Sierra peaks, routes and passes on a webmap

There are so many great new web maps. If you already have baseline knowledge of the Sierra, they’re better than any guidebook or blog. I’m not linking to alltrails, everytrail and similar websites because I find stewarded data sets are usually better than crowdsourced.

Click and zoom. There goes the afternoon. Did you click on the picture? It’s just a picture.

CDT completion certificate

I just received my Continental Divide Trail completion certificate from the brand new CDTC! I think that I applied the day they announced them.

Hiking North Dome in Yosemite

As the years go on, I get closer and closer to having done all of the “marquee” hikes in the region. North Dome is the latest.

Driving across Tioga we ran into some friends riding their bikes. We’d hosted them a week or two before. They’re on a giant cycle touring climbing trip. A few thousand miles with FIVE climbing racks. Each of them carries a jar of honey too. It was fun stopping them on the side of the road and re-uniting. We weren’t expecting to see each other.

The North Dome hike deserves it’s place as a famous hike. A couple of miles of mature forest, an epic lunch spot and a return the way you came. Anytime you’re on the rim, it seems like you’ve got the best view there is.

North Dome in October isn’t crowded. Nice crisp view of the full face of Half Dome too.

My friend Ben would be on El Cap rescuing a climber the next day. Good guy. We snuck out just before the first big winter storm of the season.

Camping at Mono Lake

After sunset, we bumped our way slowly down the Cottonwood Canyon Road to Mono Lake. My little economy car probably isn’t the best for dirt roads, but it works. Sometimes.

We found a dispersed campsite, popped a beer and cooked some noodles. The Sierra crest over the lake was beautiful in the moonlight.

In the morning we headed down to the lake shore to say hello to the flies and shrimp. Surprisingly, the fly population was small and I didn’t see a single shrimp. Totally different than past visits to the lake. Perhaps populations are down because it’s the fall?

The leisurely morning extended to breakfast at “the usual” in Lee Vinning.

At the picnic grounds. This was my second time camping at Mono this summer. My Presidio Trust volunteer hat makes me look like a cop.

Bodie State Historic Park

Ali and I dropped off of Sonora Pass and headed to Bodie on Saturday. The fall colors, mainly the aspens, were pretty much at their maximum peak on the drive down.

Bodie is one of the best preserved and largest ghost towns that I’ve even seen. Only South Pass City, WY is in the same realm out of the places that I’ve been.

We had two hours to roam during the golden hour. Ali says that we’re outside a lot at the golden hour.

Many of the houses still had stuff in them.

I was especially excited by the gambling tables, an old globe and the gym equipment that were deteriorating in some of the buildings.