January 2, 2012: Welcome to the official web site of Tom Stienstra, award winning columnist and two-time National Outdoor Writer of the Year.

California Camping, hit the stores in 2011

Pacific Northwest Camping, also a No. 1 bestseller

1,000 hikes, the only complete hiking guide

TS: Two free shows, January & February

by January 2, 2012

Just signed to present two seminars coming up in January and February, a fishing show and a hiking/camping show that features an epic adventure you can do in a week. January 21, Sacramento : “How To Triple Your Catch Instantly,” at the International Sportsmen’s Exposition in Sacramento. The show is at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, January 21, [...]

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Salmon flood hatcheries, great 2012 predicted

by December 14, 2011

Salmon have flooded into state and federal fish hatcheries in the past month. The key indicator, the arrival of two-year-old salmon, also predicts the ocean off the Bay Area coast will be full of fish next summer. Trips to Nimbus Hatchery last week on the American River near Sacramento and to the Coleman National Fish [...]

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Yosemite reopens Tioga Pass

by November 28, 2011

Rangers at Yosemite National Park reopened Tioga Pass/Highway 120 as warm days with bright sun melted off snow that had covered the road. Tioga Road is the popular east-west crossing of the Sierra Nevada in the northern portion of the park that connects the Tuolumne Meadows area eastward to U.S. 395, Lee Vining and Mono [...]

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Lakes in unbelievable shape

by November 23, 2011

It seems just yesterday when the giant San Luis Reservoir along Highway 152 was so empty on the Thanksgiving holiday week that it looked like a giant dust bowl. Shasta Lake was 27 percent full, Lake Oroville less than 25 percent and giant Folsom and Camanche looked something like puddles. This year, heading into winter, the [...]

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A how-to guide in revamping woeful DFG

by November 18, 2011

In response to recent outrageous gaffes by the Department of Fish and Game, several readers have asked me to re-post my column on how to solve the DFG’s perpetual foray into the  abyss. By Tom Stienstra Excerpted in part from San Francisco Chronicle, December 8, 2002, Copyright © 2011 Hearst Communications Inc. Used by permission. [...]

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Nominations Open for California Outdoors Hall of Fame

by November 18, 2011

Nominations are now open for the 2012 class of the California Outdoors Hall of Fame. A new website was unveiled this past week to recognize the event. Go to http://caloutdoorshalloffame.org The California Outdoors Hall of Fame recognizes individuals with a profound scope of outdoor accomplishments that have impacted others and improved the lives of Californians. Personal achievement [...]

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