Avalon Harbor top 'beach bummer' for sixth year

Heal the Bay released its 19th annual Beach Report Card for 2008-09 on May 20, with most California beaches receiving “very good” water quality this past year.
The non-profit water monitoring organization also released its yearly “beach bummer” list of the beaches with the worst water quality.
At the top of the list was Avalon Harbor Beach on Catalina Island, which has been the statewide Bummer for six years running.
Two years ago a $4.5 million swimmer health effects study added Avalon Beach as a research location due to its perpetually poor water quality.
Coming in at No. 2 was Cabrillo Beach harborside and No. 6 was the LA River outlet in Long Beach.
Overall, 276 of 324 (85 percent) locations received very good to excellent (A and B) grades for the year during dry weather.
Heal the Bay analysts assigned A-to-F letter grades to 502 beaches along the California coast, based on levels of weekly bacterial pollution reported from April 2008 through March 2009.
During the high-traffic 2008 summer season, 91 percent of beaches statewide received A or B grades, meaning very good to excellent water quality. That figure marks a slight 2 percent dip from last summer, which earned the best grades ever issued by Heal the Bay.
Overall, only 32 of the beaches (6 percent) monitored statewide received D or F grades last summer.
High bacteria counts at these sites are linked to such potential illnesses as stomach flu, ear infections and major skin rashes.

So Cal all shook up

Looks like Mother Earth isn't finished rocking and rolling from Sunday.
Today at around 3:45 p.m. and then again at about 3:51 p.m. there were two aftershocks that shook Southern California following the 4.7 that hit on Sunday from the Newport-Inglewood fault line.
The shocks epicenter appear to be from Hawthorne and El Sgundo area.
The 4.1 and 2.5 aftershocks today jostles my Long Beach apartment around a bit, but nothing big. To see up-to-the-second quake info for the So Cal region click here: http://www.data.scec.org/recenteqs/Quakes/quakes0.html

Intermediate I run at Irvine Ranch Conservancy

Now is a perfect time to get some exercise– the weather is nice and summer is coming.
So, why not experience the hidden valleys of Orange County while you're at it.
The Irvine Ranch Conservancy, 50,000 acres of lush wild flowers and sprawling wild life, offers monthly events to view a wonderland of vast Natural Landmarks.
One of them will be a guided trail run on June 6 at 7 a.m. to the Sinks, an erosional formation similar to the Grand Canyon. On the trail, you will run through burn areas from the October 2007 Santiago Fire and pass through indigenous and recovering habitats of coastal sage scrub, grasslands, and oak woodlands.
This Intermediate I run is shorter than the Intermediate II runs but the pace will be the same, so you'll have to keep up.
The run includes multiple steep climbs and descents with very limited stops and is very strenuous. The run is intended for new and experienced trail runners who are in great cardio shape and have experience running continuously for 8 miles or more. Guests are required to carry their own water.