No excuses for staying home

Breathing and snoozing are about the only activities not covered in this encyclopedic compendium of what to do in the great California outdoors. If your imagination for outings taps out at weed-pulling and stargazing, there are plenty of suggestions here.

A crawl through November’s smorgasbord of info incites outdoor action opportunities. Hang gliders: Zoom the Golden Gate Bridge. Fishermen: Match the hatch at Hot Creek. Kayakers: Paddle with otters in Monterey Bay. For four-wheelers, there’s a great rock crawl scheduled in Baja. All tuckered out? Scroll over to the natural hot springs for an aromatherapy massage.

If nothing else, mining some of the site’s bizarre factoids, such as which bridges bungee jumpers favor flinging themselves from or why paintball is “morale boosting,” is a seductively enjoyable indoor escape into the wild.

-- Susan Dworski