As hikers and friends, we need to take care of each other. When I planned to hike Mt. Whitney every year, Memorial Day Weekend tended to mark the beginning of our training and planning. We usually planned on Whitney for mid- to late -August, since getting started around Memorial day would give us 12+ weeks to train. The first … Read More
If you regularly hike or backpack in California, please join our Facebook group, California Hiking and Backpacking! It’s a great place to ask questions and share your photos, trip reports and gear recommendations. The last year has been amazing. I spent more days on the trail than I ever have, took my first extended backpacking trip (High Sierra Trail) and I … Read More
I take too many photos. On any given hike, it’s not uncommon for me to take 200-300 shots. By the time I’m done editing/resizing the ones I like, deleting the bad ones and stitching the panoramas, I usually end up with 50-75 photos that I’ll post on this blog. During the hours I spend at my computer going through this process, … Read More
From 2011 to 2016, I led a half dozen trips on Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous United States. In the spring or early summer, I enjoyed introducing someone to hiking, with Mt. Whitney being our “big” hike at the end of the summer. Upon learning of what was involved for a Mt. Whitney hike (22 miles, 6,000+ … Read More
Here is a list of gear that I am currently testing, as well a list of my completed reviews. Big Agnes Camp Pillow – Fishbone I-Beam Construction Recently discovered that a decent pillow is as important to me as a sleeping pad to getting a good nights sleep. I tried using my down sweater in a small pillow case, but … Read More
When I first started hiking on a regular basis, I always loaded my pack with what I thought I needed. If there was room left over, I would toss in some extras for good measure. Being the consummate worrier, it was not long before I was dubbed the ‘mother hen‘ amongst my hiking buddies and consistently carried the heaviest pack in our group. I used … Read More
In the past, I’ve kept very detailed logs of all of my hikes and training. With a 2 year old in the house, I feel lucky when I’m just able to get out; I have a hard time sitting down to log everything afterwards. I spent some time looking through my pictures & emails and I have complied list of the major hikes I … Read More
Mt. San Antonio, commonly know as Mt. Baldy, reaches to an elevation of 10,064 ft and is the highest peak in both Los Angeles County and the San Gabriel Mountains. Routes Here are two graphs and an interactive map showing some of the common routes up Mt. Baldy and their elevation profiles. I will add descriptions and more routes as time allows. … Read More
Using GPSVisualizer Draw to create a simple GPX file I have tried several websites and methods for creating tracks for hikes that I am unable to locate gpx files for. What I’ve found is that most methods add waypoint, routepoint or linepoint data to the files. My GPS unit (Garmin Dakota 20) fails to load a track file if it contains … Read More
Here are my plans for 2014. This list will be updated as plans are solidified. As hikes are completed, they will be moved to the end of the post and trip reports will be added. I would like to do one ‘major’ hike per month and try to fit in some shorter, local hikes when possible. For those going on … Read More