Gambolin’ Man pointed this out: Dutch Flat environmentalist and author Russell Towle has died after being pinned against his own car by another vehicle while stopped along Interstate 80. The accident occurred just after 4 p.m. Thursday along the eastern…
In the news
Climb every mountain
by tom • August 6, 2008 • 9 Comments
I don’t have much stomach for exploiting tragedies … the 11 mountaineers who perished on K2 were not hikers (and might’ve slapped anybody who called them such) … so I have a plausible excuse for not adding my voice to…
Unspeakable tragedy on Mount Blanc
by tom • July 25, 2008 • 0 Comments
Hiker Hell points to an incident so tragic it’s difficult to type in: A family climbs a section of Mount Blanc together. Mom takes a break, while dad and three siblings continue up the hill, all roped together. Dad falls,…
Court deals blow to Santa Clara Open Space Authority
by tom • July 15, 2008 • 2 Comments
The Santa Clara Open Space Authority has been piling up over $50 million most of this decade because it added a fee to people’s property taxes to pay for open space, trails and other things. A trouble-making anti-tax group sued,…
4WheelBob earns President’s Fitness Award
by tom • July 10, 2008 • 2 Comments
If you ever wondered about Bob’s regular-guy cred, well, he reads this blog every day but I had to read about him winning this award from That Other Tom at the Chronicle. On the visor of my truck, a postcard-size…
Ventana Wilderness closure expected
by tom • June 24, 2008 • 2 Comments
John Fedak sent me this e-mail from a posting to a Ventana Wilderness listserv: Folks – I just got a call from Patrick Bailey, the Wilderness and Trails Manager for the Monterey Ranger District. He tells me that in response…
In today’s Merc: Guy climbs trees while they’re still burning
by tom • June 12, 2008 • 2 Comments
How’s this for a coincidence: We were planning to run a story on rising fire danger anyway, and the Martin fire in Bonny Doon just happens to, well, happen. And we had this great profile Bruce Newmanwrote about Steve Liebenberg,…
New fire reported at Bonny Doon in the Santa Cruz Mountains
by tom • June 11, 2008 • 1 Comment
11 p.m. Wednesday update: KRON live chatters say burn is up to 900 acres. Somebody aggregated Google News, Flickr and Twitter posts. Official name: Martin fire. From the latest Cal Fire update (7:45 p.m). Location: Bonny Doon and Martin Road,…
$10 fee to pay for state parks suggested
by tom • May 28, 2008 • 9 Comments
Paul Rogers writes in this morning’s Mercury News that Santa Cruz Assemblyman John Laird wants to fund state parks by adding $10 to California’s annual car-registration fee. Under his proposal, which is expected to face opposition from Republicans who call…