SPOT 911 on the PCT
A hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail near Horseshoe Meadows got hit by Wednesday’s weather and pressed “911″ on her Spot Satellite Messenger when she became cold, wet, and afraid she would not survive the night (read her account here).
In the morning, she sent an “OK” message and hiked to Lone Pine, where she was met by worried family members (more…)
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Phil Leacock Memorial Trail & Loop
Los Angeles has a wealth of good metro-area hikes, though finding them can be challenging. One of my favorites is the Phil Leacock Memorial Trail, which connects Pacific Palisades to the Topanga State Park trail network. For the urban hiker, the Leacock Trail offers tremendous bang for the buck. You get a sharp climb right from the start, great city and ocean views, and a quick loop (about 1.5 miles) back to the car (more…)
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Dept. of Brutality: the SoCal 8000m Challenge
Jansport apparently issues an annual challenge to its gear retailers:
Get as many employees as you can to the top of Southern California’s three big peaks (Mt. Baldy, Mount San Jacinto, and San Gorgonio Mountain) in one day. For the uninitiated, that entails a whopping total of 24,000 total vertical feet (more…)
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PCT: Onion Valley to Cottonwood Pass
Horseshoe Meadow, California — I take one last look inside my car, checking to be sure nothing will appeal to the bears, and then I lock the doors. It feels kind of spooky as my hiking partner Bill drives us back down Horseshoe Meadows Road in his truck, heading east to Highway 395, then north all the way to Onion Valley (more…)
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Whitney Weather: Storms & Closed Roads
Sounds like it was a wild weekend in the Whitney Portal region, with heavy storms closing the portal road (due to mudslides) and even Highway 395 (which remains closed at Independence – detour available).
Posters on the Whitney Portal Store Forums have a thread going which talks about the conditions. Sounds like a lot of people got blasted by intense thunderstorms. If you’re planning a Whitney climb this week, be sure to check the board for current conditions. And if you see thunderstorms developing rapidly, get off the ridgelines and head for safer ground.
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Traveling in Bear Country
Late season storms aside, I’ve been looking forward to ditching the ski gear and switching to hiking and climbing. After all, summer camping in the Sierra is easier in almost every respect than winter. There is one big difference, however: in summer, we share the mountains with bears. I must say I ordinarily harbor no ill will toward bears, but as a hiker I find they present an added layer of complexity that (more…)
Posted in Camping, Health, Hiking, Tips | 1 Comment
A Very Special Halloween Treat
For my last major hike of the 2007 season, I wanted to do something special. I got the chance this month to do a rare hike with my brother in Arizona. This is definitely one of those off-the-map specials: a rim-to-river scramble deep in the remote, rugged wilderness of the eastern Grand Canyon.
During the landmark 1869 Powell expedition through the Grand Canyon, Walter Powell (brother of John Wesley) scrambled up from the confluence of the Little Colorado and Colorado Rivers to the Canyon’s rim, some 3400 vertical feet above.
While it is likely native peoples used this route to access the river before Walter Powell, his is the first recorded passage, and thus the way is known as the Walter Powell Route.
I have to say, after seeing the Grand Canyon, I think I need to get back to my home state of Arizona a little more often. This was truly a memorable hike: savage, challenging, and more spectacular than I can possibly describe.
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Hiking San Jacinto Peak
Of the view atop Southern California’s San Jacinto Peak, elevation 10,804′, John Muir reportedly said, ‘it is the most sublime spectacle to behold upon this Earth.’
Having driven by Palm Springs and the San Jacinto Mountains many times myself, I’ve often wondered if the heat got to Muir that day. Last weekend, I got the chance to find out: my brother and I climbed Mt. San Jacinto.
