The Community Hiking Club is hosting an art and photo exhibit at King Gillette Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to celebrate the National Park Service’s 100-year anniversary. Photos and paintings will be on display at King Gillette Ranch from Sept. 12-21. Are you an amateur...

Dagger Flat began as a small Native American Tataviam footpath. The Tataviam Indians spent much of their time living in what is now known as the Pacoima Wash. Back in the days when the Tataviam inhabited the area, the wash was a clear, clean river that ran most of the year. The Tataviam used this footpath...

Wildfires, as we have recently seen, can burn acres of land and grow completely out of control in a matter of minutes. Fire can be fueled by many things, including weather, dry brush, drought and wind. There are three conditions that must be met for wildfires to burn. First is an ignition source such...

In 1990, I vacationed in Copper Canyon, Mexico, “The Sierra Tarahumara” where the Tarahumara (aka Raramuri) people live. I was lucky enough to spend three weeks with them, hiking in the area, watching them weave their beautiful baskets, visiting an abandoned church in the depths of the canyon –...

Are you an early riser? If so, you’re in good company. People who get up with the birds are generally smarter than their colleagues, healthier, happier, and get more done. Science doesn’t lie. Early risers are go-getters, and many are geniuses. A University in Heidelberg discovered that early birds...

You’re probably thinking sharks, lions, tigers, bears and the like, right? Believe it or not, the deadliest animal in the world is the mosquito. mosquitoes are responsible for a lot of diseases including Zika virus, malaria, dengue fever, West Nile virus, yellow fever, cikungunya and filariasis. Thousands...

A couple of years ago, I saw a photo on Facebook of a painted rock in Yosemite. The person who posted the photo was also the “artist,” and the photo had gone viral. This girl seemed to be very proud of her “artwork,” but I was livid. My anger was palpable. How could she possibly have done this...

A huge sinkhole, or possibly a crater, appeared in Siberia two years ago. But since it was in Siberia, nobody found out about it for quite a while. It ultimately took a helicopter pilot’s photos for scientists to become interested. It seems this happened overnight in an area called Yamal, which in...

Elephants are amazing animals. They never forget anything. In Nepal, an elephant gave me a bath in the river by splattering me with several trunks full of water. I was lucky enough to feed this same elephant later. She remembered me and allowed me to “pet” her several times after our first encounters. Elephants...

I hate flying. But I love to travel, so I must fly. In the multiple trips back and forth across the globe, I’ve seen my share of weird things trying to make it through TSA. I’ve seen people arrested, people frisked, and people “making a run for it.” I’ve also had my own run-ins with TSA personnel....