Tromp Blog

Video: Battling Bucks in Aptos Orchard

Two eight-point blacktails got into a dustup a couple weeks ago in the Aptos hills.

Two old frustrated bucks go at it. Video shot by Chuck Bella of Bella & Sons Orchards on Valencia School Road in Aptos.

Año Nuevo Geology Walk, and Escaping Radioactive Death

Docent Jeff Phillips leads a Coastal Geology Tour at Año Nuevo State Park. To the south lies El Jarro Point, nearly the site of the largest nuclear power plant in California.

Geologic time, like climate change, is nearly impossible for us to get our heads around and really difficult to personalize. However, naturalist Jeff Phillips is giving it a shot.

Superstars Sing 'Best Song of the '60s'

Beach Boy Brian Wilson (at right in foreground) is joined by dozens of mostly-British sngers in this surreal video (below).

The BBC last week released a 2:49 music video featuring 25 superstar singers, some "Beeb" celebrities, plus orchestra and chorus performing "God Only Knows" from the Beach Boys world-changing 1966 album Pet Sounds.

Bodysurfing: The Ecstatic Motion

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Hawaiian bodysurfing legend Mark Cunningham put on a clinic during the first heat of the 30th Annual Santa Cruz Bodysurfing Championship. Ryan Masters photo.

An encounter with Mark Cunningham—and the mystic poet Rumi—at the 30th Annual Santa Cruz Bodysurfing Championships.

Surviving Alaska: 15 Things to Know

The Prince William Sound has breathtakingly beautiful views of huge mountains and tidal glaciers.

Number 7: Name your bear spray. This is guaranteed to maximize the strength and accuracy of its firing power.

The Great White Redwood

The Great White Redwood in the Byrne-Milliron Forest outside Coralitos. Ryan Masters photo.

Ryan Masters communes with one of the few old-growth redwoods in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains.

Surf … Montana?

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River surfer Kevin Benhart Brown says “Missoula is turning into a surf town.” Photo by Paolo Marchesi, copyright Outside Magazine.

Okay, this is weird—according to Outside Magazine my beloved former hometown has become the Surf City of the Rocky Mountain West.

Why the Giants Might Just Win the World Series

Madison Bumgarner: One reason the Giants can be champions again.

by Eric Johnson
Oct. 3, 2014—I sent this email to a friend Wednesday after the Giants beat the Pirates 8-0 in a one-game Wild Card Playoff, a game he had predicted they'd lose in a "maybe next year" email:

Planting A Fall Garden? Read This First.

Persimmon trees: a good source of food for local wildlife. Photo by Geomr on Wikimedia Commons.

Santa Cruz naturalist Randall Morgan has some creative suggestions about the best plants to attract birds and insects.

My Fair Fungus

Chicken-of-the-Woods: a delicacy—as long as you're not allergic.

A Santa Cruz Mountain rain brings forth Chicken-of-the-Woods and memories for a mountain biking mushroom hunter.

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