On July 5th, 2006 I biked (OK, mostly pushed) up the city of San Diego's highest point, Cowles Mountain (1591'). The peak is located near SDSU, and about 6 miles northeast of downtown. Directions are here... (read more)

For the past six years the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition has been sponsoring a ride along the L.A. River. The latter is no longer a real river but is in fact mostly a large, all concrete drainage ditch used to keep the former watercourse from flooding the L.A. Basin. Back in the day the river would change course and even caused a massive flood or two... (read more)

The Caverns of Sonora are a quite attractive commercial cave located 8 miles west of Sonora Texas and about 150' underground. If you've never been that far underground before, this might be a good start. Smaller than the Carlsbad Caverns, there are not hordes of tourists always on your heels. And, the features are quite attractive, including the famous butterfly. and less-famous but interesting wonders like the Frozen Falls... (read more)

Believe it or not, Texas is not completely flat. The "hill country" to the west of Austin leaves much to be desired from a topological standpoint: the hike with the greatest elevation gain in the whole Hill Country appears to be in Enchanted Rock State Park, and that only goes up a whopping 425'... (read more)

The highest point in Tennessee is hardly a wilderness experience, but it's quite interesting nonetheless. It's located in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the summit contains a futuristic tower giving a 360 degree panorama of the park and the surrounding area... (read more)

This is a small but interesting museum with basic exhibits about life on the prairie, some antiques, some mannequins, and similar items. It also has dinosaur and mastodon bones which were dug up locally... (read more)

Believe it or not, there is rock climbing of a sort in Griffith Park. We aren't talking 4th or 5th class, but there are two tiny stretches where you could enjoy 3rd class moves, and one longer stretch of high 2nd to mid-3rd class. That latter is on the way to Bee Rock, an outcrop on the east side of the park... (read more)

About the only thing in Kansas City that I found of interest was the architecture. It's got some nice old brick buildings, some run-down areas, and some green spaces. (Lots of pictures here). It's not just one big shopping mall that sprang up out of the prairie like, say, Dallas. But, like other Midwest cities it has a big problem: it's as flat as a pancake... (read more)

Earlier today I mountain biked in Cheeseboro Canyon, which is part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. It's off the 101 freeway in Agoura, which is generally between Thousand Oaks and the western edge of the San Fernando Valley. I drove a lot of miles to get there, and going back isn't high on my list of priorities... (read more)

It's quite well worth the trip to visit the Four Corners monument where those states meet... (read more)