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 ...

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 ...

Where: Inyo National Forest, Hoover Wilderness Distance: About 5 Miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevation Range: 9,819’ – 10,338’ Date: August 6, 2015           Highlights: Sally and I headed up to Saddlebag Lake, then worked our way to the west through the Harvey Monroe Research Natural Area. Mount Conness at 12,590′ elevation towered above us as we wandered through the Hoover ...

Where: Yosemite National Park Distance: About 15 miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevational Range: 7,868′ – 10,000′ Date: July 26, 2015 Highlights: Riding horses in Yosemite’s beautiful high country is always a special treat. Taking them up to the 10,000′ elevation where we had the towering, jagged high points of Vogelsang, Fletcher and Rafferty Peaks along our side as we mosied up the trail to Boothe Lake was extra ...

Where: Inyo National Forest, John Muir Wilderness Distance: About 16 Miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevation Range: 7,800’ – 11,160’ Date: July 16, 2015 Highlights: I put my cowboy boots on for this adventure on a horse, riding the trail through a variety of colorful wildflowers and watching the white puffy clouds float by. Mom and I headed east over Tioga Rd., ...

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.