Mt. Tamalpais, with a redwood forest on one side and rustic lakes on another, has miles of trails. It is the San Francisco Bay Area’s backyard mountain. This is a good year for the mountain. This is the 100th anniversary of the first Mountain Play, presented later in May, and the centennial of the California Alpine Club, a group of hardy Tamalpais hikers. The Alpine Club...
Learn MoreVolunteers are needed to staff fire lookout stations in the Angeles National Forest this summer, officials said. The Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association is recruiting volunteers to man the Slide Mountain Lookout as well as Vetter Mountain Peak, “to protect the forest and local mountain communities from the threat of fire,” ANFFLA officials said...
Learn MoreA canyon in a popular section of Joshua Tree National Park that was closed last month so that park staff could assess major vandalism will be closed to the public for at least another month. Rattlesnake Canyon was closed to the public in early April after rangers discovered a rash of spray-painted graffiti on the canyon’s rock walls and boulders. The canyon extends...
Learn MoreBlair Valley in Anza-Borrego has one of the desert’s most interesting set of trails for their varied cultural histories. Three main trails here take you to different periods of the past. They are all part of the 4,757-acre Little Blair Valley Cultural Preserve in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park that contains 60 recorded cultural sites, including agave roasting pits,...
Learn MoreIt’s a brilliant spring afternoon in beautiful San Diego, a perfect day for a hike. The sun illuminates the cloudless blue sky, bathing the earth in a warm light as nature emerges from its winter sleep. The sweet smell of sagebrush and eucalyptus infuses your senses as you take in the brightly colored flowers dotting the landscape. A red-tailed hawk wheels silently on...
Learn MoreNestled in tall redwoods along Panoramic Highway atop Throckmorton Ridge sits the California Alpine Club‘s lodge, the heart of the hiking and social club that is celebrating its 100th birthday this month. It was Marin’s natural beauty and majestic Mount Tamalpais that drew people to the county’s hills a century ago, and that curiosity and enthusiasm...
Learn MoreA recent spate of vandalism has prompted Joshua Tree National Park officials to close the Rattlesnake Canyon area to the public for the near term. Since January, individuals have defaced the day use and canyon area of Rattlesnake Canyon with graffiti. While this started as a few markings, the use of social media has appeared to spark numerous individuals’ interest in...
Learn MoreA new proposal could expand wilderness areas – where no cars are permitted – in Southern California national forests by 80,000 acres, protecting the land from development. The proposal would revise land use regulations for specified “roadless” areas that stretch across the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres and San Bernardino National Forests. “This scope of the...
Learn MoreWell-trod Cowles Mountain, one of the region’s most popular hiking trails, will be closed two months for trail restoration and repairs beginning Monday, March 25. Signs are already posted at the base of the mountain notifying the hundreds of daily trail users of the impending closure. The trail will reopen on May 17. The nearly 1,600-foot-high mountain, named for...
Learn MoreAfter the Station Fire tore through the Angeles National Forest four years ago, hiking trails were destroyed, animals were misplaced and 161,000-acres burned. Now, environmental agencies are coming together to start a new push to rebuild this massive forest in L.A.’s backyard. The Angeles Forest is full of hidden waterfalls and incredible peaks, said Edward Belden...
Learn MoreFrom Native American grinding stones found in the rolling hills to rock walls built before barbed wire was created in the 1880s, the history of human interaction and land management in the Sutter Buttes is dynamic. Thanks to cooperating property owners and a few avid naturalists, the public can enjoy the diverse terrain of the Sutter Buttes, including rocky and rugged...
Learn MoreThe 20,000-acre Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve in the Coachella Valley Preserve System includes more than 25 miles of hiking trails taking nature lovers across dunes, through lush groves and chalky desert. As expansive and awe-inspiring as this preserve is for hikers, it’s but a sliver in the Coachella Valley’s hiking options. Within a 60-mile radius of Palm Springs there...
Learn MoreThe Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias has been attracting visitors to what is now Yosemite National Park for over 150 years. Much has changed since Abraham Lincoln signed a bill setting aside the Grove as part of a protected area in 1864, and it was a landmark action. According to the park, this was “the first time Congress set aside public lands for the express...
Learn MoreWhere is the John Muir of the San Gabriel Mountains? The Ansel Adams of the San Bernardinos? Muir, Adams and company are among the reasons the inland mountains of Southern California have never quite matched the attention won by their taller northern neighbors, the Sierra Nevada. Still, hikers, board-riders, skiers and snowball-tossers in Southern California find no...
Learn MoreOn four upcoming Wednesday evenings from 5 to 6:30 p.m., the Montecito, CA Library is hosting the Wilderness Hiking Speaker Series, talks for all ages by local experts on hiking, backpacking and tracking in the Santa Barbara front and back country. Registration is not required. This Wednesday, Feb. 20, local author and volunteer ranger James Wapotich will share his...
Learn MoreAlong the Pine City Trail in Joshua Tree National Park you’ll see California junipers, barrel cacti, Joshua trees and Mojave yuccas, shrub oaks, and a lot of the stunning nolinas, near relatives of the yuccas that bear sturdy banners of dead flowers aloft for years after blooming. Even in a cold month like the last one, it’s still to get into the high desert for a...
Learn MoreNew growth is already making a strong comeback in the charred 29,500 acres burned by the Mill Fire last July — and now hikers can come back, too. Mendocino National Forest officials announced this week that foot traffic into the fire area is again being allowed. “We are happy to be able to allow foot traffic into the Mill Fire area. This is a positive sign that the...
Learn MoreThe Stanislaus National Forest is calling for artists to apply for this year’s Artist in the Woods program. Artists who are chosen will stay in a historic cabin in the high country along Highway 108 for two weeks in September or October. The artists also will receive a stipend for meals, some travel expenses and some money to purchase supplies. In return, the...
Learn MoreThe East Bay Regional Parks Foundation in California has kicked off its 2013 Trail Challenge program designed to encourage hikers of all ages and skill levels to get out and experience the East Bay’s many hiking trails. Participants must either travel at least five of the 20 featured trails or hike a total of 26.2 miles over the course of the year to complete the...
Learn MorePasadena’s Day One, a drug prevention organization, has established a youth hiking program with the help of a $1,000 grant from UnitedHealthcare. The Hiking 4 Humanity program will be available for middle and high school students, 13 to 18 years old, from the Pasadena Unified School District. Students will participate in motivational hikes and create a community...
Learn MoreMake your experience what you want at Deer Creek Hills in 2013. Sacramento’s largest open space preserve is now opened every Saturday for a new trail exploring the 4,400 acres of a working cattle ranch from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., February 2 through May 25, 2013. A self guided trail will be yours to trail run with your buddies, explore with your kids, take photographs of...
Learn MoreThe hike up the granite monolith Half Dome in Yosemite National Park is one of the most iconic in the nationwide system, but on Friday officials announced approval of a plan that permanently limits how many can do it. National Park Service authorities will issue permits to limit the number of hikers to 300 a day, the target number since an interim plan was approved in...
Learn MoreThe Cleveland National Forest will soon introduce an interesting variation of geocaching that will challenge amateur photographers to re-create century-old photographs taken in the park. Forest spokesman Brian Harris said the forest has thousands of images dating to 1910, but in many instances there is little information about exactly where the photographs were taken....
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. My regular hiking companions have designated me the lead hiker, so I suppose that makes me the slowest Meanderthal. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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