Winter’s Late Arrival – Lake Tahoe Snow

  February 8, 2014 I’ve grown weary of hearing the meteorologists and agronomists and their ilk spout their predictable warnings that the rain and snow are but drops in the bucket (almost literally) and will not make a dent in the drought. Yes, we all know this, or at least I do. Relief has to

On the Trail of Beauty – My Year in Pictures

December 31, 2013 Another year ends, my oversized Christmas tree is already on the curb, and I’ll soon be ramping up my training for the John Muir Trail, Mt. Whitney and other adventures that await. And like the ‘end of the year’ shows and articles that offer retrospectives on the year, I admit that I

My Foliage Fixation – Not All About Aspens, but Pretty Close

October 24, 2013 By now, the Sierra foliage season is winding down, hopefully transitioning to a robust snow season in the mountains before long. With two dry years in a row, California badly needs a strong rainy season which usually means a good snowpack, which translates to a good ski/snowshoe/other winter activity season. My previous

Autumn Colors’ Greatest Hits – My Favorite Album (sorry Bob Dylan!)

September 29, 2013 Today I share a gallery of images from the Sierras, a collection of my favorite fall color images. Although I go to the Sierras about once a month, the trip I look most forward to is my Annual Lake Tahoe/Taylor Creek/Hope Valley Autumn Color and Spawning Salmon Photo Safari. Kind of rolls

Singing the Flatland Blues – Sierra Nevada Withdrawals

September 3, 2013 Just last week I banged my head on a big piece of irony. Don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before, but I was bemused by the fact that for as much as I love the mountains, and given my blog’s name, I live in Alameda, an island, and the flattest

Don’t Call it Desolate – Desolation Wilderness/Mt. Tallac

August 15, 2013 –   Nearly two months into summer, meteors flying overhead and I’m going through Sierra withdrawals. I usually start going through these at about the 4-week mark. My July visit to Mt. Whitney, the Eastern Sierras and Lake Tahoe seems like a lifetime ago (such melodramatic!). With my next possible Tahoe visit

The Eastern Sierras – Or, If God Let Me Design Paradise

July 18, 2013 Admittedly, as a resident Californian, and someone who was born in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’m more than a bit partial to my home turf. If Mt. Tamalpais is my front yard, then the Sierras (especially the Lake Tahoe region, Yosemite, the Eastern Sierras, and Mt. Whitney) are my backyard. Thankfully,

Eagle Lake and the Velmas – not a music group, a Desolation Wilderness Hike

June 25, 2013   Greeting hikers and nature lovers. Once again last week I was up in Desolationland (aka Desolation Wilderness, Lake Tahoe area), hiking one of my favorite Sierra trails, the Eagle Fall Trails. Although the lower part of this trail can get a bit crowded late in the morning and early afternoon, once

Early Hiking Season in the Sierras – Where’s the Snow?

June 3, 2013, Lake Tahoe, California Greetings hikers, although I’ve been semi-absent from the blogosphere lately, I promise I haven’t been neglecting my hiking, writing or my photography. Over recent weeks I’ve been hard at work editing a photo project and writing about hiking for the Examiner.com. (click for a link to my latest article)

It’s not always about me – Greetings from Tahoeland

March 27, 2013, Lake Tahoe, CA First a word about the above photo: it’s from November 2011 as I hiked down from the Mt. Tallac summit. Although I snowshoed near Echo Summit this morning, I didn’t take any photos that I was happy enough with to share, so I delved into the archives. I’ll be