Last weekend we drove up to the Sierra Nevada for a day of driving, wheeling, and hiking. I've already posted a few blogs about it, most recently Hiking Lost Lake to the Nipple. Yes, we were hiking to a summit called The Nipple. But we didn't get there. The wind was so fierce we turned back part way up.

How windy was it? Here's a short video clip ( Read more... )

This past Saturday we went hiking high up in the Sierra Nevada mountains above the Carson Pass. The hike is an adventure, of course, and I'll blog about it- soon. First I want to share the continuing adventure of just getting thereLike any good adventure, the whole journey is part of the adventure! ...Okay, the first hundred-some-odd miles of ( Read more... )

What happens after a Friday Night Halfway? Say it with me: Saturday we go all the way. 😂 This morning we awoke in Auburn, having driven there last night and stayed in a hotel. I wish I could say knocking out 3 hours of driving last night (which was actually 4 because of traffic) helped us get an early start on our hike today, but I can't. I wound ( Read more... )

Saturday morning we drove up the mountain from Fresno to the Dinkey Lakes trail. Most of the drive was along California 168, up through the small resort town of Shaver Lake. We continued several miles further up into the Sierra Nevada, turning off the highway at Tamarack Ridge, elev. 7,582'. From there it was a bit over 10 miles on mostly dirt ( Read more... )

It was time to buy new tires for "Gumbo", our Nissan Xterra 4x4. The old tires were getting worn down, and some of the tread lugs were chipping and cracking. Since we don't drive our own cars a huge amount- Gumbo has rolled only about 5,000 miles in the past 12 months- the old set of tires were ready to replace on the basis of age if not also wear ( Read more... )

I mentioned prior to our hike at Angel Falls this morning that today would be a two-fer. Our second hike was to Fresno Dome. The summit is at almost 7,600' elevation. Thankfully we don't have to ascend most of that on foot; our car does most of the work driving to the trailhead ( Read more... )

Alaska Travelog #23
Outside Seward - Tue, 18 Jun 2024, 4:30pm

Today's been a day of shorter hikes and visits around Seward. We started with a milder hike to an overlook of the Exit Glacier ("milder" being in comparison to our butt-kicker of a hike partway above the glacier on Monday), followed by a bit of gentle 4x4ing on the river bed. Now we've ( Read more... )

Alaska Travelog #22
Outside Seward - Tue, 18 Jun 2024, 2:30pmOn our drive out of Kenai Fjords National Park after hiking there today we took a slight side trip to visit the Resurrection River. The park road runs along the glacial outwash stream until where the state highway crosses it a bit above the head of Resurrection Bay. In a few places the ( Read more... )

Los Cabos Travelog #17
Baja California Sur, Mexico - Wed, 8 May 2024, 3pm

Today we went ATV riding in the Baja desert. It was another of the A-or-B activities arranged for my company club trip. I think the "B" activity was a spa treatment, so yeah, I was totally going with Option A. Hawk, too.


( Read more... )

Australia Travelog #42
Blackheath, NSW - Sat, 30 Dec 2023, 7:30pm

When we finished up our (second) hike at Katoomba Falls this afternoon it was only 5:30pm. "Only"... and we'd already been out all day! But I have a saying, "As long as daylight lasts, as long as water as, as long as energy lasts, I walk." Though that may have been eclipsed this ( Read more... )