The morning was bright and beautiful as I drove into the Cupertino hills. I’d planned to arrive at my destination an hour before the NBC crew, having wanted to scout the Zinfandel Trail adjacent to Picchetti Winery for camera-worthy items such as flowering and seeding plants, edible herbs, photogenic critters and the mid-Spring but drought-affected presence of flowing streams.

Before we convened for our film shoot along the trail, I especially wanted to see if this Spring’s plant growth would obscure our view of Picchetti’s old vine zinfandel vineyard, way off the trail and up the hill. But after a few minutes’ walking, I spied its vineyard greenery, albeit sparse, from my position about 120 yards or so downslope.

Satisfied, I retraced my steps toward the winery. Walking through Picchetti’s picnic area, I chanced to find a rather pristine peacock feather, a secondary inadvertently shed by one of Picchetti’s many stunning - and very vocal - resident peacocks. The feather was 13″ long and very striking in its elongated semiovoid shape and pure rust color. As I paused to insert it into my hatband, I looked up to see a panel van with Mary Babbitt and her crew assembling nearby. I donned my newly-feathered old Aussie hat and, walking toward them, shouted a hearty “Hello, NBC crew!”

The day had arrived for my In Wine Country TV interview.

It was good to meet Mary, and I felt her energy immediately - the very same vitality I’d noted when watching her Sunday evening show. While I chatted with Mary and her crew, a few friends showed up to join us, and the camera guys, Mark and Jeff, outfitted me with a wireless microphone. After a little SPF 45 greasepaint, we were ready to hit the trail.

Or so I thought! As we ambled toward the trailhead, it became suddenly clear to me that I would be doing an up-close-and-personal on-camera interview right away. Now folks, I talk about my wine and hiking business all the time, and I’m quite comfortable with doing that, but I gotta tell ya: when there’s a big camera inches from your face, everything you know about yourself can suddenly transmogrify into mountainous blathering idiocy. And while I can’t say that I was extraordinarily nervous, I must admit that my sphincter was a little puckered. Just a little.

Well, all in a day’s work. Mary had prepared some questions, I answered them in my own fashion. We laughed, we cried, we laughed some more, and then, finally! - we hit the trail, where I belong.

It was interesting, this particular hike. You’re going to see it on TV someday, and you’re going to think that it’s all quite seamless, this future hiking and wine-tasting segment. But that will be due solely to the expertise of the production team. Indeed, I found it amazing just how different a winehike can be when there’s a camera crew involved. True, there were a lot of stops and starts as the crew would set up for their next shots. There were times when I would spy something noteworthy along the trail and we’d stop to set up a shot. Then we’d start again, only to stop for a new angle. Birds flitting, streams gurgling, feet walking. I’d be in mid-sentence, extolling the virtues of mugwort and bay leaves and hillside sage when I’d be interrupted for a new camera angle or a repeat of what I’d just said. Maybe you can imagine how hard that can be - uttering pure winehiking perspicacity, only to face the daunting task of remembering what you’ve just said. Simply put, it took over three hours to shoot film covering a mile and a quarter of trail.

But the crew, and Mary Babbitt? True professionals, very human, and at the top of their game.

I had expected as much. I accepted the rhythm, as did all of us - crew and friends alike - and we still managed to enjoy the experience of hiking, food, and wine on a sunny Spring day in this fine wine country preserve.

I can’t wait to see it on TV. When the episode airs in the November/December timeframe, it will comprise a three-to-four-minute segment of Mary’s weekly half-hour show. Goodness knows, I’ll be thankful for good film editors. Gosh, can you imagine the expertise required to reduce over three hours of tape to 3 minutes of broadcast? Believe me, that’s one of the reasons I watch In Wine Country, and why they’ve won the prestigious awards they have. They’re that good.

I’ll be sure to alert you to the episode when I learn the actual Autumn air date from Mary Orlin, the show’s executive producer. Meanwhile, you should know that whether you catch the broadcast or not, you will find my In Wine Country segment in the form of an iTunes file right here on Winehiker Witiculture.*

See how it all got started.

~winehiker

*If you wish to be alerted when this show airs and when the iTunes file is available, your best bet is to subscribe to this blog. Fortunately, that’s extremely easy to do! Here’s how.

It’s becoming increasingly true: we as a global society are thinking about our collective impact on the earth. Our impact on the trail systems of the U.S. is no less important. But aren’t you glad we have a trail system?

And so the American Hiking Society, which is based in Silver Spring, Maryland, advises each of us to get outside on Saturday, June 2nd, and observe the environmental benefits that our hiking trails offer us.

Here’s their press release:

Going green with National Trails Day
Nationwide event promotes the environmental benefits of trails

Silver Spring, MD – American Hiking Society encourages everyone to go green by getting outside on June 2 for National Trails Day®, the largest annual single-day trails and outdoor celebration in the country.

More and more Americans are paying attention to environmental issues – hybrid vehicles are common sights on roads everywhere, eco-friendly products and services are gaining in popularity, and phrases like “carbon footprint” and “global warming” are heard at dinner tables and in schools across the country – but not everyone is aware of how great trails are for the environment.  Take part in one of the many National Trails Day events and learn about how trails contribute to a healthier planet, including these top 5 environmental benefits of trails:

1.   Trails protect habitat for plants and wildlife. By protecting the surrounding land, trails keep plant and animal habitats safe and intact.  Trails and greenways can also provide important connectors between large open spaces.
 
2.   Trails protect the land from urban sprawl. Trails not only conserve land for plants and animals; they protect it from development.  By protecting land around urban areas, trails help limit sprawl and provide corridors for recreational use and environmental preservation.

3.   Trails improve local air quality. Trees found along trails are important filters and oxygen producers.  They act as carbon sinks by removing greenhouse gasses from the air and can help slow climate change.   Traveling along a trail avoids automobile use and lessens harmful emissions in the air.

4.   Trails improve water quality. Illegal waste disposal, acid rain, and run-off pollute America’s waterways.  Trees along trails filter soil and rainwater before it reaches waterways.  Trees also help prevent erosion.  By protecting surrounding lands, trails also protect the streams, rivers, or lakes around them.
 
5.   Trails instill a conservation ethic. By connecting with nature through trails, hiking helps motivate people to preserve and protect our natural heritage.  Hikers and other recreationists often become dedicated trail volunteers and passionate voices for conservation.

Start living a greener lifestyle by attending a National Trails Day event.  Visit AmericanHiking.org to find an event near you and to learn more about the great benefits of trails.

###
 
About American Hiking Society
Founded in 1976, American Hiking Society is the only national, recreation-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and protecting America’s hiking trails, the surrounding natural areas, and the hiking experience itself.  To learn more about American Hiking Society and its programs, including National Trails Day®, please visit AmericanHiking.org or call (301) 565-6704.
 
National Trails Day® 2007 is made possible by the generous support of our Lead Sponsor – Nature Valley; Partners – Merrell, REI and Thorlo; Friends – Adventure Medical Kits, Cortaid, Eastern Mountain Sports, Royal Robbins; Media Sponsors – Backpacker magazine and American Park Network; and Federal Agency Partners – Bureau of Land Management, Federal Highway Administration, National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The American Hiking Society is also sponsoring a National Trails Day Photo Contest and offering merchandise to commemorate the event. You can even search for an event in your area. In fact, there are quite a few California events planned.

Now go get your fine self outside! Indeed, don’t wait until June 2nd to slather on that sunscreen.

~winehiker

Post-hike picnicking at Picchetti is a winehiker fave.

I’m taking the day off and putting my boots on. I’m going to don my hat, shoulder my trusty Camelbak, and walk the Zinfandel Trail with none other than Mary Babbitt of NBC-TV’s In Wine Country. I don’t believe I’ve ever shared a day with anyone who’s won an Emmy before.

I didn’t expect to be able to sleep last night. So I climbed Mission Peak instead! And yet this morning I’m still feeling pretty wired. So, I believe I’ll get to the trailhead early, scout around a bit, and get a few of those relaxing little endorphins running around inside my bod.

About mid-morning, Mary and her film crew and I will walk the trail, nosh a picnic lunch together, then taste a few Italian-style wines at Picchetti Ranch. I expect to ask Mary’s executive producer, Mary Orlin, when today’s shoot will air, and how I might post an MP3 here on Winehiker Witiculture. Stay tuned!

~winehiker

 

For the serious outdoor gearhead, there’s always a place to shop online for that all-important gear fix. When you simply have to have that one thing, a number of websites will cater to you and even send you a daily email with a link to the latest and greatest gear.

Many of us have heard of steepandcheap.com, which offers “one killer gear deal, one item at a time until it’s gone” right on their home page. Similarly, there’s outdoordaily.com, where I got a kick out of today’s deal: a mahogany cocktail case with an adjustable shoulder strap and service for two. The case contains an impressive list of items, including martini glasses, but I didn’t see any Water Wings to help the inebriated picnicker swim home.

Then there’s Moosejaw Lowdown, which offers a new deal everyday at 11:00 EST.

Of course, one can only have so much gear. What do you do with the stuff you no longer want or need? Why, you donate it to outfits such as Gear4Good.org, whose policy of reuse gives useful items new life and keeps them out of the waste stream (i.e., our clogged landfills).

Gear: Good for everyone, good for the planet.

~winehiker

This morning I discovered a very wonderful message on the Summit Post bulletin board by a fellow from Los Angeles who calls himself friendowl. I felt compelled to share friendowl’s post here on this blog; one might presume that friendowl had just begun a trek of the Pacific Crest Trail at the Mexican border.

A border patrol agent pulled up next to me. He rolled down his window. “You know, I’ve seen other people doing this walk. I just don’t get it… I mean, what do you get out of it?”, he asked. There I was, only a day from the border, and for the first time someone had asked me the direct question, “Why?”. I couldn’t articulate a proper response. “It’s just a great experience…”, I told him, “It’s a wonderful feeling of freedom.” He squinted at me, like that made no sense to him. What he really seemed to want was reassurance that he wasn’t missing some great truth, and that’s what he seemed to get. He drove off shaking his head. Further down the road, I posed the question again to myself. “Why?” There were an infinite number of choices to take in life, a million routes to happiness, why had I picked this one? I suppose I always knew the answer, but like so many things, that answer was complicated. I thought of all the things I could have told the man:

I hike the trail because life is made of experiences, and I hope to have as many as possible.

I hike the trail because unfulfilled dreams become regrets, and I intend to have as few as possible.

I hike the trail to share in something unique that few have known, or will ever know.

I hike the trail to experience beauty, to be immersed in it.

I hike the trail to see and to better understand the country I live in.

I hike the trail to learn about my own limitations.

I hike the trail to learn about how the world works, and to better understand my place in the natural order of things.

I hike the trail to avoid living a life that has already been played out by countless others.

I hike the trail to think, to dream, to imagine and to reflect, unencumbered by the distractions of modern life.

I hike the trail to endure mental and physical hardships, and perhaps become stronger as a result.

I hike the trail to learn what is truly important in my life, in any life.

I hike the trail to separate my wants from my needs.

I hike the trail to meet people, and learn from them.

I hike the trail to live an active life rather than a passive one.

I hike the trail to gain perspective, not only to think, but to live “outside the box”.

I hike the trail to be able to share the experience with others who either cannot or do not care to do it themselves.

I hike the trail to achieve a level of physical conditioning I’ve never thought possible.

I hike the trail to experience things that cannot be described with words or pictures.

I hike the trail to live not in fear, but in wonder.

But I was fairly certain that even if I had told [the border patrolman] all those things, he still would not have understood. And frankly, I would not have fully explained anything. What I really should have told him was that if he had to ask, I could never provide a sufficient answer. It was a question that could only be answered within. Finally, I thought that maybe all those things were just details, that hiking the trail wasn’t a thing to be thought of that way. Maybe it isn’t what we do but rather who we are that is important. I hike the trail not to “do something”, but to “become something”… to become someone. I didn’t know if that person I’d become was good or bad, but there it was - I was someone else.

Eloquent thoughts. I believe friendowl is right to say that one can never provide a sufficient answer. It can only be the choice of the questioner to think beyond his or her own personal treadmill to discover the answer for themselves. One has to decide whether to walk the trail and discover their own Bootism* - that place into which we walk, a place where we become connected with the Earth from which we’ve sprung, as well as reconnected with the Spring that is within ourselves. Such a choice can indeed result in a personal transformation - a discovery and an exploration of new self-truths.

And yet those of us who understand where friendowl is coming from know we cannot easily convince others as to why we hike. Neither should we beat our heads against the wall trying. However, if we recount enough stories in which our passion naturally exudes in their telling, we might intrigue a certain few to that point of criticality - that epiphanic moment in which the other person suddenly understands the truth of your words, filtered through their own experience, and says, in effect, “OK, you seem happy. I think I’ll try it.”

Mountains, indeed, can move us. And we, in turn, can move mountains, one bootstep at a time.

~winehiker

*Some might say that Bootism is all about the shoe. The winehiker contends that Bootism is all about walking in them. After all, style is fleeting; only substance endures.

It’s better to have what you need on the trail than need what you don’t have.

I discovered an online article the other day that lists a few items which its author considers to be basic gear for day hikers, listed in the following order:

• Whistle
• Map
• Water
• Handheld GPS
• Compass
• Mountain money
• Book
• Waterproof matches/lighter
• Knife
• Binoculars
• Windbreaker/waterproof shell
• Bivvy bag
• Flashlight/headlamp
• First aid kit
• Cellphone
• Snack

Instantly, I found myself wondering about the outdoors experience of the author, especially when considering the need vs. want aspects of the items in this list, and any priority one might place on them. Many of the above items I consider optional; you either haul a pack large enough to contain it all and you don’t mind sacrificing the extra weight and bulk, or you realize you just plain won’t use many of these things or get by just fine without them.

That being said, I’ll admit that most hikers won’t carry all the stuff that I carry on a typical day hike. But I have a handy excuse: I tend to lead a lot of group hikes, at least one every two weeks, year-round. With that kind of frequency, somebody on the trail is bound to need extra water, moleskin, or an aspirin every now and then - even spare socks and underwear. Yes, I carry spare undies in my pack, all the time, because they’ve nearly been life-savers for me and others. Why do I haul this stuff around all the time? Because there’s nothing more unnecessary than suffering on the trail when there’s miles to go.*

When you’ve been hiking as long as I have, you develop a sense of what you and your hiking buddies really need out there, and what’s merely extra weight. After all, how many times have you carried a set of binoculars or 330-page bird-finding guidebooks on the trail and not used them? Do you really need a GPS device, or do you just want to let people know that you have one? When you’re visiting the wilderness with a group of hikers - or by yourself - do you need your iPod, or do you really need to hear the tranquil sounds of Nature?

I chose to reorder the above list in terms of must haves and nice to haves, as well as how often a regular day hiker will typically use them. I’ve even added some things I consider important; these items are in parentheses.

Basic must have items for day hikers

Things you’ll use nearly every time you hike (at least you should, so you might as well have them with you at all times):

Things you’ll use often when hiking (not everybody can be MacGyver, so do carry the following items):

Things you know you’ll need sooner or later (your friends will admire your resourcefulness):

Optional nice to have items for day hikers

You may not need the following items, but you may want them from time to time. In fact some, like a whistle or a bivvy bag, can be must have items if you are pursuing extreme or high-elevation activities. If you have a predilection for getting lost, carry a GPS if you must, but first rely on a good topo map and advance planning. It’s important to understand that a GPS device is a tool, not a toy; if you carry it, know how to use it, as well as when.

Consider the following to be luxury items. If you think you might actually need them, consider examining your motives for venturing onto the trail, whether you want to carry them, and if you think you’ll put them to good use. First of all, however, make sure you pack your must have items, then see what room you’ve got left in your pack.

Some may quibble with me about my characterization of the above items. But experienced hikers, prior to hitting the trail, know to examine the contents of their packs. They’ll ask themselves a simple question:

Do I need it, or do I merely want it?

Your goals for the day should dictate what you carry with you, so remove what you won’t need and add what you will need. Next, consider what you may need, then what you want. Prepare your pack based on need rather than want, and do it every time.

Now, lift your pack. Ask that simple question again, and be honest with yourself about what you want from that great day of hiking that you have planned.

~winehiker

*You might think it embarrassing to ask a fellow hiker for a spare pair of underwear. But considering the alternative - chafing and discomfort of tender areas - it might just be more embarrassing not to ask. If that’s a pain point for you, well, now you know to pack a pair of undies.

**Mountain money = toilet paper. You can search every tree, rock, and crevice, but you won’t find an ATM that dispenses this stuff. Don’t let yourself go broke out there!

Nothing bugs a hiker more than to discover that his or her romp in the wilderness has paid an unwanted dividend in the form of a tick bite. But you don’t have to be a hiker or outdoors junkie to come in contact with ticks - even walking in your neighborhood or working in your yard can cause you to become a tick’s next meal ticket.

 

In the above photo, the tick on the left is an adult male deer tick, which is dark in color. In the middle is the adult female, which is red and dark brown. On the right is an adult female wood tick. Note the wood tick’s white markings, which are not present on the deer ticks. 

So how do you avoid a tick bite? By learning how to prevent them, say the folks at Stop Ticks On People:

Wear light colored clothing, long sleeves and pants, tuck pants into socks. Long loose hair should be covered, braided or tied when venturing into areas where ticks are apt to be. Spray your clothing, etc.

When coming in from outside activities where you might have encountered ticks, throw clothing into the dryer set on high heat. This will ensure no ticks survive on your clothing. Remember to do a tick check, take a shower and wash your hair. 

Keep pets that have outside exposure off furniture, especially bedding.

Fortunately, ticks aren’t very active. They can’t leap at you as you walk by. But if you brush up against them, they can latch on to you. Therefore, it’s best to stay on trails and avoid tall grass or deep brush.

There are times when I’ve been grateful to know a few things about dealing with ticks. For all my cumulative trail miles, I haven’t been bitten by a tick. Nevertheless I’ve picked about five of them off my person in thirty-plus years of hiking. The point of this post, however, is not to scare you away from the trail, but to advise you about what you may encounter when you’re out there, and to be prepared. Like me, you might want to carry a first aid kit that includes a set of tweezers.

Suffice to say: a little knowledge is a great thing, and a hike in the wine country is even greater.

Knowing how to check for ticks, how to remove them, and which repellant sprays to use is information worth knowing for anyone who plans to be outdoors. To learn more, check out the Prevention page on the Stop Ticks On People website.

Thanks to Tom Mangan at Two-Heel Drive for spurring me to post this piece.

~winehiker

While hiking this past weekend through the scrub and chaparral of Mt. Tamalpais’ upper slopes, I witnessed one of my fellow hikers photographing a trailside oak tree. She asked me which species of oak tree she was capturing. I had to admit that I don’t know all of the eleven varieties of oaks that purportedly populate the mountain’s flanks, but she could be pretty sure that she was looking at a Coast Live Oak.

     

Along the trails of the California coast, it’s actually pretty easy to tell a live oak from other types of oaks simply by its holly-like foliage, especially in the winter months - this tree is an evergreen. The leaves of Quercus agrifolia are one to three inches in length, somewhat roundish, and dark and shiny above with a gray or rusty fuzz underneath; they often appear cupped or spoon-shaped. When contrasted to a white oak or most red oaks, which are deciduous and have pinnate leaves, a live oak will retain its leaves in winter; this simple observation is what gives the live oak its name.

~winehiker

To hustle up the slopes of Mission Peak is to forsake much. To simply put one’s foot in front of the other is mission enough.

Last night was exciting, almost intoxicating. I got together about 7 p.m. with 17 other outdoorsy folks and proceeded to climb the daunting and darkening slopes of a Bay Area beacon.

On any given day, the trail to the 2,517-foot summit of Mission Peak, which dominates the southeast San Francisco Bay town of Fremont, can be a tough, steep slog. When too-cool Spring winds are whipping your ears red, the clouds are low and brooding, and the dusk is rapidly descending, climbing this striking mountain can take on added, and foreboding, dimensions. Especially on the way back down. Most especially in the dark.

As I mentioned, the night was exciting. In the quickly waning light of the climb, huffing and puffing and not capable of ascending the mountain’s steep flanks very quickly, we chanced to turn a blind corner only to face a small herd of wide-eyed steers on the trail, right there before us. After a moment of bovine disbelief, the herd’s alpha male grudgingly allowed us to pass, face quizzical, as if we two-legged varmints were truly the stupid mammals in the area. Perhaps we were. After all, we were the ones climbing this notorious mountain; we understand the concept of because it’s there. Unlike these steers, of course - critters who have the more singular purpose of chewing, always chewing, to effectually maintain the contours of these nicely-carpeted East Bay hillsides - but don’t walk inside your mother’s house with those cattle-country boots. Little did these burly bovines understand, nor care, that we hoomin’ bein’s would never be so patient as to try to attain the summit walking as they do - always a kind of sideways.

(However, this particular winehikin’ varmint always saves the sideways stuff for after the hike, as per usual. Gotta earn it! Heck, it’s just good winehiking ethics.)

It had been many months since I had experienced a night hike. Even then, that last one, above the ‘burbs of Redwood City, wasn’t strictly a wilderness hike, but rather an urban one. Or sub-urban. Suffice to say that a Mission Peak night hike, with the sun first setting on its grassy Spring-green slopes and later with its commanding view of the bay and surrounding communities shimmering below, is truly an experience to behold.

Every local hiker must make it a mission to climb Mission Peak at least once, even at night.

I wanted to stay atop the peak awhile and drink in the night-time view, my first from this perch. But keeping your footing on jumbled outcrop in the face of knife-wielding 60-mph winds does not make drinking anything easy, except for traildust. Besides, it was too chilly to stop for long; keeping our momentum was what would keep us warm.

And so, after only a moment at the summit, our intrepid group descended the Horse Heaven Trail, headlamps glowing, to complete the return leg of our loop. And soon, as is the natural way of things that might occur when it’s dark, the group became separated!

A few of the speedier folks had vanished off the front while the rest of us were carefully picking our way along the dim narrow trail. I had been aware of a fork in the trail that we would approach somewhere ahead, and I was becoming pretty sure that the lead group had missed it. Periodically I could see their headlamps bobbing along the slope ahead, at a level about even with us. And yet they should have been heading downslope by now. All the while I had this insidious fractured Hollywood tune, by way of Kansas, playing in my head:

Follow the narrow dim trail!
Follow the narrow dim trail!
Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the narrow dim trail!

It truly was a dim and narrow trail, and not one this particular scarecrow would be skipping merrily upon, legs akimbo, heart at ease. And yet there were two people in our follow group walking a short way ahead of me when I spied a defile below us that represented what must be the right fork we were searching for. We had all passed it, but not by much. I couldn’t see this other trail, particularly, but over the years I’ve gained a sort of sixth sense about these things, and even at night, reading trail is something I find I do subconsciously. It was my guess that we had ventured about 20 feet beyond the narrow, unseen fork. I called attention to the trail’s probable presence, and we stopped as a group, turned around and, pacing back a few steps, found the fork, off to the right, and pointing slightly downhill. It was a narrow cow trail, but judging from its seasoned human use, it was the trail we wanted.

“Wow, Russ, good eye!” remarked one hiker.

“Ho-ho! We’re gonna beat those other guys back to the trailhead!” mused another.

Ah, sweet alacrity! And so we tromped the remainder of our way down the mountain, serenaded by twinkling bay views, whistling grasses, and tree frogs in the swales. By the time our narrow trail reached a junction with the main jeep road, well below, we were only minutes ahead of the former lead group. We stopped and waited, now in the trees and well-sheltered from the night’s winds. After regrouping, we found ourselves on relatively wide and flat terrain, only a short distance from where we had begun our night’s whimsy.

Ours was a strong and spirited group of hikers, many of whom had never climbed Mission Peak, much less experienced a night hike. Yet it seemed rather evident that everyone really enjoyed themselves despite threatening weather, darkness, and unseen trails. Upon arriving home, I saluted them all, silently, with an earthy, full-bodied ‘03 Hall Ranch Meritage, a Bordeaux-style blend from Robert Hall Winery, which carried the evening to a proper close. The night’s mission was a memorable one, and many of us, not the least of whom is this winehiker, are set to do it again soon.

~winehiker

This venerable old oak is a striking landmark, and it’s why two trails intersect here. 

If I could be twelve years old again, I’d build me another treehouse, this time near a frog pond so I could dine on fat, succulent bullfrogs.

If I could build me a treehouse in one of the many venerable old oak trees on Pleasanton Ridge, where I brought a group of hikers this past Saturday, I certainly would - but the Open Space folks might frown on that sort of thing.

Then again, I’m no longer twelve. Sigh….

These days, it doesn’t matter that I don’t have a treehouse like the one I built as a kid. Instead, I can just go take a hike and wistfully relive the dream, admire the possibility (and the trees), listen to the bullfrogs, take satisfaction in another day of fresh air well-earned. The thing is, just plain getting out there is what matters - and not just to me.

The view southeast from Pleasanton Ridge toward the Sunol and Ohlone Regional Wildernesses.

The greater bulk of us humans, year after year, live by our choices. Those of us who choose to get out there do so because we choose to live lives that are healthy, our bodies and souls fed regularly by sun, wind, rock, tree, sky, mountain, cloud, and camaraderie. In this one Life that we get, I believe it’s safe to say that we either choose to take our bodies out for joy, or we can take the joy out of our bodies.

It’s a pretty simple choice, really.*

With all the sensibility and sincerity that I can affirm, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to advise you of something important - something you should be doing with your body - and that is: go take a hike!

~winehiker

*I’m just glad I’m not a bullfrog (I only sing like one).