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The bison sustained a way of life and independence for the Native Americans. From 40 million in 1800, widespread slaughter led to 0 wild bison in the US in 1883! Many denounced the slaughter; few did anything to stop it. A small group of conservationists managed to save a few hundred - saving them from extinction - though its status is still endangered. (NPS).
"There are old mushroom hunters, and bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters." Field guides generally do not provide enough detail to differentiate toxic from nontoxic mushroom species - which look similar and grow in the same habitat during the same season!
Mammals - with just 4,000 species, the most diverse group on Earth - from the tiny Pygmy Shrew to the enormous Blue Whale. 4 disc, 10 episode series....
The forested regions and watersheds around the San Francisco Bay Area are home to 74 endangered species! Also the parks & open spaces provide a sanctuary for cleaner air and water.
Mesmerizing, breathtaking, exhilarating! Experience the wonders of the natural world as you fly along with amazing migratory birds through our ...
Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) display seemingly playful behavior including Breaching, Spyhopping, or Tail Slapping. They are mammals like us! who live in water, in family groups called "pods." Different species have characteristic spouts - Blue Whales have the highest spout which can rise up to 30ft!
Show your love for hiking! Enjoy these creative designs in comfortable 100% cotton. M / F. Variety of colors. Fast Shipping....
Only 4% of the original extent of virgin redwood forests remain, & 97.5% of this is NOT protected. Most of it in the Headwaters Forest area, are under imminent threat of cutting by Pacific Lumber. Help protect these invaluable treasures!
Compact with extensive range of features. Plus VGA quality movie recording, low light shooting, 2.5" LCD screen. 6x optical image stabilized zoom....
One of the largest birds in North America with a wingspan over 8 feet! You may see them fish cooperatively, moving in a circle to concentrate fish, and then dipping their heads under simultaneously to catch fish. It winters along the coasts, but breeds only inland.
You can make your trip more enjoyable & safer - with the right accessories & gear! Find personally reviewed choices that offer good performance, quality, & value in our Resources section.
Perfect for hikes. Compact, light & great features. Image stabilization. Zoom 28-105mm. 2.5-Inch LCD Color Monitor. Canon's legendary quality!...
Banana slugs are the largest slug in N. America growing up to 10 inches long! They contain both male & female reproductive organs - but they cannot fertilize their own eggs and need a mate.
The parks, open space preserves and wilderness areas that we enjoy result from concerted public efforts and funds to procure the lands and leave a little un'developed' greenery that has developed over thousands of years!
Investigators around the world are assembling a new picture of Earth, discovering ways that seemingly disparate events are connected. Four 1hour episo...
Mountain lions don't roar ... they purr, just like house cats! They generally exist wherever deer are found. Solitary & elusive, their nature is to avoid humans. With increasing encroachments into their habitat, conflicts are increasing. Some tips below.
California quail's nest is a shallow hollow or scrape in the ground lined with grass. The chicks leave the nest shortly after birth & start learning to fly in ~10 days. They stay on the ground for about a month - then roost in trees with the rest of the flock. The female usually has one brood a year.
Protect your skin and your health! Ultra-lightweight sun protective fabric keeps you cool and comfortable....
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Active-Days
is focused on being a user-friendly, useful & engaging community
resource / portal for nature outdoors events & information. Find
answers to your questions here as well as tips & pointers to help
you get the most out of this site.
► Remember, whether online or out on the trails, a little time to review the map helps you get
to your destination a lot faster! ◄
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Please note: the events listed are conducted by a variety of organizations. Please contact them if required. Organization names and links are are provided.
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There are many Event Types e.g. Hikes, Walks, Bird Watching (Birding), Stargazing etc. You can specify the Event Types you want to see or browse the full mix of events. While most events are one-day events, some can span multiple days. There are also events that repeat - either every day or on specified days - for weeks or months. These are called Ongoing Events. To include these, click on the Event Filter links (at the top of Event Search Results) or use Advanced Search. When you search for events, you may see an event with a Start Date that is earlier than the date or date range you entered. This is because the event is a multi-day event that is still going on. These events are organized and run by various organizations - not Active-Days. Active-Days is simply a platform to bring together these diverse and numerous listings so it becomes easier for participants to search/browse and find events, related information and each other. For more, take a look at the Overview presentation. Given the above, if you see missing information or have some other feedback about the event idea/concept, please contact the organization. Of course, you can also share your observations here in the forums for other members as well. |
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Some organizations / events require participants to register in advance and may also have a limit on the number of attendees. Advance Registrations may be required not only for events where there is a fee involved but also for free events. Please review the event details carefully to check for the above and when applicable, follow the hosting organizations instructions to register by phone or online. You may also need to obtain meetup information (that is only provided to registered participants) before showing up for a registration required event. The start and end dates for registering is displayed if that information was provided by the organization. The Active-Days RSVPs are meant to help you find activity and carpool buddies and to inspire/ encourage others to join in! We hope eventually more organizations will use it to manage the registrations as well. |
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The amount indicated in the Fees area refers to fees charged specifically for the event and may NOT include other applicable expenses such as park entrance or parking fees etc. Sometimes participants get together for a post event dinner at a restaurant, but it is almost always optional, unless clearly stated otherwise. If you are carpooling, it is best to discuss this ahead of time and be clear on expected return times. |
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| Sometimes, event descriptions mention these key basics - sometimes they don't! Look up directions and travel time estimates so you can leave at the right time to arrive safely & comfortably (!) at the trail head/venue - with time to spare to get to know your fellow participants and to visit the restrooms, if necessary. Come prepared with the right gear & supplies (e.g. appropriate footwear, food & water, sunscreen etc.) so you can have a good time along with everyone else! Check out our articles for more tips / info. For some events, you are required to bring certain items (i.e. mandatory versus suggested/optional). You may not be allowed to participate (even forfeit any pre-payment) if you do not have the mandatory items. So plan ahead! Really basic but worth mentioning - dress appropriately. E.g. If the area you are going to is known to have poison oak or ticks, long pants would be a smart idea. Based on expected weather variations, dressing in layers is often a great strategy. A hat or sun visor is also very useful. More tips here. Look up weather and other details (such as tide timings, sunset or park closure timings) so you can plan a safe and enjoyable outing - without any nasty surprises! E.g. many hikers may be comfortable with (and prepared for) wading through a muddy or gushing stream - are you? Find out & clarify ahead of time, and prepare / decide accordingly! |
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Most events have an associated level of physical difficulty (and fitness requirement), based on the number of miles covered, the elevation gained, and the duration in which the distance/climbs are covered. Thus 2 miles with a 1000 foot elevation gain can be "strenuous" if attempted in 30 minutes or less, but "easy" or "moderate" if you have allocated one hour or more for it. A number of organizations rate their events using a scale to indicate the overall difficulty/physical challenge involved. However, these rating scales are unique to each organization and also influenced by the level of fitness of their usual/targeted participants. Thus an organization that focuses on fairly ambitious climbs might call an event "moderate" which would be "challenging" to participants who hike occasionally. This is worth remembering when you are reading the event descriptions as well! This highlights the need for a Standard Rating scale so you can compare/narrow events across organizations at a glance. [Of course, reviewing the details including miles, elevation and duration and making your own assessment is always recommended.] With this in mind we have, based on our knowledge of the event, location (park, trail) and organization, attempted to categorize all events on an easy 5 point scale of increasing difficulty: Standard Ratings :: Easy - Moderate - Challenging - Strenuous - Hard Core The "assumed typical level of fitness/ability" is that of someone who hikes/works out once or twice a week, can walk 2 miles on flat terrain or climb 500 feet in about 30 mins (i.e. a "brisk walking pace" or a "slow/medium paced climb" in commonly used terms). Obviously, depending on your exercise schedule and fitness level as compare to this assumed level, you can then adjust/interpret the given "Std. Rating" level. Thus, for example, if you do not get time to work out or take walks, an event with the Std. Rating of "Moderate" may be "Challenging" for you. Similarly, if your fitness level is higher than our "assumed typical level" then "Moderate" hikes may be "Easy" for you! However you prefer to do it, please take a moment to evaluate your current fitness level and choose events that match your level and preference. That way, you will be able to enjoy the event along with all the other participants. |
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The idea is to provide a user-friendly, secure, and spam / nuisance free environment where you can connect with others who are interested in these events / activities. For a listing of member features, you can visit the About page. Enjoy these member features when you sign-up:
Sign-up today and join a new and growing community of interesting & active people and start enjoying the member-only features / events. Creating your login and profile at Active-Days is easy. To enter your info., proceed to Sign-up page (Main Menu - Community - Login/Sign-up). Please review the tips and guidelines at the Registration Info page. |
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After you submit your Registration info, an "Activation e-mail" is automatically sent to your e-mail address. If you cannot find the Activation e-mail, please check your Bulk e-mail folder. Just a single click on the Activation link in the e-mail serves to confirm your e-mail and activate your account. If necessary, copy and paste the full link into your browsers address bar and click on Go. If it gets wrapped (broken) into two lines, make sure to copy both the parts. Troubleshooting Tip: Check that there are no spaces, commas or other characters (such as %20) between Member= and your Login Id. For example, if you chose Anita123 as your Id, then within the link above, you should see http:// .... _01.php?Member=Anita123&Key=8dg68cg..... The last part after &Key= is a long string of letters and numbers (unique for each user) - again with no spaces or commas. If you do not find the Activation e-mail - or the link does not work after trying the above, please send an e-mail to Active-Days -at- Active-Days.org (include the Activation e-mail if you received it). Remember to add our e-mail address in your e-mail address book so you will not have any problems receiving subsequent notifications. [ Replace the -at- with @ ]. NOTE: Please remember that all registrations are individually reviewed and approved for access. As you would have seen in the Activation Page, this may take a day or so. If you are a genuine enthusiast who has been enjoying nature for years and years, then you would certainly appreciate the need for the above to create a secure, spam/nuisance free, pleasant environment. |
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Thank you for taking the time to register at Active-Days. As mentioned in the Sign-Up page and again in greater detail in the Registration Tips and Guidelines page, the idea is to create a community of real people with real interests. Please review those pages and you could update your profile accordingly. There are plenty of sites where registering (once or multiple times) with fake names / info. is allowed (after all - that enhances the site's bragging rights by saying they have x-thousand members etc.) Active-Days is about real world activities (not just virtual / online exchange) and therefore the idea is to ensure real people (i.e. real names & info.) - with steps taken to ensure individual privacy. P.S. Courtesy, maturity and mutual consideration are key elements of enjoyable social interaction. Thus the minimal step of providing a brief but genuine introduction before reading others introductions - is certainly not a difficult or irrelevant requirement in our view. (Providing a fake intro. to review others intros; or not wanting to spend a minute or two to write an intro.; or blatantly disregarding the clearly stated tips; or moaning & groaning over this simple step - these are usually indicators of a lack of the key attributes mentioned above - and therefore, in our opinion, a lack of interest in a real community!) |
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To keep your profile current or to correct any errors, please use the link below. If you encounter any errors/issues, please let us know. |
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Sending Private Messages, Posting Discussion
Items, Comments POSTING DISCUSSION & ANNOUNCEMENT ITEMS POSTING COMMENTS SENDING PRIVATE MESSAGES Easier
and more secure than E-mail! You can also head over to the My Messages page where you will see your Inbox and Outbox. To the side of the Outbox tab, you will see a link titled "Send a Message". You can use that to send messages as well. |
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Active-Days members can post events that they would like to organize / lead for other members. For informal / casual / short-notice hikes etc. (OR for other events not led by you), you can post in the Activity Buddies section under the Announcements tab in the Community page. Event coordinators / leaders from Organizations can also post events directly. For more information on posting events, please visit the Posting Your Events page. |
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You can post photos and "attach" them to your profile, or a destinations / park, or an event etc. (depending on the photo) in two easy steps!
Once uploaded, the photos can be viewed from the profile / park pages and the Photo Gallery. Please make sure the photo / image files are not larger than 300KB. (See tips below*) IMPORTANT TIP - After clicking on Submit, please wait until you see the response message. Please read the system message to see if the photo was uploaded successfully OR if there were any ERRORs. In case of any errors, (e.g. image category not selected) simply enter the required info. and click on Submit again. *TIPs / steps for RESIZING PHOTOS if you have never done it before: Cameras these days are taking photos at 5-8+ megapixels - some 3000 by 2000 pixels!! A full screen image is only about 1000 by 800 pixels - less than 1 megapixel - which is good for posting online or email-ing. Please open the image in your photo editing program (that came with your camera - or simply Microsoft Paint that comes with most computers) and from the main menu, choose RESIZE the image. You can specify either the width (e.g. 800 pixels - less for vertical shots) - OR a percentage e.g. 50% - and the program will resize the image. Tip: For mugshots, a width of 300 or 400 is more than enough! Then save the image with a new name (so your original file remains intact) as a JPG file e.g. Sunset-at-Shoreline-Park-1.jpg (best to have no spaces in the name). While saving, you should be able to specify the Quality ... choose Medium or a number between 50% and 70%. That should reduce the file size to a hundred KB or so - with practically no loss of quality (as viewed onscreen!) Go ahead and try it, it's easier than it sounds - and takes a minute! |
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Posting an RSVP for an event is very
easy - simply click on the Add RSVP link or icon To update your RSVP: simply visit the My RSVPs page
(RSVP icon |
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The tips and pointers above did not answer your questions or resolve your problem? Have some suggestions/feedback on any of the above aspects or other features of the site? If you are logged in, you can send us a direct message here. Otherwise, please use the contact form and provide some details of the issue - with some information about your setup including browser & version, dial-up or broadband, pc or mac/operating system (e.g. Firefox 1.0, Windows 98). This is a work in progress. A lot of time, personal care and attention is focused on making this site a pleasant, productive and positive experience for all site users - but obviously there could be things that need to be refined further. Thank you for your feedback, courtesy and patience as we work on creating a valuable community resource together. |