Moose Mountain, Halloween 2009

The Moose Mountain road closes for several months each winter, but not before you get the chance to hike up there in the snow. I headed up with Keith, a friend from work. It was his first trip to the hills in winter, and I think it opened up new horizons. The weather was pretty foul due to high winds and spindrift, but the views were still special.

Elkhorn Slough Kayak, California

This was a really great little paddle snatched while we were down in Santa Cruz. I recommend it as an easy day out with plenty of wildlife, including many sea lions and sea otters. If you are happy handling a sea kayak in calm waters then this is a gem of a day out, so close to the city. It was a great recommendation - thanks Nigel!. We had sea otters climbing onto the ends of of boats after drifting quietly for a while - they are amazing creatures. I have posted an account of the day on my photo site.

Bike the Bay, San Franciso

I didn't get too excited about San Francisco really. It's a big, crowded city, very expensive, and plagued with fog. Although I'm in no rush to return, our bike ride around the bay and over the Golden Gate Bridge was a nice day out, and worth doing if you are in town. I posted a few pics from that excursion here.

Yosemite - a bit of a mess really

Lou and I took a week down in California for a friend's wedding during September. We soon got bored of the city, and headed inland to check out Yosemite. The area is great for hiking and climbing, but the American park authorities seem to have lost the plot, unfortunately: the place is overrun with gawpers in buses, and commercial tat where there should be a beautiful, quiet and spectacular valley. We found it easy enough to escape the crowds (tip: use those things that hang off your hips to walk more than 500 m away from the visitors' centre), and we did a great hike up to the rim of the valley, but the place was a bit of an embarrassment considering the pious lecturing you see in the press about how the US Government is so proud of its parks.

The solution looks to be simple enough: demolish the visitors' village, move the entire mess back several miles to where a distant view of Half Dome is still available to the Nikon-waving throngs, and make the valley floor inaccessable to petrol engines. Set up a proper bicyle rental centre aimed to encourage people to ride into the park, instead of the eye-watering rip-off and limited availability of bikes presently available, and rent out cycle trailers for small children to ride in. Those too lazy to walk or cycle could still tick the box in their 'Do America' guidebook, and those unable but willing (i.e. disabled and elderly people) could be provided with electric shuttle tours up to the present site of the village. Oh, and put up a sign on the highways out of LA and San Francisco saying 'Yosemite: It's actually just a big pile of rocks and some trees'. Just an idea....

While we were in the area we took in a couple of other short hikes, which I'm rolling into this post. The Mariposa Grove of Tall Trees was worth a visit. We got there early (about 9 AM) and had the place pretty much to ourselves. Returning to the car at lunch time, all the very worst of the Yosemite system was on display - the place was rammed with RVs and impatient drivers armed with cameras and guidebook tick boxes.... Earlier in the trip we stayed in Carmel, the town that Client Eastwood is credited with transforming into a lot of little expensive boutique shops. Apparently this is a good thing, although I failed to see why. The coastline was attractive though.