Backpacking Molybdenite Creek: eastern sierra fall colors you don’t have to share
Fall colors – they happen every year but they don’t get any less magical. Colors in California can’t ever compare to my favorite displays in Michigan (I’m looking at you Brockway Mountain), but those yellow and orange aspen littering the hillsides are really growing on me. Actually it’s a sort of poetic how the summer season is greeted sunny poppies and then adjourned with the fiery aspen, full circle. Right now…
Gambling on Walk-In Campsites – Rock Creek Lake Campground
Whenever I plan a last minute adventure I feel a little like a someone at a horse race – stacking the odds versus the payoffs, and ultimately taking a slightly informed leap of faith. Walk-in campgrounds and first come first serve permits are saviors for last minute planners, and an agony. Why is the “Earliest arrival date for on-line reservation is three days from now”? And do you really expect me to “Please…
Mystic Hot Springs, UT: Bizarre Beautiful Baths
Driving Back from our Colorado trip Curtis and I had a slight conflict of interest: we were going to be whizzing past all these amazing national parks, yet we wanted to get home in a reasonable amount of time. Plus it was labor day weekend, meaning many of campgrounds and reasonably priced hotels were booked up. I took it as a sign to do a quick search on other options in the middle of our 1000 mile journey. Using one of my new favorite websites to find local cafes, camping, and tourist traps I hit the jackpot – a little hot springs resort in the middle of Utah: Mystic Hot Springs of Monroe…
Kingsbury North & the Finish of Thru-Hiking the Tahoe Rim Trial – Day 12
And at 8:30 am I started walking the final 7 miles back to the car we had abandoned 12 days prior. In this final stretch of trail I began daydreaming about lunch, beer, and my beautiful bed. It is exciting to finish a backpacking trip and return to the wonders of a normal meal, if not a little sad to be leaving this amazing place I had grown accustomed to. True story: at some point over the past 12 days (and let it be known it was not day 1) I had grown accustomed to the aches, the mid morning snack break, the push up switchback after switchback, and the grandiosity of an omnipresent Tahoe vista…
South Camp Peak, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 11
Last full day on the Tahoe Rim Trail – Crazy, right?! It seemed like just a few days and couple baby toe blisters ago that I had just started. Time flies when you are having fun… or slowly convincing your body that it CAN make 165+ miles.
The number one thing I “learned” (re-learned?) on this trip is how much a hiking routine helps to get the miles done whilst remaining sane…
Marlette Peak Campground, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 10
It has become a tradition in the last couple of years to take a backpacking trip over the 4th of July weekend. Unfortunately this has meant we missed out on the yearly firework shows, instead “settling” for sunsets and the calmer sierra canyons.
This year though, as Trails and I headed into our 10th day on the trail, we were picking up “The Boys” who were joining us with their mountain bike just in time to bring 4th of July essentials: Whiskey, wine, flags, and enthusiasm…
Mount Rose Campground, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 9
Beginning June 25, 2014 I thru-hiked the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT), circling Lake Tahoe in 12 days. Accompanied by my friend and fellow blogger, Trails, we bravely took on this 165+ mile loop. I will be blogging a day-by-day rundown of each day’s hike, night’s campsite, and my contemplations while beating down miles. Check out my complete trip report for the TRT here – This is day 9. One of the peculiar…
Mud Lake, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 8
I talked about the Pacific Crest Trail hikers we had met while the Tahoe Rim Trail overlapped with the Pacific Crest Trail, but what about our fellow TRT thru-hikers? Thru-hiking the TRT has it’s perks, like discovering Lake Tahoe beyond the casinos and ski resorts in a way not many else have on this relatively new trail. And, speaking practically, TRT thru-hikers don’t have to quit their jobs for a 2 week trek. I mean, why not?
Watson Lake, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 7
Lake Tahoe is known for it’s crystal clear blue waters, a trait it has partially due to an active sediment filtering habitat surrounding the lake. I knew this, but it did not hit me that this would affect water filters until the very beautiful Star Lake (way back on day 1 of hiking) clogged a hardy MSR ceramic filter with silt -And day 1 was only a brief preview of how very silty these lakes surrounding Tahoe can get…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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