As many of you have noticed, Outside San Diego has been dormant for a while. This is due to a number of reasons, the primary being that I just returned home from an extended tour of Sierra Nevada Mountains with my family. My wife and I decided that our young children were a [...]

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I had the somewhat dubious pleasure of spending a very soggy weekend backpacking with a Wilderness Basics Group to the San Mateo Canyon Wilderness area this last weekend.  This fast, high mileage backpack from the northern edge of the park down into the canyon bottom was punctuated by almost continual rain from lunchtime on Saturday, [...]

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I had the pleasure of leading a group of WBC participants on a soggy weekend jaunt through Blair Valley and Little Blair Valley and all the wonders it contains.  It rained almost constantly.  This bodes well for the upcoming desert wildflower season  and I am looking forward to the explosion of color that will mark [...]

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Kelty has relaunched their website with a whole bunch of new features, making it easier to research and purchase just the right gear for your needs.  Kelty has also added a wishlist feature, and the ability to purchase gear directly from Kelty.com.
Kelty has good solid gear at good prices, and it is nice to see [...]

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I took a short backpack with a group of friends into San Jacinto State Park. We used the Palm Springs Ariel Tramway to take us and our backpacks from 2643 feet up to 8516 feet, and then strapped on our packs, reeling a little from the sudden massive altitude gain, and hiked a few [...]

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I am camped in asphalt parking lot full of RVs, there are people and noise everywhere. I need to be careful about poking my elbow out the window of your mobile home for fear of bumping into the campers next to you. I wonder what the heck I am doing here until the [...]

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I spent the weekend with a wonderful group of Wilderness Basics Students hiking in and around Blair Valley in the Anza-Borrego Desert. The weather was conducive to hiking, and provided enough rain to make us feel like we accomplished something by spending the weekend outside.

We spent the weekend hiking and exploring a lost [...]

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As our little version of winter descends upon San Diego County,  and our weekend plans are thwarted or altered due to the impending rainstorm,  my thoughts turn to those parts of our region that get a little more than raindrops during the cold season.
The day before I arrived in Salt Lake City for the Outdoor [...]

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Things here at Outside San Diego are going to be very interesting over the next few months.  Here is a preview of what we will be doing in the weeks and months to come.
WBC-
The Wilderness Basics class will begin on January 20th.  The class is filling up very fast, and is expected to reach capacity [...]

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The Slot, located in the Borrego Badlands, is a hike like no other in the San Diego area.  The mile long slot canyon is a monochromatic stroll in the underworld of the desert.  There is something unique about how the light filters through the narrow crevasse above your head that gives you that otherworldly experience.

While [...]

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