We were on the hunt for those beautiful big white blooms of the dogwoods. We headed to Yosemite Valley to see what we could find. Where: Yosemite National Park Distance: 7.25 Miles Difficulty: Easy to Moderate Elevation Range: 3,983 to 4,285′ Date: April 26, 2016 Maps: El Capitan and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Topographic Quads As we drove in, we were watching ...

YOSEMITE — Visitors to Yosemite National Park can revel in its natural wonders like never before through Yosemite Conservancy’s guided Outdoor Adventures involving high country camping, bird watching and backpacking, among 60 unforgettable experiences offered in 2016. “Our Outdoor Adventures are led by naturalist guides who share lifetimes of experience and insider knowledge of the park,” said Frank Dean, president ...

Glacier Point Road had only been open one day and those Yosemite waterfalls were really roaring. We headed to Glacier Point on the Panorama Trail to see 4 of Yosemite National Park’s major waterfalls doing their thing. Where: Yosemite National Park Distance: 11.8 Miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevation Range: 5,882′ to 7,278′ Date: April 20, 2016 Maps: El Capitan Topographic Quads We headed ...

YOSEMITE — If you’re looking for the best thing to do in Yosemite, join a Yosemite Conservancy Outdoor Adventure. Conservancy naturalist guides have lifetimes of Yosemite experience and insider knowledge. Join them for backpacking treks, day hikes, photography workshops, bird-watching tours and discover Yosemite’s “hidden gems” with expert naturalist-guides. Yosemite Conservancy works hand-in-hand with the park to create unforgettable experiences. ...

We headed north to Hetch Hetchy to see what those waterfalls were looking like. We kept a lookout for rattlesnakes and bears along the trail and had a surprising encounter with one of these. Where: Yosemite National Park Distance: 11.25 Miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevation Range: 3,695′ to 4,459′ Date: April 5, 2016 Maps: Ackerson Mountain and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Topographic Quads We ...

I had gotten word that the San Joaquin River Trail was loaded with many different types and colors of wildflowers putting on a great show. We had to check it out. Where: Bureau of Land Management, San Joaquin River Gorge Special Management Area, Millerton Lake State Recreation Area Distance: 9.41 Miles Difficulty: Easy to Moderate Elevation Range: 564′ – 1,279′ Date: March ...

YOSEMITE – Yosemite Conservancy is providing $15 million in support to Yosemite National Park to restore the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, protect great gray owls and rebuild spectacular hiking trails, among 34 projects being funded in 2016. “Everywhere you look in the park you can see the impact of Yosemite Conservancy grants and programs, whether that’s hiking a restored ...

With all of our recent rain and warm spring-like weather, I had been hearing reports about what a great show our local waterfalls were putting on but I hadn’t heard any reports on Chilnualna Falls. We needed to go check it out for ourselves. It was a good sign when we could hear Chilnualna Falls roaring from the parking lot and ...

Hite Cove is famous for the spring poppy display but this year is a little different. I hadn’t heard any good reports on the wildflowers in Hite Cove area and was very curious how our winter’s crazy weather was affecting them. We had a couple of surprises. One was the trail condition and the other was the diversity of types ...

We had headed over for the “Superbloom” but how can you not go to Death Valley and see more? Rugged, wildly colored canyons and mountains where miners seeked their fortunes and lonely sand dunes called to us to explore them. Many wonderful books have been written about Death Valley and I am not about to attempt to do that in this blog, ...