The summer hiking season of 2009 has barely begun and already Yosemite’s Half Dome has notched its first fatality. But keep in mind that 50,000 people a year climb the harrowing “cables” route to the summit and return home to…
24 search results for "harrowing"
Media (books, DVDs, etc)
Books by known Two-Heel Drive readers
by tom • May 15, 2009 • 2 Comments
Published authors are known to have haunted these parts over the past few years. These are the ones I know about: SUSAN ALCORN: Camino Chronicle: Walking to Santiago — Susan, known to cavort around the backcountry with Ralph Alcorn, another…
Media (books, DVDs, etc)
John Muir’s tale of Stickeen, the glacier dog
by tom • July 22, 2008 • 1 Comment
Here’s a wonderful tale written by John Muir, recalling how he spent one terrific/terrible day on an Alaskan glacier. Stickeen was a little ragamuffin of a dog who accompanied Muir on one of his explorations of the Alaskan coast. He…
Tom's travels
The Fourteener of Morgan Hill
by tom • April 5, 2008 • 12 Comments
(A first ascent, as it might have appeared in an adventure rag of your choosing). One day a year, they open the path to El Toro. Straight up the spine of the signature peak that glowers at the edge of…
Big Basin Redwoods
Berry Creek Falls via Skyline to the Sea Trail
by tom • March 4, 2008 • 6 Comments
One for the it’s-hell-getting-old file (whose corollary is “holy shit I get more like my old man every day”): My dad got his absent-mindedness from his old man and thoughtfully passed it along to me. Because I’ve been trying to…
Murietta Falls
Murietta Falls report
by tom • February 25, 2008 • 9 Comments
Murietta Falls musings: The thing to do when you’re already hiking 12 miles with over 4,300 feet of uphill climb is to tag a few more on because the view’s a little better. Another thing to do is stand in…
Backpacking, In the news
News media scaring common folks away from the backcountry?
by tom • February 22, 2008 • 15 Comments
Steve sounds like he thinks this might be a bad thing. Steve has a point: the only way a hiker gets his name in the paper is when he dies dramatically, stupidly, wastefully, or otherwise -fully. (Although there are, ahem,…
Blogs, National parks
How Calipidder spent her Thanksgiving holiday
by tom • November 29, 2007 • 1 Comment
Byrce and Zion! She had no woes with the harrowing Angel’s Landing hike. The last hike and definite highlight of the day was Angel’s Landing. This is a towering rock in the middle of the canyon, with 1500 foot drops…
Media (books, DVDs, etc)
Just back from “Into the Wild”
by tmangan • September 28, 2007 • 4 Comments
First thing you need to know is that “Into the Wild” is not about the wilderness. The protagonist does starve to death in the Alaskan outback; he does carry a backpack; he does go on epic hikes; he does paddle…