Guides and Trips
Trips
The hike to Elizabeth Lake was our warm-up hike after arriving in the Tuolumne Meadows area. The hike to the lake itself is only 4.5 miles round-trip with a 900 gradual elevation gain. The "and beyond" part adds snow, two lakes, summit and saddle views, 1700' feet of climbing and another 5 miles of hiking.The trail-head is a bit hard to find in the back of the Tuolumne Meadows Campground. You don't have to...
Alameda Creek through Niles Canyon
Brightside, California, United States
Kayaking / Canoeing | 4.7 miles
Kayaking / Canoeing | 4.7 miles
Alameda Creek is only runnable in the winter when the rains come so that means most days paddling on this creek are when it's cool and wet. It's great having a paddling option only 30 minutes from home instead of 3 hours.While there are no difficult rapids on this stretch of river, it's not for novice paddlers and certainly not for the inner-tube, air-mattress crowd. There are significant brush hazards and strainers...
A short hike with a great view of the surrounding countryside.The entire hike took us a bit over an hour, there and back, with
time at the top and stopping at several of the interpretive signs along
the way.It was typical northern Ontario fall weather, a bit rainy, overcast and cool. The fall colors where coming into their own with the yellow birch tree leaves set off against the green pine trees.The trail starts...
This was a great hike, just the right mix of shade and spectacular views. Sierra vistas to the north, east and then south over to the domes of the San Joaquin River drainage. Great lunch spots along side one of several lakes that at this time of year were perfect for swimming.The trail is fairly open pine forest following an old, blocked off part of Norris road. It quickly crosses Norris Creek;...
It's a part of the Sierras that is generally pretty quiet, but we timed it "perfectly" to start hiking with a group of 12 guys backpacking in past Cora Lake for the long weekend. We quickly spread out and had the trail to ourselves.The trail starts out gently climbing through the pine forest on a sandy trail. As you approach the Niche the terrain opens up and you get fantastic views to the...
We spent a long Labor Day weekend up in this part of the Sierra hiking and camping in the high country. On our way out we decided to take the short hike up Fresno Dome.The hike starts out past a meadow, then through a pine and cedar forest. After about 10 minutes it opens up as you start a bit of climbing in some granite.At a crest you get your first view...
This snowshoe has a bit of everything, some hill climbing, open slopes, forest, spectacular views and no crowds.There had been fresh snow three days before and we hiked the entire afternoon under windless, cloudless, blue Sierra skies without seeing another set of tracks...other than animal.There's good plowed parking for about six cars across the road from where you start this hike. There's no particular path to take, we just aim for the...
This is one of my favorite Point Reyes hikes. There are wonderful
views at every turn. Ocean to your left, bay to your right, rolling
hills in front of you and if you're hiking the spring, wildflowers at your feet. There aren't many hikes where you get out to a dramatic headland point like this.
The drive to the trail head is interesting in itself. It rolls through old dairy country and ends at a...
This wasn't quite what we expected, but it was an interesting hike none-the-less.We parked in one of the neighborhoods above Los Gatos and started hiking up hill. It's narrow, single lane paved roads shaded by oaks. We passed by an interesting mix of old mountain houses and new money mansions. There's little, if any parking along these roads.At the top of our climb and just before the end of the road there's...
I was recovering from a shoulder injury and couldn't join the rest of the gang kayaking down the Merced. I played shuttle bunny in the morning and then decided to go find a wildflower hike. What I found instead was a great 3 hour dirt track drive perched on the north wall of the Merced River Canyon. There were beautiful granite slabs, waterfalls and swimming holes along the way.The road was in pretty...
Great winter day hike. Caves, steps cut in the cliffs, a condor and great views.
A bit of snow, wind and sunshine on this short wander up and around Prosser Peak. We actually didn't quite make it to the top.
Not quite enough snow for snowshoes so it was hiking boots. We got rain, snow and sunshine on this hike.
