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…
Non-Urban Legends & Exploring the Bigfoot Legend in Yosemite
The other week I had a revelation, I realized why the leave no trace mascot is bigfoot! Admittedly it should not have taken me this long, but in my defense I took the logo at face value without even thinking about the bigfoot legend. Or maybe Trails had mentioned it once, but sometimes when hiking my brain chooses to think about cliffbars instead of retaining cool facts. Anyhow, now that I am…
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…
Foresta Falls & McCauley Ranch on Yosemite’s West Side
This low snow winter has had me creating some more creative hiking endeavors: Mariposa’s Williams Peak, the”Secret” Sierra Point, and now Yosemite’s more “Elusive” waterfall – Foresta Falls. It is a nice short little hike, but with lots of room to explore around the old McCauley Ranch and enjoy some sunshine. Actually come to think of it – it was pretty much the opposite of Sierra Point. At Foresta we hiked…
Secret Yosemite: Sierra Point
Alright, I will admit Sierra Point is apparently not a secret. We saw a dozen other people while on the “Trail” this Sunday… way more then I ever see hiking to Mt Watkins (one of my favorite off trail hikes in the park). My theory: because of the dry winter people are taking to many valley hikes that when they would otherwise be skiing if there was snow, or hiking…
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…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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