I intend to be outside on January 1, 2011, regardless of weather. Right now I am trying to choose between a "lithic" or rock collecting foray to supply a rock knapping class, a toyon berry collecting effort, and a mushroom hunt. [Well, okay, I am really trying to figure out how to combine all three!]

How about you, going to celebrate the New Year outdoors 1-1-11?

the one-one-eleven thing never crossed my mind!..now i'll have to think about a good outdoor "adventure"----

If conditions are adequate (and they usually are) I will be outdoors; otherwise I will stay indoors.

New Years is irrelevant. The fact that the Third Rock has made another arbitrary lap around a middling class M star doesn't mean a thing in my book. If I want to go out and get drunk, I don't need an excuse.

I will stop my rant and return to my cave.....

I'll be jumping in the Atlantic ocean with the rest of my water rescue team on Long Island for our annual polar bear swim, and then spending the rest of the day indoors trying to re-warm!

Water should be in the high 30's and depending on the air temps, may feel warmer than you'd expect.

In the interests of science and survival, what re-warm methods seem most effective after a polar bear adventure?

Cleaning up all the damage from the previous night celebratory explosions.

-Blast

We do hope said festivities include videography of the proceedings.

I plan to hike to the top of Echo Mountain which has about a 210 degree view of the San Gabriel Valley where a US Air Force fly by is conducted. I'll be packing one of my favorite backpacking stoves for making eggs, tea, etc. for my friends and me.

HJ

Won't be doing any rock collecting or mushroom hunting here with 3 to 4 feet of snow on the ground and more on the way. Might be a good day for XC skiing at Wild River State Park.

I`m hoping for lots and lots of snow

Supposed to come in again tomorrow.

Tired of this wet rain

This method has been tested with great success for tenting in Polar bear country in the winter time:

Take a bag-in-box of not too pricey, but otherwise good red wine of your liking. Tear off the cardboard and throw the bag into your biggest snowmelting-waterheating pan with lots of snow/ice and put it all on the stove. Pay attention when the snow is melted and the temperature starts to rise. Freshly boiled wine has its merits and followers, but carefully tempered is really the way to go. The exact optimum temperature is a topic of much heated debate among connieseurs, but in my opinion, anywhere from 30 to 50 C (86 to 122 F) is good. The more frozen you are the hotter the wine should be.


The lukewarm/hot wine bag doubles as tummy warmer for the most chilled person in the group. (More often than not, this will be a female - or did you forget to bring female companions?) Having a warm wine bag on your tummy not only brings physical warmth, but will also provide a lot of friendly attention from anyone who thirsts for a zip of nice, perfectly temperated red wine. This is good for the morale and companionship of the individual and the group.

Of course, if you plan on going swimming in those conditions then all these preparations should be done in advance.

Wise words that ring with the kind voice of experience!

Thanks.

Throw some Chopped Walnuts/Raisins into it,Add a Pt. of Stoli or Grey Goose,Serve in Copper-clad Snifters,Glug och Skole!

The weather forcast is clear and cold (around the freezing level) for the next couple of days. Decided to spend a couple of days at and around the Chief . There is a small walk in, tent only camping area there that will be most likely deserted this time of year.

Will be leaving in a few hours and will post some pics on my return if I can find my camera battery charger that has decided to hide somewhere...

A fine adventure that did not follow the script. Up and out early to meet in some low California hills west of lake Berryessa for a lesson in survival-useful rock collecting. The predicted rain looked to let up at about the time we would reach the meeting spot.

It did stop raining - because it began slowing! A little heavy, wet snow began sticking to the road when we were about 30 minutes out from the meet spot. A novelty on the side of the hillsides, then a little roadside accumulation and upper side piles on bare branches and inanimate objects, then more, and more.

Initial flow of traffic speeds in the 50's, dropped to the 40's, and then the 30's and cars began leaving long, defensive distances between themselves. We began a point-of-no-return debate and looking for a place to turn around without success as we went through the last narrow canyon.

As we neared our destination, we were driving through snow and slush with tire-created "clear lanes" in about an inch plus of sloppy wet slush and snow. Speeds in the teens to 20's became the rule as we went up and over the last small ridge.

Of course, our vehicle was a small 2-wheel drive SUV that never sees the snow, so no snow tires or chains. Both my passenger and I had lived for years back East and fancied ourselves cautious and somewhat experienced with these conditions.

We had decided to check in with our leader and turn around to drive out before much more snow, slush, ice, etcetera, accumulated. There was no cell signal even for text messages.

We arrived about 20 minutes early, the snowfall slowed to almost nothing. We waited until 15 minutes after the appointed meet up time. We drove back toward home with caution and had no driving incidents.

I did stop roadside in a low, clear valley to pick one of a bunch of large mushrooms growing just off-road. A non-edible but handsome Lactereis. We also noted spots where there were ripe Toyon berry bushes for later return.

A fine New Years' Day adventure in sunny California!

On or drive home we also arranged to meet family and friends for a New Year's celebration lunch at a small, favorite Chinese restaurant. Just before getting to lunch we also stopped to bring New Year greetings to our favorite air- and pellet-gun rangemaster, his wife, and their dogs.

It was a good day!