When planning the shopping for our camp menu at Pinnacles National Monument last weekend, I felt it only prudent to return a bottle of Chalone Pinot Noir to its origin, if somewhat figuratively. After all, the limestone hills surrounding the volcanic upthrust that is Pinnacles have created the soils that produce, together with Monterey County’s […]

This past weekend, I led a group of hikers over the singularly unique trails of Pinnacles National Monument. There’s something about this place that attracted me — really gripped me — right from the start. Could it be the Spring wildflowers? Could it be the bat caves? Or, possibly, the chance to see California Condors […]

I’ve been meaning to follow up on last Sunday’s monster hike at Ohlone Regional Wilderness (see the earlier post below). Somehow, sandwiched in between a series of wet and windy storms, we managed to find a most exquisitely bright and sunny Spring day that made for tremendously clear views of an immense spread of green […]

Have you observed that most children, by nature, are naturalists? When I’ve watched children, I’ve often noticed that they will pay close attention to the details of the natural world: a little plant or animal, a dandelion, or an ant hill. Adults might say, “Look, an ant hill,” and by naming it, we walk on […]

I’ve often remarked, “Eat to hike, hike to eat!” on the trail. Goodness knows, there’s nothing quite like a good hike to rev your metabolism and make you want to scarf down anything that isn’t moving or nailed down — which pretty much means “anything.”
The following photo of me was taken along Whitney Portal Road […]

This Sunday I plan to take a small group of intrepid hikers into the hills south of the Livermore Valley in search of an ephemeral gem: Murietta Falls, billed as the tallest waterfall in the San Francisco Bay Area. With roughly 100 feet of fall, Murietta Falls is much taller than the popular Berry Creek […]

While surfing the other day, I came across the following article excerpt from traveltowellness.com. It does a pretty good job of explaining my own philosophy about active travel, so I feel it is worth sharing. Read on!
Wellness Tourism is about travelling for the primary purpose of achieving, promoting or maintaining maximum health and a sense […]

“A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything.” -Laurence Sterne
“Adventure is not outside man; it is within.” -David Grayson
“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” -G. K. Chesterton
“Adventure: the pursuit of life.” […]

Just had a nice exchange this morning with Tom Mangan, a San Jose Mercury News journalist and avid hiker who has spent a fair amount of time hiking in and blogging about his experiences in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Funny that we haven’t already met out there on the trail somehow.
Says Tom, in […]

[Over the past weekend, the following press release found its way to the World Wide Web.]
Capitalizing on the wellness trend, San Francisco Bay Area tour company launches e-commerce website dedicated to active wine country travel.
Sunnyvale, CA (PRWEB) March 4, 2006 — Many travelers to the wine country are finding that the typical group tour falls […]