Historic Railroad Hiking Trail to Hoover Dam

When you think of Nevada you think of the Glitz and Glam of Las Vegas but Nevada offers so much more than just casinos and the night life within the casino walls. We traveled to Nevada on a Wednesday morning in February for a work trip. I have been wanting to do some of the…

Wolves and Deer and Bears, Oh My!

In 2020 the kids lost out in so much due to the COVID pandemic, especially in birthdays and summer vacations. 2021 was a little different. We had a lot of things open but with restrictions. School in our area had opened their doors and everyone was getting ready to go back to school live and…

Floating away in the Eastern Sierra Nevada 2017

The days are starting to heat up and we have that itch to get into the backcountry of the Western Sierra Nevada’s. Even though the snow has not melted at the lakes we want to get hiking to, it has melted enough to get to the lower levels. So far we have gotten to explore Convict Lake, the June Lake Loop, Tioga Lake, Twin Lakes, and Walker River. All the Lakes are full and the streams that were once slow moving are now raging rivers, the rivers are overflowing their banks and are flooding the valleys. Roads are getting washed out and trickling waterfalls have now taken over mountain sides. It is a sight like no other. The record snow fall is now the record snow melt.

The drive for us is about 5 hours to get Bishop. Some people can’t believe we would drive 5 hours for a weekend trip, but 5 hours isn’t that long when you can lose yourself for 2 days surrounded by the beauty of this area.

Since the back country has been under a little more snow than we like we have decided to hold off on our hiking trips until later into the season. Our last two trips have been exploring different parts of the area that are accessible via paved and dirt roads. We camped on the backside of Grant Lake in the June Lake loop and fished the lakes in the surrounding area. Please enjoy the pictures from our last two trips.

Red Cliffs Recreation Area ~ Utah ~ Day 2

We did a quick road trip with the family to Utah from California on weekend. After a leaving Zion National Park a little disappointed due to the overcrowded areas we hit Red Cliffs Campground in the Red Cliffs Preserve. The hike on Red Reef Trail was amazing. The views were breathtaking and the trail was easy enough for all the kiddos. And the best part was it was away from the crowds of Zion. Click here to read about our hike with clickable locations.

Emerald Pools ~ Utah ~ Day 1

Day 1 of our 2 day trip to Utah seemed to be a little bit of a fail for us. We got a late start which put us in the middle of the mass of people. It made the beauty of Zion not so beautiful as we fought for prime viewing spots with the hundreds of the people that were fighting for the same view. We are not used to planning our trips and going into Zion or any popular national park for that matter takes planning. You can’t just wing it if you want the most of your experience. You don’t have full access to the land like we are used too; there are shuttles, road closures, so many rules and masses of people trying to do the same thing you are.

Bats, Dinosaurs, Wind and Morteros – Anza Borrego Desert State Park – April 2017

Exploring the mud caves at Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Click to read more…

Exploring The Crit

The Arizona desert has had my heart for years.  It started at an early age going to the Havasu with my parents sleeping under the stars during the crazy hot nights and playing on the river.  It was a simpler time those days and now every time I go it never fails to bring those…

Ropes & Ladders @ Painted Canyon ~ October 2, 2016

Hiking the Ropes & Ladders @ Painted Canyon, Mecca Hills. Click to read more…

Half of Castle Rock Trail, Big Bear ~ July 16, 2016

We headed up to Big Bear for a nice weekend away.  We came up Friday and drove past the trailhead of Castle Rock on our way to our hotel.  We had no plans for the weekend, we just figured we would play it by ear. We checked into our cute cottage of Cathy’s Cottages on the…

Big Horn Mine & Vincent’s Cabin ~ July 9, 2016

I got up to the trailhead about 8am.  The parking lot wasn’t crowded yet but there was plenty of cars there starting off the morning early.  The trailhead houses a few different trails, the most popular is the portion of the PCT going to the summit of Mt Baden Powell that my brother and I…