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I've just come back from another trip to Desolation Wilderness as a volunteer, doing the usual stuff: restoring illegal campsites, destroying fire rings, and talking to hikers about their plans and conditions. If you're interested in the full report, complete with a few nice photos, I've posted...

Charley Pankey, host of Sierra Recreation Now, a nice guide to some of the delights of the Sierra Nevada, inteviewed me for his podcast recently. Here's a link to the show: https://sierrarecmagazine.com/podcast-interview-with-paul-wagner-backpackingthesierra/ Charlie is a great guy, loves the...

While we saw a few interesting animals in Yosemite (Marmots, deer, a pika or two, and some squirrels, one thing we did not see was beaver. But then, we can see those right here, within to blocks of our house. Ever since Napa forced the Army Corps of Engineers to completely revise their flood...

Since my birthday falls in early August, I usually manage to get out on the trail to celebrate. This year, my youngest daughter was in town, which gave us even more impetus to see some wonderful places over the course of a few days. We spent one night at our cabin above Sonora. The next day we...

I do get to meet a lot of really good people when I volunteer on the trail. There are families, sharing the experience with the third or fourth generation of Desolation hikers. There are fearless groups of young urbanites, full of energy, setting forth to experience the mountains for the first...

Talk about confronting your mortality. This hike up Ralston Peak in Desolation Wilderness knocked me for a loop. I took it slow. I had all day to hike six miles, but I wasn't really prepared for my 72-year-old legs to need two hours to climb 2,000 feet. And in the sun I used up much of my water...

And there is this; https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/fecal-fears-pile-la-hiking-mecca-reopens-half-19588359.php

I'm sure you've read more than one article about the ten essentials to take on a hike: Here's one from REI that covers the topic: https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/ten-essentials.html Fine. But every one of those articles leaves one thing out. And I'm getting darn tired of it. I've...

Public Service: Ackerman Meadow I spent Thursday doing my bit to improve Yosemite National Park, working on a restoration project at Ackerman Meadow. It was a full day of hard work, comraderie, and learning, all wrapped up in a beautiful location that's under the radar for most people visiting...

We wanted to take a backpacking trip outside of my normal volunteering projects in Desolation Wilderness, and since we have a cabin a little more than an hour from Yosemite, that's where we headed. I went online and found a permit for Lyell Canyon (not over Donahue Pass, for those of you...

As you recall, our mystery hiker seemed all geared up for a good backpacking trip, and yet he had hiked fewer than two miles up the trail, and had followed us back down towards the lodge at Tuolumne Meadows. It was mid-morning, and he seemed to be lost, wandering almost aimlessly either behind...

Mystery #2 On our recent trip up Lyell Canyon in Yosemite, we met four smartly and officially clad rangers on the trail on our hike out. The first two were wildlife management rangers, asking about bears, and reinforcing the messaging that Yosemite has in place for what to do when it comes to...

My suggested solution to the above: Of course, my answer is a guess. I think he stopped moving, bailed on his long, ambitious itinerary, and the loved one(s) tracking him feared the worst. So they notified the rangers. Because the rangers knew he was a "heavy-set" guy, somebody who knew him...

You may remember that I write mystery novels set in the High Sierra. And every once in a while, we see something on one of our trips that sets my mind to thinking... As my wife and I hiked out of Lyell Canyon in Yosemite on Saturday, fleeing morning rainshowers and afternoon thunderstorms, we...

The latest in my Dan Courtwright series of mystery novels set in the High Sierra is now out! Someone may have hidden a fortune in the backcountry of the High Sierra, and it has attracted the attention of all kinds of people, many of whom have no experience in the mountains. But the mystery...

I wish i could help--but I'm lecturing at UC Davis that day. Have you tried posting on High Sierra Topix, or Yosemite News and Discussion boards? Both of them have active communities. There is a bus from Sacramento to Yosemite Valley, and also, I think, from Fresno to Yosemite Valley. And...

After two solo backpacking trips as a volunteer in Desolation Wilderness, I managed to convince my lovely wife to join me in the mountains for a couples trip. It didn't take much. She's a big fan of the Sierra and of backpacking, as long as the latter isn't too strenuous. We've been to lots of...

It is amazing how many people offer to help, in one way or the other, once I explain what I'm doing in the backcountry. Some promise to leave a clean campsite, others offer to pick the trash that they see, and some have even offered to carry out some of the trash I've collected. Everyone, it...

After last weekend's challenges, I was determined to get back into Desolation Wilderness and continue my work there as a volunteer. And so on Wednesday I drove back up there and got started, all over again. It was hot. How hot was it? Hot enough that the freeways had heat advisories on...

Excellent! We did a similar trip in 2011, then went back in 2015 to hike the Cordillera Blanca. And we were there again last year to do more exploring and hiking around Cusco. What a wonderful place to visit: stunning scenery, unbelieveable archeology, lovely people, and amazing cuisine...