Piute Pass was one of my favorite trails in the High Sierra. (A few of the other contenders were Saddlebag Lake (20 Lakes Basin), Kearsarge Pass, and San Joaquin Mountain.) The sheer beauty along the path up to the saddle…
Smoking Stacks in the Monument Geyser Basin
The Monument Geyser Basin in central Yellowstone National Park was heralded to me as a great adventure. Here you could enjoy a geyser basin in its natural state, without crowds or even boardwalks! Unfortunately, I’m afraid it was a bit…
118 Miles on the Pacific Coast, Mount Hood, and Mount Rainier!
Last time, I wrote about my adventures in the High Sierras of California. Here’s the rest of the trip – including volcanoes in the Cascade Range! From Yosemite, we drove north through Sacramento and Redding and up to McCloud Falls. …
81 Miles in the High Sierras!
I’m back!! I know I’ve taken off quite a few weeks on the blog, but I’ll be back to regular posting soon. For now, here’s what I’ve been up to for the last five or so weeks as my van…
Biscuit Basin, Mystic Falls, and Biscuit Basin Overlook
I chose the perfect morning to visit the Biscuit Geyser Basin and Mystic Falls. Perfect, as in it was so misty, I could barely see the geothermal features, and the waterfall was almost obscured! I even climbed up to the…
Hiking to Elephant Arch
I sometimes imagine that it must be hard for explorers to come up with original names for the features they discover. How many Beacon Rocks, Twin Peaks, Old Baldies, Haystack Mountains, Sugarloaf Peaks, and Flat Top Mountains are there in…
Yellowstone Lake Overlook at West Thumb
Yellowstone Lake Overlook at West Thumb is possibly the best viewpoint I’ve found of Yellowstone Lake. (The other contenders are Elephant Back Mountain (too many trees), Storm Point and Gull Point (very nice but on level with the lake), an…
An Off-trail Hike up Coffin Peak
There’s nothing quite like climbing Coffin Peak in the Black Mountains of Death Valley to see the Funeral Mountains. That’s just too much of a single theme if you ask me! But it’s actually a fun off-trail trek, without too…
Terrace Mountain Loop: The Quiet Mountains of Yellowstone
The Terrace Mountain Loop was a hike in Yellowstone that piqued my interest for no particular reason, similar to the Lamar River Trail. But I’m so glad we did it! The miles through meadows with fantastic views were worth the…
Thompson Peak: The Highest Point in the Sawtooths
When I visited the Sawtooth Mountains last fall, I decided that we should save our last day to climb the highest point in the range – Thompson Peak. I printed trip reports off of the internet and it sounded fairly…