Category Archives: hiking

holiday options beyond the corduroy

Posted on December 27, 2011 by powdork

well we all try and paint a happy picture of it, but let’s face it, the snow is not. it just isn’t.
so what to do while your spending your christmas vacation in a snowless south lake tahoe? follow along and we’ll help as we can.

highway 88 hijinks – get thee to kirkwood. here you can ride the lifts, but if you decide not that’s okay too. bring the family (and the dog). some can hike, some can ride, some can hit the kicker onto the airbag from USAirbag (highly recommended). on the way back (no need to stay all day, the sun goes behind the ridge around 2:45) you can stop by caples lake and play on the ice (this is very dangerous. the ice could break. you could fall, and the ice could not break. use at your own risk, but have fun). the pictures (and video) below are added to give you the illusion that tahoe is still fun. don’t be fooled.

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Posted in hiking, skiing | Tagged caples lake, kirkwood, USAirbag | 3 Comments

whitney in a day

Posted on October 28, 2011 by powdork

stu has been on my ass for the last month about a whitney trip, which is an annual thing for him. given i’m unemployed until december i had run out of reasons not to go, plus it’s a beautiful challenging hike. the trail itself is typically easy, but it does get spicy this time of year. plus we were doing it as a day hike, which means 22 miles and 6,000’+ elevation change. not unpossible, but the days are short and the nights are cold and the trail has a lot of snow this year. my buddy greg decided to join us as well, never having been before. after picking up our permit we headed up the whitney portal to see what was up and talk to some exiting hikers about conditions. they all said traction devices were needed, advice that greg and i heeded.
lone pine creek at whitney portal

then we headed back down to the alabama hills, just off movie road to set up camp. the alabama hills, named after the css (confederate states ship) alabama, were the movie location for many movies including westerns such as ‘how the west was won’, as well as current flicks like ‘iron man’ and ‘transformers – revenge of the fallen’.