End Pavement

Redlands, California, has been leading a local effort to repurpose and reclaim greenbelt areas, including the Orange Blossom Rail Trail Project. In yesterday’s Redlands Daily Facts, there was a story about some organized community outings called “Trails at 10.”

“Hikers, cyclists hit the trail Saturday morning”

Hikers, cyclists and public officials gathered Saturday morning to kick off a group of events intended to get the community excited about the city’s hiking trails.

“Trails at 10″ is a series of outings sponsored by the Redlands Conservancy and the Orange Blossom Rail Trail Project that gives residents a chance to experience the trails of Redlands firsthand. This year’s first “Trails at 10″ event took place Saturday, when hikers and cyclists enjoyed the Santa Ana River Trail.

The “Emerald Necklace” mentioned in the story refers to the idea of encircling the city in greenbelts. They are also talking about the possibility of hooking the trails up with the Metrolink system, which will be pushed out to Redlands someday. Hopefully sooner rather than later. ;)

Today would have been John Muir’s 169th birthday, but considering all he did in his life, he lived every year like two. From Wikipedia:

John Muir (April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) was one of the first modern conservationists. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, and wildlife, especially in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, were read by millions and are still popular today. His direct activism helped to save the Yosemite Valley and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. His writings and philosophy strongly influenced the formation of the modern environmental movement.

The Sierra Club website has a John Muir Exhibit which includes Google Earth tie-ins to follow along with his adventures.

John Muir led a life that mixed high adventure and heartfelt advocacy for the protection of wilderness — an approach to living summed up in the Sierra Club motto: Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet.

Now, you can explore some of the important places and moments in Muir’s life with Google Earth, powerful mapping software you can download for free.

Give the nearest patch of dirt a friendly pat tomorrow and wish the planet a happy Earth Day while you’re at it. ;)

And then on Monday, wish my wife Denyse a Happy Birthday! ;D

I wanted to point to three writers I’ve been enjoying, all of whom coincidentally are posting about the Far East.

First up is a trio of posts that blogger Modern Hiker’s has put up recently about his trip to Tokyo last year. Great descriptions and photos:

• Hiking in Japan: Takao-San
• Hiking in Japan: Kamakura Pt. 1
• Hiking in Japan: Kamakura Pt. 2

The most recent from Kamakura seems to encapsulate what I imagine life to be like in Japan with the modern and ancient intertwined, from the organized games at an elementary school, to being caught in the wonder of a giant bamboo grove, to doing the tourist duty at a 13th-Century statue of Buddha.

As we continued our unscheduled surprise hike through the wilderness of Kamakura, we came upon many of the same sorts of things we saw while walking through Takao-san: rugged, rocky trails; dense forests; elderly, fit hikers; and shrines hidden and carved just about everywhere you could think of putting one.

The second writer is one well-familiar to hiking bloggers as someone who posts both evocative stories and gorgeous photographs — living in Japan, Bastish.net has posted about playing host to his parents of late. Back a couple of weeks, check out these posts: “Shitami” and “Going for Water”, while short, are wonderful. And since he’s been posting since the year 2000, there’s lots to check out.

The third writer is 80 Days or Bust, a travel blog being posted on the Condé Nast Traveler website by Mark Schatzker. Here’s the description:

One man sets off to re-discover the world the old-fashioned way, traveling no faster than 100 mph and taking the time to see, eat, drink, and blog about his experiences.

He started in California and took a cruise ship across the Pacific — the current posts are about traveling across Mongolia on horseback and in a Russian-made UVZ van. Schatzker has a good sense of humor that comes through in his writing, and the informal nature of the blog makes for a fun read. For an example, check out “My Sorry Attempt at Fly Fishing in Mongolia”.

Thanks to the Press-Enterprise for pointing out a new exhibit going on now at the San Bernardino County Museum.

[The] new exhibit [...] focuses on the unique geography of inland Southern California that makes the area especially prone to earthquakes, landslides, fires and floods.

Titled “Living on the Edge,” the show explores the scientific reasons for such natural disasters and their relationship to the human population. It details the ways local communities have coped in the past and prepared for the future, and offers pictorial reminders and preparedness hints.

The museum’s website has a full press kit with facts and figures, plus some of the images being displayed.

“Living on the Edge: Natural Disasters in San Bernardino County” runs March 17th to June 24th. I’ll definitely make plans to go see that.

I also want to see how the construction is coming on their new Hall of Geological Wonders, which had the groundbreaking back in February. The illustrations and blueprints look really cool.

Talk about ending pavement! Plans for revitalizing the LA River come and go pretty often, but this new Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan really has some ooomph.

In the LA Times today, by Steve Hymon, “Costly L.A. River plan contains a raft of new ideas”. (Apparently, you can’t avoid making headline puns about this story. ;)

After decades of enduring jokes about the city’s concrete-lined waterway, officials today will release an ambitious master plan for restoring the Los Angeles River, a project that reflects lofty dreams and carries a big price tag.

If anything, the plan is significant not for its specifics but for its sweep and boldness in proposing to turn the industrial-strength storm drain running from the San Fernando Valley to the sea into “one of the city’s most treasured landmarks.”

The Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan proposes a $2-billion-plus makeover that would replace vast tracts of industrial land along the river with parks, clean up the river and make it appear more natural while retaining its important flood-control role.

If they could make this bold vision happen, it could have a profound effect on all of Southern California, much less Los Angeles itself.

There was a post on MetaFilter today with links to lots of cool pics of the Salton Sea by a guy on Flickr. I’ve never actually seen the Sea, despite having driven near it numerous times, but it’s definitely on my list of Things to Do.

The Salton Sea: “Jonson takes pictures of The Salton Sea, which is a strange place, like some kind of huge, perpetual, Burning Man, but by a huge, salty, polluted, manmade lake with distant shores, dying fish, has-been resort towns, Salvation Mountain, fundie dinos, fountains of youth, and nice churches. [via mefi projects] [previously] [howdy]“

I posted on Celsius1414 about the various restoration efforts last year: “Press-Enterprise: Salton Sea help gets closer”.