Author: Rick Mc

Career gymnastics coach who loves the outdoors, and the internet.
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Manzanita-Ridge Route, California

trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

I did a 6.6mi loop in Montaña de Oro State Park, California near San Luis Obispo.

My variation started up the Manzanita Trail. Visited Hazard Summit. And returned on Ridge Trail.

Here are a few pics of my (sadly) fogged in day hike.

Manzanita trailhead is at Group Horse Camp.

Visibility was not good.

Atop the summit. (1076ft) … In the clouds.

more photos

I’d be happy to recommend this hike. … Except for the long walk back to my car along the coastal road.

Better would be to loop and then backtrack on Manzanita.

I might have enjoyed it more if I’d had gorgeous views over the Pacific.

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Montaña de Oro Bluff Nature Walk

trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

By far the most popular hike in this California State Park …

Montaña de Oro Bluff Nature Walk

Take a pleasant hike along the Bluff Trail for magnificent views and likely looks at a variety of birds, plants and sea life. Binoculars helpful. … Bluff Trailhead, 200 yards south of Visitor Center … . 4.2 mi., 3 hrs return.

SLO State Parks

The highlight for me in March were these ….

The name “Mountain of Gold” comes from the golden wildflowers found in the park.

The trail winds along the coast. Beautiful.

If weather permits, you can get right down on the tidal shelf.

A wonderful walk, easily accessible to all levels of experience.

more photos from my day hike

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Planetgear.com – win $200

Tawnee Madlen sends us this announcement:

March 15, 2011 (Salt Lake City, UT) – Planetgear.com, a members-only website dedicated to selling the world’s best outdoor gear, apparel, and travel destinations at exclusive pricing, today announces a pre launch promotion.

Sign up at Planetgear.com before March 31st, and you’ll be automatically entered to win a $200 shopping spree.

The site will officially launch the week of March 28, 2011 and will provide the best products at up to 70% off retail. …

check it out for yourself – planetgear.com

An interesting twist for gear junkies.

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top 10 Himalayan Treks

Mick from Wilderness Trekking questions our choice of the Annapurna Circuit as one of the top 10 hikes in the world:

… road building and the inevitable changes with so much trekking traffic have taken their toll …

He suggests a number of terrific alternatives:

Sacred Tsum Valley – Nepal
Classic Manaslu Circuit – Nepal
Everest Base Camp – Nepal
Dolpo Traverse – Nepal
Mythical Nar & Phu – Nepal

Mount Kailas Kora – Tibet

Remote Zanskar Traverse – India
Markha Valley – India

Wild Lunana – Bhutan
Phubjikha Festivals – Bhutan

Wilderness Trekking

Mick’s company guides those great adventures. For example:

… Our Phubjhika Festivals trek combines exploration of many of Bhutan’s historic places of interest, including Taksang, or the Tigers Nest Monastery and coincides with perfectly preserved, ancient Buddhist Festivals.

Making use of a chain of comfortable Bhutanese style hotels, we travel with experienced, English speaking local guides who will be able to interpret our experiences and offer personal insights into this fascinating culture. No trip to Bhutan would be complete without a walk through the Himalayan mountains and our gentle three day trek in the Phubjhika Valley, home of the endangered ‘Black Necked Cranes’ will give us just enough time to relax into the Himalayan rhythm before visiting the annual Nyzer Dromchoe Festival. …

details

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Montaña de Oro State Park, California

by site editor Rick McCharles

I drove into the Happiest City in America, SLO (San Luis Oprah) VIDEO directly to Tourist Information. Happily the girl at the desk was a hiker. She immediately recommended the Mountain of Gold. And sold me the SLO adventure trail maps by Central Coast Books. ($10)

There are a number of official trails of varying difficulty and terrain. This State Park is “miraculously free of charge“, considering the deficit California budget.

Dogs are not permitted. But you’ll see horses, mountain bikes and trail runners.

In fact, I’d say this destination is even better for bikers than for hikers.

I was hoping to climb this feature …

Morro Rock is a 581-foot (177m) volcanic plug located just offshore from Morro Bay, California, at the entrance to Morro Bay Harbor. A causeway connects it with the shore, effectively making it a tied island. The area surrounding the base of Morro Rock can be visited. The rock is protected as the Morro Rock State Preserve.

Climbing on the rock or disturbing the bird life is forbidden by law. …

… Too bad.

There is a guidebook for the region published by the Sierra Club – San Luis Obispo County Trail Guide

But leave a comment if you’ve a personal recommendation on BEST HIKES Montaña de Oro.

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Gear Junkie Video Show

I’m no Gear Junkie.

I’ve got Stephen Regenold for that.

GearJunkie.com, launched in 2006, is regarded as a top blog and online publication for product reviews and news in the outdoors world. The site contains thousands of pages of content — gear reviews, news, travel and adventure stories …

Stephen already got a lot of excellent video content. But new to me was his Gear Junkie Video Show.

Episode No. 1 … was shot … at Mount Everest Base Camp in Nepal.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

related – Video: ‘What is Gear Junkie?’

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Cicerone – The Pacific Crest Trail

1st edition (November 14, 2010) by Brian Johnson aka Ancient Brit.

Crow recommends a new guidebook to the 2700-mile Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, Mexico to Canada …

Amazon

Brian is an inveterate walker, having completed the PCT three times, backpacked round the coast of Britain, hiked from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean across the Pyrenees and also completed all the Scottish Munros in a single summer. A retired physics and sports teacher, he is also a keen cyclist and canoeist and has led groups climbing and hiking in Britain, the Alps, the Pyrenees and California. This is his first guide for Cicerone.

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Google Sherpa-Cam on Everest?

Daniel on the CheapTents Outdoor Gear Blog:

… The next development for Google Street View will involve getting off the trike and moving onto mountain trails, which will require leg power alone. For this Google … developing the Sherpa-cam. Prototypes are currently being trialled in the Lake District and in the Nepalese Himalayas. …

Here’s some Photoshop speculation on what that might look like.

read more – Street View on Mountains with Google Sherpa-Cam

… It’s only a matter of time.

Google has updated their Street View website, by the way.

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Mt. Assiniboine Charity Print for Japan

Spencer Goodwine is auctioning a 11X14 inch Black & White print of Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park.

100% of the proceeds go to the charity of choice (as long as it is related to disaster relief in Japan) of the winning bidder and I will pay for all shipping costs and will ship anywhere in the world.

See a more detailed view of that image.

Spencer:

The print was handmade by myself in a darkroom and printed on Oriental warmtone fiber paper. It was shot while hiking from Vista Lake TH to Mt. Shark through Banff NP and Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park (I joined the Bow Valley Highline, Sunshine/Assinibione, and Bryant Creek in what I’ve dubbed as the “Banff Assiniboine Epic”).

The winning bidder can either make a bid on my flickr page which I will link below, or can email me a bid at sdgoodwine AT gmail.com and I will place the bid on my flickr page on their behalf.

The auction will end this Friday at 8pm Central Time (GMT-6). At that time the highest bidder selects a charity involved with the Japan Disaster relief and donates the winning bid. They make a screen-shot/screen-grab of the donation receipt and email it to me along with the address they want to me to ship the print to.

… I’m still personally in shock at the video we’re seeing from Japan. Numb.

Thanks so much to Spencer for stepping up.