That day when Tioga Road opens up in spring should be an official holiday. I celebrated that special day by taking a road trip from Entrance Gate to Entrance Gate, admiring the views and saying hello to old friends like Tenaya Lake and Tioga Pass. I also had a wonderful hike to the Gaylor Basin with icy lakes and Pikas, ...

I hiked alone but I wasn’t by myself. I walked in the footprints of miners dreaming of hitting a huge ledge of silver, building a town in the Tioga Pass area at 10,760′ elevation to support their mining operations but that town was only there for about 4 years. Oh, and that part about not being by myself? Besides the ...

A huge ledge of silver is said to run along the Tioga Crest, enticing many to search the area, hoping to strike it rich with their mine. The Sheepherder Mine was one of those mines, discovered and rediscovered. The community of Dana was one of those towns, said to have had up to 1,000 people living in it at the ...

First day that Tioga Road was fully open and we headed to lakes that we hoped would still be iced over, even in July. Lots of history in this area and I can’t help thinking of the people who made that history. As we know, most miners did not strike it rich and some do not have happy endings. I ...

One of the reasons that I love hiking in this country is because of the rich mining history that occurred in these parts and when I am up here, I cannot stop thinking of the characters that braved this tough country to pursue their dreams of finding gold and silver. “The Great Silver Belt,” which runs from Tioga Hill to ...