The ridge running east to west from Mt. Pinos to Cerro Noroeste contains the highest points in the San Emigdio mountains, within the Transverse Ranges that separate the San Joaquin Valley from Southern California. Having resolved to keep our weekly hikes in the 10-mile distance range, we looked into the classic traverse of the Mt….
One of the destinations that has been on our list for a while is the newly-designated Pinnacles National Park (formerly Pinnacles National Monument), located southeast of Salinas and a two-plus-hour (and not very pleasant) drive from Pismo Beach. There are a number of trails that criss-cross the park, but the highlight in just about everyone’s…
East of Lake Isabella, the Pacific Crest Trail crosses Hwy 178 at Walker Pass, named for the famous explorer and mountain man Joseph Walker who led a party eastward through this pass in 1834. Friends of ours had recommended this trail, and we pondered our various options for a 10+-mile hike. About 5 miles…
We’ve been trying to increase the distances of our hikes, and especially in light of yesterday’s shortened walk up the Adobe Trail, we needed to do something comparatively long. We had first thought of an Oats Peak/Coon Creek loop in Montana de Oro when planning the Valencia Peak Excellent Adventure in 2011, and we had…
About 30 minutes east of Santa Maria on Hwy 166 is the Adobe Trailhead, a sign we had driven past dozens of times on our way to and from Pismo Beach. We had seen hikers on the trail a couple of times, but information about the trail has proved elusive; however, Chris finally found…
We had originally thought of doing something in the Sierras this weekend, but, since our nephew, Jake, had a mountain bike race near Lake Isabella on Sunday and we didn’t want to drive the Kern River Canyon twice in two days, we decided to hike in Wind Wolves Preserve again. Two weeks ago, we…
Our daughter and two grandsons joined us for the weekend in Pismo, so we decided to just do one hike this trip instead of our usual two. After contemplating doing Bishop Peak again and some other options, we settled on Johnson Ranch, a 200+ acre open space preserve located along Hwy 101 just south…
Well, so much for a hike a week. After taking three weeks off so Chris could heal from a bad case of poison oak that became infected (a situation that landed him in the hospital for a couple of days and required two weeks off work), we chose to get back in the saddle…
Back at Pismo Beach for the weekend, we wanted to get two hikes in. Rainy weather on Friday forced up to postpone our plans for that day, so our first excursion of the weekend was hiking up Hazard Peak in Montana de Oro State Park. In times past, a popular trail ran straight up the…
After feeling a little beaten up after last week’s hike up Gaviota Peak, and looking forward to several hikes we’re planning for our upcoming vacation on Maui, we decided to try and get in a 5+mile hike in once a week. In looking for something close by, we opted for a walk up Mill…