This site has a wealth of handy info. What it’s about: Survival Topics strives to be a hands-on survival skills website. Rather than just write up the same old stuff you find copied from books and other websites, we actually…
Hiking shoe shopping — a refresher course
by tom • March 17, 2008 • 8 Comments
My REI dividend (all $11 of it — see what a careful consumer I was last year?) was burning a hole in my pocket, and the added incentive of the annual 20 percent off sale was enough to get me…