Steve sounds like he thinks this might be a bad thing. Steve has a point: the only way a hiker gets his name in the paper is when he dies dramatically, stupidly, wastefully, or otherwise -fully. (Although there are, ahem,…
In the news
RIP, Mel Cotton
by tom • February 18, 2008 • 3 Comments
Forgive my not posting this sooner: Mel Cotton, scion of the downtown San Jose sporting goods store, died last Friday. Mercury News columnist L.A. Chung wrote a nice farewell: “Wow, he just died?” asked Rick Lares, 32, who was buying…
Yurts story in today’s Mercury News
by tom • February 12, 2008 • 3 Comments
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will mull the matter tonight. Yurts are only part of a five-year effort by the county to attract more campers. Officials recently started putting up Spanish-language posters on buses and light rail advertising…
Fatal tiger attack
by tom • December 26, 2007 • 3 Comments
I must’ve been enjoying my one-day Christmas vacation, because I completely missed the most amazing news story of, well, many of the past few years. Somehow a 350-pound female tiger escaped its holding pen at the San Francisco Zoo yesterday,…
High-speed rail through Pacheco Pass
by tom • December 20, 2007 • 0 Comments
The California High-Speed Rail Authority prefers to send a bullet train through Pacheco Pass, right past the southern border of our beloved Henry Coe State Park. The Pacheco route would link the Bay Area to a 700-mile, statewide, high-speed rail…
Family spends three days in the woods after getting lost on Christmas tree hunt
by tom • December 19, 2007 • 1 Comment
They were found today in the mountains north of Sacramento: PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — A father and three children who vanished on a Christmas tree-cutting trip in the Northern California mountains were found alive Wednesday after huddling in a culvert…
Veronica Ruiz search effort
by tom • December 8, 2007 • 10 Comments
Veronica Ruiz has been missing since Dec. 3. Authorities have called off the search since no trace of her was found at Mount Tamalpais. A new site has been set up to coordinate volunteers who are forging ahead with the…
Outdoor news item of the day
by tom • December 5, 2007 • 1 Comment
So this guy in the UK goes out in his sea kayak in 2002 and is never seen again, though remains of his smashed boat are discovered. This weekend he shows up at a police station saying he may be…
Search at Mount Tamalpais for missing woman
by tom • December 5, 2007 • 0 Comments
Update: Search suspended, pending new developments. Veronica Ruiz has been missing since Monday, when she told a friend she was going hiking but didn’t say where. A search at Mount Tam was to resume this morning — note they don’t…