From a Seattle Times column on how budget cuts are drastically reducing the works of national parks and forests. A typical hiking trail costs, on average, about $1,000 per mile to maintain. Leave it neglected until it has eroded and…
Tom's travels
Wheels, motive power, etc.
by tmangan • July 6, 2006 • 3 Comments
It was probably during the dot-com boom that the marketing department at Honda Automobiles thought “all those young white guys who snowboard all winter and surf, bike and kayak all summer need a car designed just for them.” So they…
Hiking
Trail compatibility
by tmangan • July 3, 2006 • 1 Comment
The managing editor of New West talks about how hikes become dates when people live near cool trails. It’s true that around here, how two people work together while hiking, biking or kayaking can be a big indicator of the…
Hiking
Why synthetic clothing reeks to high heaven
by tmangan • July 3, 2006 • 1 Comment
I came home from yesterday’s 12-miler with a stench somewhere between county landfill and EPA Superfund site. This morning I was wondering how a single day-hike could be so malodorous, so I did some googling and found this page explaining…
Appalachian Trail, Through-hiking
Bone-Pac finishes the AT
by tmangan • July 3, 2006 • 0 Comments
I’ve been so busy following Pacific Crest Trail hiker exploits that I neglected to check out the Trail Journal entries of a guy named Bone-Pac, who was one of the fastest hikers on the Appalachian Trail. Well, while I was…
Almaden Quicksilver County Park
A silver medal day
by tmangan • July 2, 2006 • 0 Comments
I’ve been fixin’ to get ready to hike at Almaden Quicksilver County Park for months now. The park in the hills southwest of San Jose is not spectacular — no towering redwoods or fascinating rock formations — but it does…
Pacific Crest Trail, Through-hiking
Another Funnybone moment
by tmangan • July 1, 2006 • 0 Comments
Chuckie V. again demonstrates why his Pacific Crest Trail journal is the most post-worthy of the bunch. Just a few days ago, I labored along Selden Pass’s lower slopes. A sort of no-man’s-land, this portion of the steep incline is…
Hiking
Avoiding trailhead break-ins
by tmangan • June 29, 2006 • 1 Comment
Andrew Engleson of the Washington Trail Association sent me a link to these tips: Don’t leave anything of value in your car. Period. Bring your wallet with you. Leave the laptop at home. Open your glove compartment and empty it.…
Blogs
More hiking blogs to check out
by tmangan • June 29, 2006 • 0 Comments
I went scouting this morning for previously undiscovered hiking blogs and the Google search turned up a few choice examples. All these have RSS feeds; some haven’t been updated in awhile but perhaps a link from us will inspire them…