Category Archives: California
King of the Hammers is back. The world’s most extreme off-road race and a week-long desert festival, KOH mixes high-speed desert runs with brutal rock crawling that chews up equipment and separates the finished from the wrecked.
The MAPWaters Act has cleared Congress and is headed to the President’s desk.
The sky over California puts on one of its best displays this weekend. From desert flats to high mountain vistas, the Geminid meteor shower peaks between December 13 and 14 — and under the right conditions, it’s the year’s most spectacular meteor show. Get away from town lights and clouds, and you’ll see fast, bright streaks and the occasional fireball that make a late night worth it.
The Geminids run roughly from December 1 to 21, with peak activity from December 13 to 14. Plan to be settled in by about 10 p.m.; the waning crescent moon doesn’t rise until roughly 2 a.m., which gives several moon-free hours when the faint stuff is visible. The stream is debris from asteroid 3200 Phaethon and, under dark skies, rates can hit 60–120 meteors per hour. NASA calls the Geminids one of the most powerful and spectacular annual showers. Continue reading
Bureau of Land Management opens cutting areas and drops personal-use permits to $1 to deliver holiday savings and reduce hazardous fuels.
Across BLM public lands this winter, the Interior Department has turned a holiday chore into a practical win. The Bureau of Land Management’s “One Dollar, One Tree“ action makes gathering a Christmas tree or personal-use firewood inexpensive while directing work into overstocked stands that need thinning.
Effective immediately for the 2025–2026 winter season, the BLM has cut personal-use permits for Christmas trees and firewood to $1 per tree or per cord through January 31, 2026. The agency is opening new cutting areas in overstocked woodlands, with priority given to locations near communities, military bases, tribal areas, and rural counties. Household limits are raised in many places — up to 10 cords of firewood and up to three Christmas trees — and caps can be relaxed where resources allow. The department projects the combined programs will deliver nearly $10 million in holiday savings to families while helping reduce hazardous fuels on public lands. Continue reading

State Park and Recreation Commission formally classifies Wildwood Canyon State Park; the Yucaipa day-use area — open since 2003 — now moves into long-range planning with California State Parks.