Calipidder

Over Labor Day weekend we once again headed into the Sierra for a backpacking trip. This trip was built around my desire to see Benson Lake (the picture in this entry) with its giant sandy beach and trout fishing. We started off from Twin Lakes (out of Bridgeport), headed through Hoover Wilderness, down Matterhorn Canyon, [...]

I invited some geocaching friends out on a backpacking trip this weekend. Since I knew it would be a first backpacking trip for some people, I decided to choose a destination that was nice and easy with other attractions, like geocaches, fishing, swimming, etc. Island Lake in Tahoe National Forest is one of [...]

I was a bit concerned about today’s logistics and timing, but it turns out that everything went quite smoothly. We left Bishop at about 9 am and drove down to Lone Pine to pick up our permit at the Inyo National Forest visitor’s center. After taking possession of our Wag Bags we drove [...]

Knowing we had a long Day 2 ahead of us, we started early with a 5:30 AM wake up call. Hitting the trail shortly after 7 AM I began the climb to Donohue Pass in the cool morning shade. I found the hike to be far easier than expected - I think [...]

Next weekend I start the John Muir Trail. As part of my preparation for the hike I wanted to spend the previous weekend at altitude, but not overdo myself as far as physical exertion. The result was a weekend of car camping at Sawmill walk-in campground to the east of Tioga pass and [...]