Water Water Everywhere at Desolation Wilderness
Trip dates: May 28-31, 2021 With it being a low snow year this year, Desolation Wilderness was more accessible than usual over Memorial Day weekend. So I grabbed permits for my roommate/backpacking baby (she calls me her backpacking mommy because I’ve been showing her the ropes) to spend three...
Springtime in Sequoia National Park
Trip dates: 4/2-4/5/21Total mileage: 30ish With snow in the Sierra and closer-to-home trails closed due to last year’s wildfires, finding an early spring backpacking trail wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. Luckily Sequoia had a great trail that’s hotter than the surface of the sun in the summer,...
Dewey Point and Merced Grove: Yosemite Winter Edition
My roommates and I went on a quick overnight trip to explore the snowy version of Yosemite National Park over the weekend. Thanks to the COVID-induced reservation requirement and the fact that it’s winter, Yosemite was the most empty I’ve ever seen it. Even more empty than it was...
Snowshoeing at Lassen Volcanic National Park
My roommates and I spent our New Years Eve weekend escaping to a quiet cabin near Lassen. I’d only seen a little bit of Lassen, and that was mostly a burn area in the summer, so I was excited to check out the snow covered version of the park....
Finishing up the desert section
The Santa Ana winds were out in full force over Thanksgiving weekend, so instead of subjecting myself and my tent to 65 mph winds, I decided to finish up the 22 miles I had left of the PCT desert section as a day hike. It felt extra luxurious to...
Gem Lake Loop, Emigrant Wilderness
A change of plans The fires last September squashed our original plans of hiking the Thousand Island Lake loop, so I spent hours trying to find a last minute, not smokey/not on fire backpacking trip that my mom, my aunt and I could go on for their first backpacking...
Carson Pass to Lost Lakes via PCT
My roommate Megan and I headed out to Carson Pass for a short weekend backpacking trip a few weeks ago. The weather decided to test us with a thunderstorm before we even got out of the car after arriving at Carson Pass. Luckily, as afternoon thunderstorms in the Sierra...
Winter overnight backpacking trip to Goat Camp
I headed out on my first post-PCT backpacking trip last weekend, exactly two months after tagging the Mexico border. Our overnight destination was Goat Camp in the Ventana Wilderness section of Big Sur, California. Emma, her dog Peach, and I left Oakland after work on Friday and spent the...
White Sands, Saguaro, and Death Valley
This early morning post brought to you by a 5:00 am burro alarm clock. White Sands National Monument Along with Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands National Monument has also become one of my favorite places. The forecast called for rain, but since a trip to White Sands would only add...
Last Day on the PCT – Reaching Mexico
Yesterday morning, I woke up to a 5:00 AM alarm for the last time in the foreseeable future. It was to be our last day on the PCT. We were camped about 16 miles from Campo and about 18 miles from the border with about a liter of water...