Category Archives: Outdoors

Activities, Adventures, Jeep

2014 Jeep Jamboree Registration Opens December 1st @ 12:00 AM (EST)

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Jeep Jamborees are two-day, family oriented four-wheel-drive adventures.  They’re for every level of expertise from novice to veteran and everyone in between.

From Jeep Jamboree’s website:

Any Jeep vehicle with a 4-LO transfer case can participate – that includes everything from showroom stock all the way up to highly modified rigs. Experienced guides help navigate you through scenic switchbacks and some of the most challenging off-highway situations you never thought your Jeep vehicle was capable of. And, perhaps best of all, you’ll be meeting and making new friends along the way.

This year’s registration opens on Sunday, December 1st at 12:00am (EST) (that’s 9:00pm (PST) for us west coast folks!).  These events can fill up fast, so DON’T FORGET TO SET YOUR ALARM!

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Adventures

California’s High Sierra Trail: 75 miles of mountainous bliss

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell
HighSierraTrailmiamiheraldPam LeBlanc has penned a story in the Miami Herald about her adventures along the High Sierra Trail.  If you’re thinking about venturing out for a nice long walk, make sure you read about her adventures!  From the Miami Herald:

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Not all vacations should involve high thread-count sheets, gourmet meals served on fine china or soapy baths.

This one sure didn’t.

Six of us traded such luxuries for sleeping bags, tents, dehydrated meals and hours spent plodding the High Sierra Trail in central California with 25 pounds on our backs.

Everything got distilled to the basics: Walk. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

No smartphone. No Internet. No deodorant. The same set of filthy clothes worn hard, six days in a row.

Backpacking lets you see the land up close, in slow motion. The owls hoot at night. Storms brew and rain falls. You get wet. And smelly. Blisters form. Muscles ache. Toes get dipped in icy streams. Freeze-dried food never tasted so good.

It’s the most magical way to travel.

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Activities, Big Bear Lake

There’s Still Good Mtn Biking in Big Bear!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

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.

Activities, Writer Reference

Manifrotto recommends a great book for landscape photographers

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

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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Geocaching

Geocaching in Harmony with Nature

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Yes, it’s getting a bit cold outside, and geocaching might take a backseat to cozying up to a cup of hot cocoa next to a warm fire, but – at least in Southern California – we are lucky enough to be able to geocache all year long!

As a conservationist, I like to encourage people to work in harmony with Mother Nature.  Not just because it’s good for everyone, but because she’s a bitch if you cross her.  There are a couple of great new blog posts by Annika over at the Geogaching Blog about geocaching in harmony with nature.  Part I is about hiding a cache, and Part II is about finding caches.

Tips described in detail in Part I:

  • Have a comprehensive geocache details page.
  • Place the geocache carefully.
  • Choose an appropriate geocache container.
  • Work with your geocaching community volunteer.
  • Don’t leave Cache-Trash.

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