Much of Ventura County has now (this water year, beginning in October) reached 100% of annual rainfall. Cheri Carlson writes in the VC Star This is the first winter since 2011 for the area to get above-average rainfall. Much of the Ventura County has had 120 to 180 percent of normal rainfall so far this year,Continue reading “Drought over for Ojai? Not yet, but…”
Category Archives: the land
The madness of Trump’s “alternative facts”
A tsunami of derision has attached itself to the President Trump’s best explainer/apologizer KellyAnne Conway’s assertion last week that the President’s press secretary was offering alternative facts to explain the President’s obviously wrong belief regarding the (small) size of the crowd at his inauguration. Even some of the best coaches in professional basketball, led byContinue reading “The madness of Trump’s “alternative facts””
Wounded Earth: poem and photograph
The late great C.K. Williams thinks through the suffering of the earth — whose suffering is it really? Is it as I suspect not that rare for you to be wounded ravaged stripped of so much of what you wore with seeming pride your seething glittering oceans your forests nothing new for you meteors cometsContinue reading “Wounded Earth: poem and photograph”
Following the Wolverine with a camera
Twenty-odd years ago, while walking the John Muir Trail, I glimpsed a flash of black and white running across a snowfield at about 11k feet. The creature looked about the size of a small dog, and I *think* it was a wolverine. The other likely possibility at that elevation would be a marmot, but marmotsContinue reading “Following the Wolverine with a camera”
The future of water in Ojai in drought
Here’s a panel discussion (below) put on by the Ojai Valley Green Coalition and the Ojai Film Festival on the future of water here in town. May I say despite being the moderator that I think it’s a good one. This was for a large audience at the Arts Center on the 27th of October. TheContinue reading “The future of water in Ojai in drought”
Ojai water district “excited” by report of water in mountains
Yesterday the Casitas Municipal Water District‘s management staff and Board of Directors held a meeting and heard a “Preliminary Water Security Project Analysis” report from two consultants, including hydrogeologist Jordan Kear, who has been surveying the Ojai Valley for years for a groundwater agency, and knows its geology well. (Note: the project analysis is attachedContinue reading “Ojai water district “excited” by report of water in mountains”
The earthquake in Oklahoma in 2016 — and in Colorado in 1966
Oklahoma is now the most earthquake-prone state in the nation, considerably outdistancing California, according to the USGS. Yesterday morning a 5.6 in magnitude quake hit northcentral Oklahoma, with shaking felt as far away as Arizona and the Midwest. The record-settling quake has been linked to oilfield wastewater disposal, according to state regulators, who ordered aContinue reading “The earthquake in Oklahoma in 2016 — and in Colorado in 1966”
the Lyell mountains and glacier chain
The high ridge on the upper right overlooking a north face still heavy with ice and snow is Mt Lyell, at 13.100 the highest peak in Yosemite National Park. In that whiteness a hundred and fifty years ago John Muir discovered the first “living glacier” in California. From a wonderful trip led by Pete DevineContinue reading “the Lyell mountains and glacier chain”
PCT section L: Paradise Lake to Sierra City
Think this might be the shortest and possibly the easiest section on the entire 2663-mile PCT. That’s based on a personal knowledge of two-thirds of the trail in California. That’s all I know, admittedly, with some reading and searching, for instance such as Jeffrey Schaffer’s venerable and helpful set of guides on Wilderness Press. Still. Turns out the sectionContinue reading “PCT section L: Paradise Lake to Sierra City”
People of the PCT: Birdman
Met Birdman a day or maybe two south of Sierra City, in Section L, north of Donner Pass. He’s a true thruhiker: “flip-flopped” the AT last year (meaning he went up and back down). “And I’ll tell you, it’s a lot more dramatic finishing up at Mt. Katahdin than it is in Springer, Georgia!” heContinue reading “People of the PCT: Birdman”
Kit Stolz 