Berry Creek Falls

While I was working on some wedding-related projects this week (I'm designing invites and cards for our own wedding this fall), I came across a photo I shot several years ago when we first moved to California. We were visiting Big Basin State Park to see the redwoods, and hiked out to Berry Creek Falls. At the time, I had only a small point-and-shoot camera with me, but the lighting and mood was so perfect that day that though I've been back to the falls many times since, this is still my favorite photo. Enjoy!

Castle Dome

We had to follow our epic day of climbing Mount Shasta with something equally as exciting, and Castle Dome didn't disappoint. Castle Crags State Park is about 50 miles south of Mount Shasta, and consists mainly of an abnormal mass of granite that was pushed up through miles upon miles of volcanic ground. At the very end of the granite crags is glacially polished Castle Dome. It's a couple-mile uphill hike to the dome on a trail, then some technical climbing up the granite dome itself.

From the upper portions of the trail, you're treated with views of Castle Dome and Mount Shasta in the distance.


We watched another group of climbers climb and summit one of the other crags throughout the day.


Clouds moved across Mount Shasta during the afternoon, and we were quite glad we chose the previous day to climb-- it had been windy at the top, but sunny and warm otherwise.


Happy Thursday!

Mount Shasta

If you've spent much time in California, you've undoubtedly heard of Mount Shasta. Mount Shasta is the second-tallest volcano in the Cascade Range. It stands alone, towering nearly 10,000 feet over the surrounding landscape at 14,179 feet high. Shasta is a popular climbing/mountaineering destination, and we decided that it was high time we joined in the fun.


Climbing Shasta in a day requires an alpine start. For those who don't know, this means getting up really early - like 3:30am early - and hitting the trail well before dawn. Though it doesn't sound like a lot of fun, it's actually very quiet, calm and pleasant once you get into it. As the sun rose, I took a few photos.


Shasta is the most voluminous volcano in the Cascades. To give you an idea of how big the landscape is out there, here are a few photos I took of Josh heading up from Helen Lake. They don't totally do justice to the enormity of the land, but you'll get the point. For reference, from where I'm standing to the top of that ridge is about 2,000 feet. Then the summit is another 1,000+ feet past that!


We ended up making it within 75 feet of the summit before hitting our turnaround time, but I'd still have to say that it was a successful trip and a fantastic day. After making it back through the Red Banks, the conditions were finally right for glissading (think sledding, without the sled). We glissaded down a solid 2,000 vertical feet, which makes the way down a lot quicker, and is a heck of a lot of fun if you know what you're doing. After that, a quick couple miles down volcanic scree, a rock-paved causeway, and through a shaded forest, and you're back at the car wondering where the day went....

More photos from Sunday's climb up Castle Dome ahead this week!

Sweetwater Mountains - Mount Patterson and Wheeler Peak

Mount Patterson is the highest peak in the Sweetwater Mountains, a small range that crosses the California-Nevada state line northeast of Yosemite National Park. The range is fairly quiet, having been nearly forgotten about by hikers, and though it does have a following in the 4x4 community (4x4 roads criss-cross the area), we still only saw a handful of folks out over one of the busiest outdoor weekends in the West.

We left from Lake Lobdell in the early morning and headed up a 4x4 road towards Mount Patterson, and let me tell you, the colors out there are just fantastic! Parts of the range look very similar to what you see in Death Valley (they're both deserts), and, much like Death Valley, the area has been mined in the past.


From the summit of Mount Patterson, it's a ridgeline walk over and a short cross-country hike up to Wheeler Peak.

Sweetwater Mountains - Lake Lobdell

Each year for the Fourth of July weekend we plan big and spectacular hiking or backpacking trips. This year was no different. And like every year, it didn't go quite as planned, which is sometimes fun and adventurous, and sometimes results in "desert pinstriping" on your much-wider-than-that-narrow-4x4-US-forest-service-road truck. So, our truck has a few new, uh, racing stripes this year. Next year we may try something totally different and crazy, like barbecuing at home.

In any event, last weekend's trip was out over Sonora Pass into the Sweetwater Mountains. We spent our first night at Lake Lobdell, a small reservoir in the heart of the Sweetwaters. The sunset was typical of most desert sunsets - colorful - and the water on the lake was surprisingly calm for the evening.


More about the Sweetwaters and photos from Mount Patterson and Wheeler Peak to come!

Sonora Pass to the Sweetwater Mountains - Sneak Peak

It's taken a few extra days to get through the photos from our trip out to the Sweetwater Mountains last weekend, but here's a teaser from the drive over Sonora Pass.... more to come tomorrow!

Independence Day

A tattered American flag marks the summit of Mount Patterson, California. Happy birthday, America!