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 …
In Part 1, BACKPACKING WEBBER LAKE TO DONNER SUMMIT ON THE PCT, we trekked from near Webber Lake to White Rock Lake on a pleasant six mile stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail near Lake Tahoe. In Part 2 we set off toward Paradise Lake, where we hope that it will be warm enough to swim …
The backpacking trip I look forward to each year is not the longest, hardest or most exotic, it’s the one we take in Tahoe with our godson, Chase, and his mom, Laura. We used to be a group of six, but goddaughter Taira, at 16, is focused on water polo, and her dad, Ken, is …
We ended Part 2 of the High Sierra Trial soaking in the wonderful Kern Hot Springs and Part 3 takes us up over Mt. Whitney to the end of the trail in Lone Pine. Day 5-Kern Hot Springs to Wallace Creek (12 miles, 10,409 feet) We didn’t mean to walk 12 miles but we did. We had …
The High Sierra Trail (HST), a 72 mile trail in Sequoia National Park, is a major undertaking. There are a few roads on the eastern side of the park that lead to the popular Lodgepole Visitor Center and the Giant Sequoias, but there are no roads that go through the park so there is …
The High Sierra Trail (HST), a 72 mile trail in Sequoia National Park (NP), is a classic hike in the Sierra Nevada. It evokes the very ghost of John Muir with its soaring peaks, highly varied terrain, grand vistas and spectacular ending at the top of Mt. Whitney. Cutting through a cross-section of some …
We rounded the corner, and after a stretch of densely forested trail, broke out into Alta Meadow. Though my feet were aching after trekking 5.6 uphill miles with a heavy pack, I practically ran toward the meadow, arms outstretched in my Julie Andrews Sound of Music moment. The vista before me made me gasp, and …
Walking along the trail behind the Wuksachi Lodge I stumbled repeatedly because I just couldn’t get enough of the views of the Great Western Divide with its craggy peaks etched against the blue sky, a tiny puff of pure white cloud forming like whipped cream on an upside down pointy sugar cone. I didn’t pass …