Mount Hoffman: The Ultimate Yosemite Panorama
I hiked up Mount Hoffman with a group group of friends in early July this summer, it was my second trip up Hoffman. The first trip was in the fall of 2011 – which I can from experience say it is an amazing hike both summer & fall. On that first trip there was a light dusting of snow across the peaks, although we had to hike up the seasonally close May lake…
Hiking Tenaya Lake: Why not stop for awhile?
Recently it has been getting hot down in Groveland, which can mean it will be even hotter down in Yosemite Valley. I love the valley, and it is always a must do if you are only going to the park for a short period of time (I might suggest biking, a dip in the Merced, and maybe a hike up the mist trail in the cooler early morning hours) –…
Hiking from Hodgdon Meadow to Tuolumne Grove
The Old Big Oak Flat Road trail from Hodgdon Meadow is Yosemite’s closest trailhead to the town of Groveland. Which makes sense because the old road did literally connect from Groveland to the park until it was bought by the state of California in the 1940‘s and then upgraded to become Hwy 120. I have read a few different accounts of history buffs hiking along the old road path, but here…
Spring Hike from Tuolumne Meadows to 10,000 ft
Last weekend I had the urge to go and try my hand hiking up in the Tuolumne Meadows area. Tioga pass has been open off and on for a few weeks now, but I kept deciding to put it off because I wanted to really hike – not to hike for a bit, then run into the snow line and have to turn around. But, after hearing reports of diminishing snow levels from…
Smith Peak, Yosemite: Fire Scars, Bears & Vistas
I never hiked the Smith Peak trail before the fire, but right now it is a heck of an adventure! I solo hiked this 14-ish mile day hike starting early last Friday morning, rolling into the Hetch Hetchy gate around 7:30 am. I had completely forgotten that the Hetch Hetchy entrance has shorter ‘open hours’ (unlike the other entrances to Yosemite), it was good I didn’t start too much earlier. At the entrance station…
Chilnualna Falls, Yosemite: Big Waterfall, Tiny Crowd
Last year after backpacking past a very dry Chilnualna Creek my interest was peaked about the Chilnualna Falls located just a few short miles down the trail. Apparently I couldn’t go then – I had a firm nighttime destination besides the lake of any water to create falls – but stored in my memory I decided to check it out in the spring. This past weekend I decided to day hike the trail…
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…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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