One of the big reasons that the San Francisco Peninsula and the East Bay Hills are such fine destinations for hiking is due to the efforts of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council. Since 1989, their volunteer efforts have fueled grant programs to spur the development of much of the planned 300-mile trail system that is someday destined to circumnavigate the San Francisco Bay and connect all counties that are contiguous to it. These grant programs are intended to encourage government agencies and qualifying nonprofit organizations to plan, acquire, and construct new segments of the Bay Area Ridge Trail (BART).

It’s nice to know that their good work is continuing. The Council, in coordination with the Coastal Conservancy’s San Francisco Bay Area Program, has just this week announced the availability of up to $450,000 in funds that will accelerate the development of The Trail. The funding will come from Proposition 40, which is the California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal Protection Act of 2002. It appears that in 2007, the BART Council will be developing trail systems in the counties of Marin, Sonoma, Napa, and Solano - areas that this winehiker feels desperately have needed additional trails, if only to respond to the demands of local Nature lovers (like me) if not to also complement the recreational activities of the wine-touring public.

In fact, a future Ridge Trail corridor is expected to be built from the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District-owned Jacobs Ranch on the northern flank of Sonoma Mountain (located close by to many Sonoma Valley and Bennett Valley wineries) to the top of the former Skiles Ranch property (now part of Annadel State Park); one proposed trail in that new network will offer 6 miles of moderate to steep hiking and, if I’m correct, connect to Jack London State Historic Park.

Now if only they’ll connect all the wineries along the ridges! Why, this winehiker would be a happy man. Heck, I’d even be willing to gather some talent, grab a shovel, and help to build THOSE trails.

~winehiker

I thought it might be fun to determine just where my fellow winehikers’ allegiances lie when it comes to purchasing wine. If you’ve got a minute, let others know what you think by completing the following simple one-question poll:

The results should be interesting, and I’ll be sure to post them once I’ve got 100 responses or more. Thank you for participating!

~winehiker

Somebody has finally gone and done what tends to come naturally to out-of-work Silicon Valley oenophiles with too much time on their hands. Not to mention a healthy disdain for the rigid descriptors printed on tasting wheels!

The Silly Tasting Notes Generator v1.1, a Perl script written by self-proclaimed computer geek Greg Sumner, generates random tasting notes, and is anything but rigid. In fact, you can get downright silly with it. Based on actual tasting notes you can find at the Wine Spectator website, it even works on mobile phone devices!

Before you attend your next wine tasting, be sure to check it out.

~winehiker

Dan Mitchell, in his blog Dan’s Outside, describes an incident in which, late at night, he stumbled around the house in the dark and smacked his pinky toe on the furniture. Sure — we’ve all done it, right? But right before a 5-day backpack trip?

Yep, I did the same exact thing once. Only it was my left clavicle that got broken. And I kept right on riding, despite my twisted (choose at least one) collarbone/mountain bike/brain/aversion to visiting doctors’ offices.

When you’ve got plans to ride, hike, or wrestle with alligators, it’s all too human that we are *sorely* tempted to keep those plans.

~winehiker

I’ve just been reading a New York Times article (see In vino veritas - but a rating helps by Gary Rivlin) that explores how powerful wine ratings have become since Robert Parker Jr. first began his 100-point rating system back in the late ’70’s. It’s a pretty well-written article explaining the pros and cons of wine ratings and how they influence the wine-buying public. In this “Golden Age of American Wine,” wine ratings tend to influence the buying patterns of many wine purchasers — collectors, tasters, and drinkers alike — but are always the opinions of individuals.

And yet it would seem that some people just don’t want to buy a wine if it scores any less than 90 points, whether those points are offered by the Wine Advocate (Parker’s rag), the Wine Spectator, Wilfred Wong, or the International Wine Cellar (to name just a few).

I would counter that because wine ratings depend on the subjective — if indeed highly experienced — palates of a few, 90 points should not constitute a make-or-break decision when buying wine. Chances are you’re going to like the wine even if it rates 80-89 points. At least you’ll still find them on the shelves (and often pay less for them). But then, the only way to know that you’re going to like them is to try a few and make up your own mind.

And while you’re doing that, so will I.

~winehiker

At last night’s tasting, we enjoyed five Pinot Noirs that represented California rather well, plus a sixth from the esteemed Bourgogne (Burgundy) region of France. This tasting presented some truly wonderful wines, and the results, though widely disparate, yielded 3 very good Pinot wines worth trying again.

Pinot Noir appears to be all the rage since Miles’ exclamations about it in the 2004 hit movie, “Sideways.” One thing’s for sure: there’s an increasing acreage of Pinot grapes being planted, farmed, vinted, and bottled from locations all over the globe. Their complex nature causes me to want to taste more of them, certainly, so I’m considering hosting future tastings wherein their origin - Willamette Valley, Bourgogne, Russian River, Santa Lucia Highlands, Hunter Valley — will figure prominently.

There were two clear stand-outs for me, and I scored one of them higher than I’ve ever scored any wine. Yet neither turned out to be the group favorite; an issue that may have resulted from 3 of my guests being relatively new to wine tasting and a fourth who had not scored a wine as formally as we did last evening. I felt that the group favorite was a little too young and therefore unresolved on balance. My fifth guest, Katie, possesses some knowledge and experience as a wine taster, and it turns out that my score and hers matched fairly evenly.

There was also one wine that ranked a -5 for the group - the lowest group score I can recall seeing in some time (the lowest possible score being a “-6″). Could it have been the relatively young age of the wine, or the winemaker?

Paired with our Pinot were sourdough baguette and two Danish blue cheeses - one strong and crumbly, one creamy and more easily sliced.

The wines listed below are ranked top-down, most favorite to least favorite; each is followed by the wine’s heat, or alcohol content. In the left column is the actual group score for each wine using my handy-dandy Wine Scoring Sheet, which is based on the 20-point Davis scale. If no link exists for a particular label, that label is not, to the best of my research capabilities, available online. All are from California except the wine from Bourgogne, France.

Group Ranking
+4 2005 Sterling Vintner’s Collection, Central Coast; 13.5%
+3 2004 Rvtz Cellars Maison Grand Cru, Russian River Valley; 14.5%
+3 2003 Heron, American Canyon, Napa County; 13.0%
-2 2004 Bouchaine, Carneros; 13.5%
-3 2001 Les Noizons Pommard, Jean-Luc Joillot; 13.5%
-5 2005 Coppola Diamond Collection Silver Label, Monterey County; 13.5%

Winehiker’s Ranking
19 pts. 2003 Heron, American Canyon, Napa County
17 pts. 2004 Rvtz Cellars Maison Grand Cru, Russian River Valley
15.5 pts. 2005 Sterling Vintner’s Collection, Central Coast
15.5 pts. 2004 Bouchaine, Carneros
12 pts. 2001 Les Noizons Pommard, Jean-Luc Joillot; 13.5%
9.5 pts. 2005 Coppola Diamond Collection Silver Label, Monterey County

My picks were once again nominally consistent with the group’s, though I liked the smoky vanilla aspects of the Heron - my contribution.* To me, this wine had a subtle but enticing aroma all evening, plus a full, mouth-watering body (for a Pinot, that is), and an outstanding finish.

Special note to my dear Mom: thank you barrelfuls for your heartfelt efforts toward making my new bottle covers. They are a splash-hit, Mom, and I love you for making them! I owe you a fabulous gourmet dinner.

~winehiker

*I had actually received two bottles of this wine from a wine club I recently joined, bottlenotes.com. Too bad they’re both gone now! But this wine is quite affordable at about 13 bucks a bottle. If you should join this club, please tell Alyssa I sent you. (Good pick, Alyssa!)

Back on July 24th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a proposal to extend permanent protection to a portion of Northern California. The Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act (HR 233), would protect 289,000 acres of wilderness and 21 miles of the Black Butte River as wild and scenic. All of the lands in the bill are in the northwest corner of California, stretching from the Oregon border to Napa County.

The bill is championed in the U.S. House by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), who represents all of the areas included. “This bill will protect some of the finest remaining wild places in all of California. We hope the Senate will act quickly to pass this proposal and send it to the President,” said Sara Barth, California / Nevada Regional Director of The Wilderness Society.

Also in July, the Senate passed a companion bill, S. 128, with the backing of Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Changes were made to this proposal as it headed to the House floor so the bill now goes back to the Senate for consideration, since the House and Senate have passed different versions of the bill. As of August 2, S. 128 was referred to the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health.

The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is concerned that Representative Thompson’s proposal would close more than 200 miles of trails to mountain bikers. While I’m all for safety on the trail and prefer to hike trails that don’t get a lot of mountain bike activity, I’ve always believed in sharing and in multi-use; when I expect mountain bike activity, I tend to make sure my hikers are mentally prepared ahead of time. In fact, I share IMBA’s position on wilderness. It doesn’t matter that I used to ride the local Northern California trails for years before I began to lead hikes on them.

IMBA is working with Rep. Thompson to designate alternative trails and boundary adjustments, and the House Resources Committee maintains that it is “very interested in IMBA’s proposals for using more diverse designations to protect public lands”.

I hope IMBA is successful. We’ll see if they are should the bill pass.

~winehiker

Enterprising though they may be, Starbucks has yet to figure out a way to bring their franchise to the trail.

May they never do so!

But heck, we coffee-guzzling wilderness lovers need not fret: now we can enjoy Java Juice which, according to their website, is “a pure coffee extract that turns into a bonafide cup of 100 percent organic, and certified Kosher, Arabica coffee when mixed with either hot or cold water.”

Kurt Rapansek of the National Parks Traveler explains:

…for those who need a punch of caffeine in the morning, one that actually tastes like a rich cup of coffee, Java Juice meets the need. It comes packaged in these little squeeze bags, similar, but larger, than the ketchup packets you get at fast-food joints. Each half-ounce packet contains enough coffee extract for a cup of coffee between 12 and 16 ounces, depending on how strong you like it.

I’m thinking I need to be rethinking my inefficient, very messy, and not-nearly-so-volumetric French press routine! But now all I need is a JetBoil system - one that doesn’t have throw-away gas canisters.

This post courtesy of ThisNext.com, which bills itself as The Best Show-And-Tell Ever.

~winehiker

No doubt you’ve been waiting with breathless anticipation to read about this man’s first Man-Pedi experience. After over a week of my own anticipation — or should we say trepidation? — it almost didn’t happen! But that particular element had nothing to do with the bubbly.

Breakfast mid-morning was, indeed, immensely satisfying, and a fine way to start a weekend of excessive pampering. Need I list the chicken-apple sausage, the scrambled eggs, the Belgian-style waffles with real maple syrple, the fruit compote (oh, those fat blueberries!), and the strawberry/pineapple smoothies?

Yes, I suppose I should list them.

And yes, too, so satisfying was my first experience pouring a bottle of “J” - my initial sips alacritously fulfilling my expectations. Many of my readers will, I’m sure, agree that there’s nothing like a great fizzy “Wow!” to complement one’s breakfast.

Previously, my friend and fellow hiker, Tami, had made arrangements with a salon in Los Gatos for us each to have a pedicure (again, my first!) this late Saturday morning. By some unfortunate misunderstanding, however, the proprietress had not realized that there would be a problem for her. Could it be that she saw dollar signs but didn’t hear the questions Tami had asked her on the phone? Questions such as, “Do you give pedicures to men?” “Do you take men?”

“Guys, maybe?”

Oh, Tami’s questions were answered, alright. What Tami heard in response was, “We make you very happy!”

And then we actually arrived for our scheduled pedicures. We were met with a too-big smile and a moment of confusion, as the proprietress sized me up and down and realized my maleness. “Oh, we no take man. No room!” After further confusion, shared glances of disappointment, and an “are you sure?” or two, suffice it to say that we exited the salon and walked straight over to the wine shop.

I’m still pondering that “no room” comment, though.

In the meantime, however, with some deft cell-phone networking by Tami, we both managed to score early afternoon pedicure appointments in the next town over.

And so, after procuring a fine bottle of Pinot Noir (Tami’s first!) we went.

For the extra amount that we paid — about forty bucks instead of twenty-two — we soon found that we were getting our money’s worth; our pedicurist, Diana, being knowledgeable, personable, and quite adept at pampering a man’s toes just as well as a woman’s. Her experience, like an overlooked undergarment, definitely peeked through. In other words, we found that we liked her straight off. Especially in light of the fact that nobody had to strap me down to The Throne like an astronaut about to launch. I can’t say that I have the most ticklish feet in the world, but I swear that if you even so much as look at my feet, I might start laughing (nervously). Or you’ll start laughing (tauntingly).

Perhaps it was the (Diana swears it wasn’t from a box) wine that calmed me. Rather “blecchh” on most counts, but it did its job. And I was putty in Diana’s capable hands.

Anyway, after a calm hour of sidecutters, sandpaper, sawblades, assorted goopy clear stuff, and a calf massage, I walked out of that salon feeling like a new man. Tami, too — with proper gender accreditation, of course.

From the knees down, anyway. Sure as grapes bein’ wine in pill form. And we still have ten toes apiece!

And, having picked out the color for Tami’s bright-yet-right pink new tootsies, I felt it almost heretical for us to cover up our radiant shiny feet with big clunky boots for yesterday’s ultimate Mt. Tamalpais 13-miler. Talk about pampering! Mm-hmm.

Ah, but that’s a walk down another footpath.

~winehiker

Tomorrow I plan to do something I’ve never done before. Being that it’s my third decade of hiking the trails of the world, I believe it’s finally time to pamper my poor abused feet. And so, I’m going to a spa in Los Gatos, and I’m going to get a pedicure. Not sure exactly what to expect, or even what color toenails I’ll end up with, but I’m pretty sure they’ll have to strap me down tightly - my feet are definitely quite ticklesome.

Think I’ll approach this momentous occasion with some “J” bubbly. Stay tuned for more on this topic….

~winehiker