This winter has been wicked cold at our cabin, a biting 3°F on some mornings, but we’ve had next to no snow. In some ways the sparse snowfall has been a relief after the unprecedented blizzards of last winter, on the other hand, we had been looking forward to a white Christmas and snowshoeing adventures. We turned the lack of snow into an opportunity to introduce our houseguest, Hugh, to hiking in the high desert, where it’s reliably 20°F warmer than at our cabin. We drove a few miles, losing a couple of thousand feet in elevation, to an area with stunning views and fantastical rock format ..read more

We arrived at our cabin on a sunny but nippy day at the end of April. Twelve-foot-high snow banks still lined our driveway, four feet of hard snow covered the walk to our front door, and a three-foot deep block of ice made our deck inaccessible. We still had lots of snow removal ahead of us. The next morning, we clamped on our snowshoes, skimmed across a snow-covered meadow and tramped down a steep ravine to a partially frozen lake, exhilarated by the sparkling white landscape and fresh mountain air. After breakfast, we drove downhill far enough to find dry land, hiked up a stony cliff tha ..read more

  I might love autumn in the Sierra even more than I love spring, summer and winter. We hike in brisk weather surrounded by an extravagant color display, caressed by gentle sunlight. In the mornings and evenings, we warm ourselves in front of the first woodstove fires since last May. We gather with neighbors to debate which new snow blower we’ll buy to replace last year’s overworked machine. And we harvest fragrant, organic pears at Apple Hill Ranch. It was the height of the fall harvest, and the farm had a surplus of fruit that needed to be used right away. Remembering the silky vani ..read more

  I drove up to Bishop to attend a sustainable event at my favorite farm, Apple Hill Ranch. The day was sponsored by Farm to Crag, a non-profit organization that encourages rock climbers to eat local, sustainable food to help care for our planet. Bishop is a popular destination for climbers and Apple Hill is located in Bishop, so it was a perfect blend.  I figured being a dedicated Sierra hiker and shopper at the farm, I was aligned closely enough to qualify to join the occasion. The day began with breakfast at the farm, featuring local pastries accompanied by figs, grapes and pe ..read more

  Bishop refers to itself as a “Small Town with a Big Backyard.”  We are always grateful we get to play in that yard. In early August we escaped from LA to spend a week at our cabin, not far from Bishop. A week that brought me a big step towards wanting to make this my home. After unloading the car, we took our dogs for a welcome-back-to-the-Sierra hike, then headed down the mountain to Bishop for a night of music at a magical venue. Mill Creek Station is an outdoor theater carved out of an old stone quarry. Piles of boulders frame the musicians, Sierra peaks tower on one side, th ..read more

  Three days in the high Sierra with five of my LA gal pals! What could be better? We hiked through crazy displays of wild flowers, boated on a lake filled with frigid snow melt, picked perfectly ripe fruit at Apple Hill Ranch, ate together, and created the beautiful tart you see here. We had as much fun as I did when I was a kid at sleep away campfire girl camp. The weeks spent in tent cabins with a bunch of little girls (and wise counselors too) were the beginning of my love of mountain getaways and hiking. I was thrilled to now be the counselor, sharing that passion with my LA fri ..read more

Breakfast on Saturday morning was the best time for neighbors to visit, before we all headed out on our weekend adventures. Tony would put on his wetsuit and swim across a barely melted Lake Sabrina, Katharine would follow him in a kayak. Steve and I were determined to hike as far as we could get towards Brown Lake, elevation 10,751’. Our Sierra community was still recovering from the big winter, and many of our favorite trails remained buried under too much snow for safe hiking, even in July. But, after running the trail to Brown Lake with her three athletic Catahoula dogs, Jen gave the ro ..read more

  Summer Solstice week, and it finally felt like Spring in the high Sierra. While the days were warmer than during our last trip, we still craved the heat from our woodstove in the mornings, most of the hiking trails remained buried under snow from the record-breaking winter, and the lakes were still covered with ice. Our favorite welcome-to-the-Sierra walk came to a halt when the path disappeared into an impromptu pond of snowmelt. Down the mountain, however, cherries were ripe at Apple Hill Ranch, an organic farm that is a verdant oasis in the high dessert. I’ve never tasted Rainie ..read more

After months of planning (see Half Dome I blog post), we were ready to attempt to climb to the top of Half Dome during a two-day backpack trip. On June 8, 2021, we drove the 3 hours from our cabin in Bishop to a hotel near Yosemite. We splurged on a salmon dinner at the Ahwahnee hotel, before loading our packs, checking our equipment list for the seventh or eighth time, and settling into bed early. The alarm startled us awake at 4:30 am, we made coffee and tea, scarfed down breakfast in the dark, and then drove to the trailhead. We donned our packs, into which we had stuffed several last-mi ..read more

During the early days of the COVID shutdown, Steve and I formulated a perhaps insane plan to attempt a trek to the top of Half Dome, the famous, but formidable, granite monument in Yosemite National Park. Even if we didn’t accomplish our goal, working toward it would be an engaging project during a time when socializing and movies were not options. The first step was to enter the lottery for a coveted wilderness permit required for access to the dome. Over 20,000 people apply each day for the limited number of permits available. We felt like the luckiest COVID shut-ins when we were two of t ..read more