Backpacker’s Guide to Tracking California Wildfires

Backpacker’s Guide to Tracking California Wildfires

  • November 08, 2018
  • by Inga

Fires one year; huge amounts of snow the next.  You never know what Mother Nature is going to throw our way. I’ve never spent as much time immersed in fire data trying to figure out where smoke-free backpacking routes might be as I have the past few years. If the predictions of experts hold true, …

Tahoe to Sonora Pass on the PCT: Daily Trip Report

  • March 28, 2018
  • by Inga

This trip report represents the first half of our Echo Lakes to Yosemite hike: Tahoe to Sonora Pass on the PCT. My last trip report turned into a book, literally (see Highs and Lows on the John Muir Trail), so I tried to limit myself to the bare-bones facts to provide a quick review of …

Tahoe to Yosemite PCT Section Hike-Permits and Planning

  • January 21, 2018
  • by Inga

Tahoe-to-Yosemite on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)  is a 150-mile route that starts at Echo Lakes and ends at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. The start can begin in a number of different locations along the PCT in the Tahoe area, including Sierra City,  Highway 80/Donner Pass (Truckee) or a number of trailheads in Desolation Wilderness. …

An Introduction to Snow Backpacking in the Sierra

  • June 21, 2017
  • by Inga

On my recent snow backpacking trip to Lake of the Woods in Desolation Wilderness over Memorial Day, I found that it was impossible to be ultralight. I’m usually only in the “light” category anyway, with a base weight of 12-16 lbs depending on whether I have a bear canister and any luxury items. I have …

Squaw Valley’s Top 10 Expert Ski Runs

  • January 19, 2014
  • by Inga

  Squaw Valley, home of the 1960 Olympics and outdoor playground of the San Francisco Bay Area, hasn’t always had the reputation for being the most user friendly mountain. Poor to non-existent signage, cranky lifties, nude art in the cafeteria and a sense that you didn’t belong there unless you could ski didn’t create a …

Squaw Valley’s Top 10 Advanced Ski Runs

  • January 07, 2014
  • by Inga

When I started skiing in my mid-twenties, much later in life than the tots I see careening around the mountain, all my friends skied at Squaw Valley so that’s where I skied too. I worked hard to learn to ski, wanting to join my friends on the harder lifts, never satisfied to just cruise on …

Best car camping in Tahoe

  • December 01, 2013
  • by Inga

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 …

Top five first backpacking trips for kids (or adults) in Tahoe

  • October 18, 2013
  • by Inga

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 …

Backpacking to Five Lakes with a kid

  • October 10, 2013
  • by Inga

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 …

Backpacking with kids in Tahoe-Tips for success

  • October 10, 2013
  • by Inga

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 …

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