The MAPWaters Act has cleared Congress and is headed to the President’s desk.
Binoculars are the simplest upgrade you can carry that actually changes what you see. Get them set right and a distant ridge, a bird on the wing, or a marker across the water resolves into something useful instead of a tired blur. Most folks treat them like they’re just one knob and a wild guess — twist the center wheel, squint, and keep turning until frustration wins. That’s backward. Binoculars are a time-proven, compact, mechanical instrument that performs perfectly when the parts are tuned to you.
Binoculars are a handful of simple systems that do very specific jobs. Know what each part does, and you won’t be fiddling when the bird, marker, or Bigfoot shows up. Continue reading
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
This month, Grant Grove in Kings Canyon will host the 100th Annual Trek to the Nation’s Christmas Tree. On December 14, assembling at 2 p.m. with the official ceremony beginning at 2:30 p.m. The event honors the General Grant Tree, the long-lived, enormous, and officially recognized “Nation’s Christmas Tree.” December 14 is also a free entrance day at Sequoia and Kings Canyon, so Grant Grove will see heavier foot traffic and limited parking. 
A string of storms this fall left Death Valley doing what it rarely does: collecting rainwater.