Your Online Resource for Hiking, Backpacking, Cross-Country Skiing, and Snowshoeing at Lake Tahoe
Welcome to my series of cross-country skiing video blogs (VLOGs) for the winter of 2020-21 at Lake Tahoe. These short films are a bit less formal than my other informational and educational videos. Basically, I create these on-the-go videos while cross-country skiing in the backcountry and at groomed xc ski areas. After returning home, I…
During my first summer of living at Lake Tahoe I took a mountaineering course offered through Lake Tahoe Community College’s wilderness education program. The course was a fantastic way in which to learn more about the new outdoor playground that I found myself living in. I moved to Lake Tahoe in the fall of 2005,…
When I was introduced to cross-country skiing as an adult (what child from the upper Midwest hasn’t tried it at least once in middle school?), I had already forsaken snow sports. The reasons weren’t because I didn’t love winter or I had an aversion to carving turns in fresh powder. Forgive my condescending attitude, but…
The Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) is a 165+ mile trail that travels continuously around the mountainous rim of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Hiking the TRT was my first “thru-hike” since completing the Appalachian Trail (AT) back in 1999. I’ve backpacked plenty since the AT, but not for a continuous end-to-end journey of a specific trail….
Winter at Lake Tahoe is great for choose-your-own adventures in the backcountry. There are additional considerations to take into account during winter travel. However, your options are plentiful when the snowpack is stable, you know your gear and its capabilities, and you’re willing to embrace your inner pioneer spirit. For this article, I outline one…
“Beginner’s mind” is a phrase that was used often during my dozen years of active training in the Japanese martial art of Aikido. The phrase originated with Zen Buddhism and denotes an approach to learning or, in a broad sense, experiencing life with an open mind and a willingness to embrace the new, unknown, and…
My grin morphed into a grimace the moment I saw the tips of my skis torpedo beneath a three-inch layer of wind-scoured crust and disappear. A split second later, the inevitable happened. My lower body came to a halt while my upper body continued to move. I pitched forward, landing face first in the snow….
Presented here is a short black and white comic I created about an overnight backpacking trip I took into Desolation Wilderness with a former girlfriend back in 2012. Although our relationship did not last and the backpacking trip was only two days, the experience was rewarding. One of the reasons I enjoyed the trip was…
A humorous lesson in humility presented to you in a comic book format. I created this zine based on a backpacking trip I took in October of 2015 along the Tahoe Yosemite Trail. Needless to say, the trip was cut short due to heavy rains (and me not being prepared to deal with it!). A full…
In 2011, one of my Lake Tahoe friends and I resupplied two of his friends who were thru-hiking the John Muir Trail (JMT). They needed one last food drop to get them through the Whitney Portal, which is the southern terminus of the JMT. Our plan was simple, but our execution of it was not….