Price is no sign of quality experience
The best and worst deals in the outdoors can turn your world around, good and bad. There are plenty of examples of both.
The first rule in the outdoors is that you don’t get what you pay for. For the same exact result, you can pay nothing or pay a fortune, depending on with whom you’re dealing.
Good deals Free: Parking and access for hiking and mountain biking at the 36,000 acres in the Marin Watershed, at 26 preserves and 60,000 acres run by the Midpeninsula Open Space District, and most of the 65 parks and 112,000 acres operated by the East Bay Regional Park District. Free: Trailhead access to 20 million acres of land operated by the U.S. Forest Service in California. Free: Wilderness permit for camping on multiday trips in wilderness in national forests. Free: Fishing from a pier in San Francisco Bay, where no fishing license is required. Free: Boat ramps at countyoperated facilities at Clear Lake and Bullards Bar Reservoir, the boat ramp at Big Lake and Ahjumawi State Park, and at many lakes in national forests after docks are removed for the offseason. Free: Hand-launching kayaks, canoes and inflatables at 190 small lakes without boat ramps that you can reach by car in national forests. $5: Rental fee for bear-proof food canisters required for overnight wilderness hiking in Yosemite National Park. $7 per person: Guided tour in winter to see elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Reserve. $15 duck stamp: All money goes to improve bird and wildlife populations, and you receive unlimited driving tours in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges.
Bad deals Del Valle: Arrive with a boat to go fishing with two kids at Del Valle Reservoir: $6 to enter the park, $5 for your trailered boat, $7 for a short inspection, $5 to launch and $15 for three daily fishing permits. That’s $38 for access to fish at a lake that is 46 percent full with not much biting. Annadel State Park: $6 to park in an undeveloped parking area for access to old ranch roads for primitive mountain biking. Fishing license: A state fishing license with a two-rod stamp for lakes is $58.63, the highest resident fishing license in America. No, you don’t get what you pay for. State-park access: $12 per vehicle at Folsom Lake? $10 per vehicle at Big Basin Redwoods, Butano Redwoods, Portola Redwoods, Mount Diablo, Point Lobos, Wilder Ranch? In light of the state’s budget scandal and comparable fees by other park districts, access should be free or a couple of bucks, as it was a few years ago. Berryessa: $25 to launch at Pleasure Cove, $20 at Markley Cove at Lake Berryessa. Gouge job. State-park camping: $55 per night to camp in your pickup
truck (no hookups) at Seacliff State Beach, $45 a night to camp at Kelsey Creek at Clear Lake State Park (air conditioning not included, heh), $38 for a primitive boat-in campsite at Lake Clementine, $35 for a tent site at Big Basin Redwoods, Butano and many others; way overpriced. Carnelian Bay: $60 a night, $360 for a week, merely to dock your boat at Carnelian Bay while on vacation at Lake Tahoe.
Shoulder season
With school already having started for many K-12 students, the 49ers and Raiders in the exhibition season, and many colleges beginning classes this week, outdoor participation will be affected dramatically. It creates an early and long shoulder season for recreation that bridges summer to winter and provides opportunities on weekdays. At Point Reyes National Seashore, for instance, all of the hike-in campsites are booked for all Saturday nights up to Nov. 11. On Sundays through Thursdays, you pretty much can have your pick. This is symbolic of outdoor participation throughout the Bay
Area and Northern California and one reason I take vacations in the early fall.
Trust yourself
Many Giants fans got punched in the stomach with the news Wednesday that Melky Cabrera was suspended for testing positive for a banned substance. The story reminds me of why, back in the day, I quit as a sportswriter to write about the outdoors experience. Many pro athletes are way too leaky a vessel in which to put your faith. Instead of trusting them with your hope, trust yourself. That’s why I sign off my blog: “Feel great in the next 24 hours: Hike. Bike. Camp. Fish. Boat. Wildlife watch. Explore.”
Grab every day
Field scout Richard DeGraffenreid (“Tolenas Springs”) provided the following story from last weekend: “Benicia had its ‘Peddlers Fair,’ 30,000 people showed up, so we thought it would be a good time to have a garage sale. I was loading a mirror for a 75-yearold man and his wife into their car, turned around and he had slumped over from a heart attack. I called 911 and did CPR until the medics came. I thought he did not make it, that he died right there. No vitals. Hardest part was the wife losing her longtime companion and crying on me while I was doing CPR to no avail. This is not a ‘woe-is-me’ e-mail. It’s a call to please go seize the day. Take a hike, give your loved ones a call, thank God for this wonderful planet and to work hard to live our lives the best we can. Grab every day. Ya never know. Now get this. I checked at the firehouse the next day and they told me the guy made it.” DeGraffenreid, it turns out, saved the man’s life after all.