Our first visit to the United States in 1996 was to the stunning Sierra Nevada mountains of California- home to the iconic Yosemite valley and John Muir Trail where we did some rock climbing, backpacking and touring around. After this taster, we came back in 1998 as part of our longer Pacific Crest Trail hike between Mexico and Canada. Since then we brought the climbing gear back in 2006 and then in 2019 explored the mountains by hiking some cross country.
Listed below are our outdoor trips- with links to blog posts.
2019 AUgust-september
We visited California in 2019 and this time went out backpacking, exploring some of the Sierra mountains away from the popular John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails. Our aim was max out on the scenery with some off trail and scrambling over mountain passes and ridges. We used Steve Roper’s excellent ‘Sierra High Route‘ book as a reference along with some very useful websites and blog posts. See an overview map of our 2019 hikes.
McGee Trailhead to Mammoth Lakes
Reds Meadow to Tuolumne big loop
Twin Lakes to Tuolumne Meadows
Piute Pass, Lake Italy, PCT and Lamarck Col loop
Cottonwood Lakes, Crabtree Pass, Guitar Lake, Mount Whitney
2006 September
A month long trip to California with a mix of rock climbing and hiking. More photos here.
Tuolumne Meadows- Lembert Dome
Tuolumne Meadows- Tanaya Peak
Tuolumne Meadows- Dozier Dome
Mount Ritter plus Iceberg Lake, Mineret Lake traverse
White Mountain
Owens River Gorge rock climbs
Crystal Crag climb, Mammoth Lakes
Yosemite Valley loop hike
Mt Connes west ridge attempt
Cathedral Peak south face climb
Tuolumne Meadows – Mount Dana
1998 PACIFIC CREST TRAIL
A 2600 mile hike for about 5 months on the PCT between Mexico and Canada through the states of California, Oregon and Washington. PCT blog here.
1996 SEPTEMBER
Backpack – Lamark Col, Evolution Valley, Muir Pass, Bishop Pass
Owens River Gorge rock climbs
Side trip to Death Valley
Mount Whitney via Iceberg Lake and the ‘Mountaineers Route’
Tuolumne – Mathes Crest rock climb
Tuolumne – Cathedral Peak south face climb
Tuolumne – Fairview Dome north face climb
Yosemite – Snake Dike climb
Yosemite – Nutcracker climb
Yosemite – Various single pitch climbs
Mono Lake and Bodie Ghost Town
A wee walk 