Left is Right. Up is Down. In is Out. And Schwarzenegger to be honored for protecting state parks!
According to the LA Times California’s incompetent lame-duck governor who threatened to close most state parks, later backed off and only wanted to close some, and eventually played a huge cut in park funding as a positive thing… “… will be honored Oct. 29 with the National Park Trust’s Bruce F. Vento Public Service Award in Washington, D.C. He won “for his leadership and innovation in the protection of public lands in California and his lifelong commitment to children’s health and to connecting them with the outdoors,” according to a statemen

And so winter begins…
An unusual-for-October strong storm is to come onshore in California in the next 24 hours or so. While the snow levels are forecast to be quite high – around 9000′ – this storm could well close several passes if things pan out as forecast. The folks at the Dweeb Report include an ominous sentence in their most recent update: “WINDS WITH THIS SYSTEM OVER THE CREST COULD REACH BETWEEN 120MPH AND 140MPH OVER THE CENTRAL SIERRA.” Folks still are backpacking in mid-October, and I think there may be more than a few of them cowering in their tents for 36 hours or so early this week. Coupled with close to fr

The Start of “Sierra Winter” Next Week?
Sometime between mid-October and (usually) early November, the first real winter storms start to arrive in California and the Sierra Nevada – and we move from occasional temporary closings on the highest passes to the annual winter closures. Judging from the current predictions, travelers need to keep a watch out starting next week. Right now it sounds like a storm system may come through California that has the potential to drop much more than the “dustings” of snow what we’ve had in the high country up until now – quite possibly enough to close passes like Tioga, Sonora, and Ebbetts for a long time or even for the season, depending on what follows.

Clint Eastwood Talks to the Trees
Copyright © 2008 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Photograph and text from G Dan Mitchell's web sites may not be used in any form including on web sites without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Ken Burns National Parks program online at PBS
Although I was in Yosemite this past weekend when the program started (yes, doing photography), between making photographs and working on them after returning I have yet to see any of the Ken Burns National Park series on PBS. However… I see now that you can you can watch them online for a limited time. Copyright © 2008 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Photograph and text from G Dan Mitchell's web sites may not be used in any form including on web sites without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mit