Beneath our souls
The Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Range are part of the American Cordillera, a continuous range of mountains that runs along the west side of the New World from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. [...]
hiking
Into the crisp air
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
- After 10 years, Ron Erskine hangs up pen - January 9, 2020
- A Coe Park classic - August 15, 2019
- South Valley responds to annual summer hiking trek - July 31, 2019
After a dry December, it looks like some rainy weather may be in store. Hopefully, it won’t be long before the hint of green in the hills grows rich, the creases in the hills gurgle with runoff, and the flowers begin to pop. If you just pulled into town or have never hiked our [...]
Three seaside settings
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
- After 10 years, Ron Erskine hangs up pen - January 9, 2020
- A Coe Park classic - August 15, 2019
- South Valley responds to annual summer hiking trek - July 31, 2019
Outdoor photographer and mountaineer, Galen Rowell, wrote that a landscape is most alluring at the edges; where the mountains rise above the plains or a stream divides a lush meadow. But no scenic boundary has stirred humankind’s imagination through the ages more than the [...]
Devil’s Dance Floor
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
- After 10 years, Ron Erskine hangs up pen - January 9, 2020
- A Coe Park classic - August 15, 2019
- South Valley responds to annual summer hiking trek - July 31, 2019
Hell for Sure Pass. Gorge of Despair. Lake Lola Montez. Wonderful place names are scattered across Sierra Nevada maps colorfully depicting the difficulty of passage or honoring everything from the Devil to wayward Gold Rush dance hall girls. When a friend sent me a list of [...]
Sweeping Views
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
- After 10 years, Ron Erskine hangs up pen - January 9, 2020
- A Coe Park classic - August 15, 2019
- South Valley responds to annual summer hiking trek - July 31, 2019
Every January 1, we begin the year by making a resolution with an eye toward self-improvement. Each of us could do a little less of this or a bit more of that, but we rarely stick with it. Several weeks into the new year, we revert to our old ways. Last January, a group of [...]
Whitewater runoff
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
- After 10 years, Ron Erskine hangs up pen - January 9, 2020
- A Coe Park classic - August 15, 2019
- South Valley responds to annual summer hiking trek - July 31, 2019
Plentiful winter rains bring a spring of singular delights: energized creeks, top shelf wildflower displays and green hills that persist through April. As wonderful as our lowland spring has been, it is quaint and timid compared to the cirque du soleil of water shows in Yosemite [...]
Amazing Views on the Trail
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
- After 10 years, Ron Erskine hangs up pen - January 9, 2020
- A Coe Park classic - August 15, 2019
- South Valley responds to annual summer hiking trek - July 31, 2019
Russian Ridge is a crown jewel among the open space preserves strung along Skyline Boulevard atop the San Francisco Peninsula hills. From the preserve parking lot at the top of Page Mill Road, hikers on the Ridge Trail are quickly rewarded with amazing views: the Pacific Ocean, [...]
Traversing the Headlands
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
- After 10 years, Ron Erskine hangs up pen - January 9, 2020
- A Coe Park classic - August 15, 2019
- South Valley responds to annual summer hiking trek - July 31, 2019
From Sweeney Ridge in San Mateo County, where Gaspar de Portolà first saw San Francisco Bay in 1769, to windswept Tomales Point at the very northern tip of Marin County, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) spans a vast distance and a staggering variety of [...]