You’ll have to be up just past the crack of dawn to get there on time. I’ve decided to go ahead and bag the peak so it’ll stop whispering “climb me” every time I go south on Highway 101. (What,…
Park district events
Take the Trail Challenge, get a T-shirt
by tom • April 2, 2008 • 2 Comments
East Bay Regional Parks District got a corporate sponsor (Kaiser Pemanente put their “thrive” money where their mouth was) to pay the freight for free T-shirts and other goodies for those who sign up for the annual Trails Challenge. The…
Hiking
Weekend hikes in East Bay Parks
by tom • April 2, 2008 • 0 Comments
A few hike suggestions for this weekend, courtesy of the East Bay Regional Parks District (click on the links to sign up; note some have fees): Saturday: Spring Splendors Hike at Bishop Ranch, 2-4pm – Bishop Ranch Open Space, San…
Gear
Mulling the SPOT Satellite Messenger
by tom • April 1, 2008 • 8 Comments
I’ve been putting off looking into the SPOT Satellite Messenger, but I noticed this morning that the company is based in Milpitas, so it seems like a local connection obliges me to say something. First, how it works: It tracks…
Santa Teresa County Park
Santa Teresa County Park, a first look
by tom • March 31, 2008 • 3 Comments
So I told the gray-bearded mountain biker dude with the bike that probably cost more than my car, “I’d probably be a mountain biker but I have a this strange fear of flat tires.” “Well if that’s the only thing…
Backpacking
Favorite tent pictures
by tom • March 29, 2008 • 10 Comments
Inspired by this link at Backpacker.com, here are some tent pictures of mine in various settings: My REI Quarter dome at At Cache Creek Wildlife Area. Same tent, behind Mission Peak at Eagle Spring Backpack Camp. Moon through the webbing,…
Carrizo Plain National Monument
Caught in the act
by tom • March 28, 2008 • 5 Comments
Cheryl Norlin, one of my Carrizo Plain camping cohorts of last weekend, sent this picture of me taking a picture: I’m pretty sure this is the picture I was taking: This originally was a vertical that I cropped into this…
Hiking
Why local parks have so few visitors
by tom • March 28, 2008 • 9 Comments
Because people are lazy, American Idol-watching couch potatoes, or because the trails in our parks are too steep, and littered with cow poop? A guy named, appropriately enough, Ted Stroll, brought this up in a commentary in the Chronicle last…
Hiking
Scouting Santa Teresa County Park
by tom • March 27, 2008 • 3 Comments
This has to be the most-documented local park I’ve never been to. It’s in south San Jose about a mile beyond the terminus of the Santa Teresa light-rail line. It has one large hill and respectable wildflower action in the…