The Panoche Hills is a large area owned by the Bureau of Land Management. If you’ve ever driven down highway 5 from Sacramento to Los Angeles, you’ve passed right by it. It’s a hilly grassland area, which in my opinion, is not all that interesting. It seems like the only reason why this area gets…

At just over 14,500 feet above sea level, Mount Whitney is the highest mountain in California. It’s actually the highest point in the continental United States, the only taller mountains in the United States are in Alaska, with Mount Denali standing over 20,000 feet. Mount Whitney is probably the highest place in the North America…

This weekend I went backpacking at Loch Leven Lakes. It’s a pretty easy and short hike, at least as far as backpacking trips go– under 10 miles round trip. It’s also an easy trip to plan for, since permits aren’t required and because it’s so easy to get to, right off of highway 80. I…

This weekend six of us went backpacking in the Trinity Alps Wilderness. I had already been here once before, so I know it’s a pretty special place. Typically I don’t like to go backpacking to a place where I’ve been before, and although I knew it’s a pretty amazing place, I was kind of wary about…

This weekend I went backpacking at the Mendocino National Forest. It’s a pretty easy and short hike, which was good because there were a bunch of kids who were going backpacking for the first time. They had mostly grown up together in church. It kind of reminded me of when I used to be a…

This weekend I went on what will probably be the last backpacking trip of 2011. It was to a place called the Trinity Alps Wilderness. After having been to Yosemite twice in the last month, I didn’t have overly high expectations of this place. This trip was with the usual backpacking crew that Dan organizes,…

Let me tell you something– when it comes to backpacking (or actually outdoor trips in general) I am lazy. It’s a weird kind of laziness. I will gladly drive two hundred plus miles to hike upwards of 20 miles. I will carry a 25 pound pack filled with gear up two thousand feet of elevation…

It’s not often that I would hike the same place twice in two weeks. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve never done that before this weekend.  It ended up that way though, mostly because I don’t really pay attention to the emails I get. I just sorta skim them and then archive them away in…

The weekend started out on a down note. I went into San Francisco to attend my friend Brian’s grandmother’s funeral and be a pallbearer. Interestingly enough, I’ve been a pallbearer as many times as I’ve been a groomsman now. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of being either– I’m mostly opposed to wearing…

I have a pretty terrible track record on snow camping trips. Before this weekend’s trip my record was 0 for 2. My first attempt was with a few friends at an area called Meiss Meadow. We dug out snow trenches to sleep in, which we covered with tarps and laid down a blanket of snow…

Last night I might have been the most exhausted I’ve ever been in my entire life. It all started on Wednesday evening. The drive to SF. I’ve done it so often I can almost make the drive in my sleep. In fact sometimes my mind sort of falls asleep and I make the drive on…

I am not a fan of rainy days. It usually means that I’m forced to spend the day indoors. Actually, I wouldn’t mind rain so much if it weren’t so cold. If rainy season were in summer like in Asia, I think I’d be quite happy with it. But unfortunately in California rainy season is…