I recently wrote to you about beavers in my figurative backyard. There are also bald eagles in my figurative backyard. Heading west and north, San Simeon Creek is a 50-minute drive from my house. Along a back road that parallels the creek stands a large sycamore in a meadow that hosts a bald eagle nest […]
Read more "Bald Eagles in My Backyard!"Last Saturday, Karen and I met up with representatives from both the Sierra Club and the Beaver Brigade to visit some beaver dams on the Salinas River. These dams are five miles from our house as the crow flies. We were joined by around ten other people, old and young alike. Our guide was a […]
Read more "One Short Walk Away: Finding Hope and Optimism"As another backpacking season approaches, I would like to take stock of where we currently stand with regard to our trails and the federal public lands where they are found. Not only do these trails depend on land, they also depend on shared resources that do not abide by borders, such as clean air, water, […]
Read more "Taking Stock of Our Trails"In Joseph Heller’s classic book Catch-22, there is a character named Major Major Major Major. First name: Major. Last name: Major. Middle name: Major. He is also a major in the army. You can only meet with Major Major Major Major when he is not in his office. If he is in his office, no […]
Read more "Road Trip Report: The Road is Closed!"So ends another ski season: skiing eighteen inches of fresh powder at Mammoth Mountain on a Monday in April. The 2025/2026 season was definitely a mixed bag. The season had a late start and then was interrupted by a persistent “heat dome” over the West that almost entirely melted the Sierra snowpack. Mammoth Mountain survived […]
Read more "Ski Trail Report: Wipeout Shoot #1"For one half hour, five times a week, Care Bear and I watch broadcast television. We have to be on time: 7:00 p.m. sharp, preferably a little earlier. The show is Jeopardy! – and we receive it via an inexpensive antenna. It broadcasts from our local NBC affiliate, KSBY—for free! There are commercials, however. Many […]
Read more "Ask your doctor if Morgan Freeman is right for you!"A report from the 2026 Banff Mountain Film Festival Fremont Theater, January 23 and 24 Festival Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcfryXWXuEg Here are my favorites: Emil & Karl – Little Wheels, Big Mountains Jakob and Konne, two adventurous fathers, bring their two year old sons on a six-day mountain bike tour through the Swiss Alps. The little tykes […]
Read more "A report from the 2026 Banff Mountain Film Festival"Cerro Alto is a prominent mountain in the Santa Lucia District of the Los Padres National Forest. The most popular route to the summit begins just outside the Cerro Alto Campground and climbs 1,600 vertical feet to the top (a peak elevation of 2,624 feet). The trail is about two miles long (one way). On […]
Read more "Trail Report: Cerro Alto"During the 1800s, much of California was a patchwork of large cattle ranches. A short but hilly bike ride from my home in Atascadero leads to what remains of one of these ranches, Rancho Asuncion. The rancho was carved from Mission San Miguel lands and granted to a single individual under Spanish rule, when land […]
Read more "A Special Henge Report: Winter Solstice Comes to the Rancho"Surf Conditions: Fair to Good Swell: 3.4 ft. @ 12 secs. WNW (303 degrees) Wind: 16 kts ENE, Offshore Tide: 3.5 feet and dropping Water Temperature: 61 degrees Air Temperature: 69 degrees Weather: Sunny As Thanksgiving was originally a three day affair, I chose to give thanks over three days. On the first day (Wednesday) […]
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"Trail Reports" 