Calipidder

From the moment the passes close each fall, I have serious Eastern Sierra withdrawals. Getting from the Bay Area to the “East Side” in the winter involves a long and circuitous route, undoable in a weekend. Even when the passes are open, I expect a minimum of a five hour drive just to get over [...]

I’m going to let you in on a secret. It comes in two parts. The first is this: Lava Beds National Monument. The second part is this: Easter Weekend.
Lava Beds sits just south of the California/Oregon border. The nearest town big enough for a Walmart is Klamath Falls, Oregon, about 40 miles to the north. [...]

Mother Nature has had some kind of grudge against me lately. It seems that every time I plan on getting out to the snow or backpacking conditions are anything but favorable. The trend continued last weekend, with a massive storm pounding the Sierra on yet another weekend I had planned on going out on a [...]

Our third day in the desert was a simple and relaxing one playing tourist in Mojave. We kept our camp at Mid Hills and took a short hike straight from our campsite over to two big rock jumbles known as Eagle Peaks. They looked more like they belonged in Joshua Tree. We also met some [...]

You heard me - Zzyzx. Pronounced Zi-Zix. The last entry when all geographic place names are listed alphabetically. Anyone who has driven the I-15 stretch from LA to Vegas knows that mysterious, middle-of-nowhere offramp to ‘Zzyzx’. It finally tempted us and this time we took the exit to explore all that Zzyzx has to offer.