sierra nevada

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

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...

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...

My Rainier buddy Pryor was in town shortly after our big trip. Being an avid climber from Leadville, CO, he was ready for 14,000' in the high Sierra. We left my place in Pismo Beach alittle after 3:00 a.m., and, after getting lost in Tehachapi, we made it to the Lone Pine Interagency Center a...

OK--since people seemed to have enjoyed my last post about Green Lakes, here's another trip report from this summer: a wonderful trip to the southern side of the Cathedral Range in Yosemite. Because there are no marked trails through here, this area gets a lot less traffic than trails just a...

This weekend we visited Yosemite with a visitor from Italy--one who wasn't sure she wanted to spend the night in the wilderness---so we took her on a few day hikes. And had a wonderful time. That's Taft Point and El Capitan below Admittedly, the waterfalls in Yosemite are barely trickles...

New here, but thought I'd give a boost to the Sierra Nevada with a post about our last trip out of the east side trailhead, Green Creek. The trail up to Green Lake is a very pleasant stroll up the canyon. Some of it runs alongside Green Creek, and none of it gets too steep. You couldn't ask...