Nice places to car camp near Silicon Valley: Mount Madonna: Most ecologically diverse county park, with miles of great redwood and oak woodland hiking. It’s better to camp here in the spring or fall. The marine layer from the Pacific…
Photography
East Bay Parks photo contest winners
by tom • March 25, 2008 • 0 Comments
The park district has a page with all the winning entries from its 2007 photography contest. Sunol Wilderness, Morgan Territory and Mount Diablo are among the stars in the show. Click the link to see ’em all. More great East…
Wildlife
Hot falcon sex update
by tom • March 25, 2008 • 4 Comments
Those sexy peregrine falcons have been at it again, judging from the webcam high on a ledge of the San Jose City Hall, where the happy couple are warming four eggs (“they look like little red potatoes,” Melissa exclaims) for…
Gear
Crafting a pot cozy
by tom • March 25, 2008 • 3 Comments
A blog called Source to Sea offers step-by-step guidance for making a pot cozy. A pot cozy saves fuel and creates and alternative to simmering when you’re using, say, a one-burn, one-setting alcohol stove, but I’d take one along even…
Tom's travels
Gear shop shuttered, Google ads gone
by tom • March 24, 2008 • 4 Comments
I noticed over the weekend I was experiencing pangs of longing to check out how my attempts at e-commerce were faring. Not something you want to experience on a camp-out. That was when I realized a) the buck-chasing (well, penny-chasing)…
Carrizo Plain National Monument
Carrizo Plain camp-out report
by tom • March 24, 2008 • 9 Comments
It’s a damn long drive to Carrizo Plain National Monument from the Bay Area (or any area, for that matter) to see this. Must be why they call it a plain, eh? Then again, you can never tell a park…
Tom's travels
Carrizo Plain pictures posted
by tom • March 23, 2008 • 1 Comment
They’re here. I’ll do a write-up later (probably tomorrow, actually).
Tom's travels
Off camping at Carrizo Plain National Monument
by tom • March 21, 2008 • 0 Comments
I’m joining 4WheelBob and his Backpacker discussion group pals for a couple days in the desert west of Bakersfield. We’ll be at the Selby Campground till Sunday. Here’s the latest from the Backpacker thread. Be back Sunday night, but it…
Blogs
How readable am I?
by tom • March 21, 2008 • 6 Comments
Geeze, all I ever wanted in life was to get away from high school. Go here to see where you rate. Hat tip to GoBlog for this one.