Read this before you buy one. (Read the whole thing, it’s a corker … I won’t spoil it here. It’s about the Backpacker Magazine guy on Denali, in case you’ve seen the coverage on other outdoor blogs.) Previously: Mulling the…
Monthly Archives: June 2008
Latest Hikes column: Huddart County Park
by tom • June 19, 2008 • 0 Comments
In this morning’s Mercury News: Huddart County Park, built on a Santa Cruz Mountains hillside west of Woodside, is better known for family reunions and Fourth of July barbecues than hikes. The racket of car engines and rowdy kids takes…
Like you need a reason to hike at Purisima Creek Redwoods
by tom • June 18, 2008 • 6 Comments
Well, here’s one from alert reader Barbara Hagin: You’ll have to visit Purisma Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve soon…the baby quails are out in full force. My husband and I hiked from the trailhead to the Soda Gulch trail on…
Trekking poles for women — any such thing?
by tom • June 18, 2008 • 14 Comments
One of the latest arrivals at Backpackgeartest.org is the Leki Diva Antishock Trekking Pole system (left). This one got me wondering if there’s much need for a women’s trekking pole — they don’t have much to do with boobs or…
Change-of-plans hike: Monte Bello Open Space Preserve
by tom • June 16, 2008 • 11 Comments
So, how did I end up strolling through the blazing sun at Monte Bello Open Space Preserve after I told everybody yesterday I was hitting the redwoods at Pescadero Creek County Park? Two things, both motivated by greed: 1) Pescadero…
Hiking today at Pescadero Creek County Park
by tom • June 15, 2008 • 4 Comments
Pescadero’s the biggest of the three San Mateo County parks bunched together on the west side of the Santa Cruz Mountains north of Butano and Big Basin (the other two are Memorial and Sam McDonald.) Pescadero is hard to get…
In today’s Merc: Guy climbs trees while they’re still burning
by tom • June 12, 2008 • 2 Comments
How’s this for a coincidence: We were planning to run a story on rising fire danger anyway, and the Martin fire in Bonny Doon just happens to, well, happen. And we had this great profile Bruce Newmanwrote about Steve Liebenberg,…
New fire reported at Bonny Doon in the Santa Cruz Mountains
by tom • June 11, 2008 • 1 Comment
11 p.m. Wednesday update: KRON live chatters say burn is up to 900 acres. Somebody aggregated Google News, Flickr and Twitter posts. Official name: Martin fire. From the latest Cal Fire update (7:45 p.m). Location: Bonny Doon and Martin Road,…
Most common injuries in the outdoors
by tom • June 11, 2008 • 7 Comments
The Wilderness Medical Society reports that snowboarders account for fully a quarter of all outdoor-related emergency room visits. Hikers come in at No. 3. Nearly 26 percent of the injures were from snowboarding followed by sledding (11 percent); hiking (6…