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The Tokopah Valley Trail 2017
Voyage into the High Sierra – “Camping at 7,000ft is awesome!” Saturday, June 10th, 2017 The Sequoia National Forest is a place that I had visited very briefly one day in 2007 and have been wanting to return ever since then. I got my opportunity to fulfill that wish when a good friend of mine invited me on a last minute venture to go camping with him in the Western part of the High Sierra. The drive would rival some of my recent Eastern Sierra travels in terms of distance and time. My buddy Richard had reserved a place at the Lodgepole Campground in the Sequoia National Forest which from…
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Whitney Portal Road 2017
Hiking the Whitney Portal Road – “Taking the slow lane!” Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017 My travel companion Julia and I wanted to visit the Whitney Portal today because it had been years since our last trip to this place. The weather was perfect and we started our ascent early that morning. As we drove up Whitney Portal Road, we were suddenly stopped by a ‘suggested’ road closure sign. Now typically I will cruise around signs like this, but I knew of the serious damage that occurred up the road by a massive rock slide in late January 2017. I also knew that the debris was recently cleared with dynamite and heavy equipment, but what I didn’t know…
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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…
