Elizabeth Lake Hike, Yosemite
Happy first day of summer 2013! I feel as if I have been slacking off on my duties as a summer trip planner – I only have reserved permits for one backpacking trip so far (more on that latter) … but in the mean time Curtis and I have been checking off shorter Yosemite day hikes off our master list. Better yet, with day hikes less than 6 miles we…
Upper Yosemite Falls Hike! & a Lesson in Trail Construction?
It is May in Yosemite and you know what that means – Waterfalls! The snow in the high country is melting and recently (well, last week at least) we have been receiving some hot summer type weather. Springtime is the best time for waterfalls every year, but less with the than average amounts of rain/snowfall this winter the waterfalls might dry out sooner rather than latter this year. :( This is Curtis…
Big Trees Camping and North Grove Hike
Guess who had a birthday recently? This girl! It was hard to compete with last year’s birthday – in which I both completed my first half marathon (& only so far… I should fix that!) and had a fantastic Easter Sunday – but birthdays are not supposed to be a competition. If they were a competition then I would have stalled out after that time in which Jacquie made me that realistic…
Hiking the Merced River Canyon – with a pup!
Trailhead: West of El Portal take the Foresta Rd bridge over the Merced, then immediatly turn left onto Incline Road. The narrow Incline road goes past many nice looking forest service campsites, then turns to gravel before you reach a gate. Park here and start hiking past the gate.
Distance: About 4.5 miles out and back (2.25 miles each way). The trail is really a service road that runs parallel to the North side of the river, which ends at where Hwy 140 crosses the North side Merced to via a small aluminum bridge to avoid a landslide that happened a few years back.
Yosemite Snowshoeing: Crane Flat Fire Lookout
Winter is almost over! Or, at least it seems that way since daylight saving time and 60 degree weather has started here in Groveland. But, since it did rain last week Curtis and I were able to Yosemite snowshoeing one more time this weekend. We ended up picking a classic, the Crane Flat Fire Lookout. We have cross country skied up to the lookout before, but I could return to again and…
Thousand Island Lake to the Rush Creek Trailhead – Backpacking Thousand Island Lake Day 3
We knew it was going to be around 7 miles and a REALLY LONG DECENT DOWN. But even if you know that it will be a long hike down it doesn’t necessarily hit you until you are looking down the rocky talus switchbacks to the speck of Agnew Lake and you think to yourself: “What possessed someone to put a trail here?”
Garnet Lake to Thousand Island Lake – Backpacking Thousand Island Lake Day 2
We started our super short 3-ish mile hike to Thousand Island Lake around noon. Extra-curricular exploring included a little off trail climb after exiting the Garnet lake basin (good views of the mountains, Garnet Lake, and just a sliver of Mono Lake was visible in the distance) followed by lunching down at Ruby Lake
Shadow Creek Trail Head to Garnet Lake – Backpacking Thousand Island Lake Day 1
Curtis had been (good-intentionally!) pressuring his brother, John, to come down to visit the Sierra and going hike on the John Muir Trail (JMT) for over a year now… and he did! Over the course of 3 days (Day 2 & Day 3 blogs) we visited Thousand Island and Garnet Lakes hiking approximately 17 miles on and off of the JMT on our through hike from Agnew Meadows down to Silver…
Emigrant Wilderness Backpacking trip to Iceland Lake
The trip to Iceland lake (in the area generally called “Granite Dome’s Golden Trout Lakes” by the Emigrant Wilderness Guidebook) was our first ever backpacking Stanislaus National Forest. Which on one hand might seem weird since we live right next to it, but on the other hand doesn’t seem odd at all since Curtis doesn’t want to go to the forest where he works on the weekends… right? But, because…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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