I couldn’t wait to get in among the trees to test my new GPS unit. Castle Rock State Park has abundant tree cover, though nothing as thick as, say Big Basin Redwoods, which is back in the rotation again (though…
Yearly Archives: 2008
GPS for Mac hikers
by tom • November 21, 2008 • 14 Comments
I’ve finally gotten a GPS unit, and getting it to play nice with my iMac has been an education. The unit is a Garmin eTrex Vista Cx, which is being phased out in favor of the Vista HCX, which is…
Mercury News article on ranching history of nearby parks
by tom • November 20, 2008 • 0 Comments
Lisa Krieger’s latest Wanderlust report covers ground trodden many times over around here. She starts at Grant County Park and ranges over to the Skyline Boulevard open space preserves. While the pioneers who toiled on our old family farms are…
Mass link payback
by tom • November 17, 2008 • 13 Comments
Ever so often I get around to updating my list of “A-List Hiking Bloggers” over there on the right-hand side. I’ve added a bunch in the past few days — if yours isn’t there or you know of another hiker’s…
Oakland hiker’s blog: Dilettante
by tom • November 17, 2008 • 5 Comments
Rebecca Bond is a graphic artist with a get-out-under-the-trees bent. Just last Friday she was haunting Redwood Regional Park, one of the few big Bay Area parks I have yet to check out. Starting out on a ridge at the…
An idiot’s guide to orienteering
by tom • November 16, 2008 • 6 Comments
You’ve no doubt heard of the pastime of orienteering, in which you dress up in your finest hiking regalia, navigate miles of hairpin-turn mountain roads to an appointed trailhead, hit the trail with maps designed to get you lost, and…
Weasels at Point Reyes
by tom • November 16, 2008 • 5 Comments
I’m talking real weasels, not the metaphorical kind who always seem to be in the men’s room when it’s their turn to buy a round of beers. I’ve never seen one in the wild, or even on somebody’s blog, until…
Bonus hike at Ed Levin County Park
by tom • November 12, 2008 • 15 Comments
I saw the little black angus calf wandering about, baying for its mom, about 100 yards down the trail. I wondered where mom was because the only time a cow will trouble itself to stop grazing is if you block…
Hiking gear: the best birthday present
by tom • November 10, 2008 • 7 Comments
Every year my mom mails me a birthday check, which I promptly squander on hiking gear. This way I get to pretend like I’m a smelly, unshaven (but way-cool) outdoors dude who’s so broke he still needs checks from home…