I don’t think I cooked more than a handful of meals for immediate consumption during the six months prior to our hike on the John Muir Trail (JMT)—thank goodness my husband likes to cook, otherwise we would have starved while I prepped all the food for the hike. Whenever I’d think of an idea for …
The John Muir Trail (JMT), which traces a 210.4 mile path along the jagged spine of the Sierra, is one of the premier trails in the U.S. It’s only a fraction of the length of the 2,663 foot Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), with which it shares much of its length, but is one of the …
In July 2014 Ralph Burgess (from New York; London originally) set the southbound (SoBo) unsupported record on the 211 mile John Muir Trail (JMT) without even trying hard. Carrying all his food and supplies by himself for his entire trip with no resupplies (unsupported) he started at Happy Isles in Yosemite National Park and ended on top …
A few drops of bleach and a zip-top bag full of water is all you need to keep your clothes clean while backpacking. I was skeptical when I first read about it. I tried it and found that my clothes smelled fresh and clean, more so than when I used biodegradable camp soap. Biodegradable soap …
The Judd Trail to Manoa or Tantalus via the Nu’uanu Trail is an energetic 5-10 mile hike (depending on which trail you take on the second half) in Honolulu, Hawaii that starts in Nu’uanu near on the Old Pali Highway and ascends up a high ridge to Tantalus and down to Manoa Falls. The trails …
Even adventurers sometimes need a relaxing vacation and for my husband and me there’s nothing more rejuvenating than a Hawaii beach vacation with a couple of day hikes thrown in. O’ahu is our favorite island because the best beaches in the islands are here, there are lots of great restaurants in every price range, entertainment …
Car-camping on the shores of Lake Tahoe and beyond can be a great way to get little kids ready for the bigger reward—backpacking. Just don’t linger there too long and stay focused on the goal of getting into the backcountry as soon as possible. This brief post is related to another article, Top five first backpacking …
In a previous article, Backpacking with Kids in Tahoe-Tips for Success, I describe a dawning realization that an article written a few years ago, Backpacking around Tahoe with Kids in Tow, needed a serious update. I had described our first camping and backpacking trips we had taken with our young godchildren but never re-visited whether those …
Diane wrote to me early in the summer to ask some questions about backpacking with kids. We kept up a lively correspondence and as Diane got further in her planning we realized that she, her 6 year old daughter, Joanna, and husband, Pepe, would be passing right by our house in Alpine Meadows as they …
In an article I wrote several years ago, Backpacking around Tahoe with Kids in Tow, I described our progression of backpacking with our godchildren, Taira and Chase, now 16 and 14, from the time they were tiny tots. What I neglected to include were my recommendations for others who want to introduce their children to …