2021 Lost Coast (Southern Section)

This was just the right trip at just the right time to just the right place.  At a time when everything east of my home is covered in snow...and a time when Covid is at its worst in my state…..I just couldn't have found myself in a better spot.  I’ll be back.  I’ll be back sooner than later for sure!
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2020 Brooks Range

In July and August of 2020 
​I set out on an Arctic adventure in the Brooks Range above the arctic circle in northern Alaska with my buddy JC.

2020 Ruby Crest Trail

Fires were ravaging the west.  I had backcountry permits for almost every weekend for the next month and a half. ​

2020 Piute Pass

Back on the trail with my girl.  We started backpacking together when she was just 6 months old and walked hundreds of miles between then and her 13th year.

2019 Lost Coast Trail Take 2

Here I am again....
​I was here a short week ago and felt the pull the come back and explore more. Since I’m a single, I got super lucky and scored a permit for the day I wanted to leave.

2019 Lost Coast Trail

Leslie (my good friend) 
and neighbor and I left Taylor Way at 2 am sharp. We had a shuttle to catch at Shelter Cove with Bill at exactly 8 am. It was a five hour drive. If you do the math you’d see that we had more than enough time. The extra 50 miles we drove on I-5 wasn’t a consideration

2019 Redwood National Park

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.

2018 Buckeye to Yosemite

This was my fall backpacking trip starting at the Buckeye Trailhead outside Bridgeport, CA.  Like my trip in June, snow played a big part in this trip.  The difference was that during the last trip, the snow was leftover from the previous season.    On this trip, the snow was the first of the season.

2018 Sierra High Route Section out of North Lake

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.

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

Wonderful start to the day as my neighbors, Shelley and Paul, drove me almost 2 hours to the trail-head off Hwy 50 at Echo Lake. We chatted the entire way up and I learned so much about my friends. 

2017 Sequoia National Park

We started at 8 from the Lodgepole campground and hiked through the forest to Sillman Creek. There have been many warnings about this crossing as a woman lost her life a few weeks back while crossing.

2015 Sequoia National Park

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. 

2015 Yosemite Loop

We all have a bucket list. Some of us have it formally written down while others just have lists upon lists in our heads.  I’m the latter.  And something that has been on my list for years has been a hike all the way around the rim of Yosemite Valley.

2014 Emigrant Wilderness

Bugs Bugs Bugs!

2013 John Muir Trail

On August 5th, I set out from Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite and headed southeast towards Mt. Whitney 200 miles away.  I only had a 7 day period at the end of my summer vacation between a trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park and being back at school for our first day.  I took no stove and no tent....

2013 Emigrant Wilderness

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. 

2012 Fall Yosemite Trip

Juan, Michael and I had an eventful 36 hour trip at the height of the fall color change!!

2012 Lassen National Park

Today was one of Bee's biggest mileage days ever!  She went further than I think she ever hiked before.

2012 Hoover Wilderness

Today was amazing. My little girls became backpackers. 

2011 Lassen NP Escape

Lassen Peak is going through a 5-year renovation.  During these years, the peak trail is only open about 2 days a month during three months of the year. 

2011 Utah Road Trip

For the second year in a row, the third week in February was a Furlough Week for me from work.  Since Isabela had school all week and Paula worked all week, I took advantage of my lack of responsibilities to disappear.  And disappear I did.

2010 Prairie Creek State Park

I wanted old growth redwoods.... I got what I came searching for.....

2008 Eastern Sierra Trip

I came seeking high altitude and off trail adventure.... I was not disappointed...

2005 Wonderland Trail

A trail around Mt. Rainer.... glaciers, forest, rivers....oh my...

2003 Colorado Trail

Roaming through the woods of Colorado....high altitude....

2002 Tahoe Rim Trail

In July 2002, I hiked around Lake Tahoe on the newly finished Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT).

2001 John Muir Trail
This was my follow up to the AT in 2000.  Hiking the JMT was like entering a new, different and beautiful Yosemite each and every day.

2000 Appalachian Trail

This was the kick off of my long distance backpacking days. And what a kick off it was!  I took 3 months off teaching and added summer break to that.  
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