Outdoor Travel Geek

Category: outdoors

  • pyramid peak

    Over the past few weekends I’ve done some pretty long hikes, so I could use a little bit of rest. This weekend was supposed to be my break weekend, I was planning to just sleep in and rest for the entire weekend. But when my friend Mary invited me on a day hike into the Desolation…

  • canyon creek trail

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    From my previous posts it’s probably obvious that I like the Trinity Alps Wilderness. I think it’s truly a special place. It’s one of the few places that I’ve come to backpack more than once, partly because the scenery’s nice, and partly because it’s a great place to introduce people to backpacking. Flo and Iris owned…

  • lewiston lake

    Fourth of July fell on a Thursday this year, so most people took Friday off to make it a four day weekend. With the weather being so hot lately, a camping trip at a lake sounded like a good idea. We ended up at Mary Smith Campground on Lewiston Lake, which is just outside of…

  • half dome revisited

    The hike to the summit of Half Dome is probably one of the most famous hikes in Yosemite, if not all of California. Nowadays it’s somewhat difficult to get permits for the hike. You have to enter a lottery, and the chances of getting a permit aren’t that great. (From what I’ve heard, the odds…

  • lassen peak revisited

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    This weekend I went to Lassen National Park with a few friends. We left Friday after work and got into camp pretty late at night. The campground was pretty crowded and the campsites were pretty close together, so I guess we were a little too loud for the people around us who were trying to…

  • hidden falls regional park

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    I only recently heard about Hidden Falls Regional Park. It’s a relatively new park, and recently it has expanded and added over 20 miles of trails, most of which are accessible by mountain bike. Since I’m always on the lookout for new trails to ride, I decided to dust off my trusty old Bianchi Superbee…

  • arches national park

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    Moab, UT is famous for mountain biking. It’s also famous for being sort of a base camp for people who are visiting Arches and Canyonland National Parks, which are among the most photographed parks in the United States. You can tell just from the parking area at the Arches visitor center that the scenery is…

  • tilden regional park

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    Today I went out to Tilden Regional Park near Berkeley to hike with a group from the south bay. When I looked at the trail maps of the area earlier this week, I noticed that some of the trails were open to mountain biking. It’s been a while since I’ve ridden my mountain bikes, so…

  • hat creek

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    My friend Joe and I have been talking about doing a fishing trip to Lassen for a couple of years now. We finally made it happen this weekend. We went to Hat Creek in the Lassen National Forest. Joe caught a pretty nice sized trout. Todd caught a pretty nice trout. Ray caught a pretty…

  • dewey point

    I went backpacking solo for the first time this weekend. It probably would’ve been better to wait and organize a trip that people could join me on, but at the last second I decided to go alone. The window of opportunity for a snow trip in Yosemite was closing and I would be out in Modesto…

  • pinnacles

    This weekend I went for a hike at Pinnacles National Monument along with a group of guys for my friend Johann’s bachelor party. The ‘before’ picture. I didn’t realize that we were supposed to be smiling for this picture… Pinnacles is known for rock climbing. At various points along the trail that we hiked, we…

  • yosemite in winter

    I love Yosemite. I’ve been to Yosemite many times, but I always find new things I love about it. Of course part of the reason is the many epic hikes in Yosemite, like Half Dome or Cloud’s Rest, but even shorter hikes out of the valley are nice there. Even though I’ve been to Yosemite…

  • carson pass snowshoeing

    Today I went snowshoeing with some friends from my small group. Originally it was supposed to be an overnight trip, but we ended up changing it to a day trip instead. The trailhead was the Carson Pass sno-park, same as last weekend. Here we strapped on our snowshoes and began our hike into the Mokelumne…

  • snow scouting

    Today I went snow camping. Or I guess I should rephrase that. The original plan was to go snow camping, spending the night in a snow cave. We ended up doing a day trip instead. It’s all good for me though, I was planning to go up to the same place next weekend anyways, so…

  • reno and rosey return

    This week I took a few days off to go to Reno and ski Mount Rose with Gid and Jason. We left after work on Tuesday. Although it wasn’t snowing, there was still snow on the road. That in and of itself would have been okay, but it was so cold that my windshield wiper…