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Thanks for these photos! Really beautiful. Can you tel us what your basic itinerary was?

What's it like up there now? The Yosemite snow rangers have posted another report from Tuolumne Meadows. Snow conditions continue to evolve, and another storm this weekend could have an impact, but there is no question that spring is coming...

We're just back from ten days of exploring the desert: Virgin River Gorge, Warner Valley, Whitney Pocket, Red Rock Canyon, and Death Valley. We saw great petroglyphs in four different sites, hiked in a state park, a national monument, a national park, and a natiojnal conservation area. We saw...

The trails around Ft. Ord near Monterey have a different way of discouraging you from creating new shortcuts--a few cases of unexploded ordnance. I'm thinking this would work in the Sierra as well, where I spend some of my volunteer hours fixing the erosion caused by heedless hikers. Maybe this...

There will still be plenty of snow in the Sierra--big storms coming this weekend again. And make sure you know the roads are open in Big Sur. Some are closed. Points Reyes is magical but will be foggy. Henry Coe near San Jose is a good option as well. Check it out

I would imagine that they have to pack for a wider range of conditions that most of us who only hike for a week or less at a time.

If you own one of these, you might want to get it fixed: https://www.msrgear.com/pot-recall.html

I've been part of a few projects to close access to ATVs. In general, the goal is the identify to access points, then fill in all access options with fencing, brush, downed trees, etc. And you would think that would work--but it requires another project a few years later, as the ATVers work...

Nice! We'd like to see more of those photos.

I was just out walking our local River Trail and managed to identify about a dozen different kinds (none truly "edible") with the help of an app. Here's a photo log: photos.app.goo.gl/bcRkupAJ7DJmHV618 Here's a "taste' so to speak:

We've had a tarptent rainbow for quite a few years. We love it, and it has held up remarkably well. Still good for many more trips. But we try damn hard not to go backpacking in gale force winds or massive storms. So I can't speak to how it handles those. I will say that we spent about...

The big projection artworks are only up through Sunday--so don't miss those. One on the Presbyterian Church, one on the Hall of Justice, and one on the back of the NSGW building. Truly amazing. The more static artwork stays up until late February.

A lot of roads are now open,, although some of the major ones (Titus Canyon, West Side, Emigrant and Wildrose, and the road to Lone Pine) are still closed. But that seems to have limited the number of visitors, too. There were not many people around.

Each year around this time, the city of Napa hosts a Lighted Art Festival that illuminates some of the buildings downtown, and sets up lighted sculpture around the area. It's great fun, and the images are really striking. Here's our old hall of justice, in the middle of a light show: And...

We're back home from spending a week in Death Valley: camping, hiking, and enjoying the desert. We did a series of great hikes: Little Bridge Canyon, Willow Creek Canyon, Kaleidoscope Canyon, Corkscrew Canyon, and an attempt at Grapevine Springs. That one was inspired by our trip to Ash Meadows...

Excellent! Welcome aboard! Where do you like to hike? I hope you'll post some photos and trip reports!

I've been thinking about this, since my original plans have changed considerably. Despite being retired, I had signed up for a couple of big projects in Europe for the early summer. Those fell through, and now I'm teaching this spring. So instead of a lot of trips to the desert this spring, I...

Each year an intrepid couple of NPS rangers spend the winter at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. Their posts are charming, informative, and, at times, almost poetic. Here's their first post from this year: https://www.nps.gov/yose/blogs/update-for-december-20-2023.htm

Sounds like a job well done, to me!

Yesterday was the last day to do trail work this year. I did a total of seventeen days. This last section was "armoring" a trail in a new park in Napa, not yet open to the public. We're focusing on the sections that are going to be wet after a rain, and deeply setting large rocks---because the...