I gained ~2700' and I'm claiming the peak. Disagree? Fight me.

Colorado was having a going-out-of-business sale: four 14ers for the price of one.

Of the three Colorado 14ers I've done so far, Mt Sherman was the easiest.

Getting to the highest point in Nebraska is one of the most treacherous, bravest things I've ever done.

Backpacking claimed yet another victim.

I kicked off the Great Summer Road Trip 2025 with the highest point in Death Valley National Park.

Or, Reason #431 why I hate backpacking.

Taking the steepest trail up Mt Baldy to three neighboring peaks.

Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes you turn around to avoid being eaten by one.

"No, sir, that Minotaur isn't going to get out of this!"

So said the person who designed the western trail to Mt. Sally, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Still glowing from my visit to the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, I hiked the fourth (or sixth) highest peak in the Santa Susana Mounta

Hey, Boeing, don't have a meltdown, I'm going to give it a glowing review.

Electing and hiring people based on identity rather than job qualifications turns out to have been a bad decision.

No peak, however small, is spared my peakbagging efforts.

I visited the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit and tried to take pictures.

"I wouldn't say I'm specifically a hero for what I did. The real heroes do what I did and drive a Prius."

Most of the "peaks" are just bumps on a large ridge, but there were a dozen of them so...

One of the top questions I get is, "Are there really bison in Santa Clarita, California?" And, the answer is yes, there are.

I failed to bike Mount McKinley, failed a hike to the Pinnacle, but I did see the Aqueduct Cascades.

This was a hike with a large Meetup group near the Salton Sea. There were a few spots of fairly easy scrambling.

"Mt Bliss" has the sound of some Alaskan 17er, or maybe a neighbor of Mt Vinson. Set your expectations a lot lower...

I'm sacrificing my healthy eating for you, the least you can do is reimburse me for the $7.60.

It was eagles and lemonade and sharp spiky plants all the way down.

Twas a blustery, wintry day when I set off on my expedition to the distant peak...

It was another pleasant Simi Valley Saturday there in steep ridge land...

What is that, a railway? And, what's with the asterisks?

All will be explained!

I came back for more of the Upper Cabin trail but this time I took a rougher route up.

On Feb 1, 2025, parts of the Angeles National Forest reopened after the devastating Eaton Fire.

This is more of a road walk than an hike, but it is to the highest point in the Santa Susana Mountains along the north edge of the San Fernando Valley.

No, the title isn't a law firm: it's five peaks near Mt Wilson that I biked and hiked.

These are pictures and a video from the "Satwiwa Loop and Upper Cabin Trail" (link) on the western edg

I failed the first time, but this time I got the sheep.

These were taken near Mt Chapel on a Griffith Park bike ride. The Air Quality Index today was 'Unhealthy', with haze and pollution trapped in the Los Angeles basin.

Pacifico Mountain (7124') is in the back range of the San Gabriels so, generally speaking, it's more of a pristine environment than the front range peaks.

I biked Hostetter (from the 210 and La Tuna Canyon) to Verdugo Peak. All the way up, my bike was bugging me to do a fashion shoot and I obliged it.

The Tarzana area of Los Angeles hosts a geological feature known as the Vanalden "Cave". I'd heard about it but never bothered to visit until now. Getting to it was OK, even if the "cave" wasn't.

If you want to amuse and amaze your future ex-friends, let them know that it snows each year in the City of Los Angeles. Yes, that's right, it snows here each year!

I did the "3-2-1 Challenge" in the Frazier Park part of Kern County, not far from Gorman/Lebec. The challenge involves 3 peaks, 2 county highpoints (Kern and Ventura), and 1 hike.

Known as the home of Spike and as the Paris of the Western World, Needles is also home to a historic railway station.

Is there a prosaic explanation for this sacred site? Goal Hiking investigates!

The original Del Taco location is located in Yermo, not far from Barstow in the Mojave desert. Unfortunately it was closed the day that I was driving by.

Near Yermo, CA in the Mojave desert in California, there's a sculpture park against communism, censorship, and the current mainland China regime.

This is the highest point in Arizona. I had tried it several years ago in May. The snow made finding the trail difficult and because of that I had to turn around at the ridge.

After getting to 12,633' on Humphreys Peak, I descended about 20' below the Earth's surface in the nearby Lava River Cave.

In Utah, just over the border from Page, Arizona, lies one of the most coveted hikes around: The Wave. This is not it.

These mushrooms were almost fried.

One of the highlights of the GSRT2024 was hiking Mt Taylor outside Grants, New Mexico.

Grants is a small town about 80 miles west of Albuquerque and you can see Mt Taylor from the latter.

After spending a few weeks in your more Alpine areas, it was a huge relief to get back to something warm and dry.

This was my second Colorado 14er and, unfortunately, I did it on a Saturday.

My first Colorado 14er was, aside from the altitude, fairly moderate.

It was a harrowing, 14-hour climbing excursion via the toughest route up Mt Evans aka Mt Blue Sky.

Reynolds Mountain is an 9,130' peak near the Logan Pass visitors' center in Glacier National Park. I failed due to weather.

A ranger at Glacier National Park thinks not giving people information is a good idea.

Mt Oberlin is an 8,184' peak in Glacier National Park that's near the Logan Pass visitor center. While AllTrails says to "proceed cautiously", SummitPost calls it "friendly".

A nice moderate hike in Glacier National Park to two waterfalls.

It doesn't go to a peak, but this is one of the top hikes in Glacier National Park.

Poor Shelby: so close to Canada and so far from California.

On my way to Glacier National Park I had the not-so-bright idea of visiting our hat, aka Canada.

I had a case of missing time on my way to Canada.

Normally I'm all over things volcanic, but this national monument didn't live up to expectations.

I kicked off my Great Summer Road Trip 2024 Extravaganza by hiking the River Trail to Thousand Island Lake in the Sierra Nevadas.

I was hiking up Mt. Baldy when a wildfire started.

Before the devastating Eaton Fire in early 2025, you could hike from Pasadena up to Mount Lowe near Mt Wilson.

Just because your ego demands you create a National Park doesn't mean you should.

I biked the highest point in San Luis Obispo County, Caliente Mountain.

None dare call it cheating, but I drove part of the way to the highest point in Orange County.

After the Sheep Hole Mountains failure, I needed to get as far away from Joshua Tree as possible.

The Sheep Hole Mountains are a small range not far from Twentynine Palms in the Mojave desert.

About a year before the devastating Eaton Fire, I hiked this front range peak.

No, not that Grand Canyon. The one around here.

Mt. Baldy - highest point in L.A. County at 10,064' - is currently closed due to the Bridge Fire which, as you'll see in a later post, I saw happen from the summit of Baldy.

The Vital Link is a fun, short-but-steep trail in the Verdugo Mountains. It's 3.8 miles & 1700' of gain round trip so it's fairly steep.

I did this 11,611' peak in the southern Sierras with a micro influencer I'd met online.

"What?" You're no doubt asking, because you know the two titular destinations are well over an hour apart.

While I later biked to the highest point in the City of Los Angeles, this time I just hiked it.