A favorite reward to myself is to indulge in a massage every once in a while. I headed up to the Ascent Spa at Tenaya Lodge for a Spa Day! Where: Tenaya Lodge, Ascent Spa Date: July 1, 2015 Lightning had been predicted at the high elevations where I like to hike and it was just too darn hot and ...

We decided to hike off trail where the colorful mountains in the Tioga Pass Area raise above 12,000′ elevation. We were ready for an adventure in an area that revealed beautiful pink heather lined tarns, small lakes where the creeks were wide, high country lakes, many with no names. We explored when we were inspired to check out an area ...

We couldn’t wait to get up to higher country to see if the lakes were still frozen over. We discovered the answer to that question, saw some beautiful country, some critters and very cool clouds.

We headed down the trail, following the beautiful Tuolumne River, full of reflections in some areas and waterfalls in some other spots. We also had white puffy clouds and critters accompany us on our adventure.

We headed through Potter Pass at 8,980′ elevation to the Twin Lakes, then on to George Lake for a nice spring hike. Beautiful lakes reflecting white puffy clouds, with wildflowers along the trail and a geology lesson from our resident geology buff made for a wonderful adventure in the Kaiser Wilderness in Sierra National Forest.

Cold, grey, foggy, grim, yes, but thanks to volunteer gardeners, Alcatraz Island is awash in color. Pat and I braved the Highway 101 traffic and toured the island. If you like flowers, this is the time to go. On Wednesday afternoons there are docents in the Officers’ Row gardens who are happy to talk to you.

Our footprints were the first ones on the fresh snow for most of our hike and I just love it when that happens! We also had very blue skies and white puffy clouds to walk along the ice covered lakes up to the old mining town of Dana City.

My favorite part of this hike is seeing those harlequin lupine when they are blooming. We lucked out and there were many beautiful displays of yellow, purple and pink harlequins lining the trail in places and grouped together is other spots.

Hiking from the Yosemite Valley floor up to Glacier Point is a tough hike, gaining over 3,200′ elevation. Why in the heck would someone want to do that? I think it is well worth that climb and switchbacks to see views of Yosemite Falls that you can see from no other location. Viewing Half Dome, Nevada and Vernal Falls, Tenaya ...

Tioga Road opened up on May 3, fairly early as far as the history of openings go. [It has temporarily closed in the meantime, but should reopen soon]. I sure appreciate the hard work that the crews have done to open up the road and make the needed repairs to get us in to the high country this early. Although ...