The Sierra Nevada got quite some early snow this season and I was eager to get out there after yet another month without serious mountain activities. My tour today only makes sense if the Northstar ski resort hasn't fully opened all their slopes and lifts yet. The otherwise very crowded ski area and groomed slopes would most...

What's special about 10935 feet? Nothing really, except if you convert it to meters, you end up with the "pretty number" 3333. Well that's the height of Highland Peak, my goal for the day. This peak also has a pretty high prominence of 2456 ft, so the view up there is expected to be quite impressive. One more time, the...

Today's prerequisites were very similar like last week's: not too much time and a hike in the Toiyabe National Forest. Today I wanted to make sure to reach my goal(s) and set the expectations way lower than last week: Silver Peak, in fact both peaks from the Noble Creek Trail head. Studying the topo-map and report on summitpost...

I had planned to do a hike & bike combination from Ebbetts Pass to Tryon -, Highland - and Silver Peak, then drop down to Noble Canyon and State Route 4 and ride my bike (which I left there before the hike) back up to Ebbetts Pass. Quite a program for the little time I had today. Well, due to a combination of lack of fitness...

Bull Run Peak caught my attention at the shore of Lower Blue Lake at the end of my tour to Deadwood Peak. At the time I had no idea which peak it was, but thanks to the udeuschle website, I was able to figure it out. On this day I actually had different plans to do an easy short hike with a friend. However, when I wanted to pick...

Pyramid Peak was the first peak I visited after moving to California, almost 3 years ago. Looking for some more workout with quite some altitude gain, I decided to go back and pay it another visit. This time I decided to walk up via Rocky Canyon (my way down the last time) and check out the north ridge for my way down and later...

I wanted to find out how much my rather unacceptable fitness level improved in the last few weeks and didn't have much time to prepare some "fancy hike". Therefore, I decided to do a variation of a hike I have done before. Climbing Freel Peak from Horse Meadow make an altitude gain of about 2500 ft and I should get an idea how...

There are quite a few mountains called "Twin Peaks" in the US, but the "double hill" in San Francisco is most likely the one which is known best. It is located near the geographic center of SF and offers spectacular views over the city, the many bridges, the Bay and the Pacific ocean. The hike up to the tops is very short because...

Deadwood Peak didn't really show up on "my radar" until now, but I am almost running out of peaks which make sense for me to do as "day hikes" (meaning: leave home early in the morning, drive not much more than about 2 hours, hike and then return home the same day). Deadwood Peak is one of the few left on this list. After reading...

The chain of hills between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay is referred to as the Nine Sisters. During a previous visit of San Luis Obispo I already climbed two of then: Bishop Peak and Mount Madonna. This time I wanted to pay a visit to the 2 sisters which are closest to Morro Rock: Cerro Cabrillo and Black Hill. My starting...

During an extended weekend in the vicinity of Morro Bay we decided to climb a few of the many "Cerros" in this area. "Cerro" is the Spanish word for "Hill" and since this part of California has a lot of Mexican roots, most of the hills here are named Cerro "Something". As "Alto" in "Cerro Alto" suggest, the hill we climbed today...

Ralston Peak is a popular mountain in the Desolation Wilderness which is typically and often climbed from the trailhead close to Highway 50 near Camp Sacramento. However, my goal was to climb it via East Ridge from Echo Lake and also bag Becker Peak and Talking Mountain on the way up. For my way down I planned to take the...

Signal Peak wasn't exactly the prime peak on my todo list. I didn't expect too much of this mountain with little prominence, close to the highway, telecommunication installations on top and no apparent 'interesting' route to it's peak. However, my current fitness level and some minor health issues kind of forced me to look for an...

The two main conclusions from my hike a few days ago were: "There is plenty of snow on the Northern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains for a ski tour and I need to improve my fitness" helped me decide on what to do on this day: A ski tour with only little altitude gain on the northern slopes of Round Top. Since I hiked Round...

After a very long break from "real" mountains, I wanted to find out how bad my fitness was. During the past 8 months I did almost nothing which would have helped my fitness. Working "as a contractor" and not really doing any cardio exercise made me wonder how much altitude gain was still possible for me. In order to find out, I...

The Santa Ynez Mountain Range near Santa Barbara is one of the very few east-west oriented mountain range in the United States, almost all other ranges are north-south oriented. This mountain range is also known for its hot springs, most of them very primitive and not commercialized (see for example this one). One exception was...

Tomales Point Trail is a very popular hike from Pierce Point Ranch to the northern most tip of the Point Reyes Peninsula. It offers spectacular coastal views toTomales Bay, Bodega Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. It is also a prime wildlife viewing trail. Lots of seals, gulls, pelicans, cormorants, interesting flora and you'll most...

While visiting a friend in Santa Barbara we decided to climb the close-by Gaviota Peak. Besides the marvelous view from the top of this mountain, the main attraction is the natural hot springs on the way to the peak. The hike itself is very easy and mostly follows a gravel fire road. We start our hike at the Gaviota Hot Springs...

For some peaks you need several trials in order to make it to the top. For me, Needle Peak falls into this category, it was on my goals as "plan for the day" 4 times. The 3 failures were never due to technical difficulties on the mountain. On this day, I finally made it. The first time Needle Peak was on the goal list was here,...

Mount Tamalpais (or Mount Tam how the locals call it) is a very popular mountain north of San Francisco. I climbed it once already in a rather long hike, all the way from Stinson Beach. Some friends who live in the Bay Area know that I like to hike and asked me to "guide" a tour up there. Due to the various hiking experience...