By Virginia Eaton — There are three hormones in your body that you should be concerned about if you are trying to lose weight: insulin, leptin and ghrelin. The names sound like a cast of Disney characters, but don’t be fooled; these three hormones are critical to managing a healthy weight. Most people have heard of insulin but may not ...

We loaded up the Jeep, our packs, one dog, and headed to Iron Lake. Our plan was to 4WD into Iron Lake, then walk to several of the lakes nearby but we were rained out once we reached Iron Lake. I’m not complaining because we sure loved the rain, how it made everything look beautiful and smell wonderful.  We were yelling ...

Submitted by Keith Sauer – We’re back from three days in Yosemite with the Oakmont Hiking group. Perfect weather and great scenery. We saw some bears on the trail but too far to photograph. One group saw a bobcat. After a long five-hour drive, I led the hike to Sentinel Dome and Taft Point with the help of a pain ...

By Virginia Eaton — I want to have a frank conversation about why you should do squats as part of your weekly exercise routine. Okay, here goes: if you want to be able to sit on the toilet when you are old, and then get up from that toilet without help, you need to train in your middle age for ...

Written by Marcia Penner Freedman – We’ve chosen to live in a forest, tens of thousands of us in eastern Fresno, Madera, and Mariposa Counties. Not just any forest, but a Sierra forest. And that means we’ve chosen to live with the certainty of fire. To complicate things, our communities sit at the edge of the million-acre Sierra National Forest, ...

By Virginia Eaton — When I look out my window from home and from work, the smoky haze is made more disheartening by bits of gray ash floating on the air before coming to rest on the ground. The oppressive heat adds insult to already injured lungs and makes moving through my day challenging. The stress of fire, drought and ...

Sally and I escaped the smoke, heat and a PG&E Smart Day, and headed up to beautiful Saddlebag Lake in the Tioga Pass area for a day of fishing.   Where: Inyo National Forest Distance: About 5 Miles Difficulty: Easy Elevation Range: 9,524’ – 10,167’ Date: September 10, 2015               We headed east on the Tioga ...

The skies were cloudy as we headed up Beasore Rd. It rained lightly for a while but didn’t last near long enough. It made everything smell nice and fresh for a short while though.   Where: Sierra National Forest, Ansel Adams Wilderness Distance: 8.81 Miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevation Range: 6,641’ – 9,678’ Date: August 26, 2015 We headed up Beasore Rd. to ...

By Virginia Eaton — Everyday I receive questions from people asking about the best way to be “healthy” and the short answer is, “it depends…” Being healthy requires that all the various components that make us human to work in concert—from the bacteria that live in our guts to the chemicals that make our hearts beat and brains think. Here ...

Where: Hitching Post, 42592 Hwy 49, Ahwahnee When:  Tuesday Lunch or Dinner Not every adventure is a hiking adventure. Taco Tuesday at the Hitching Post in Ahwahnee is always a fun adventure, especially with friends. I think that Taco Tuesday is a well kept secret at the Hitching Post. Well, perhaps locals are familiar with it but I am here ...