Nature + Climate Crisis Archives

This Big Cat Snapped Behind SF’s Golden Gate Bridge Is (Still) Incredible

16Nov

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

This Big Cat Snapped Behind SF’s Golden Gate Bridge Is (Still) Incredible

Taken in 2016, this cam-trail shot of a bobcat behind the Golden Gate Bridge remains as enchanting as ever. The Marin Headlands were among the first verdant bastions maintained by the Golden Gate Recreational Area (GGRNA) I hiked when I came to San Francisco back in 2015. It was my inaugural visit to the city; my first hyperlocal baptism by way of Karl The Fog; a five-mile-long trudge that afforded me wells of serotonin — at the expense of my lower body coursing with lactic acid. I distinctly remember pausing at Hawk Hill and taking a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge with my gender-reveal-blue iPhone 5c at the time. (Remember that awkward era of “affordable” iPhones that both looked and felt more like a Fisher-Price plaything than a pocketable computer? Simpler times, short battery lives, ...

The NWS Bay Area Just Threaded a Fall Foliage Photo Dump

15Nov

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

The NWS Bay Area Just Threaded a Fall Foliage Photo Dump

It’s digital proof that autumn foliage does, in fact, come to the region — even in San Francisco. The San Francisco Bay Area is beloved and adored for its year-round lovely weather. It’s a region in Northern California where you can wear, more or less, the same wardrobe — no matter the season; the only article of our clothing that might change its density is outerwear, which will vary between light and medium-light thickness. However, images of autumn foliage don’t necessarily come to mind when discussing this slice of NorCal. This couldn’t be further from the case. A very nice and very time-appropriate and very wanderlust-providing Twitter thread that pedestals rusty red and sunset orange leaves was recently published by the SF Bay Area chapter of the National Weather Service. ...

Did You Know About *This Other* Bay Area Rock Labyrinth?

15Nov

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Nature + Climate Crisis

Did You Know About This Other Bay Area Rock Labyrinth?

While the mesmeric collection of rocks at San Francisco’s Lands End gets a lot of hype, the Tennessee Point Labrying is just as hype-able. When vandals decided to be terrible human beings and obliterated the famous circular rock maze at Lands End in 2021, there was a communal wailing as people mourned its loss. Since it was created in 2004, the rock labyrinth at the lookout point of Lands End had grown into an unofficial San Francisco landmark until its abrupt destruction. A group of do-gooders did recreate a heart-shaped rock installation there soon afterward, which became a viral sensation and doubled as a background for engaging photos, much like the original one. Fast forward to the present moment, an iteration of the original rock maze appears back; recent Instagram posts show...

FYI: One of the Oldest Trees on Earth Is in Northern California

11Nov

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

FYI: One of the Oldest Trees on Earth Is in Northern California

Redwoods and giant sequoias get a lot of hype in NorCal — but western junipers sure are worth shaking a stick at. Giant sequoias are unequivocally magnetic and massive. It’s estimated more than 1 million people take in the sights and experiences of the giant sequoia groves each year. However, just as magnificent and old as them is a massive juniper tree located near those very same groves. In fact, the Bennett Juniper as it’s known — an example of the western juniper — is the largest juniper *in the entire world.* It’s also one of the oldest known trees left standing on our mortal coil. Standing over 86 feet tall and nearly 40 feet in diameter, the Bennett Juniper has been mangled by both time and the elements, sitting gnarled and rooted within the Stanislaus National Forest in Tuol...

I Toured the World’s Largest Marine Mammal Hospital This Summer

20Oct

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Editors' Picks, Nature + Climate Crisis

I Toured the World’s Largest Marine Mammal Hospital This Summer

The Marine Mammal Center, which is just eleven miles from downtown San Francisco, has been open to the public since June 3rd. In any given year, the Marine Mammal Center could see up to 1,600 patients come in and out of their 2000 Bunker Road address in Sausalito, California. Perched in the Marin Headlands, overlooking both Rodeo Cove and Rodeo Lagoon, the animal hospital has a serene, almost meditative quality to it; you can feel the cool marine breeze tickle your uncovered flesh while admiring the center’s unique outdoor mural, for example. But that stillness can be cut short when the young sea mammals at the facility decide to emit a sound one can only describe as part velociraptor with notes of a crying human child. “We have to sometimes remind people that the animals are OK and t...

Karl The Fog’s Seasonal Calendar for 2022 Is *Chef’s Kiss*

13Oct

By Matt Charnock2 Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

Karl The Fog’s Seasonal Calendar for 2022 Is Chef’s Kiss

A lot of winters. Very little spring. Always that hella hot week. Us San Franciscans are accustomed to living in a temperate oasis. Our wardrobes oscillate between two modes: days where the fog lingers for longer, requiring a light second layer of clothing… and those days when the city’s atmospheric haze dissolves by noon, permitting the sun to warm Dolores Park to the mid-70s. It’s a hard life, no doubt. (Yes, reader: This was typed with a heaping dollop of sarcasm [which was heaved from an individual who grew up sweating through summers in Dallas, Texas].) Fogust is a thing. Our occasionally, usually brief heat waves are things. Glorious blue days sat atop Francisco Park are things, too. Chilly sea breezes causing your skin to erupt with goosebumps are also a thing. And al...

This Bay Area Photog (Accidentally) Captured a Rare AF ‘Fogbow’

12Oct

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Editors' Picks, Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

This Bay Area Photog (Accidentally) Captured a Rare AF ‘Fogbow’

These "ghost rainbows" are hella uncommon, but, if you can see one, you'll never forget it. Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure to collaborate with Bay Area-based shutterbug Stuart Berman on many pieces of content. It’s rare that your digital paths cross with someone who so innately has their finger on the pulse of the Bay Area — and can capture those throbs with immaculate execution. This past weekend, Karl The Fog was in full force and embraced his winter thickness. The Bay Area’s famous atmospheric haze sucks around well into the afternoon and early evening, causing delays in Fleet Week’s bemoaned air shows — and outright canceling the event’s final series of jet acrobatics. But what also transpired as a result of this unusually dense fog coverage was a “fogbow” captured by B...

7Oct

By Matt Charnock6 Comments

Essays, Nature + Climate Crisis

‘Fucking Blue Angels’

Much like Earthquake Twitter, few things band San Franciscans together like collectively bemoaning Fleet Week — especially its airshows. It’s a Thursday afternoon in early October. Car alarms are going off. Glass panes quiver. Trinkets on shelves rattle. Dishware shakes amid wooden floors vibrating. Our dogs and cats (and even reptiles) grow bothered, taking respite underneath furniture (or inside their respective hide boxes). No, a Thursday like this doesn't coincide with a seismic event; the USGS has no records of it. This day, October 7th, 2022, was the day the Blue Angels — a flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy formed in 1946 — began flying over downtown San Francisco for Fleet Week. The collective consensus is that we all hated it. San Francisco ...

This Colorized Clip of Early San Francisco Shows Ample Street Parking

7Oct

By Matt Charnock2 Comments

Editors' Picks, Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

This Colorized Clip of Early San Francisco Shows Ample Street Parking

And open land — and the now-closed Cliff House Gift Shop. San Francisco is one of the most walkable cities in the country. At 49 square miles — hence its nickname, the "seven-by-seven” — SF exists as an example of how public transit, cycling lanes, and access to non-motorized vehicles can transform a city for the better. Granted, we still have a long way to go as a municipality, but the fact that anyone resident is no less than a ten-minute walk from a City-managed greenspace should never be lost. The sheer density of our public staircases shouldn’t be forgotten, either; Urban Hiker SF is here to remind you if need be. Recently, a video of an old SF was uploaded by the YouTube account NASS, a channel that’s dedicated to restoring old films and then converting them to digital files that...

For San Francisco’s Foremost Hiker, Exploring Urban Nature Is All About Connecting With Others

22Sep

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Editors' Picks, Feature Pieces, Nature + Climate Crisis

For San Francisco’s Foremost Hiker, Exploring Urban Nature Is All About Connecting With Others

‘Hiking helps me connect with friends, and it did especially during the height of the pandemic.’ You’re never more than a ten-minute walk from a City-managed park in San Francisco. AllTrails — the outdoor activity mobile app that includes a wide roster of user-generated hiking trails — has 89 scenic pathways in the City by the Bay. And it’s likely that Alexandra Kenin, the social media maven behind [at]UrbanHikerSF on Twitter and Instagram, has already strolled that trail.. or has it on her to-walk list. Ironically enough for Kenin, exploring urban landscapes hadn't always been a passion. It wasn’t until she relocated to San Francisco in 2007 after landing a job at Google that her love affair with urban exploration began. “[Hiking] wasn’t something I was really exposed t...