2023 Yosemite Valley Rim Circumnavigation
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I first completed this loop back in 2015. At the time, the ranger who issued me the permit told me that, in her 11 years, no one had ever been permitted for this route. Once again in 2023, my issuing ranger told me the same thing. By the time I’d finished the 25,653 vertical feet in just two and a half days, I was reminded of the reason.
This trip was meant as a training hike for my upcoming Colorado Trail thru-hike attempt. I wanted something that would challenge me physically and also let me fine tune my kit a bit more before my next adventure. In the end, this trip served both purposes perfectly. |
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2023 San Diego Grand Tour
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From the beginning we had grand plans. It was January and the Winter had been colossal as we were beginning to make plans for a Spring Break trip. Our best guess was that, as with most every year, Winter would start to fade away by April and Spring would provide the perfect conditions for an early season snow route from Highway 80 to Highway 50 along the Pacific Crest Trail. I’d hiked this section many times before but never in full snow and was excited about the opportunity to learn about new gear and techniques involved in multi-day snow travel. We’d done a training trip to Dewey Point in Yosemite in January and were gearing up for a 3/31 start at Donner Pass.
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2022 McGee Loop
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A “lollipop” route is one which starts and ends at the same trailhead and at some point splits off into a loop off of that main trail. Hence the shape of a lollipop. The McGee Creek trailhead had always intrigued me as a place that offered a route that would encompass a lot of variety. This route didn’t disappoint in the area of variety, but would prove to be the most challenging trip of 2022. This adventure reminded me of the importance of preparation, in terms of route planning, into every trip whether big or small, on or off trail. Had I properly prepared for this route, I probably would have never attempted it.
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2022 Fall Colors
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My favorite backpacking weekend of the year is the first weekend in October. Fall colors are at their height in the Eastern Sierras. Reds, oranges and yellows going off like crazy. Whole swaths of the forest looking like mother nature poured buckets of paint from the heavens. Stunning landscapes and unpredictable weather. I’ve had years of sunny skies, years of cold winds, years of rain, and a year of about ½ a foot of snow. It’s always an adventure. This year was no different.
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2022 Minaret Trip
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I’d always wanted to visit the Minarets. Visit them up close and personal. I’ve been near them on a couple JMT thru-hikes and on a few other flybys. Even last year, when attempting the Sierra High Route, I was supposed to hike through the shadow of these majestic peaks. But in all these years, I’ve never gotten up close and personal with these giants. |
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2022 Hoover Wilderness/Yosemite NP
2021 Condor Trail (Section from Highway 166 to Highway 101)
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I’d known about the Condor Trail since it was established back in 1996, but I spend so much of my time in the Sierras and northern coast of CA, that I didn’t give it a lot of thought. But, when a gap in my calendar opened up, and I was looking for a place to go that had a favorable weather window, some friends reminded me of the Condor. After a week of reading the trail guide and chatting with the author by email and phone, I was sold. I’d hike the 60ish mile section from Highway 166, just above Santa Maria, to Highway 101 in the mountains above where I grew up in San Luis Obispo.
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2021 Teton Crest Trail
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In September 2021, I was lucky enough to disappear on an adventure of sorts, "retreat of sorts" with a group of like minded soul searching partners. We climbed high into Grand Teton National Park. We walked, laughed, chatted, and experienced the high country in all of its fall glory. We hit the perfect weather window and checked off another bucket list kinda trip.
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2021 Sierra High Route
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The Sierra High Route (SHR) is a 195-mile trekking route that runs north-south across the heart of the Sierra Nevada Range, through Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park, John Muir Wilderness, Ansel Adams Wilderness, and Yosemite National Park. It is a rugged alternative to the John Muir Trail (JMT)– it boasts about 100 miles of cross-country travel, numerous Class III scrambles, and endless miles of boulder hopping. SHR hikers are rewarded with pristine alpine settings, long stretches of solitude, and a sense of true adventure as they climb and descend 33 mountain passes.
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2021 Humphrey's Basin Trip
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In June of 2021, my daughter, Isabela, was supposed to travel to the Dominican Republic for a service trip centered around protecting the coral reefs. Covid-19 restrictions had other ideas.
Once she found out that the trip had been canceled, she asked if I would take her and her two closest friends on a backpacking trip. The journal posted is in her own words. |
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2021 Piute Lollypop
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My good friend Pablo and I had an early season trip planned for 3 weeks ago at the end of May. It didn’t happen. With a very light winter in California we had planned a 60 mile loop in the southern Sierras. The first weather system in over a month decided to drop. Temperatures dropped into the 20s with wind chills around zero because of very high winds. We made the call the night before to cancel. We were both very disappointed but it was the right call. I already had a planned trip for myself for the first week of June. I always leave for a trip the day school ends. This year I had planned a 65 mile loop about 1/3 off trail starting and finishing at North Lake outside Bishop, CA. I invited Pablo. He had the right gear and mindset. I’m not sure if he knew what he was really getting into.
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2021 Lost Coast (Southern Section)
2019 Lost Coast Trail
2019 Redwood National Park
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After a 6 hour drive out of the heat and into the coastal trade winds, I checked into the Kuchel Visitor Center at about 11:30 am. Talking to the Rangers, I learned that the summer bridges were not in place yet. The Rangers suggested that I take the horse trail over a mountain to get to the creek area where I’d be hiking. I was told it was a couple miles further but also, over the mountain.
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2018 Buckeye to Yosemite
2018 Sierra High Route Section out of North Lake
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This is a trip I’ve been planning on and off for about a year. The Sierra High Route is about 70% off trail and runs "about" 195 miles (because it’s a route and not a trail) from Sequoia National Park to Twin Lakes outside Bridgeport. It stays along the ridges while the John Muir Trail (which I’ve hiked twice) runs through the canyons from pass to pass.
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2017 Saddleback Lake
Isabela and I got back on the trail today after a one year break. We decided this would be a base camp and day hike trip. I found Saddlebag Lake last winter and it looked like a perfect spot to backpack in about 5 miles and then have some amazing day hike opportunities.
2017 PCT Hwy 50 to 80
2017 Sequoia National Park
2015 Sequoia National Park
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If Walt Disney had lived to follow through with his vision, not only would Disney World have taken the east by storm, but the Mineral King area would have become the a self contained Alpine Village that would have attracted 2.5 million visitors annually-800,000 of them from out of state-by 1976, the first full year of operation.
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2015 Yosemite Loop
2014 Emigrant Wilderness
2013 John Muir Trail
2013 Emigrant Wilderness
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Isabela, Tenaya and I took an amazing 5-day/4-night trip into Emigrant Wilderness just north of the northern Yosemite border. This was our second BIG trip together after last year's Hoover Wilderness trip. Both trips were amazing in their own ways, but Isabela really is starting to develop into a backpacker this year.
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2012 Fall Yosemite Trip
2012 Lassen National Park
2012 Hoover Wilderness
2011 Lassen NP Escape
2011 Utah Road Trip
2010 Prairie Creek State Park
2008 Eastern Sierra Trip
2005 Wonderland Trail
2003 Colorado Trail
2002 Tahoe Rim Trail
2001 John Muir Trail |
