Gambolin’ Man sent a note the other day about his first-ever sighting of a pair of white-tailed kites, raptors known for their tendency to hover, kite-like, over their prey. Luckily, I had my binoculars, for they were a good 75…
Author Archive for tom
Holiday greetings
by tom • December 24, 2007 • 5 Comments
Alas, no hikes to report this weekend … a traveling cold bug has come through and is currently filling my head with phlegm. Please enjoy your holidays and spend some happy times in the company of your favorite people. And…
Another harrowing Colorado fourteener tale
by tom • December 20, 2007 • 1 Comment
Two brothers’ luck almost ran out on Mount of the Holy Cross. This happened back in October. They got separated on the way back down from the summit; one of the brothers spent a scary night on the hill but…
Latest Hikes column: Mission Peak
by tom • December 20, 2007 • 1 Comment
Posted today at www.mercurynews.com A few hours at Mission Peak Regional Preserve might make you wonder if the United Nations has a West Coast hiking club. Fremont’s signature peak attracts people from everywhere. I’ve chatted with hikers from India, China,…
High-speed rail through Pacheco Pass
by tom • December 20, 2007 • 0 Comments
The California High-Speed Rail Authority prefers to send a bullet train through Pacheco Pass, right past the southern border of our beloved Henry Coe State Park. The Pacheco route would link the Bay Area to a 700-mile, statewide, high-speed rail…
Family spends three days in the woods after getting lost on Christmas tree hunt
by tom • December 19, 2007 • 1 Comment
They were found today in the mountains north of Sacramento: PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — A father and three children who vanished on a Christmas tree-cutting trip in the Northern California mountains were found alive Wednesday after huddling in a culvert…
Where’d you like last?
by tom • December 18, 2007 • 12 Comments
We had some fun with this a few weeks back, so what the heck, how about telling the class where you went most recently. Rebecca at calipidder.com is excused because she did such a nice write-up on her Death Valley…
Uvas again
by tom • December 17, 2007 • 2 Comments
So I’m sprawled over a creek bed trying to set up my Gorillapod and get a good picture of this: Hey, it ain’t all loveliness out there in the wilderness… but anyway: Nature’s eloquence at punishing the inept unfolds, (spills,…
Totally off topic, but…
by tom • December 17, 2007 • 1 Comment
I caught the Van Halen tour as it swung through San Jose (got a free ticket, no less). Pretty good if you’re into that sorta thing. I was, in about 1978. If you did, too, back then, they’re worth checking…