Fine, It's Fall
Plus, See me at the Autry, Apple Maps goes hiking, stomach bugs in paradise, we need to bother Gov. Newsom, and more
Fine, It’s Fall
It was only a few weeks ago when I was writing about refusing to give up on the promise and joy of summer—but also, it looks like that’s about as long as it took for the seasons to make a serious shift. A couple of rainstorms and some cool, gray mornings later, and I am taking more and more of my long-sleeved shirts and flannels out of the basement.
Don’t get me wrong—we still have some 80-degree days coming our way. But up here in Portland, when the forecast reads 80 degrees, the temperature doesn’t actually get there until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. So it can kind of feel like it’s late fall most of the day, then end with a touch of summer memories. It requires a lot of layering, but it’s kind of nice.
I had my first pumpkin-spiced canned cold brew before a lengthy and lovely trek in Portland’s Forest Park a few days ago, and I think for me that’s marking the official start of my mental fall. Well, that, and the foliage reports are starting to roll in
from California Fall Color. Snowcreek, North Lake, and other high-elevation areas of Inyo County are usually the first to pop, and this year is no different. The site has issued it’s preliminary “Plan Your Eastern Sierra Trip NOW” reminder, and you’d do well to listen. The peak foliage at some of the loveliest spots there can sneak up on you, and by the time the “GO NOW” alerts come out, you really only have a few days, depending on the weather.
I know not everyone can be super flexible with their schedules around this sort of thing, but don’t worry. The fall color on the West Coast lasts a lot longer than it does in the Northeast, as long as you keep an eye on the different elevation and microclimates.
I haven’t yet found a place that does the exemplary job of foliage forecasting for specific areas that California Fall Color does, but if you are interested in a broad-strokes, very general outlook for different regions of the country, the OpenSnow app has a great explainer post and predictor, as well as a bit of the science and meteorology that goes into these forecasts.
Visit Me at the Autry Block Party
If you happen to be in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 6th, you should come say hello at the Autry Museum of the American West’s Annual Block Party. The event runs all day, from 10AM to 5PM. It looks like museum admission rates apply, but I’ve been told that Bank of America credit card holders can get in for FREE.
Honestly, even if you can’t get in for free, the Autry is one of my favorite museums in L.A., and it’s worth a visit even without all the cool stuff they’re doing for the block party like live music, trick ropers, plein air painting, powwow dances, and lots more.
You can see a full (and growing) schedule of events right here. I will be selling and signing books and saying hello from 1 to 2PM inside the Museum Store with author Amy Scott. I always really look forward to these events just to hear how people are enjoying all those words I wrote, so come on by and say howdy and you’ll truly make my day.
Your Parks
Your Places
The National Parks are Under Siege
Again. I mean, anyone who goes to National Parks on the regular—especially some of the more popular marquee parks—knows that they’re underfunded, understaffed, overused, and all of that. If you needed to be reminded, the Wall Street Journal recently ran an in-depth feature on the issues the parks are facing, with some pretty insane graphs comparing the number of visitors against the number of staff at popular parks like Zion and Yellowstone.
Norovirus Closes Section of the Nāpali Coast
There are a lot of places you probably don’t want to get sick while on vacation, but I’d wager backpacking on the remote Nāpali Coast on Kauai has to be near the top of that list. The Hawaii Department of Health has closed a portion of the popular route after campers in the Kalalau Section came down with severe symptoms, which are pretty nasty on your G-I tract. Gear Junkie reports 37 confirmed cases so far, and the state has closed the entire Kalalau Trail section of the Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park. Keep an eye on updated closure orders here.
Tech Talk
Gadgets, Technology, and Hype
Apple Maps get Hikes
Back in June, Apple announced the upcoming version of its mobile operating system would include a curated collection of hiking trails in National Parks throughout the country. Well, it’s here now! iOS 18 was released this week, adding “thousands of hikes” with detailed descriptions, turn-by-turn directions, offline topographic maps, the ability to add custom walking routes, and more.
For right now, the hiking trails are limited to national parks, so I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but poking around Crater Lake National Park on my iPhone, it looks like Maps has all your basic hiking beta included, as well as an understandably small number of trail reviews.
Have you used this feature yet? Do you like it?
Wildlife Crossing
Wildlife and the Outdoors
The Poison Free Wildlife Act Advances
California’s legislature passed AB 2552, known as the Poison Free Wildlife Act, but it still has not been signed into law, and outdoor and wildlife groups in the state are urging residents to contact Governor Gavin Newsom to sign the bill, which would build on two previous rodenticide control bills that have already passed and more tightly restrict first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides in the state.
Anticoagulant rodenticides are designed to poison rats, but unfortunately that poison travels quickly up the food chain, affecting animals like coyotes, owls, mountain lions, and more. The poisons have also been known to affect humans—especially children. In 2023, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife found that 81% of animals they tested had exposure to these rodenticides, with over half of birds tested ultimately dying from the poisons.
If you live in California, Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife (CLAW) has put together an easy cheat sheet for contacting the governor.
One More Thing
Oh yeah, before I go …
A private landowner near Lake Michigan was having trouble with folks wandering off the nearby public land. Nothing they were doing to keep people out seemed to work, so they commissioned an artist to hand-paint some incredible signs to discourage people wandering into their yard.
I think the results are really funny and in great spirit. Here’s hoping they’re effective, too!
ALSO—I just started some fairly regular work this week—work that requires me to go into an office and deal with printer jams and everything! I’m still very much in the learning phase of what’s going on but while I figure out my new workflow / groove, please be patient if I need to shift the publication date or skip a week here or there. I’m trying to have it all, here!
Until then,
Happy Trails
Good luck with the fairly regular work this week!