Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Immediately following the trip into the Desolation Wilderness chronicled in my last 2 photo posts, I met up with friends Gretchen and Mark and we headed up the trail for 7 nights in the Sierra high country, on the North Lake to South Lake loop, an absolute classic of John Muir's Range of Light. Weather forecasts were iffy, to say the least, and our night-before spent at a campground at 9000' seemed to suggest a need to be prepared. High winds made it a restless night, and we responded by packing extra clothes, pretty much all of which did get used, though the weather didn't get as ugly as feared. Day 1  began with my daughter helping us set up our shuttle, since we'd be ending our hike a few miles from where we began it. We hit the trail for Paiute Pass about 9:40, hoping to make it over the pass. At 11,200' it was an ambitious goal for the first day, given that less than 48 hours earlier Gretchen and Mark had been at sea level. The hike started at about 9300', ...

I don't seem to be doing too well at blog posts just now--I don't have any books to review (I don't do a lot of thoughtful reading while hiking and traveling, and I've been sick and/or busy since getting home), so I guess I'm down to my weekly photo posts!  I'm making good progress through the pictures from my back-to-back trips into California's Sierra Nevada mountains, so we'll start today with the backpacking trip into the Desolation Wilderness.  I drove down to CA the last week of August, to collect my daughter and a friend for a 3-night backpack into the Desolation Wilderness (west of Lake Tahoe). This would be the friend's first backpacking trip. I'm referring to the girls as K and L, to preserve their privacy.  We started from the Twin Lakes TH at Wrights Lake a bit after noon, having waited out a rainstorm that actually ended as forecast. Inlet stream for Wrights Lake We meandered along the flats for a time, then climbed rather quickly to...

Last weekend I shared pictures from a 24-hour backpacking trip to Island Lake. Today, I have a few from a dayhike and another overnight near the same area. Next week, look for a few teasers from a week of kayaking in the Broughtons (Canada, near the north end of Vancouver Island). In late June I took a friend out for a hike to Mason Lake, which actually is very close to Island Lake (the trail is one of the options for reaching it).  You spend a long time climbing through the forest.   Bear grass along the trail.   Eventually the trail breaks out into a clear area as you approach the ridgeline--and Mt. Rainier begins to appear over the hills! Columbine near the lake.   Mason Lake. Even on a weekday this one is busy, with people swimming and having a good time. I was kind of sorry I hadn't come prepared to swim (I mean, I am always prepared to swim, but there were too many people around to make skinny-dipping a good option).   About a month later, I loaded my pack...