california

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...

Over spring break, I took my oldest daughter (13) on her first true backpacking trip, in that she carried all of her personal gear and a portion of our shared gear and food in an overnight pack for a fairly long distance. Our destination was Henry W. Coe State Park, a wonderful, hidden gem of a...

We arrived in Yosemite on Sunday evening and were amazed to find campsites available at Porcupine Flat. In fact, the campground was more than half empty all night…and they had spaces at the Tuolumne Meadows campground as well. It's hard to imagine that the park would be that open in the middle...

I know its California and not Utah, but thought I'd share a recent trip. Its so enjoyable reading all the TR's here from other folks while sweltering in the South Florida heat so I thought I'd pay it forward. The Lost Coast Trail...

Back in September we did a big road trip to California to visit the redwoods, yosemite, san fransisco, and santa cruz. Fantastic trip.

When I was in elementary school, every few weeks my teacher would hand out a brochure from Scholastic with paperback books that you could get your parents to buy for you. I'm sure that every other class in the country received the same or similar brochures regularly. Anyway, the brochures were...

Hiked in from the Ostrander Lake Trailhead, since Glacier Point Road is now open. Only tiny patches of snow visible all the way to Grouse Lake, where we camped. Not a single mosquito--but it was cold! Water frozen in our bottles overnight. We decided we'd rather sleep in a warm cabin than a...

Recently I asked for some help on here for a place to go jeeping and camping. I recently moved out to California and have yet to take my jeep off roading. I have a completely stock 2013 Jeep Wrangler 4 door. Lets just say after this trip I am completely hooked, and now want to get some real...

The weather forecast, a rare thing in southern California, ended our trip plans to drive, camp & work the trail on a 6000' ridge above Santa Barbara. I'd been itching for this trip and had to fight to get Friday off work, my wife made plans to party like a rock star while I was gone, so I had to...

A service project was suggested by Death Valley National Park. The Coalition of American canyoneers jumped on board. The death Valley Wilderness Coordinator Charlie Callagan wanted to survey a not historic plane crash site. Here Charlie describes the crash...

A few years ago we took a trip to Death Valley in the spring...thinking that it would be a good way to get in some hiking while the Sierra was under snow, and it would also give us a chance to see one of the largest US national parks at a time when the temperatures were conducive to hiking and...

I just got back from an intentionally mellow trip with Stan and wasn't planning on a trip report, but I got some cool shots and the Bishop area doesn't get much attention here so I decided to write this up in the photography section. I'm sure Nick will move this if it's not in the right place...

Clark Mountain, at nearly 8000', is the high point in Mojave National Preserve. It's a lofty bastion of limestone with a complex topography involving numerous radiating ridges and precipitous basins. The mountain is covered in single leaf pinyon and juniper, plus the typical assortment of...

It was my privilege two weeks ago to help clear one of the roughest and scariest trails I’ve hiked. The Mission Pine Trail is the most spectacular trail in my local haunt, the San Rafael Wilderness. I hiked the east end of this trail three years ago, three days into a weeklong backpacking trip...