california

A three day backpack with good water at Dead Horsre Canyon Spring and Upper Cottonwood Spring. Both had a flow for yards. We chose to modify the standard loop in order to add some challenge and uncertainty but mostly to avoid road hiking of lower Cottonwood Canyon. Thus, we went up Marble...

I love autumn in the Mojave, warm days & chilly nights. And no more Mojave Greens to look out for ! So I headed into the MNP to camp and hike near the cinder cones, Club peak (NUB bm) area. Made it to a camp late afternoon and took off up Button Mountain, one of said cinder cone remnants, and...

Between Bishop and Lone Pine, California sits the small town of Big Pine. West of town is Big Pine Creek, draining some of the High Sierra snowmelt. The creek canyon gives access to many of the Sierras 14'ers, including the Palisades group. The Creek splits into a South fork and a North...

Hi, and thanks to everyone that provided information to make this trip possible for me. I get about a week a year to do a backpacking trip out west. We've only been at this a short time and we wanted to try some cross country travel, but nothing too nasty. And to get better at finding...

Intro The fabled Bear Lakes Basin has been on my to do list for several years. There's no easy way in between the mileage, elevation gain, and 12-13,000 foot passes. I decided to suck it up and do it as an overnighter. My original plan was to loop back over Feather Pass through French Canyon...

June 2019 I left Reno on my bike by about 10:30 am. Originally I had planned to ride directly from the house but Joannie was going to Reno anyway so I got a boost from her. I followed the Truckee Pyramid bike route as far as Verdi then cut off and headed up Henness Pass rd. I enjoyed a brief...

The inspiration for this trip started with a trip to the Mojave National Preserve last year where they have desert tortoises in a protected environment. The Tortoises are protected now but prior to that people used to pick them up in the desert as they drove the roads and take them home as...

Since I was in Bishop on Sunday for a friend's bday party I took Monday off to take my fur niece, Pika, on a hike. I hadn't been up to Granite Park in a few years, so I took advantage of the cooler fall temps and foliage for a reunion. Route (out/back) Logistics Start/end: Pine Creek...

Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP Onion Valley Trailhead 8/1 - 8/8/18 (7 nights) Warning: this is long and probably has too many photos (mix of camera and cellphone) and definitely has too many details that most of you won't care about After a lot of backpacking in KY heat last summer, I decided that I...

Originally I had permits for a route in The Minarets area but the Lions fire kicked back up in activity and left me scrambling to find a new plan a week out. Conditions looked clear in SEKI and I remembered of a spot a friend had mentioned to me as one of the most spectacular spots in the range...

Nearest City: Kyburz, CA Trailhead: Twin Lakes TH, Desolation Wilderness Destination: Smith Lake ~2.8 miles Elevation Gain: 1750 New Gear for Miya: Sleeping Bag - Sea to Summit Spark SP II 35F Trekking Poles – Black Diamond Trail Ergo Cork Partners: Bobbi (Day hiking) Freckles First Time...

My nephew Daniel from Spain, his wife, and two of their friends had planned to visit us in California, and he had requested a camping trip to see Yosemite and, if possible a backpacking trip as well. The only challenge was that his schedule was a bit up in the air, and we couldn't count on...

Another short story inspired by the backpacking mishaps of Miya and Bobbi. (I really go back through and cut out as many words as I can, but it is still long...) https://evermoremoments.smugmug.com/What-Could-Have-Been I have a total of 8 days scheduled off and have been planning the LCT trip...

This is a backpacking trip I completed with a friend along the High Sierra Trail from Crescent Meadow to the Whitney Portal back in August of 2012. It was an eight day trip of approximately 70 miles from west to east. The trip could easily be done in six or seven days, but we had an extremely...

Went hiking today...or maybe...more like walking. The intent was hiking and since there was a huge storm coming our way, I was determined to have myself my favorite type of hike, a rain hike. I was actually very grumpy YESTERDAY, because it was pouring rain and I thought "I need to call out of...

I feel like I am going to have more to babble about than usual, so if people want to skip the chat and just see photos use the link. Plus, I never upload all the photos on here because I don't want to be bothersome. https://evermoremoments.smugmug.com/Raving-in-Nature To sum up the trip: Went...

Bobbi and I went on another adventure yesterday. We are really trying to be in shape for our hike in May, which will partially take place along the coastline. We have been hitting the gym with 40lb weighted vests, but decided we needed to do a beach day hike to get the full effect. Tomales Bay...

Last summer me and some friends went on a road trip that started in Utah and went up to Crater Lake National Park. From Crater Lake we worked our way down through Northern California to Lake Tahoe. The last stop was supposed to be Great Basin National Park, but by the time we got there all the...

An exceptionally enjoyable camp/hike from recently. Sunny n 70, 20 mph winds on the windward side. Saw some healthy coyotes, plenty of desert hare (mmmmm...), and some scurrying lizards. Just a really pleasant day ! sunsets near camp. Typical Mojave rock gardens, these high on a ridge...

Seeing how winter was going to end early (not sure it ever really started..), my friend and I decided to look for snow before it all melted. Seeing how Yosemite was looking dry and having gone to SEKI in the past week, we planned to check out the Eastern Sierra. With the NOAA data showing areas...