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Running Charlton Flats to Three Points
My first run of greater than twenty miles in length since the HURT 100 hurt way more than I’d like it to. The plan was to run the Angeles Crest 100 route from Charlton Flats to Three Points and back. Things didn’t entirely go as planned. Despite the ultimate treachery of this run, I was…
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The Cross Town Loop
This 13 mile loop route with 2,854 feet of gain barely qualified for the San Gabriel Trails Project. It does, however, include several miles of trail that are, indeed, within the San Gabriel Mountains. Those several miles of the Cross Town Trail in La Cañada’s trail system are what this loop is named after. The…
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Hawaii: History, Honeycreepers, and the HURT 100 – Part 2
For part 1 of this trip and race report, see here. Two days before the race, we took a trip to Pearl Harbor to visit the USS Arizona Memorial. While Google Maps did a good job of getting us temporarily lost on Honolulu’s confusing roads, we still arrived early and only had to wait a…
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Hawaii: History, Honeycreepers, and the HURT 100 – Part 1
We look out over the vast Pacific that forms our temporary backyard and watch the sun set as large waves break on the volcanic rock in front of us and Brown Boobies fly northward just offshore. This is our first of ten nights on the island of Oahu. It’s my first time in the state…
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The Year That Was, The Year That Will Be
Two days short of one year ago, I wrote a post about my goals for 2016. As often happens, life takes unexpected twists and turns, sometimes rendering goals difficult if not impossible to reach within the time period you planned for. For example, there was no way I could know that I would be out…
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Land Use Changes in the Antelope Valley
[Featured image: A Northern Harrier flies over a solar farm outside of Bakersfield, California in May 2016] Google Earth’s time feature allows you to easily take a look at how land use changes over time. I produced this video, without commentary, showing land use changes in the western Antelope Valley from 1985 – 2016.
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A Rare Asian Visitor
[Featured image: A Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, photographed by the author in the Los Angeles River just south of the Willow Street bridge on November 14, 2016. Behind it and to the left is a Black-necked Stilt. In the front are American Coots.] I got my first new life bird in quite awhile today: a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper,…
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Sometimes Rare Birds are Easy
[Featured image: Grasshopper Sparrow at Viña Vieja Park, Pasadena, 10 November 2016] I decided to do a “chase” today for a rare species: a Grasshopper Sparrow that was reported at Viña Vieja Park in Pasadena, approximately 10 miles from my house. While that species is certainly not a life bird for me (as they aren’t all…
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Lewis’s Woodpecker and Other Things
[Featured image: Lewis’s Woodpecker at Bette Davis Picnic Area, Burbank, Los Angeles County on October 26, 2016] As today was not a running day, I decided to make it a birding day. There was a report on the LaCoBirds listserv yesterday of a Lewis’s Woodpecker at Bette Davis Picnic Area near Griffith Park. As that…
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When Public Lands Aren’t Really Public
[Featured image: Blooming rabbitbrush at Hungry Valley OHV Area with the Topatopa Mountains in the background.] I woke up early this morning unsure what I was going to do. Today was not to be a running day. I did not, however, want to spend my whole day watching football, which is exactly what I would…