Not the steepest trail, but a great distance hike that starts on the eastern side of the Arroyo Seco, overlooking Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For the first 2.5 km (1.5 miles), you’ll wonder if you’re actually on a nature hike as the trail starts off on pavement and stays within sight of houses. Once you […]

The trail was hot and dusty when we started walking at 2:30 in the afternoon. We made sure the dogs had plenty of water before starting, but even so, they started panting and looking miserable within a few minutes of getting on the trail. Our solution was a trick we saw in brittany field trials…we […]

This is a continuation of Four perfect days in Kings Canyon – Roads End to Sphinx Creek. Day 4 – Roads End to Lower Tent Meadows After hiking on at least partially the same trails the prior two days, we decided it would be good to take a new direction from Roads End…to the north. […]

This is a continuation of Four perfect days in Kings Canyon. Day 3 – Roads End to Sphinx Creek An early start allowed us to park at Roads End once again and to be on the Woods Creek Trail well before the hot part of the day. This trail was the very same one that […]

Everyone knows Yosemite, at least by reputation, but far fewer people know the national park just to its south, Kings Canyon. It forms the northern part of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park, and even within this two-park system, Sequoia overshadows the other due to its world-famous, enormous trees. Adding to the obscurity, there is […]

If you’ve hiked very much in Southern California, you’ve come across poison oak. We’re ‘blessed’ with its presence from Southern California down into Baja. If you’re allergic like most of the population, you’ve dealt with the miserable itching, inflammation and blistering. What makes it so tough is that our most beautiful and drought resistant tree, […]

We often talked about buying a GPS as we wondered how far we hike and what elevation gain and loss we experience. After seeing several great websites that cover hikes in GPS detail, we decided to make the investment and purchased a Garmin 62s. This model is meant for hiking and could once and for all […]

Just because we were on an island paradise didn’t mean we wanted to sit still.  We look for adventure everywhere we go and locals are often a great source of inspiration.  Within hours of our arrival we’d met Jason and Fermin at the Royal Hawaiian.  When we explained that we love to hike, climb and […]

Given an extra day on a business trip to Atlanta, what better to do as an unplanned adventure than to hike north from the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.  The 3,508 km (2,180 mile) trail officially starts at Springer Mountain, GA, but there is a great day hike that takes you up to that […]

Getting ready for our trek in Nepal meant having some great practice hikes in the local Los Angeles area. We chose Ice House Canyon, just south of Mount Baldy, only an hour from Pasadena.  Ice House Canyon is a very popular hike in this area, but is typically a late Spring or Fall hike, when […]