In happier wildfire-related news, the Mount Hollywood hiking trail has officially re-opened in Griffith Park, after being nearly decimated by a wildfire earlier this year that took down almost a quarter of the park.
Our local ABC affiliate has a short video of the actual opening, complete with showboating Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
For more information on what’s still closed over at Griffith, be sure to check out their new recovery blog. I don’t do much hiking up there, myself, but it looks like they’re handing out hefty fines to hikers who stray from the open areas …
The Flores Canyon in Altadena had a 10-acre brush fire on Sunday. No official word on the cause yet, but the blaze was contained within a few hours. A few hikers did have to be evacuated from the area, which I’d imagine would be pretty nerve wracking.
Let’s hope we get some rain this winter. And be thankful the few blazes we have had have been relatively small.
Pictures courtesy of the Flickr sets of Muzzlehatch, a great photographer who lives right near the blaze. All of his stuff is worth checking out, but definitely make time for his Angeles National Forest sets. They’ll make you want to run into the woods with a fancy camera.
While scouring the web for some new Flickr / Wordpress plugins, I stumbled across the stunning photoblog of Nathan Cowlishaw, a young photographer who clearly has the same love of the Desert Southwest I do — but with a much better photographer’s eye.
His photoblog features absolutely breathtaking images, like this shot of Monument Valley:
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park from Talking Tree.
… and if words are more your thing, his West Desert Journal has some great musings on his travels through the Great Southwest. Definitely worth checking out.
Especially if you’re looking for ways to justify taking a trip to Utah sometime in the near future.
We’ve heard rumblings of this “glamping” trend, imported from Europe, for a few months now. Still, the L.A. Times’ recent feature article on “glamorous camping” or “glamping,” caught my eye again.
Why? Because it’s ridiculous.
The article spotlights a faux-ranch in Montana called Paws Up, which specializes in something they call “soft adventure.” How soft? Like your camp has a private maid, butler, and gourmet chef soft. Like you have a heated down comforter and your tent interior looks like a luxury hotel soft.
Photos Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times
The accompanying video is even more infuriating, as you’ll hear Paws Up representatives say traditional camping is “too much work” and “not much fun,” and describe their clientèle as people who “want to get back in touch with nature but certainly don’t want to have to go out hiking in the woods to do it.”
Yeah, you know what? Then they don’t really want to get in touch with nature. They want to look at it from a safe distance, and maybe have the ability to tell their yachting buddies about that one wild time when they roughed it.
Stay home, open a window, and watch “Planet Earth” on HD. We’ll all be better off.
Apparently, while I was focusing on my apartment move, the National Park Service was busy updating and improving several of their parks’ web sites.
Luckily, other people noticed. Now I’m noticing them. That’s how the Internet works.
The newly-redesigned Tennessee Trailhead shone its spotlight on the new Canyonlands site, which features a great 15 minute intro-to-the-park video, as well as videos on responsible desert hiking, the park’s geology, and river rafting.
It’s a great way to wind down your office-time before the weekend … as well as adding fuel for your trip-planning fires.
A short, relatively easy trail loop in one of the most accessible areas of Los Angeles’ mountains. Quick access and very dog-friendly, although the crowds may leave you longing for something a bit further in the wilderness.
A few videos of the Perseid meteor shower have popped up this week on the YouTubes. In case you missed it, or were too lazy to get out of the city late on Sunday night, here’s some night vision video of the cosmic event.
It’s got nothing on the actual experience of lying on the ground in the middle of the mountains, looking up at a sky full of stars … but it’ll have to do. Because right now, you’re looking at a computer screen.
Much has been said about the show’s apparent staging, and the Internets - as they are wont to do - are in a temporary uproar.
Personally, I don’t mind. All TV is at least partially faked, or at the very least edited or shot in a particular way to get a point across. While I’d love it if “Man vs. Wild” were more ‘real’ - or as real as a survival show can get with a multicamera film crew following you around - it’s all right by me.
A co-worker and fellow weekend-outdoorsman brought up the point that MvW is much more of a “how to” show than its Science Channel counterpart “Survivorman.” I like that Bear will jump into a glacial lake to show us how to warm up in the Alps, and I don’t care that he probably retreated to a chalet for some hot cocoa when the cameras turned off. The information is still useful.
Plus, if you want to watch a guy spear a salmon and eat it raw, there’s really nowhere else on TV.
The Spot Beacon is a personal satellite phone / emergency beacon that uses a private network instead of bothering the feds when you’re in trouble — and it’s also more affordable. At $150 (with a $100 / year subscription), it’s definitely less of a hit to the wallet than the 5 to 6 hundred the government-network beacons will run you.
Despite the lower price, these are a bit fancier — it also tracks your progress in real-time on Google Maps (!!!), and can contact your friends and relatives via phone, email, or text message if you’ve got a non-emergency situation or just want to let them know you’re ok.
Moms everywhere will approve, once the product launches on November 1st.
Yesterday, I hiked a canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains in the morning, swam in the Pacific Ocean all afternoon, and ventured to a low peak in the San Gabriels to watch a surprisingly light pollution-free meteor shower until the wee hours of the morning - accompanied by distant coyote howls.
Southern California, huh? Not too shabby.
I’ll have the hike posted later this week.
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Click here for a Google Map of Los Angeles hiking trails.
Apparently, while I was focusing on my apartment move, the National Park Service was busy updating and improving several of their parks’ web sites.
A short, relatively easy trail loop in one of the most accessible areas of Los Angeles’ mountains. Quick access and very dog-friendly, although the crowds may leave you longing for something a bit further in the wilderness.
The 
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