california

Mt Ritter and Banner had such big cliffs, throw in any lake called Iceberg, plus seeing photos of Minaret lakes - the combination had put the Ansel Adams Wilderness on my list years ago. I'm pretty fit, but this time the combination of miles, elevation gain, high elevation air, 43lbs with...

A few months ago, my wife and I went on a backpacking trip in the Chumash Wilderness area of the Los Padres National Forest. We spent the first night at Chula Vista Campground, then hiked to Mt Pinos, Sawmill Peak, and Grouse Mountain before spending the night at Sheep Camp. We made this video...

I 'm back from a three day trip to Summit City Canyon with a trail work party. Spectacular weather and a group of really nice guys made this a real pleasure. I began by leaving Napa at a little before 5 a.m. to get to the trailhead in time to meet the group, At about 9:30 the first team hit...

Preface: I just started backpacking this year with a goal of backpacking in the Sierras someday. I spent the spring and summer backpacking around PA and WV. Probably a half dozen trips, one two nighter, and a couple solo. My fiancee and kids liked me to be able to check in, so I got an...

With our daughter and her husband in town, we wanted to show them a bit of the Yosemite High Country that we love so much. And so we aimed at Tuolumne Meadows. Months ago, when we first planned this trip, we asked for a permit for the Budd Lake trailhead. This is a trailhead that doesn’t...

Labor Day weekend is one if the busiest times of the year in the back country. The combination of a long weekend, minimal mosquitoes, and a last gasp effort to get out in the trail means that many wilderness areas can be positively crowded, tent to tent at some lakes. Which is what we were...

This was a few days ago, mid August 2017. The route on Caltopo is this, direction is counter clockwise: . Highlights were climbing Feather, exploring West Pinnacle Creek and crossing Gemini Col. We were a group of 5: my wife and son, one of his buddies, and our dog. Snow levels right now...

Good afternoon All! Hope the summer hiking has been splendid for all. Two weekends ago, Ash and I decided that we needed to recover from our cabin fever and opted to head up to Sequoia. Didn't really have any plan and just opted to see what was available at the ranger station at Grant Grove...

The tale of two valleys: death and fire. Like a million other gullible tourists, I perked up to the talk of a superbloom this spring in Death Valley National Park. The park started promoting the wildflower situation with a video that made the rounds in February. Then every news site in...

My wife and I spent the week after Christmas exploring parts of Death Valley National Park in California. I had planned a "highlights" tour of the park, with us doing a day hike or back country drive each day. We spent our first night at Texas Spring campground. It was chilly and windy, but...

July 14th - 18th 2015. Glacier Point, Yosemite to Red's Meadow. Total distance approx. 65 miles. Inspired by @ZubenElGenubi's Thousand Island Lake trip report, I thought i'd contribute my first real trip report to BCP. I've wanted to hike the JMT for a few years now but getting the time off...

Summary: August 15-17, 2015; three-day, two-night backpacking trip through Ansel Adams Wilderness. Background: I was going to be around Yosemite for a couple of weeks in August and wanted to visit Thousand Island Lake (inspired by a great outdoor show called "Motion" - more later). I...

For a few years now, we've made many attempts to hike to Island Lake in the Desolation Wilderness. We chose to cancel on our first attempt because of a nasty storm. Then P got sick right before we were to go the second time. Both times, we lost the $26 reservation fee via Recreation.gov. The...

We spent Labor Day weekend hiking cross-country to Hyatt Lake in the Emigrant Wilderness--an adventure we're glad we did, but not one that we would recommend without reservation. It involved some basic topo map navigation, a certain amount of real effort, and just enough bushwhacking to keep...

Last season I fell in love with the Eastern Sierras; starting with options out of Bishop, CA. Tom Harrison’s Bishop Pass map begs for one to complete North Lake to South Lake or South Lake to North Lake via Evolution Basin/Valley located in Kings Canyon National Park. On average, Evolution...

At just under .5 miles, this overnight hike sort of flirts between the border of a long walk-in camp site and a really short backpack trip. Frankly, this is just about the finest campsite to be had along the southern California coast, unless perhaps solitude, quiet and lack of congestion...

A few years ago, in October, I undertook a long weekend getaway to dayhike Funeral Slot Canyon in Death Valley National Park. My kids had a three day weekend off from school and their Grandmother- a full time RV'r- was parked at a casino in Amaragosa, so it was a perfect opportunity to both let...

After giving the weather a couple of days to settle down, we were back at North Lake to spend four days exploring Humphreys Basin. It’s easy to understand why this is such a popular trailhead. The first half of the climb up to Paiute Pass is through forested slopes along the side of a creek...

Lamarck Lakes posted 8 minutes agoJul 19, 2015, 6:46 AM by Paul Wagner Since we were keeping a close eye on the weather, and we had one day “left over” from our Mono Pass trip, we took the opportunity to day-hike up to Lamarck Lakes on July 7. The weather report was for thunderstorms, rain...

The first of our three trips in July was out of the Rock Creek Canyon up over Mono Pass into Mono Creek and the Pioneer Basin. We’d picked up our permit in Bishop, and the ranger there suggested that the backpackers’ campground at Mosquito Flat was likely to be full. That was a problem, so we...