I packed the gear the night before, Dara checked the weather, and I was even somewhat awake at 6 am.  It seemed like sneaking out on a Wednesday morning to drive to Lake Tahoe was shaping up to be an excellent idea. I had taken the day off from work to bring Dara (my climbing [...]

While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised to keep California State Parks open, he didn’t stress how drastic some changes would be to deal with the 14.2 million dollar reduction in the Park budget.
A summary of the service reductions in store for most of California’s 278 state parks was created by the park superintendants to highlight the major [...]

After months of waiting, two popular bouldering areas located in the hills above Santa Barbara have reopened to public use.  The Brickyard, a remarkable sandstone boulderfield that holds such classics as Yeti (V4) and Grotesque Old Woman (V7), and The Playground, a bouldering destination that also has 20+ sport routes, have been closed since the Gap [...]

Get outside. It makes You happy! This L.A. Times piece highlights an interesting study carried out by psychologists from the University of Rochester.
Subjects were shown sets of images and were then immediately asked a set of questions.  Those that had seen images of natural environments held community and family values higher than those that had [...]

I know, I know. I write a blog called Sierra Journal and I haven’t yet climbed the classic of all Sierra classics? Somehow time and events have conspired against me when it comes to the great Mount Whitney. The Mountaineer’s Route, East Face and East Buttress have long been on my tick-list, but somehow I [...]

The Cables Route is the standard day hike up Half Dome. It's an all-day affair and is no joke – particularly in inclement weather conditions. Yet another reminder to be careful out there – even on seemingly easy terrain. Weather can turn even the tamest of routes into a nightmarish epic.
From LA [...]

It's a basic rule of the outdoors that's been repeated to every boyscout and Bay Area hiker since time immemorial. If you run into a mountain lion, stand your ground, look big, throw things.
Well, not so much, says a new study from UC Davis. Turns out under certain circumstances, running like hell might [...]