The only way to truly experience the wilderness is to stand still and start paying attention. Once you get moving you start missing stuff. No matter how much we imagine ourselves as being outdoors people, as long as we’re hiking…
Travel
Don’t tell the Sierra Club
by tmangan • November 1, 2005 • 0 Comments
But there are people who take their wheeled, engined, gasoline-burning vehicles into the wilderness (I know, they get crazy ideas from all those ads on TV). Yes, I’m appalled that anybody who spends $35,000 for such a vehicle would want…
Backpacking
Why Californians are drawn to Wyoming
by tmangan • November 1, 2005 • 0 Comments
Because the countryside’s even more beautiful than it is in California. Sierra Soul recounts a summer road trip; if you’re in a hurry, just scroll down to the pictures. While you’re there, check out the tutorial on identifying poison oak.
Wildlife
Why wildlife need to fear us
by tmangan • October 31, 2005 • 2 Comments
Happened across this fascinating article about predatory bears at backpackinglight.com. It talks about how bears are losing their fear of humans and that camping with “bear proof” containers could be counterproductive. California wilderness parks make for good case studies of…
Backpacking
It was so cold…
by tmangan • October 31, 2005 • 0 Comments
How cold was it? The night it hit -60F we went out for a midnight ski piling on every warm thing we owned. It was the most still, clearest night I have ever seen with a pretty near full moon…
Fitness
What to do when your heart gives out
by tmangan • October 31, 2005 • 0 Comments
Keep walking. Here’s a story by a 40-something hiker whose heart almost failed on him in the past couple years. Walking seven miles with 500 feet of climb is a really big deal if you’re a candidate for a heart…
Hikes of the world
Up a hill in Japan
by tmangan • October 31, 2005 • 0 Comments
An no, it’s not Mount Fuji. I have a weakness for anybody’s pictures and stories from Japan (must be all those Kurasawa movies); here’s a hike up Mount Hakusan by an Australian lass living & working in Japan. More on…
Blogs
A blog up the road
by tmangan • October 31, 2005 • 0 Comments
The Great Out of Doors is manned by a guy up in Davis, CA, (that’s near Sacramento) who spends at least a hundred days a year outdoors. And you know what that means: prone to gear lust.
Gear
How’s this for a neighbor
by tmangan • October 31, 2005 • 0 Comments
Sandro in Seattle lives with walking distance of an REI. If that were me I’d just have my paycheck direct-deposited into an REI account.