Backpacking Glen Camp, Point Reyes – Everything is Damp (thanks ocean)
Not only was my trip to Glen camp my first backpacking trip of 2014, but it is now my earliest backpacking trip done ever in the year! Starting out strong, 2014! Of course that meant it was consistently raining on the first day of the two day trip…. but considering I can not remember a single time it has rained on me while backpacking in California, I can’t really complain….
Steep Ravine Camping – My Favorite Campsite in California???
Last weekend I took a trip to the coast, North Bay Area, following a short work stop for Curtis in the bay area …Did you know the California regional forest service office is located on a strange abandoned navel island? Neither did we… Anyhow, it was an extended weekend of wet camping, wet backpacking, and then ‘I can’t bear to be wet at a KOA next to a dozen screaming kids…
Tueeulala Fall – Hetch Hetchy Valley’s Bridal Veil
Have you heard about the rock slide that happened in the beginning of this month in Hetch Hetchy? It is blocking the trail just past the Wapama Falls footbridges – meaning it shouldn’t affect day hikers too much, unless your game plan was to power hike to Rancheria Falls. Seriously, don’t let this deter you from enjoying Hetch Hetchy’s first two waterfalls, Tueeulala and Wapama falls, this spring. I was hiking in…
Biking Glacier Point Road – it is one big hill.
This last weekend the Yosemite Facebook page posted a little note stating that the Glacier Point Rd was going to open for cars today (April 14 2014) and with bicycle traffic permitted the weekend before. A few years back I had biked Tioga Pass Rd in the spring prior cars being allowed on it, so I jumped at this idea. These springtime “Bicycle Only” times are a rare opportunity to…
Rockefeller Grove, Yosemite – Sugar Pines, Skiing, & Fire Scars
Yosemite is know for having three giant sequoia groves (Mariposa, Merced, & Tuolumne), but did you know about the park’s less visited Sugar Pine Grove, the Rockefeller Grove? I hadn’t either until Curtis had mentioned it as an option for a late season cross country ski trip. He had heard about it as one of the spots fire crews had worked to protect from the rim fire, one of the oldest…
“Mystical Horizons” – The Stonehenge of the Prairie
I recently discovered the SF Gate’s running series Tourist Trapped. The column’s writer travels to the heavily tourist-ed destinations in the San Francisco area and reports back on the highs and lows. I am in love it. I want to take a weekend and go nuts eating Jelly Bellies and taking ghost tours with hundreds of other people in the Bay Area. Tourist Trapped made me realize that a place…
What Beer Are You?
All those buzzfeed quizzes, like “What age are you really?” and “Which Miyazaki Character Are You?”, have apparently permeated my subconscious. At least permeated it enough to have thought at one point: “What does your hiking brew really say about you? should be a buzzfeed quiz.” Only, you know, if buzzfeed was made for nerdy hikers who also drink beer. Which is pretty niche, so I decided to do it myself! What…
Hite Cove: California Wildflowers with a Side of Ruins
Guess what season it is? … California Poppy Season! Last weekend’s arrival of California’s poppies swept aside any previous hiking plans (Sorry Little Nellie Falls, check you latter) and instead filled my head with visions of hiking in sandals through fields tinged with orange. And not just any trail would do – this year I was going to get to Hite Cove, damn it! Hite Cove Distance: 9-ish mile out…
International Peace Garden, ND – Throwback Thursday
The other day my prized “Why Not Minot” shot glass, a funny parody of the North Dakota city sold to me be the Minot Scandinavian center, broke in a tragic cleaning accident. I doubt the shot glass in still available in the Minot Scandinavian center, of which my mind has concocted a story of a witty scandinavian making (in good humor) the shot glass only to be lectured by the Minot chamber…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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