Carlon Falls for a December Hike
Trailhead: Evergreen Rd, Stanislaus National Forest – after bridge on South fork of Tuolumne River/ Opposite side as Carlon picnic area sign!
Distance: ~ 3.5 miles out and back. Trail is fairly level at first and then goes over a couple large hills right before reaching the falls.
Cucumber Coolers – Cover to Cover Cooking
So there for a while, my CSA box was always full of cucumbers. And I love cucumbers- as a snack with peanut butter, chopped up into a salad, made into pickles…. but eventually I ran out of ideas. And the cucumbers kept stacking up in my fridge, mocking my lack of imagination. Thankfully, Heidi came to the rescue.
Lower Cathedral Lake Hike – A late fall hike
Trailhead: Tioga Rd / Hwy 120, on the West side of Tuolumne Meadows by the Cathedral Lakes sign. Parking here is pullout/parallel and usually a mess so you should see the line of cars as you approach.
Distance: ~7 miles (out and back). climbing mostly in the hike “out”, & descending in the back “back”
Our one day in Big Sur
For as much as I have heard about how beautiful Big Sur is I didn’t really know much about Big Sur. What I did know: there would be cliffs with magnificent ocean views, a relatively underpopulated coastline, and (thanks to my Mom) that there was some famous bridge there. It was with this minimal knowledge that my parents started down Coastal Hwy 1 towards the Bixby bridge and some dot on the map called “Big Sur” to see…
Traveling to the Coast – Monterey and Artichokes
My parents had a nice long visit here in California, 10 whole days, and as lovely as Yosemite and the mountains are it isn’t quite the whole West Coast experience if you don’t get out to the coast! So we planned to get out to visit Big Sur, stay in Monterey, and hit up a few tourist attractions along the way… including this Giant Artichoke in Castroville! Next time I find myself…
Mariposa Grove – Without an overpriced Tram Ticket!
Trailhead: Mariposa Grove Rd/Parking lot off of Hwy 41. Might be necessary to take a shuttle in peak times of year.
Distance: ~ 2 miles round trip to Grizzly Giant & Tunnel Tree. The trail is moderately sloped on the hike out.
Thousand Island Lake to the Rush Creek Trailhead – Backpacking Thousand Island Lake Day 3
We knew it was going to be around 7 miles and a REALLY LONG DECENT DOWN. But even if you know that it will be a long hike down it doesn’t necessarily hit you until you are looking down the rocky talus switchbacks to the speck of Agnew Lake and you think to yourself: “What possessed someone to put a trail here?”
Garnet Lake to Thousand Island Lake – Backpacking Thousand Island Lake Day 2
We started our super short 3-ish mile hike to Thousand Island Lake around noon. Extra-curricular exploring included a little off trail climb after exiting the Garnet lake basin (good views of the mountains, Garnet Lake, and just a sliver of Mono Lake was visible in the distance) followed by lunching down at Ruby Lake
Shadow Creek Trail Head to Garnet Lake – Backpacking Thousand Island Lake Day 1
Curtis had been (good-intentionally!) pressuring his brother, John, to come down to visit the Sierra and going hike on the John Muir Trail (JMT) for over a year now… and he did! Over the course of 3 days (Day 2 & Day 3 blogs) we visited Thousand Island and Garnet Lakes hiking approximately 17 miles on and off of the JMT on our through hike from Agnew Meadows down to Silver…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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