Calipidder

From the moment the passes close each fall, I have serious Eastern Sierra withdrawals. Getting from the Bay Area to the “East Side” in the winter involves a long and circuitous route, undoable in a weekend. Even when the passes are open, I expect a minimum of a five hour drive just to get over [...]

This past weekend was a perfect one to get out on the trail. The parks are still green, the wildflowers are peaking, and the weather was absolutely beautiful. I chose to spend Saturday morning up at Russian Ridge, and then during yesterday’s record highs I headed over to the redwoods of Big Basin to stroll [...]

I continued my spring obsession with wildflowers and hiking last weekend at Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve. A friend of mine has the through hiking bug, deciding to complete the entire Bay Area Ridge trail. Of course he can’t count the ones already done, so we started from scratch with one of the longest stretches, [...]

I can’t believe I forgot to post an entry on this, but a very kind comment I received yesterday spurred me to action.
Last weekend I visited two local parks that are right now known for their wildflower displays: Harvey Bear Ranch (east of Morgan Hill) and Santa Theresa County Park in south San Jose. The [...]

Mother Nature has had some kind of grudge against me lately. It seems that every time I plan on getting out to the snow or backpacking conditions are anything but favorable. The trend continued last weekend, with a massive storm pounding the Sierra on yet another weekend I had planned on going out on a [...]