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Day Venture – The Cliff Hanging Highway
Sunday, July 3rd, 2016 When I was a little kid living in Los Angeles, my parents would often take my younger brother and I on small ventures to the local beach and mountains. One fleeting memory I have of these ventures was in the winter of 1985. The San Gabriel Mountain Range had received a considerable amount of snowfall and so we went up to visit for the day. We took the mountain road of California State Route 39. The last 4 miles of this highway has been shut down since 1978 when a landslide swept away the highest portion of road, which cut off access to Highway 2. About…
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Conquering Half Dome
“Taking on one serious monster of a hike!” Friday, July 17th, 2015 This trip was a long time coming. Going all the way back to March 2015 when my friend Sandy and I decided to apply for the Yosemite Lottery to attain a permit to hike the cables up to Half Dome. The lottery system was implemented in 2012 to limit the amount of foot traffic on the cables. A maximum of 300 hikers are allowed (about 225 day hikers and 75 backpackers) each day on the Half Dome Trail beyond the base of the Sub Dome. Two separate fees are collected. The first fee, which is charged at the…
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Half Dome Training at Big Basin
Big Basin, CA Sunday, July 5th, 2015 After experiencing a rather filling Saturday, I wanted to follow up with more training for my Half Dome hike coming up in two weeks, so I felt that the 11 mile Berry Creek Falls loop trail at Big Basin was a pretty good challenge. I had done this big hike four times in the past and even twice from the trailhead at Waddell Beach. Today’s challenge would be the increased weight of my payload. Yesterday’s Hike at the Stevens Creek Trail was very tough as I overloaded my bag with 37+ pounds of water, snacks, camera gear, and other essentials that I would…
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Eastern Sierra New Year 2015
Wednesday, December 31st, 2014 DAY 01: “Victorville to Lone Pine, CA” On December 31st 2014, I made a last minute decision to hit the Eastern Sierra Nevadas yet again. My mission was to get a lot of pick up shots that I may have missed on my last great adventure there with the talented Julia Starr. Our previous excursion took us on a Giant Eastern Sierra Photo Venture for seven days and resulted in the biggest blog entry to date. Although I had the time of my life with Julia, unfortunately I would be flying solo on this trip. “The Starship was ready to hit up some serious highway travel.”…
