Castle Rock State Park is not my favorite place to hike. Not even in my Top 3 (Henry Coe, Big Basin, Sunol Wilderness) … too many people, too few butt-buster trails. I’ve gone there twice in the past three weeks…
Trails
Out looking for some wreckage
by tmangan • November 18, 2006 • 0 Comments
I’ve hiked up the Monument Peak Trail at Ed Levin County Park dozens of times but only recently did I learn I had been walking right past remnants of a plane crash on the hill back in the 1950s. I…
Forest of Nisene Parks State Park: A good day to be in the woods
by tmangan • November 12, 2006 • 1 Comment
So I arrive at a municipal parking lot in Los Gatos where I’m supposed to meet my fellow hikers and I see some folks milling about. They look gray-haired and respectable, so I park the Hiker Hauler and wander over.…
Another hike with Seagull
by tmangan • November 5, 2006 • 0 Comments
When last we encountered Seagull, my Chinese hiking friend, the two of us traveled to Point Reyes to gaze upon elk and the Pacific Ocean. Since then Seagull came upon a Chinese-American outdoors club based in San Francisco that took…
High wind cause havoc at Great Smoky
by tmangan • October 31, 2006 • 0 Comments
National Parks Traveler reports on a storm that brought hurricane-force winds to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park: Winds topped out at 106 mph during the event back on October 16th and 17th. Park officials say the most significant structural…
Get thee to a military academy
by tmangan • October 31, 2006 • 0 Comments
You have to promise you’re not one of Osama’s henchmen before clicking on this link: The Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has opened up a bunch of trails closed to the public after the 9/11 attacks. Demand for trails…
A pleasant hike
by tmangan • October 29, 2006 • 0 Comments
This is the driest, sunniest autumn of the three I’ve spent trudging through the Bay Area hills. For three weeks running I’ve had perfect picture-taking weather and pleasant, breezy miles on the trails. I can’t imagine how much mud I’ll…
Winehiker revisited
by tmangan • October 22, 2006 • 1 Comment
This week we revisit Russ Beebe of CaliforniaWineHikes.com, whom I accompanied last month for a swell hike at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, followed by a wine tasting at a vineyard near the park. Russ was a co-conspirator in my…
More hills, more trees, more skies
by tmangan • October 16, 2006 • 0 Comments
Last weekend’s festivities in the wilds near Lake Shasta left me a bit glum at the prospect of finding new and interesting stuff to write about back in the in the comparatively mundane hills of the Bay Area. But then…