Ben, Brent and I went snowshoeing to Euer Valley yesterday. The conditions were pretty darn good considering it’s still early season in a drought year. A half a foot of snow had fallen the day before so we had plenty of heavy powder to tromp through.

Tromping is how I think of snowshoeing. And that’s what we did for a couple of hours. Tromp, tromp, tromp, choosing our own adventure and breaking trail. Euer was recently purchased by Tahoe Donner and it was my first time in the area. Their cross country ski network is really growing and it seems excellent.

We went up a ridge, then dropped down to the creek in the valley before returning to the cabin for meatballs.

Beyond snowshoeing, it was a great two nights at a cabin in the mountains with college friends from all over, beer and games.

After a week of very heavy rain, about twenty of us headed down to Big Sur for a joint birthday celebration. It was a damn good time.

We pulled into Big Sur Riverside Campground the back way – the main concrete bridge was deeply flooded by rushing water. A small landslide had just come through the campground. Our cars rallied through mud to get us to camp. It all made for an interesting and empty camp.

Basically, we celebrated and went to the beach. The river at Andrew Molera was too high for a group our size to cross reasonably at the parking lot. We took off pants and crossed at the beach instead. Walked the bluff, swam, looked at big waves and played. Watched clouds. Played more.

Another great trip to Big Sur.

Had a superb birthday and date weekend in Big Sur. ‘nuf said.

I’m two naps in today. PCT Days was a really good time.

We had a great turnout, raised a lot of money and had beautiful weather. I really believe that our trail community benefits from, and needs, opportunities to gather. PCT festivals, like this one in Cascade Locks, are something that I’d like to see proliferate up and down the west coast.

It was great to see so many old friends and meet a bunch of new people.

I also snagged the chance to play tourist in the Gorge. I’ve been to the area quite a number of times now, but I’ve always been narrowly focused on the PCT. Yesterday, driving the old cascade highway, was a great peek into how truly special the place is.

I went to my third GGG-West last weekend. As in the past, it was a good time.

The ~3 mile walk to the campsite was a late night affair, mostly done with my headlamp off. The stars were great and the dark outlines of gargantuan oaks made it a neat way to start the weekend. Once at camp it was the usual GGG: catching up old friends, meeting new people, checking in with the “hiking celebrities” in attendance, drinking, avoiding gear talk, being absolutely blown by some people’s gear geekery (in a good way). I spent much of the weekend chatting with Bobcat – a cool dude.

I looped down to China Hole for some exercise.

Ron from Six Moon Designs showed off his new line of packs. It was interesting insight into how a garage gear businesses shifts to a more professionally produced product. Ron and I chatted late into the night. Fascinating stuff.