Category Archives: Activities

There’s Still Good Mtn Biking in Big Bear!

Big Bear Mountain Resorts website is reporting that there’s still plenty of ground left to cover for your biking pleasure.

From the website:

Lift accessed mtn biking may be over for the season but the riding in Big Bear is still really good! The valley did get a small snowstorm but did not receive a substantial amount making the trails clear and tacky. Get out your warmer gear, temperatures are lower and the winter breeze makes the ride a bit cooler. Big Bear offers tons of cross country type rides and the south facing slopes of the mountains tend to warm up and melt off snowfalls quicker than the north side. Meaning trails on the north shore of the lake like Grout Bay are accessible for large parts of the winter.

You can find out more on their website HERE.

Manifrotto recommends a great book for landscape photographers

Jose Antunes has posted reviews of a number of great photography books, including one of the great ones about landscape photography.  From the post:

There are tens of eBooks about landscape photography, making it hard to choose one. Still, if I could only buy one, this would be it: “Visual Flow – Mastering the Art of Composition”, by Ian Plant, with photographs by this author and George Stocking. If there’s one easy way to enter 2014  widening your horizons in terms of Photography, it surely is through the reading of Visual Flow – Mastering the Art of Composition.

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US Forest Service Waives Fees During Veterans Day Weekend

The U.S. Forest Service is waiving fees at most of its day-use recreation sites over the Veterans Day holiday weekend, Nov. 9-11. The fee waivers – the fourth this year – are offered in cooperation with other federal agencies under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. Day-use fees will be waived at all standard amenity fee sites operated by the U.S. Forest Service. Concessionaire operated day-use sites may be included in the waiver if the permit holder wishes to participate.

“We wholeheartedly salute the men and women who represent the nearly 22 million American veterans who have served their country in the military,” said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. “As we do throughout the year, we encourage veterans and their families to take advantage of their national forests and grasslands to enjoy all the benefits the outdoors provide.”

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California Association of 4WD Clubs Operation Desert Fun – October 18-19

Here is one last reminder to get your registration in for Operation Desert Fun, a great fundraiser for the Cal-Diego Paralyzed Veterans Association and Cal4Wheel. Truck on down to the Truckhaven 4×4 Training Facility in the Ocotillo Wells SVRA for some all vehicle action. There are trails for all skill levels, a great vendor show, a raffle and lots more to keep you busy. Kids can even ride as long as they are accompanied by an adult.

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REI ends the ‘forever return’ policy

And it’s about damned time!

When I first began to become the rugged outdoorsman that I’ve become (along about the time they cancelled Miami Vice and ABC aired the Moonlighting episode that jumped the shark (Season 3, Episode 14, “I Am Curious… Maddie” … if your show is built on sexual tension between co-stars NEVER LET THEM SLEEP TOGETHER!)), I discovered REI.  It wasn’t the most convenient store, with none being located close to me, but it was HUGE and it had everything I could ever need.  Which, at the time, was mostly hiking shoes.

An interloper shoed up in the way of Adventure 16 over that was close to me in Newport so I started giving them all of my money, but then REI moved to an even bigger store in Tustin, and scared A16 back to San Diego.

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