Der Yosemite National Park ist wahrscheinlich DAS Wander-Eldorado in Kalifornien. Die Landschaft ist beeindruckend, die Natur gewaltig. Deshalb besuchen den Park jährlich auch mehr als 3,5 Mio. Menschen. Trotzdem: Wandert man etwas von den Parkplätzen weg, wird es gleich viel ruhiger - Die Besucherströme verteilen sich dann...

Update October 23, 2020 see below* June 24, 2016: During my hike last week I saw a mountain which caught my attention. To my surprise, after consulting the USGS topo map, I found out that it didn't have a name on any map, even though it is quite a prominent peak with a topographical prominence to its neighbor (Mount Agassiz)...

I have climbed "The Sisters" (P. 10153 and 10045) west of Round Top twice already but only from the Saddle west of Round Top. If in the area or looking at atopo map, one can clearly see that the ridge is not only two, but depending on how you count, made up of 4-5 Sisters from the saddle west of Round Top all the way to the...

After an extraordinary long winter with more than average amounts of snow, the Sierra Nevada really lived up to it's name: there was and still is a lot of "Nevada" up in the Sierras and it'll take quite some time to melt it all. One ski resorts for example decided to stay open until August! (click). I was in the Donner Pass...

DG aka "Why Wait!?" and I wanted to go for a "hike" a long time already, but for one and the other reason it never happened yet. Today it did and it was a fun showshoe/back country ski outing on a wonderful spring day in the Sierras. We did the loop from Woods Lake to Round Top and back, like Donnie Darko and I did...

Im Rahmen eines kleinen Roadtrips entlang der kalifornischen Westküste machten wir einen Abstecher ins Yosemite Valley. Und das direkt am ersten wirklich warmen Tag des Frühjahrs im Hochtal. Dementsprechend lag noch gut Schnee auf den Bergen ringsherum, der der warmen Sonne wenig entgegenzusetzen hatte. Warum ich das gleich am...

Round Top is on my wish list every season and today I was contemplating to start at Woods Lake, like I did here. However, the last winter storm brought more snow to the already very high snow pack in this area and I was afraid to not even be able to park at the turnout there. Instead I planned to start at the sno-park on Carson...

The start to the winter in California's Sierra Nevada was rather slow, but picked up in mid January and really kicked in in February. In the Donner Pass / Castle Peak area there were more than 7 meters of snowfall in February, with some daily totals of more than a meter. At this point the cumulative snow fall at Donner Pass is...

Der Hawk Hill ist ein Hoehepunkt auf einem Bergkamm, der von der Golden Gate Bridge nach Westen zieht. Seine Ersteigung erfolgt auf einem breiten Wanderung, dessen Startpunkt ziemlich genau unter dem Gipfel liegt. Die meisten Wanderer begnuegen sich mit einer breiten Aussichtsplattform, der eigentliche Gipfel liegt aber zwei...

The previous week my wife and I spent some time at Loon Lake, a wonderful place in the boonies on the north side of the lake. I did a little stroll then and saw a peak at the east end of the lake which looked interesting and decided to try to climb it during this weeks outing. After looking at a map at home, I found out that this...

Mount Tallac is one of the classic and popular hikes in the Tahoe area. It is well known for the spectacular view of Fallen Leaf Lake, Lake Tahoe, two small Alpine Lakes and the Desolation Wilderness. The standard route from the trailhead is about a 10 mile round trip with an elevation gain of about 3300 ft. Don't expect to be...

A friend was visiting from the mountain-less part of this country and expressed the wish to accompany me on one of my Sierra Nevada hikes. Whenever someone asks me if they can come hiking with me I say yes, but hardly ever does it happen that someone actually comes along. My choice for this hike was Ralston Peak from Camp...

There are only a few peaks left around Lake Tahoe which I haven't stood on top yet. Monument - and East Peak are two of them. The main reason why I haven't been there was the fact that they are within a ski resort: Heavenly. Since there are several gondolas which take you almost to the top of these peaks, I wasn't too keen on...

This hike is more or less a repeat of Freel Peak and Jobs Sister with a slightly different way back down to the Horse Meadow. I start my hike shortly after 8 AM and walk along the well maintained trail to Armstrong Pass, there I take a right and follow the Tahoe Rim Trail to the saddle northwest of Freel Peak and then up to El...

A friend recently told me about Frog Lake near Castle Peak and how beautiful it is. After doing some www-research about the lake, I found out that it (and it's surroundings) is still privately owned by a family, but will be purchased by Truckee Donner Land Trust and made publicly available in 2020. To get a glimpse of this gem, I...

The general setup was more or less the same as last week, not too much time for an extended hike so something with little ramp-up time was needed. Since I also didn't have time to prepare any new hikes I just decided to go back to Pyramid Peak once again. In order to make sure I would reach my goal on this day, I didn't only start...

Today I had some commitments in the evening and had to be back early. Therefore, I chose a hike with a relatively short drive. I also wanted to check out my original plan from here, the south-southeast ridge to Pyramid Peak. Turns out my plans were a little too ambitious to reach Pyramid Peak in time, but I made it to P.8844 and...

Gestrandet auf 3333 Metern. Das klingt hochalpin. Aber ist es das? Bei einem eheren Besuch der Gegend waren die Schranken bei Aspendell zu: Wintersperre. Heute sind sie offen, und der Taxifahrer rauscht durch mit rojosuiza. Der ist jetzt Kenner, und weist den Weg. So kommt man per Automobil bis zum North Lake. 3333...

Von der Küste ging's über San Francisco zum ca. 4h entfernten Yosemite-Nationalpark, einem der meistbesuchten in den USA. Leider war es für größere Touren in den höheren Lagen der Sierra Nevada noch zu verschneit, und die Bürokratie für den Half Dome wollte ich mir nicht antun. Also mußte ich mit einer kleinen, aber...

Since I'm still employed in Switzerland, I get the Swiss Holidays off at work even though I live in California. This has advantages and disadvantages. One of advantages is that on those Swiss Holidays almost nobody has the day off in the US and therefore, it's hardly ever crowded, neither on the roads nor in the mountains. If you...