We highly recommend using park rangers to your advantage when planning a backpacking trip. They always know the best places to go. The ranger sent us over to Yoho National Park onto the Iceline Trail, stopping at Yoho Lake for the night.

It was only a few kilometers (less than 5 miles American), but still deep enough into the woods to be surprised to see Adirondack chairs, picnic tables, and tent platforms when we arrived in camp. They don’t require bear canisters there because they’ve installed huge poles with cables for hanging bags. No need to worry that you may be doing it wrong. They do, however, require that you carry bear spray with you in many areas, and travel in groups of at least 4 (or sometimes 6!) to keep yourself safe from large mammal encounters. Yoho was one of the few places we went that wasn’t as strict with these rules, helping us feel more at ease.

The campground was right on the beautiful little glacial blue Yoho Lake. We threw our beers into the water (you can bring beer when it’s less than 5 miles) and the boys jumped in behind them. We ate jerky and licorice, and played cards until dinner. It started raining just as we started cooking, but we found a perfect little hideaway among a trio of douglas firs.

It really felt like summer by 9pm when there was plenty of daylight left. Even though it was raining, we decided to take a short little hike to look for wildlife. We found none, but it was good to play before bed.

The next day, we hiked up to Iceline Summit on the Iceline Trail. From here, you can see the icefields and glaciers that are completely hidden from the trailhead. It always feels so satisfying to see stunning views that you know you could never see without walking yourself there to see them. The trail continues to several other lakes and falls, but we headed back down to Takakkaw where we started to continue our adventure back in Banff the next day.

You don’t have to go far into the backcountry to experience the incredible sites that Banff National Park has to offer. Yoho Lake is a perfect destination for balancing easy access with getting a little off the beaten path.

For this particular trip, the criteria was – where is the closest, easiest place I can get to immediately? A quick search on the internet landed on Little Jimmy Trail Camp in the Angeles National Forest. 1.5 hour drive out of Los Angeles and 2 mile hike in – sold!

The beauty of an overnight backpacking trip is that you can be spontaneous. Don’t overthink it – just bring your basic sleeping gear, a warm layer, a headlamp, a simple meal (or even just leftovers from the fridge) and get outside.

This is a great spot for a quick getaway, to try backpacking for the first time and to test out new gear. Take in the piney breeze and twinkly stars. Your To Do list can wait until tomorrow.

As usual, we went with barely a loose plan, hoping the rangers would direct us. We wanted to be out for around 5 days, and we wanted a loop. The first ranger we spoke to said he worked in Mineral King, which was up a frightening one-lane, blind-curve-filled 25 mile road that took two hours to get up. He called the road the “limiting factor” for crowds, though, so we headed straight there.

Our backpacking trip was a 60ish mile, 6 day loop over Franklin Pass, down Rattlesnake Creek, up the Kern River (hitting Kern Hot Spring while we were there), and back up over Sawtooth Pass. It included over 12,000 feet in elevation gain, and then the same amount of elevation loss. It was absolutely worth every step. The terrain changed so often that we were never bored and always in awe. We saw bears, fawns, waterfalls, alpine lakes, views of Whitney, and glorious sunsets. And the hot spring was located halfway through the trip, which was the perfect time to rest our weary muscles for the rest of the road ahead.

Of course, we gathered some new delicious recipes, but I thought I’d start with the gem of a camping location we found on our first night. Atwell Mill Campground was our staging site the night before the actual backpacking began. Though the road is rough, you pass several “monarch” sized Giant Sequoias on your way up, and actually stay among the Atwell grove. The smell of the moist air and soil surrounds you and the ground is soft for sleeping. The elevation is perfect for cool fall camping, but there’s only a little bit of time left to enjoy it before the road closes for the winter.

We love fall camping, and would love to hear where you like to go so we can check it out!

The West Rim Trail cuts across the rim between two canyons. Its very scenic, and very lacking in crowds. There are two ways to access the West Rim Trail. I took Wes on his first backpacking trip from the valley floor straight up to the rim in a short, steep, five(ish) miles (check out the post about the trip). The more common route is to drive around to the north and enter near Lava Point. Its more mileage (about twice as much), but probably a lot less work.

You could choose to do an out-and-back from Lava Point or from the valley, or you could park a car in two different places and do a one-way traverse. Or, you could do the full traverse from Kolob Canyon to Zion Canyon, which is a beautiful 40 mile trip, and you should definitely park two different cars (or plan more than a week).

Zion National Park is beautiful no matter which section you hit. Get out there and enjoy it!

unbeknownst to my friend and I, we headed out in what turned out to be the coldest day of the winter yet at -35.4F/-38C, not including the wind chill! We took off at a steady pace on a packed trail, and soon found ourselves meandering through a forest of maple trees. Once sheltered from the wind, all we could hear was the loud crunching of our snowshoes on the trail. We had to slow down to maneuver around a complicated system of tubes and taps set up to collect the trees’ coveted sweet syrup, and were rewarded by a woodpecker sighting up in the trees.

We made it to the cabin right at sunset, and we were happy to see a few glowing embers in the wood burning stove. The cabin is used to shelter skiers and snowshoers during the day, and at night can sleep up to 12 people in a dormitory-style setting.

The main focus of the evening was to keep the fire going and to guess what the temperature was outside and inside the cabin. With an alarm set up for every 3 hours to add wood to the stove, we managed to sleep at a comfortable 3C/37F on the second floor of the cabin.

Food wise, I have to admit I failed! For dinner we resorted to good ol’ instant noodles, and the fanciest thing we had was two slices of King Cake/Galette des Rois that my mom packed for us. If I had planned a little more carefully, snacks I would recommend for the trail in cold weather would be small fatty items that you can put in your pockets like cheese or banana bread. I would stay away from power bars as they become impossible to eat once frozen.

I’m not sure this trip counts towards my snow camping goal for 2014, but in case it doesn’t, I know I can handle any cold and snow weather camping temperatures California might have in reserve for me! Happy winter adventures!

The first time I spent any real time in the Alabama Hills was for the Wild West Run we did in May. I had been to Lone Pine many times, but only in passing on my way up to Langley or Bishop. I’d never thought to hang out down in the desert when the tallest mountains in the west were right there. We stayed at Tuttle Creek Campground, which was also where the start of the race was. Our run was gorgeous, taking us all through the hills and down past the creek. The next day, we spent some time climbing the Shark’s Fin, which was a perfect spot to get some outdoor sport leading practice.

Tuttle Creek Campground is a nice way to get out of town without having to go too far, and you get such a fabulous view of the iconic Eastern Sierra Mountains. As the weather continues to cool, and snow caps the peaks, its only going to be a more perfect time to spend a weekend out here. It would also be a perfect stopover to break up your trip to Bishop or Mammoth or Tahoe.

I was totally surprised. I thought for sure that if Wes was going to propose, I’d start seeing signs long before the actual happening. I had done my fair share of probing him with questions, but got nowhere. I definitely didn’t expect it to happen just two days after my birthday, on a trip that hadn’t been planned until a few days before. We decided to hike Cucamonga Peak, a lesser traveled hike in our local mountains that we’d never done before. I’m training for a crazy event called the 8,000 Meter Challenge (coming up in a few weeks), so it was just a little training hike.

We got to the top without seeing more than 5 people all day, and it was a beautiful summit. We could see down into the valley where we live, which means we can now see “our peak” every day from home.

Wes found us a nice space under the trees to have a Dirty Gourmet lunch of fancy PBJ’s. He’s normally the type of man to have a speech prepared and be very suave. Which is why I started slopping on sunscreen and focusing on my sandwich as he sat next to me nervously repeating “I love you.” It took me until there was a ring in my face to understand what was really going on. It was a mumbly proposal and acceptance, and that made it even sweeter to me.

I’ve had a lot of good relationships in my life, but some people are just made for each other. I hope everyone can feel this sure, this lucky, and this ready to be together forever! Yay!

The ride challenged us with lots of steep grades, but we were rewarded on the downhills by the beautiful scenery and the sense that we were far far away from any metropolis. The best part was the downhill into the campground overlooking the beach and the ocean. Home sweet home!

Most people, on both coasts, seem to believe that humidity is more intolerable. Personally, I’d like to move to the northwest, or Alaska, where its cold and rainy all the time- at least for a little while. But there is something special and interesting and different about the desert. Especially as the weather heats up to those record levels.

Anza-Borrego State Park is one of my favorite representations of “the desert.” It reminds me of a cartoon, where coyotes chase road runners, sunsets are glorious and colorful, and iconic plants like ocotillo and barrel cacti are everywhere.

I know this isn’t the time of year that many want to be in the desert. Most of us are thinking about high altitudes and alpine lakes. But if you’ve never experienced it, this is the time to do it. Sleep during the day and hike at sunrise and sunset, listening to howling in the distance and watching for eye shines. Its an awesome experience to leave the rain fly of your tent behind (or your tent altogether), and stay up late looking into the depths of the starry night sky. The best part of Anza-Borrego is that you can camp just about anywhere inside the park. As long as your fire is in a container, you can have one. You can get out and away from all the other people enjoying the park, and experience the desert by yourself.

Most of the campgrounds in Joshua Tree are first come, first serve. The park is a climber’s paradise, but climbing season is winding down at this point in the year, so you may have more luck finding a site. If you’re a climber, then Hidden Valley Campground is the place you will likely look for a campsite first. It is the one closest to the entrance, and to much of the climbing in the park. We prefer driving just a bit deeper to our favorite gem, Jumbo Rocks Campground.

Jumbo Rocks is much larger than it appears, and is the location of the park’s amphitheater. Ranger programs are available many weekends for your learning pleasure. They’ll teach you about the stars, creatures of the desert, and other relevant topics. My favorite part of Jumbo Rocks are the many beautiful stacks of boulders in and around all the campsites. They create a lively and spectral show as the light of campfires dances along their faces.

I also appreciate the open desert that the campground backs up against. It offers endless space for exploring, day or moonlit night. Once, we created a sort of mini adventure race for our group to enjoy, choosing a large boulder in the distance to race to. I chose to go straight forward, scrambling over the rocks in the way, while others went around on the ground. I lost, but surely had the most fun.

Many tourists can’t go to Joshua Tree without taking pictures of the infamous “Skull Rock,” which is located on the roadside of Jumbo Rocks Campground. There is a short hiking trail that leads you straight to the landmark from the campground. You’ll know you’re there when you see all the cars parked on the side of the main road, and the people with their cameras out.

What’s your favorite campground? Is there one you especially miss when the season changes?