This week’s hike is more prep work for an upcoming column in the local paper. Sorry if it sounds like a broken record, but if I blog about stuff for which there is an actual paycheck I can delude myself…
Day hikes I’ve done
Latest Hikes column: Castle Rock State Park
by tmangan • June 8, 2007 • 0 Comments
This one travels to Castle Rock State Park. (All my columns are archived here at the Merc site if you’d like to bookmark the page.) Hikes: Castle Rock State Park’s sandstone holds visitors in thrall Castle Rock State Park is…
Deep in the woods at Purisima
by tmangan • June 3, 2007 • 9 Comments
Summertime’s upon us in Silicon Valley and I’ve finally gotten it into my head that it’s not necessary to spend every weekend sweating through dusty trails on hills that have gone from green to brown. Along the Santa Cruz Mountains…
Bad air at Mammoth Cave
by tmangan • May 24, 2007 • 1 Comment
National Parks Traveler notes that a pollution advisory has been issued. Well, today comes word that pollution levels at Mammoth Cave are so bad the superintendent has warned park visitors. Levels of ozone and particulate pollution at the park are…
A fine day at Henry Coe
by tmangan • May 13, 2007 • 1 Comment
Every year around Mother’s Day, Mike and Kathy take their hiking club out to Henry Coe State Park, where wildflowers tend to still be in bloom and the weather’s pleasant enough that the park’s hills can be survived without keeping…
Long Ridge revisited
by tmangan • May 6, 2007 • 0 Comments
Skyline Boulevard in the Santa Cruz Mountains is the Great White (well, green) Way for South Bay folks who like to get out of the house on a sunny Sunday. Hikers, bikers, Harley riders, runners and crotch-rocketeers all find something…
Calero revisited
by tmangan • April 29, 2007 • 0 Comments
“It was a great six-mile hike. Unfortunately, we had to hike 10.” M. Wimble, FOMFOK That’s one of Mike’s favorite descriptions of outings in which the accumulation of miles manages to drain most of the fun out of a walk…
Something wild at Calero
by tmangan • April 22, 2007 • 2 Comments
I saw at least a dozen turkeys, a half-dozen red-winged blackbirds, a quarter-dozen deer. I didn’t see the mountain lion, but I may have stepped in its poop. Well, I certainly stepped in something, and it shouldn’t have been doggie-doo…
HIKES: Coyote Hills Regional Park
by tmangan • April 19, 2007 • 0 Comments
(This is my new column in the Mercury News Eye section; I’m archiving it here.) An easy oasis amid civilization’s sprawl Fremont will never be mistaken for an outdoors mecca – you either dodge the throngs at Lake Elizabeth or…