Out and about

Now that we are all suffering from a turkey or tofurkey hangover, I thought I'd turn your attention to some exercise opportunities this weekend by bringing you up to speed on the Santa Ana River Trail. That is indeed one of our most accessible out and about destinations.

You can now ride 19 continuous miles between Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino to the city limits of Norco, according to Patricia Lock-Dawson. She's the chief strategist for the Santa Ana River Parkway Partnership. She said the city and county of Riverside have completed different segments at Hidden Valley Wildlife Area, a county park, and at Hole Lake, in the city. Official types will be gathering Dec. 8 at the wildlife area to mark the occassion and the public is invited to that weekend event. Click here for details.

And the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors this week approved a $675,152 contract with a company to develop plans to build a segment of the trail from California Street in Redlands north to Greenspot Road in Highland. Thanks to our reporter Imran Ghori for that info.

And a heads-up for next weekend -- if you've ever wondered how the Wonderland of Rocks at Joshua Tree National Park came into being, you can take an outdoor class with naturalist Mark Wheeler, who will lead participants Dec. 2 on an investigation of the area's ecology and geology. Cost is $50. The class involves rock scrambling and walking up to eight miles through rocky terrain. Sounds good to me!

Also sponsored by the Desert Institute, is a two-day class that same weekend on the life and culture of the ancient peoples who lived in J-Tree National Park. BLM anthropologist Wanda Raschkow will focus on the prehistory and history of the Colorado Desert, which sits at a lower elevation than its northern neighbor, the Mojave Desert. Cost is $90.

Environment BLOG

Out and about

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