BLOG | backpackthesierra.com

Welcome to our blog--where we post all sorts of fun things, from recent weather reports and backpacking stories in the news to notes on our adventures, thoughts on the past and future. You get the idea. It's a blog, and we've been doing it now for more than fifteen years.

If you are interested, it is possible to read every post we've ever written...should you think that's a good idea.

Once we decided that Google was a ridiculous way to host our site, we moved every one of more than a thousand pages of content over to this site, including all of our old blog posts. You can find them by scrolling down below. For the early years they are clumped together by date--but you should also be able to search by topic, if you are interested. Or you can start reading here, live, in living color and Sierravision.

Hope you enjoy it all.

Bear stories

I got this lovely note from a student from years ago. "I've started reading your book Falling Rocks. Not even halfway through the first chapter, but Dan's experience with the bear reminded me of this one time last year when I was in Canada. I was cleaning out my water bottle in the hotel's communal kitchen when out of the corner of my eye I see this brown ball of fluff. I thought it was a fox so I looked up -- and staring right back at me through the window was this big old b

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13 minutes ago1 min read

Death Valley Floods?

We love to spend a week each winter in the southern desert, camping and hiking in Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Mojave Preserve, and Anza-Borrego. Our plans this year will be adapted to what's available, after this last storm hit those areas with major flooding. Here's a report from Death Valley: Record-breaking storm brings flooding, road closures to Death Valley https://share.google/mlaXrCqLnM8QnIv2V

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1 day ago1 min read

Bear Stories

This on is concerning. https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/article/bear-attacks-two-87-year-olds-inside-home-near-21199255.php

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2 days ago1 min read

Destinations to Avoid

Fodor's travel guides have issued a list of tourist destinations to avoid in 2026, and one of the is a beloved national park. The list includes such well-known overcrowded spots as the Canary Islands, the Jungfrau region of the Alps, and environmentally threatened Antarctica. Also on the list? Glacier National Park, which is struggling to manage high visitor traffic. Here's a link to the story: https://www.fodors.com/news/photos/no-list-2026

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3 days ago1 min read

Danger; Falling Rocks is on Audible!

Happy Release Day! Danger: Falling Rocks is now out in the world, just in time for the holidays! Here is a link: https://www.audible.com/pd/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Audiobook/B0G26SWBDX?qid=1763136314&sr=1-1&ref_pageloadid=rD19SkhZp7V5sBEN&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=NZ48R22F5YDPD0F4QC6W&plink=qV2uycYu3R0Vvluz&pageLoadId=hyqBBUjd0PVbC97W&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1 Shout it from the rooftops!

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Nov 141 min read

Highway 89 Closed

In Lassen Volcanic National Park, the main road through the park is now closed due to snow and ice. https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/california-lassen-park-highway-closure-21171745.php

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Nov 141 min read

Scenery nearby

Lst weekend we visited a friend on the Sonoma Coast and enjoyed wonderful weather, fabulous scenery, and fun adventures. There are so many beautiful places to see, and not all of them require a long trip to see them. Hope you are getting out and about and finding some joy in the natural world near you. And yes, that is M in the canoe with her friend Martha, fearlessly navigating both the waters of Salmon Creek and the deep seas of share memories. More photos: https://photos.

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Nov 131 min read

More news from our National Parks

Lots of NPS stories in the news this week: Death Valley funds a species thriving in the heat: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/calif-scientists-groundbreaking-study-death-valley-21143612.php And Yellowstone has a legal loophole for criminals: https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/get-away-with-murder-yellowstone-zone-of-death-21143937.php And yet another person has fallen to death in the Grand Canyon: https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/grand-canyon-de

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Nov 111 min read

Gargoyles revisited

You may remember that I joined a volunteer work party back in September to work on the Gargoyles above Pinecrest Lake in the Stanislaus National Forest. But I spent the day digging post holes. This week we revisited them as tourists and enjoyed the hiking and the views! Here's a link to all the photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/u112yGqWXGDJAFNY6

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Nov 91 min read

Happy ending

Here's an interesting story from the news. Reading between the lines, he took his truck on a very rough 4wd road, mashed the truck, lost his phone (!?) and finally decided to hike out. I'm confused as to how the Search and Rescue team wouldn't see his truck... But as usual, what we see in a newspaper isn't anywhere near the full story. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/missing-calif-hunter-alive-sierra-national-forest-21136293.php

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Nov 41 min read

We've been traveling

One of the huge benefits from my forty years of work in the wine business is that I am now in a position to enjoy some travel around the world. I work with Expedia Cruises to create wine cruises that I then lead--and the last one was a doozy, from Rome to Istanbul. The cruise went from Rome to Salerno, Palermo, Valletta in Malta, Santorini and Crete, Marmaris, Antalya and Ismir in Turkey, and then ended in Istanbul. We missen one stop, the island of Kos, because of high winds

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Oct 312 min read

Some people

The argument against billing people for the cost of their rescue is a simple one: if they worry about the cost, they may not call or request help until it is much more dangerous,--both for themselves and the SAR team sent out to rescue them But somebody ought to pay the cost of this one: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/missing-marin-camper-search-21122933.php

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Oct 271 min read

Thoughts for Autumn

It's colder now. At the higher elevations, it's really cold. And the leaves have turned. There's no question about it, summer...

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Oct 251 min read

No Surprise to Us

https://www.sfgate.com/living/article/california-is-the-no-1-state-for-hiking-in-the-21115476.php The Sierra, the redwoods, the desert, the coast...no other state has it all.

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Oct 231 min read

How to Stay Alive

Amazing story in the Guardian of a woman's astonishing determination after a nearly fatal fall on Mount Whitney: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/oct/21/fell-at-the-top-of-mountain-trekked-for-five-days-with-broken-spine-in-snowstorm

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Oct 211 min read

Zipper help!

It's happened to everyone. The zipper zips along, but the two sides quickly separate. And it happened on our beloved tarptent after...

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Oct 202 min read

High Places

If you've ever wondered what it's like to climb really high mountains, this article has some wonderful thoughts from legendary climber...

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Oct 151 min read

Rescue near Yosemite

Two young men got themselves deep trouble as they hiked around the Hoover Wilderness north of Yosemite. When they went off-trail they were lucky enough to have just one bar of cell service, and called for help. An expert SAR team managed to get them out of danger. As the lead SAR member explained: "the two hikers were adequately equipped for the casual hiking they had planned—had they stuck to the correct route—but were woefully underprepared for the technical terrain they en

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Oct 141 min read

Junipers!

The most wonderful trees in the Sierra? There are a lot candidates. Sequioas are the obvious choice, rightfully famous around the world...

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Oct 101 min read

Please. Be the solution, not the problem.

This report from Yosemite is very troubling. Please practice good stewardship when you visit a place that should be protected for future...

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Oct 91 min read