Baboon Lakes, John Muir Wilderness: Rugged Glacier Carved Backpacking
Thank you, glaciers. Curtis attended a lecture detailing new dating techniques used on Sierra Nevada alpine glaciers a couple of weeks after our backpacking trip to Baboon Lakes. He reported back that Baboon Lakes was featured on one the slides as an example of glacier carved beauty. Well yes, of course. Although evidence of glaciers surround you in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it is too easy to forget to say…
Red Cones, Mammoth Lakes: A little peak to add a little joy to your day(hike)
On Labor Day weekend we bagged this miniature peak (high point?) in the Mammoth Lakes area. On a busy weekend, this small adventure was a perfect fit into our busy schedule.
Remember that time we backpacked to Mildred and Genevieve Lakes?
There is quite a few trips from this past summer that for one reason or another I wasn’t able to blog about when it was fresh in my mind. Luckily, that usually that means I must have been prioritizing something else that was pretty cool, probably ecoSUMMIT or attending a wedding. But now in the heart of winter, denied of that thin alpine air, I am ‘wistfully’ looking organizing these…
Tioga Peak, CA: A Little Hike for a Big Summit
Choosing the location of hikes is the start of my adventure. Zooming around on Google Earth, searching for maps, trying to predict weather… rarely do I ever just decide to hike down a random trail, I like to have a vision for my hike. Also, its a good idea so I don’t get lost and or in over my head. Happy hiking moods turn sour pretty quickly when I can’t…
Brews & Hiking Boots: Gem Lake, Ansel Adams Wilderness & the (NEW!) Mammoth Brewery Tasting Room
Here is the thing about Mammoth Brewery – it is right next to SO MUCH GOOD HIKING. In years past I have hit up the old mammoth tasting room after hiking up towards Duck Pass and after backpacking to Lake Ediza. Even on this trip, where the Gem Lake trailhead is 25 miles from the brewery, it that isn’t that far (especially since we were headed that direction to camp). What I am trying to say…
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…
A MicroAdventure Hiking Mono Pass, John Muir Wilderness
This morning I was reading an article about #MicroAdventures – which simply put are mini adventures that allow one to escape the 9-5. The video, the hashtag, and the blog of the man who wrote the book on #MicroAdventures make it seem very exciting, fun, and well… sexy. It is like a one night stand with a beautiful place & who knows if you will ever see it again. I immediately…
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…
Day Hiking the Duck Pass Trail, Mammoth Lakes
It is fire season in California, which means two things: (1) Curtis leaves me behind to work looking at fire damaged soils, down near this time near San Bernardino, and (2) There is smoke everywhere, including the Mammoth Lakes Basin on the east side of the Sierra from a fire on the Sierra National Forest. But even if the vistas are a little obscured smoke should not, and will not, ruin a…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
Follow Me: