I was checking out Two-Heel Drive, Tom Mangan’s blog, and saw his item today on hiking at Black Diamond Mines in Contra Costa County, Northern California. Reminds that when I lived in Lafayette, in the East Bay of San Francisco, there was no shortage of hikes any season. I’m not sure there is a […]
The February issue of Backpacker Magazine has its editors racing home to see who was fastest to pack an ultralight backpack — for a weekend — with food. Kristin Hostetter came in first at 9 minutes. What caught my eye was Rocky Mountain Editor Steve Howe dilemma of what to take for layers and […]
I took the month off from blogging, but unfortunately not from work.
Seems like my public relations consulting business, Lewis & Summers Public Relations, always heats up during the holidays.
Just when I think I’m taking a few days of R & R, project deadlines raise their ugly heads. Mostly, it’s […]
Every year my wife, Gerry, wants to know what I want for Christmas. When it comes to ultralight backpacking gear, I have no real needs, but lots of wants. Here are some ideas for you. Some are stocking stuffers, others a bigger investment. All of them I have used for know someone who has used […]
I love gadgets. The latest, from a newspaper clipping my wife dropped on my desk, is a cap with four LED lights built in (sample at left has only two, but the Amazon.com version below has four). One of the reasons I became a ultralight backpacker, besides the weight reduction, was the elimination of stuff […]
I just finished Eric Blehm’s book, The Last Season, a recounting of the fate of Randy Morgenson, the legendary ranger who disappeared in the mid-1990’s in Kings Canyon National Park. He grew up in Yosemite, where he’s father served as his role model: photographer, hiker, bird watcher, docent, lover of all wild things. Ansel Adams […]
One of my readers said he was getting into backpacking with his family — there are three of them total — and wanted to know the best choice of a lightweight cooking pot. I’m sure you’ll get lots of opinions on this. But I purchased a pot set four years ago that works great for […]
The Eastern Sierra with all its wonderful lakes and incredible trails is my favorite. At Thousands Island Lake, about half way between Agnew Meadow and Tuolumne Meadow, the Pacific Crest and John Muir Trails cross. If you have time for one more ultralight backpack this year, this should be it. At 10,000 […]
Yesterday, I took some time off my regular job and drove 35 miles south with a friend along the Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) in Northern California to a new 2,000-acre preserve. Named after the adjoining dairy land, Stornetta Ranch is on lighthouse road, about half way between Highway 1 and the Point Arena Lighthouse. […]
In the July 18 issue of Newsweek is an article about LifeStraw, a new $3 portable water filter created by a Danish company to protect people in Third World countries from waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera and dysentery.
The LifeStraw website notes: “Sharing a passion to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of ‘reducing by half […]
