Yosemite During the Dry Winter & Hiking the 4 Mile Trail
The news for the last month has been inundated with tales of polar vortexes, snow closing down highways in Atlanta, and snow days for kids and adults alike… on the east coast. Here on the west coast we are in the middle of in the middle of a critically dry winter, meaning an alarming low amount of snow pack in the high country, lowering reservoirs, and (from my point of…
Let’s Go See Butterflies! (Monarch Grove @ Pacific Grove, CA)
Seeing the Monarch Migration is a bucket list item. Standing there surrounded by butterflies fluttering everywhere is like entering a new culture – standing in a busy foreign city with colors and scents and sounds swirling – only this is a culture of nature…
Brews & Hiking Boots: Williams Peak & Prospectors Brewery in Mariposa, CA
In the winter it can be more difficult to find a nice little day trip close to home. This year the minimal snow is making it hard to snow shoeing, plus cross country skiing is not a real option in any of the open Yosemite elevations. Lame! That is why this winter I have been employing a tactic of combining hikes with visits to nearby breweries. By combining brews with…
The Royal Newton Riblet Estate (Tourist Wine Trap!)
When I first arrived at the Arbor Crest estate tasting room in Spokane, Washington I had the mis-impression that this was going to be your typical wine tasting. “Oh yes, blackberry notes with a full body. Wait isn’t this a white wine?” Nope. This was not a trip about the wine – this was a trip about the Arbor Crest Estate, an estate owned by one Royal Newton Riblet. According to…
Quinn’s Hot Springs – Relaxing and Hiking
This year was a pretty intense year for Christmas time traveling for me – up to Eastern Washington, then over to Seattle, back to Spokane, over to Montana for Quinn’s hot springs, to Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, back to the airport and finally home again in again with Basil and Herman. In the next few days I hope to get up at least another blog about the trip – but…
Post Rim Fire – after the smoke, before the snow!
It has been a few month since the last blazes of the Rim Fire, and Groveland is hunkering down for winter snow instead of the hot dry fire. Last week I set out to check out the landscape that the Rim Fire had scarred before the rain and snow arrived – visiting the “Rim of the World” vista point the fire was named after and driving up Evergreen Rd to…
Low Tide at Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay
The other week, on November 17th, I planned to just do a little walk along the beach in Half Moon Bay. I had dropped Curtis off at SFO, carrying on to complete some errands and visit the ocean. Pulling in to find parking near Pillar Point it was crazy busy – I mean, yes this beach had alright Yelp reviews… but there are many beaches with alright Yelp reviews, why…
Private Autumn Exploration of Lyell Canyon
I headed up Tioga pass a week and half ago hoping to find some snow and frozen winter scenery – which was pretty silly considering how many dry days in a row we had had prior. But today, after a brush of windy wet weather, Tioga Rd is currently closed. I guess that makes this trip to Lyell canyon perhaps my last trip out of the high country for 2013?…
Backpacking Ediza, Iceberg, and Rosalie Lake in Ansel Adams Wilderness
Another #ThrowbackThursday blog post here, this one documenting a backpacking trip I did with a few of our friends (Tom, Johanna, Pete, and of course Curtis) back in 2011. It was a two night backpack into the Ansel Adams wilderness, my first time traveling in from the Agnew Meadows Trailhead. This was the last trip with my tiny little “first” backpack, a pack that could only fit a bear canister…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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