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Introduction My dad and I love skiing in the Sierras near Truckee together. Growing up, I’d sometimes get to play hooky from high school on a Friday in the winter to go on a father-daughter weekend adventure. Leaving from Hollister,… Continue Reading →
Introduction In 1990, Congress established the 1,200 mile Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail in order to commemorate the astonishing 1775 journey of over 240 colonists, men and women of diverse heritage who traveled from northern Mexico in order… Continue Reading →
In 1930, Herbert Eugene Bolton published his annotated translations of the Juan Bautista de Anza and Pedro Font diaries that recorded their experiences during their 1775 colonizing expedition (as well as letters and diaries of other notable explorers and clergy… Continue Reading →
I don’t know how many times I’ve driven past the Romero Visitor Center at the San Luis Reservoir near Pacheco Pass. It’s at the end of one of those turnoffs, like the nearby one to Dinosaur Point Campground, that don’t… Continue Reading →
Spring in the Central Valley. Just northeast of Los Banos, the Coast Ranges not far distant to the west, fragile looking cotton seedlings push through grayish brown soil, their fibrous product eventually to be harvested in fall. Between this place… Continue Reading →
The usually sleepy streets of San Juan Bautista, site of the fifteenth Spanish mission along the El Camino Real, buzzed with the arrival of major Hollywood star power this past February: Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn filmed scenes from a… Continue Reading →
Recently, The New York Times “California Today” column updated readers on the latest additions to California’s list of official state symbols: On Jan. 1, the pallid bat, or Antrozous pallidus, and the California golden chanterelle, or Cantharellus californicus, joined the… Continue Reading →
Like most Californians, I’m frustrated with the recent extreme weather we’re having in our state and how our changing climate is feeding wildfires burning through the west. According to Cal Fire data and the Western Fire Chiefs Association, some of… Continue Reading →
We often walk forest trails in the Truckee area, but this last spring, we decided to try something different, ambling about Lake Tahoe, a place we haven’t visited in a long while. Accordingly, we set out for the Stateline Fire… Continue Reading →
Last February, I posted a piece about George R. Stewart’s landmark ecological novel, Storm, which cataloged the impact of a monster Pacific storm on California. Stewart christened the disturbance “Maria.” In that post, I referenced the heavy rains and Sierra… Continue Reading →
