Jordan Oak, Stanislaus National Forest: A Quick Trip for Tree Huggers
There are many different types of oak tree: Valley Oak, Poison Oak, and the Canyon Live Oak are all pretty common in the Groveland area. The Jordan Oak tree is one of the biggest Live Oak trees you have probably seen. I don’t claim to be very knowledgeable in trees/forests/silviculture/botany/soils. I mean, I try to remember how to identify some important ones – but I’m happy to learn (or relearn)…
Haiku about tomorrow’s Calaveras River Fun Run
Not running too far, But waking at 5 AM? I should go to bed. I’m doing the Calaveras River Fun Run 5K tomorrow. It’s at 8am, but I have to get up pretty early to get to Stockton in time. Good night!
Road Trip Jams
This is embarrassing, but Taylor Swift’s Shake it Off – before it was overplayed on the radio – might have been the official “jam” of my drive to Colorado this summer. It was a good choice mostly because when stuck in a car for 12 hours shaking it off is good for rest stops and getting over the anxiety of NEVER GETTING THERE. Shaking it off on the drive to Colorado…
“You’re on Mountain Time” – but am I really?
The sun was shining today as I left the house at 7am, thanks daylight savings time! And I enjoyed it, it is easier to see deer running across the road when it is light out, and I plan to enjoy it because it doesn’t last forever. Soon enough it will be dark out when I get up anyhow, hopefully sometime all day because of rain clouds. There is this camping…
Talking about the Localizing California Waters Conference and Water Reuse
Tomorrow is the start of the Localizing California Waters, a four day conference bringing together people who care about water reuse, water policy, and water management in California. I am a part of the group putting on the conference, the Telele Foundation, and I will be milling about doing registration and various other tasks. Hopefully I will be able to pop in and see at least one talk & maybe learn…
Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) for Outdoors Bloggers?
Have you heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) before? It when creative type drop everything and attempt to write a full novel in one month. People love it, some writers hate it, and recently I found out about the equivalent for bloggers – National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). The challenge is to blog everyday in November. But why do NaBloPoMo? Personally I am starting a new job this month and…
Brews & Hiking Boots: Gem Lake, Ansel Adams Wilderness & the (NEW!) Mammoth Brewery Tasting Room
Here is the thing about Mammoth Brewery – it is right next to SO MUCH GOOD HIKING. In years past I have hit up the old mammoth tasting room after hiking up towards Duck Pass and after backpacking to Lake Ediza. Even on this trip, where the Gem Lake trailhead is 25 miles from the brewery, it that isn’t that far (especially since we were headed that direction to camp). What I am trying to say…
The Trees Have Eyes – a (Spooky?) hike to Parker Lake, Ansel Adams Wilderness
I think most people have thought of the woods as a “Scary” place at least once in their life. Im not talking about real scary here either, like hypothermia or altitude sickness, but the irrational sort of scary. For example as a little kid my brothers pretty much convinced me that axe murders and Freddy Krueger hid in the woods surrounding our home. Also, I think around the same time I…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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