Search results

I've written before about how the reservation systems for our parks seem to struggle with the way people use them. We frequently camp in campgrounds that are "full" according to the reservation system--with every campsite taken. And yet we find as much as 30% of the campsites are not occupied...

Like Scatman, my year turned out pretty different from what I had hoped/planned/expected. Here's what I posted a year ago: And what really happpened. After doing the Camino Primitive in Spain in 2023, my daughter and I are looking at the Lycian Way in Turkey in 2025. Didnt' happen, as she...

Not taken with your RB67

The audible version of the first book in this series, Danger: Falling Rocks, has just been released: https://www.backpackthesierra.com/post/danger-falling-rocks-is-on-audible

I still shop occasionally at REI, but the mojo I have lost is the lust for new gear. I have good gear, and I am happy with it. If anything, I'd like to use it more often. But window shopping--either live or online--doesn't appeal to me.

Great report. You were sensationally lucky with the weather in this part of the world! My daughter and I hiked the Camino Primitivo to Santiago two years ago. Until the last two days when we we met up with the main Camino and it's hordes, most of the hiking was on trails or dirt roads...and...

Amazing story in the Guardian of a woman's astonishing determination after a nearly fatal fall on Mount Whitney: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/oct/21/fell-at-the-top-of-mountain-trekked-for-five-days-with-broken-spine-in-snowstorm

https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/yosemite-national-park-shutdown-illegal-activities-21093093.php

https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/yosemite-national-park-shutdown-illegal-activities-21093093.php

Nice work. Lower Ottoway is my favorite lake in the park. You did well to camp there!

I wish there were more!

For comparison, these were identified by a backcountry ranger as puma tracks:

Those do look like puma tracks to me. Coyote or dog prints have clear claw/toe marks, and the ones in your photo do not. Depending on size, they could also be bobcat...

I was interviewed on a podcast with Charley Pankey, who covers the Sierra Nevada with care and joy. If you'd like to hear my conversation with Charley---talking about backpacking, volunteering, and generally enjoying the Sierra--the links are here: Spotify Link: Apple Podcast link...

My Friends at CSERC--Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, have sent out the following. I find their recommendations consistently solid, based on science, and in line with my thinking about our national natural resources: ** ACTION ALERT ** SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS TODAY TO PROTECT THE...

On my last volunteer trip into Desolation Wilderness I not only cleaned up a bunch of trash out of the backcountry, but I also, in my own little way, contributed some. The bright orange trowel that I carefully picked up (carefully, in more ways than one!) and packed along for two days...

Welcome! Where do you like to hike?

Do we need a wildfire thread? A wildfire in Tuolumne County has destroyed Chinese Camp. It's a small, historic mining community that many will have driven past on the way to Yosemite. We always enjoyed its quirky nature and older buildings. Chinese Camp wasn't a "restored town," it was a...

Welcome! I'll be happy to read any reports you post! And since you didn't mention it, I'm retired (still teaching an occasional class at the college in Napa) but I spend most of my free time working as a volunteer in the National Forests in the Sierra Nevada--Desolation Wilderness, Mokelumne...

It's above Sonora, by Twain Harte.