Climb it before it melts away, suggests Barney Brantingham of Santa Barbara's Independent: "(In the 30-plus years since my son Barclay and I trekked Mount Lyell’s snowy flanks, it’s been melting, not as fast as a vanilla ice cream cone in the summer Sierra sun, but melting. Lyell Glacier’s retreat has speeded up since 2000, says YosemiteContinue reading “A changing California: Lyell Glacier melting away”
Category Archives: the land
On the way to Walker Pass: PCT Section F
After six murderous weeks — covering the trial of Alex Medina in Ventura — I'm talking a few days off to repair my soul. Here's where I'm heading: Walker Pass (in the southern Sierra). Yes, it'll be this dry, if not drier. But have scheduled some posts to entertain you all, I hope.
How to miss San Francisco and the Bay Area
See a picture like this: via Google Earth Pics.
“The Wild Effect” — will it ruin the PCT?
From a thoughtful Times story about the Pacific Crest Trail, and what Wild and Reese Witherspoon will mean for its future: The Wild Effect may be just beginning. More readers are finding the book, which appeared in paperback in March. And a film adaptation of “Wild” starring Reese Witherspoon, being filmed now in Oregon, promisesContinue reading ““The Wild Effect” — will it ruin the PCT?”
California condors (in Big Sur) still at risk from DDT
Joel Pratt from the Extinction Countdown blog brings up an astonishing fact. More than four decades after DDT was banned, California condors in the Ventana/Big Sur area still struggle (with an unfortunate lack of success) to produce viable eggs. Pratt writes: The Ventana Wildlife Society (VWS), which manages the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) reintroduction programContinue reading “California condors (in Big Sur) still at risk from DDT”
Murder or wilderness? A choice for October
Have been distracted from the PCT by a reporting assignment — covering a murder trial. Alex Medina, age eighteen, is on trial for the killing of Seth Scarminach, age sixteen at the time of his death 2009. Here's a story I wrote for the local paper on this for Wednesday: An eyewitness to a slayingContinue reading “Murder or wilderness? A choice for October”
Lake Mary, painting by Steve Cook
From a new equaintance, Steve Cook, a painting of Lake Mary. Irresistible.
The continuing (and confounding) story of “Into the Wild”
Two weeks ago a teenager, obsessed with the tragic story of Chris McCandless, who died of apparent starvation in the Alaskan wilderness, died in troublingly similar circumstances in Oregon. Over the past six months, David Croom said, his son had shown a growing interest in the movie and possibly wanted to emulate McCandless' actions. "He'sContinue reading “The continuing (and confounding) story of “Into the Wild””
What is the use of forty days in the wilderness?
From a defense of solitude in wilderness, called Forty Days, by Paul Kingsnorth: Sometimes you need to go, and sometimes you need to stay away for some time. The world we have created is terrifying in its complexity and power and in its ability to destroy the small, the precious, the immeasurable and the meaningful, insideContinue reading “What is the use of forty days in the wilderness?”
Are these clouds for me? (Sharman Russell)
This may be the most touching prose I've ever seen on Facebook, and of all subjects, it's about the natural world! An act of generosity from a pure writer who has published many books, including a recently wonderful one on Pantheism. But if you look, you'll see it's more than that: Where an arroyo meetsContinue reading “Are these clouds for me? (Sharman Russell)”
Kit Stolz 