Award-winning outdoor writer Tom Stienstra, author of California Camping and California Hiking by Moon Press, knows the best places for ultralight backpacking. He described my favorite spot in a column published in the San Francisco Chronicle today: a loop in the Ansel Adams Wilderness, from Agnew Meadow to Shadow Lake to Garnet Lake. I agree [...]
One of my ultralight backpacking partners, Wild Bill, and I just completed a quickie and butt-kicking 16-mile hike in the popular Ansel Adams/John Muir Wilderness in the Eastern Sierra. I’ll do a trip report shortly, perhaps with video. But first I want to comment on an article in the latest issue of Backpacker Magazine with [...]
As my friends and I stood and watched an unusual storm over the Pacific Ocean on June 20 — namely thunder and lightning on the California North Coast — we weren’t too concerned about it causing harm. Celebrating a friends birthday, we WERE amazed and surprised because it is so rare where we live. The [...]
Just returned from a three-day trip to the Granite Chief Wilderness near Truckee, California and Lake Tahoe. The PCT cuts through the area, no doubt adding to the foot traffic in summer. Right now, except for day hikers (which we didn’t see until hiking out on Father’s Day), we had the place to ourselves. Although [...]
Wind swept dunes separate Manchester State Beach on California’s North Coast from one of the longest and most beautiful beaches anywhere. Now, it is slated to close under California’s pitiful budget cutting proposal. I’ve been told that California State Parks represent 1/2 of 1 per cent of the entire state budget, yet they continue to [...]
I was checking out Two-Heel Drive, Tom Mangan’s blog, and saw his item today on hiking at Black Diamond Mines in Contra Costa County, Northern California. Reminds that when I lived in Lafayette, in the East Bay of San Francisco, there was no shortage of hikes any season. I’m not sure there is a urban [...]
I took the month off from blogging, but unfortunately not from work. Seems like my public relations consulting business, Lewis & Summers Public Relations, always heats up during the holidays. Just when I think I’m taking a few days of R & R, project deadlines raise their ugly heads. Mostly, it’s been creating 2008 plans [...]
Ultralight backpackers from all over the world boast of prominent land features near their homes that define their backpacking. In the U.S., that might be the Rockies, the Sierra, the Great Smokies, or White Mountains. My “local” favorite (10 hours from home) is the Sierra; my favorite spot Thousand Island Lake at 10,000 feet at [...]
You may have noticed that I’ve been absent for about two weeks from my blog. My wife, Gerry and I were on vacation in China. We visited Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou. An amazing trip. Gerry climbed several sections of the Great Wall and I decided to go to the top of one large stretch. [...]
Last week I returned from a short, lightweight backpack to Mt. Eddy (9,025 feet), a great viewing spot for Mt. Shasta. A mile north of the City of Weed, California, on I-5, you take Edgewood Drive, follow it to Stewart Springs Road and you end up at Parks Creek Trailhead (13 mile drive on paved [...]
