EISPIRATEN

Looks like a gopher snake, one of the more common snakes in SoCal. Not poisonous. You got a nice picture since they move pretty fast so its tough to get a good picture of one.

I wasn't aware trash bags were a fashion trend, and that they came in so many colors.

Pack up your sorrow
The trash man comes tomorrow
Leave it at the curb and it'll just go roll away

'The Late Show' Jackson Browne

'Crow' and 'raven' are generic terms for birds of the genus 'Corvus'. 'Crow' is usually applied to the smaller varieties, 'raven' to the larger. nd they are very smart birds. Almost all are covered with black feathers, so its tough to tell individual species unless you get a really good picture. IF ...

I'm definitely NOT a fan of the 'click-in' pedals that are so highly popular these days; I like the infinite float of my foot being loose on a pedal. I use the platform pedals with short pins in them and some type of flat-bottom shoes (tennis court shoes work great; think of the old Adidas 'Stan Smi...

Good luck with the trip! Not the best time of year to do this. Most folks do the western USA ride north-2-south to take advantage of the prevailing winds that blow out of the north. And as winter is almost here it'll be raining more the farther north he goes; hopefully some storms will drop down thi...

Operating whilst under a court order to shut down? Big time screw up. HJ I used to make a good living dealing with business owners who had no regard for safety or environmental compliance regulations. This probably was not a court order, but an administrative order to fix something. Most regulatory...

Taquitz Peak would probably be the best for protected rock practice. Cornell only has a really short section on Class 5, and its around the back (north side); the south side (facing Tamarack Valley) is a Class3/Class 4 scramble. And no real summit plateau for a group to lounge on while taking in the...

If you decide you don't need something that can take crampons, then I'd recommend the Hi-Tec Altitude V's. They're leather (although kinda thin), but water resistant and have a high enough collar when used with gaiters to use in the snow. They also work well with snowshoes. Great for the local mount...

Both the Coldwater Trail and the East Horsethief Trail have been abandoned by the USFS. Not sure why, but I gotta believe it was due to development in the I-15 corridor north of Lake Elsinore. You can still find their intersection points with the Main Divide Trail, but it'd be a tough haul to go up ...

These findings don't really surprise me. With the San Gabriel Mountains being so close to the urban centers of greater Los Angeles, including some with high volumes of criminal activities, its a wonder more bodies aren't found in the local hills. It'd be pretty easy to do a body dump over the side o...

Here's my spin on outdoor photography. While on Denali back in the 1990s I stopped taking photographs. I was trying to line up a 'perfect shot' at the top of Motorcycle Hill in the early evening twilight (pretty much impossible with the overwhelmingly grand views up there), I suddenly realized I was...

atomicoyote, you are right about that, I have actually seen a tarantula hawk dragging a tarantula into a hole in the ground on two occasions now in San Diego. I thought it was so cool, I excitedly showed it to a couple walking by and the girl freaked out and ran away screaming. It was quite a sight...

Heck, why not??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcUmZCEnds0

Actually a Tarantula Wasp. Good photo!. There should be a lot of them out as this is the time of year tarantulas come out of their hiding places to mate, so the wasps are out in droves looking for them. They'll subdue the tarantula (paralyze it, not kill it), then bury it underground with a wasp egg...

Bow hunting season starts 2-3 weeks before gun hunting is allowed. The gun season is pretty short around here (maybe two months), but bow hunting lasts through the end of the year. Hunting is also done by 'zones', and each zone has different start/end dates sequential or overlapping). I believe So C...

'Paved paradise, put up a parking lot'

- Joni Mitchell -

Highway 39 is a state highway, so report it to the CHP. You may be able to go online and file a report, and give them as much detail as possible. Whiel they and other LEO's are having staffing problems, so they do keep track of these things to help them use their limited resources to target problem ...

Two at the same time at 9200 ft on Onyx Peak (San Bernardino Mtns). With the number of radio relay stations and buildings on its very broad summit there must be plenty of rodents for snakes to feed on up there.

The only idea I can think of is hiking along the Pacific Crest Trail. If you didn't want to do a one-way trip involving a car shuttle or rendevous, you could simply do an out-and-back style trip; start at one spot, hike for three days, then on the fourth day just do an out-and-back hike from your 3r...

orget the alligator pictures, we want to see one of them HUGE (+10 ft) pythons that are infiltrating every corner of Florida. People smuggled them in as pets, then released them when they either got bored with it, or the snake got too big to handle. http://cdn.zmescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/...

Kittie porn?

Somewhat like two years ago it closed down MT Baldy Road, Glendora ridge route Road and Glendora Mtn Road, and a small section of Hwy 39. Expect it to be closed all day Saturday. http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/stage7 http://ptsmarketinggroup.net/books/atoc/#68 Tomorrow's time trial is beig mov...

Pat, Awesome data find! I'll add geocaching.com and the NOAA site for future searches. This was interesting in the data sheet: STABILITY: D = MARK OF QUESTIONABLE OR UNKNOWN STABILITY I think it has been a long time since anyone has been there or verified the mark, but I see no reason it should not...

Since it really close to the county line, check and make sure it isn't in Riverside County. You might have to check with Riverside's Public Works office to find something. If its got a good vantage point of the surroundings it might have been put in by local surveyors as a marker, rather than using ...

Try looking online at Sierra Trading Post. Their selection is a little lean right now, but by the end of the summer they seem to get a lot of retail stores' seasonal overstock and discount it quite nicely. About 6 years ago I bought a Sierra Designs tent from them for about 1/2 of what the stores ch...

I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but did you try doing a internet search for "Kahtoola" or Kahtoola Microspikes"? Lots of online vendors will show up. REI sells them at their stores during winter. And you can buy them directly from Kahtoola (yes, they have a website!). I use the bigges...

How about the San Mateo Wilderness up near Lake Elsinore/Wildomar off of I-15? Here's a link to a trip report on the www.mtsanjacinto.info website. If the link doesn't come up go to that website, go to the 'Outdoors . . ' subforum, and go back a few pages until you find a thread with 'San Mateo Wild...

i'll throw this up just for informational purposes (and there's pictures of some cool rigs in the 'Gallery' section). I'm thinking most of these folks spent more than $2K on their rigs:

http://www.skoolie.net/

[youtube][/youtube]

HikeUp wrote: ↑is it possible they fell out of a vehicle (work truck)?

That's the same thing I thought after watching the video, especially since the nails were all found on/in the same curve. Probably a dumba$$ roofing contractor not securing all his materials (those are nails for securing roof shingle panels).