Apple watch battery life

I used Apple Watch 10 to record my hikes. I carry a Garmin Inreach Mini2 as well and I tracked the hike through that as well, but with 10 minute intervals, the map is not great. I prefer the Apple Watch. The trick with the Apple Watch is to manage its battery life.

1. I turn on Airplane mode in my phone and watch

2. I turn on theater mode on the watch. That turns off the display (big battery drain)

3. I upgraded to an Apple Watch 10 for better battery life

   1. When the battery life goes below 80%, you can request Apple to change the battery for a fee, they don’t advertise this, but they do

4. With this setup, I can track a hike for up to 11-12 hours. Each night, I recharge the apple watch completely. Apple watch requires 360mA to recharge fully. For a 6 day hike, a 10,000 mAh battery pack will recharge the apple watch 5 times in less than 20% of its capacity

5. At the end of each day, I end my hike with Apple watch. Each day is a separate section.

Strava

1. I then sync all my daily hikes to strava. It shows up as individual days on Strava.

2. In Strava webpage (not in the app), go to the activity detail. Click on the … and you wil see a way to “Export GPX” file. The GPX file is a XML formatted text file.

3. Now you will have each day as a separate GPX file. In my case, my apple watch ended my hike a few times (thank you AllTrails watch app), so I had about 12 files.

4. Now you can go to any online GPX merging app such as https://gotoes.org/strava/Combine_GPX_TCX_FIT_Files.php and merge the individual files. GoToes actually integrates with Strava and can pull your Strava activities as well. Note that most apps will limit you to 5 GPX files at a time, so be patient. It took me 3 attempts (files 1-5, 6-10 and then a final merge)

5. Upload the merged full hike back to Strava. Note that Strava identifies a hike as unique by the starting time. So if you have day 1 already in Strava, it will ignore the merged hike, so I delete day 1 from Strava before I do this.

Flyby generation

Flyby generation is enabled in Strava paid versions. If you don’t want to buy it, then use Relive: https://www.relive.com/, this app has a free trial and also a cheaper version. I usually get it for a month or two each year and cancel. They all can take the merged GPX file and generate a flyby.

Lastly, I ran the flyby in my phone and use the iPhone screen recording (turn off notifications!) and recorded the screen.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

As with any great mountain range, you can spend a lifetime exploring the Dolomites, but given the limitations of time and money, this is a gentle introduction to the Dolomites.

I think there are three kinds of trips one can do in the Dolomites.

1. Family trips: Not everyone in the family can hike for days. The Dolomites hit the sweet spot of making the mountains accessible. There are a lot of ski resorts in the area, which means that there are cable cars and chair lifts everywhere. You can get to the high mountains very quickly. They are also fairly low (as compared to the high sierra) ~9,000 feet or thereabouts (some areas have higher mountains), so the risk of AMS is low.

2. Photography trips: I can easily spend a month in the Dolomites chasing good light and looking for unique vantage points with limited hiking.

3. Backpacking trips: There are a series of “huts” all over the dolomites. There are multiple “hut to hut” hiking routes, called “Alta Via” routes. The “Alta Via 1” is the most popular through hike. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_Via_1. In such hikes, you reserve overnight stays at these huts so you are only day hiking between these huts daily. You can even ship your daily supplies (snacks, clothes) between huts. All these huts are accessible either via cable cars or by road. You get to a hut, take a bath, get hot food and have access to running water. This is a popular option for hikers who want to experience the wilderness without having to carry your shelter and all the food you need.

I did a family trip this past month (#1 above) to the Dolomites. It was also a scouting trip for “Alta Via 1”, which is in my bucket list.

South Tyrol and Val di Funes

Val di Funes, is a picturesque valley located in South Tyrol, northern Italy, within the Dolomites mountain range. It's renowned for its stunning alpine scenery, including the dramatic Odle/Geisler mountain range, charming villages, and iconic locations like the Church of St. Magdalena. The valley offers a serene atmosphere, perfect for hiking, cycling, and experiencing the beauty of nature, making it a popular destination for tourists seeking tranquility and breathtaking views. I only spent an evening in this area. It is wonderfully green with some spectacular scenery.

The Adolf Munkel Trail is very popular in this area: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/italy/south-tyrol/via-delle-odle-zanser-alm-rifugio-delle-odle-malga-dusler. I wish I had stayed a day extra in this area and hiked this trail. However, it rained heavily during my visit (the Dolomites are similar to the High Sierra, you need to be prepared for all weather even in Summer - in fact it snowed one of the nights at the summits). There are multiple hotels to stay in Val di Funes. This is a great place to stay to explore South Tyrol.

Val Gardena

I stayed 3 nights in the Val Gardena area, in the village of St. Cristina. There are 3 villages in the Val Gardena area. Oretesi, St. Cristina and Selva. All have comfortable places to stay and numerous cable cars to explore the high mountains.

The three villages are connected to each other by a very good public bus that runs every 20 minutes in either direction. Most hotels give you free unlimited bus pass. Furthermore, you can buy a 3 day or 5 day unlimited cable car pass for all of Val Gardena. There are numerous cable cars in the area: https://www.valgardena.it/en/summer-holidays-dolomites/lifts/, we bought the 3 day unlimited cable car ticket for Eur 118 per person. There is no need to buy these tickets in advance or online. You can buy them at any of the cable car stations.

Alpe di Siusi

Oretesi is one of the main entry points to Alpe di Siusi, one of the most beautiful destinations in the Dolomites. The largest high alpine pasture in Europe covers an area of 56 square kilometres. You can not drive into Alpe di Siusi unless you stay there, which makes Eur 1,000 per night rooms the norm in the area. However, you can easily get to Alpe di Siusi from a cable car starting from Oretesi. We had planned to spend a day in Alpe di Siusi, but it rained all of that day, but it did not deter us from taking the cable car to the summit and soak in the views of the meadows.

The witches benches trail: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/italy/south-tyrol/anello-della-bullaccia-panche-delle-streghe-hexenbanke is popular in the area, which we had planned to hike, perhaps some other time.

Mt. Seceda

Mt. Seceda is one of the highlighted peaks of the Dolomites, for good reason. There are multiple hikes of various lengths to explore the area. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/italy/south-tyrol/via-ferrata-sas-rigais-seceda-sas-rigais-col-raiser. You can also through hike the area by starting at Seceda (near Oretesi) and exiting Col Riser (near St. Cristina). Or you can go up a cable car (two cars actually) to Mt. Seceda, explore the summit area and then take a chair lift, hike a mile and half, then take a cable car down to St. Cristina (Col Riser), which is what we did. This is quite remarkable. You are through hiking with the family using all the cable cars, with limited hikes in between. I highly recommend this approach if you have family who wants to experience the high mountains with some hiking.

Dantercepies

Another top cable car area is Dantercepies. There are multiple hikes you can do from this cable car. It overlooks the Gardena Pass and has some very good hikes here: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/italy/south-tyrol/dantercepies-furcela-de-cir-rifugio-puez-vallelunga. However, you can simply take a cable car to the summit, hike a mile to Jimmy Hut, and take another long cable car down to the Gardena Pass area. If you give yourself ample time, you can reverse your cable car journey or take a bus back to the villages (the bus will be much longer).

Ciampinoi

Ciampinoi is yet another cable car that you can hike to get stunning views of both the Gardena pass and the Val Gardena valleys.

There are some very good hikes in the area: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/italy/south-tyrol/giro-gruppo-sassolungo-via-ciampinoi. With the cable car map in hand, you can go up Mt. Pana, another cable car to Mt. Secre, a 1.5 mile hike down to Tramans lift, then a short hike to Ciampinoi and you are down in Selva. Get used to the lifts diagram and page, and use your imagination. You can add short hikes between the chair lifts and chain them together. Every cable car station has a cafe and food options, in addition to bathroom facilities.

Mt. Sausalingo is the largest mountain in the area and you will be hiking with this peak for company.

Valunga Valley

You don’t need cable cars to access all areas. Valunga vallely is easily reachable by car. It reminded me of Yosemite.

If I have to plan this trip again, I would simply spend all my time in Val Gardena. This valley has so much to offer and is very friendly to the family based trips.

Ampezzo Dolomites

Ampezzo dolomites are the high country in Dolomites, the mountains are taller, you are now closer to Austria and the landscape changes quite dramatically. Gone are the the meadows and are replaced by alpine lakes and rugged country. It is almost like going from Northern JMT (north of MTR) to Southern JMT.

Cortina d'Ampezzo is the biggest city in the area. Winter Olympics 2026 will be conducted in this area, so this is more of a ski town on steroids (think Mammoth Lakes or even Lake Tahoe).

Cinque Torri

A trail with wonderful views starting from the Cinque Torri Refuge (2135m) and following the Cinque Torri Giro Trail. The starting point can be reached by taking the Cinque Torri Chairlift and then proceeding on gravel trails. In summer these trails can be a bit crowded. Several strategic sites during World War I can be observed along this route. This hike can also be done by older children or those with hiking experience. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/italy/veneto/giro-cinque-torri

There are multiple passes in the Dolomites and Passo Falzarego is one of the dramatic ones. You go down this pass to get to Cortina. Somewhere near the summit is the Cinque Torri trail. Another cable car takes you to the summit (the Val Gardena pass does not work in this area). The hike is in rough country but doable with proper footwear. This area has bunkers from the First World War era and makes for some great views.

The views from the summit of Cinque Torri are great. Alta Via 1 passes through Cinque Torri, en route a few huts so you get a good idea of the terrain the hike goes through.

Lake Misurina and Tre Cime di Lavaredo

Next to Mt. Seceda, Tre Cime di Lavaredo is the most popular mountain peak. It is so popular that you now need a car reservation done online. I missed buying the pass, so I was at the mercy of public transit from Lake Misurina.

The Tre Cime loop is very popular among hikers: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/italy/veneto/tre-cime-di-lavaredo-laghi-dei-piani. We had planned to hike the full loop, but the weather changed and it got too hot. We stopped at Forcella Laverado (the pass) which had grand views of the area and turned back. We went from snowing one day to 90F hiking conditions in the space of two days. It is very similar to the High Sierra, so you need to be prepared for this. Unfortunately, the Tre Cime area has become very popular and I saw many unprepared people on the trail. I saw someone pushing a baby stroller up the trail, I saw people throwing up and people wearing tennis shoes going up some gnarly terrain which will break your ankle.

The lakes

Lago di Braies is the poster child of the Dolomites. Given how many alpine lakes I experience in my high sierra hikes, I was less than impressed. I suppose people do love water bodies, but I found Lago di Braies too overcrowded and in the heat and tiredness, I did not really see the beauty of the place.

Alta Via 1 starts here, so driving towards Lago di Braies gave me a good sense of the terrain and the views. However, the other spots en route were absolutely astonishing. Lago Dubbaccio was astonishing. The border of Austria is not too far from the town of Dubbaccio.

We had some astonishing views of Mt. Piana from Lago Largo.

Six days and five nights is too short to explore the Dolomites, but I got a flavor for the area. I will head back. My views of Alta Via 1 has changed a bit. It gains 25,000 feet in elevation over 125 kms, which can be intense, but I suspect that if I add a few strategic cable cars in the mix, it can be a 125 km, 12,500 feet through hike with the best of all the worlds. More on that, once I figure it out.

I have a lot more photos from the Dolomites in my gallery here: https://www.anands.net/dolomites. Happy trails!

Here is the Strava link for the tracked hike:

https://www.strava.com/activities/15248118776

For those of you curious on how to get a stitched tracking like that:

• I recorded each day in my Apple Watch hiking app.

• Then I synced all the hikes to Strava.

• Downloaded each section as a GPX in Strava.

• Combined the GPX files by using a tool like this https://joewein.net/bike/gpxmerge/

• Reimport the combined file in Strava.

I had broken down the hike into the following sections with each of those maps.

Day 0: Drive from Bay Area, leave one car at Onion Valley Campground, dinner at Lone Pine, drive to Horseshoe meadows, camp at Cottonwood Pass trailhead campground. ($24 per campsite cash needed, self registration)

Day 1: Trailhead to Soldier lake through Cottonwood pass. Note that Solider lake is off trail (off PCT at least) but that is the surest location for water. If you start too late, you can camp at Chicken Spring Lake, just below the pass.

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/cp-to-ov-day1-dc0e194

Day 2: Soldier lake to Crabtree meadows through Guyot Pass. This runs directly along Rock Creek. When we talked to the Ranger on Day 0, they mentioned that there is no water between Solider lake and Crabtree meadows. That was incorrect. There was water all the way to Wallace creek.

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/cp-to-ov-day-2-7d2b92b

Day 3: Crabtree meadows to Tyndall Creek through Bighorn plateau.

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/cp-to-ov-day-3-18de4be

Day 4: Bighorn plateau to Bubbs creek over Forester pass.

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/cp-to-ov-day-4-1558417

Day 5: Forester pass to Kearsarge lakes.

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/cp-to-ov-day-5-fa7cdfa

Day 6: Kearsarge lakes to Onion valley campground.

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/map-july-28-2025-da40657

Each day elevation gain looked something like this:

After dropping the car at Onion Valley, we setup camp at Cottonwood Pass trailhead campground. Lots of camping spots here which don’t need prior reservation (unlike Onion Valley). We paid $24 in cash (take cash). The first few miles of Horseshoe meadows is a pleasant hike before the climb starts towards Chicken Spring Lake.

Almost immediately, I felt that something was wrong. I felt as if I was hiking with a plastic bag around my face. I thought it was some form of AMS, but given that I was already on Diamox for a couple of days, I wasn’t sure.

The climb to Cottonwood Pass was uneventful otherwise. There are no signs to indicate that you have crossed the pass. I suspect the pass is somewhere near where the PCT joins the trail. When we reached the summit, we had already gone past the pass. The downhill from the summit is a long grind. The trail is sandy, almost like beach sand and the hike was a drag through the sand. We turned away from the PCT towards Soldier Lake and camped there for the night.

The other alternative is to continue on the PCT towards Rock Creek, but that is another 3-4 miles more. I had no legs to go any further. Soldier Lake is a pleasant place to stay anyway.

Day 2 is all the way down to Rock Creek and then a sharp climb towards Guyot Pass. There was plenty of water at Rock Creek and crossing it was uneventful. The climb towards Guyot Pass was slow and laborious and my struggles got worse. As we start to get down towards Crabtree meadows, we started to see this wonderful view of Mt. Whitney range from the West. Crabtree meadows ranger station is somewhere below amidst the woods here.

We camped just before Whitney Creek (with which I have great fondness - it was the toughest creek to cross in the 2019 HST hike). I took a dip in one of the tributaries of Whitney Creek and then soaked in this magnificent sunset.

Day 3 started with crossing Whitney Creek and one of my team mates immediately did the one thing you are not supposed to do when crossing a creek :). In general, all creeks were easy to cross, including Tyndall (which gave me a lot of worry).

I was looking forward to Day 3. I had done the section between Wallace Creek and Crabtree meadows for the HST, but what surprised me was we climbed nearly 800 feet within the first two miles, I did not remember that. Once we got down to Wallace Creek, there was a sharp climb of over 1,000 feet in 1.5 miles towards Big Horn Plateau. There is no section I have looked forward to than Big Horn Plateau. It lived to its reputation. The view of Mt. Whitney from here is quite surreal.

You don’t quite realize that you are staring at Mt. Whitney until you realize Keeler Needle and Crooks Peak next to it and then you see the final half mile slog you do to get to the top of Mt. Whitney. This was totally worth it.

This climb is where my hiking troubles really got to me. I could barely move for a minute. I had to convert this to an interval training exercise, so I set an interval timer and would climb for 1 minute, rest for 45 seconds and repeat. I was doing 90-100 minute miles. I am truly thankful to my friend of 40+ years, Rames, who magnanimously agreed to shadow me. Without him, I would have abandoned this hike on this day. We stayed and rested at the summit of Big Horn Plateau and made our long trek down to Tyndall Creek for the night.

Day 4, Rames and I woke up early and left camp at 6am for our five mile gentle climb to the base of Forester Pass. Trying to find out where the pass is an interesting game.

Forester pass in almost in the middle of this photograph. You have to climb through the rock face to the right, if you can find the trail, you are an expert :).

Getting to the summit took me about 90 minutes from the base, given how slow I was moving, but definitely doable. The hike reminded me of the climb from Guitar Lake to Trail Crest, you need strong legs to do this.

The view from the summit of Forester Pass is pretty neat. You can see about 30-40 miles through. Other hikers mentioned that they could see the Palisade range from the summit, I couldn’t make it out.

Getting down Forester, the South side is pretty exposed. As expected, there was some snow patches left on the South side. We were able to navigate it easily.

When you get down from the summit, it is hard to believe that you actually got down from there. I have huge respect for hikers climbing this from the South face.

Going down towards upper Vidette meadows, you start to see Vidette meadows in a distance. Our campsite for the night would be along the meadows. Upper Vidette Meadow reminded me of Upper Lyell Canyon and the southside of Glenn Canyon. I was too exhausted at this point and I had 3-4 more miles to go and did not take many photos, but I wish I had taken more. We camped near Bubbs creek that night.

Day 5 started with a nice gentle downhill of 3.3 miles till the Crescent Meadow fork - this is where the Rae Lakes loop leaves the JMT and heads West towards Crescent Meadow. The climb out of Vidette Meadows to Bullfrog lake junction is a nasty little surprise as bad as any pass you can imagine. After what felt like a year, we finally reached the Bullfrog lake junction and exited the JMT towards Kearsarge Lakes.

This is the third time I walked by Bullfrog Lake, it continues to amaze me. We camped at the same spot we did last year at Kearsarge Lakes with great views of the Kearsarge Pinnacles.

On the last day, we started early in the morning and saw the really cool fog over the valley.

We summitted Kearsarge pass just before 8am. I am starting to like exiting the trail through Kearsarge pass, the climb is manageable and the 5 mile descent to Onion Valley campground seems manageable.

We had to drive back to Horseshoe Meadows to fetch the other car and then eventually drove back towards the Bay Area the same night.

Once back in the Bay Area, I visited an Urgent Care facility and got an X-ray done of my lungs. I caught Covid-19 again last month (thank you SF Opera) and Covid had left an inflammation in my lung. I had somehow managed to hike this section of the JMT with a lung working under capacity. One month isn’t time enough to recover from Covid-19 before a hike like this. I had experienced no discomfort at sea level either while working out or during my practice hikes. I wish I had done the X-ray before the hike or attempted Mt. Dana before the JMT, perhaps that might have helped.

I now have 38 miles of the JMT left, between Rae Lakes and Le Conte Canyon. https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/rae-lakes-to-leconte-canyon-9fe4e15. Perhaps next year is when I complete the JMT.

Happy trails.

The last I communicated with Kevin was two years ago when he helped me with a minor adjustment to my hiking boots.

Kevin's journey into shoemaking began in 1976 when he apprenticed under an Austrian master shoemaker in Seattle for three and a half years. He further honed his expertise by studying under German and Austrian shoemakers for six years. Additionally, he earned a degree in Prosthetics from UCLA and operated a prosthetic and orthotic practice in Santa Cruz. This unique combination of traditional shoemaking and medical knowledge enabled him to create hiking boots that offered exceptional support and comfort, particularly beneficial for individuals with orthopedic challenges.

Kevin did his undergrad at St. Mary’s College, Moraga. When I visited him in 2022, my elder daughter was admitted to this college. We talked about St. Mary’s College in great detail and how it helped him. My elder daughter did not go there, but my younger daughter did go to St. Mary’s College.

Kevin’s unique gift was he would make someone walk barefoot up and down and would understand the gait problems of the person and how to fix such issues. Before I met Kevin, I had tried eight different hiking boots over a few years. I had settled on the Zamberlan boots, but they still didn’t fit me perfectly. I used to struggle with every boot and had severe burning sensation on the outside of my foot. I got cortisone shots and my podiatrist told me to find a new hobby.

Thankfully, I found Kevin.

His custom boots made me enjoy backpacking again. They played a big part of my recovery, in addition to strength training, particularly the lower body training.

My boots have a little over 350 miles on them now (I wore them over winters as my regular boot to break them in) and they are starting to become an extension of me. These are my Kevin Leahy boots after my last hike, all cleaned up and ready to go.

I met Kevin twice in 2022. I spent an afternoon with him when he took my measurements and made the lasts. I had so many questions about his techniques as an artisan and how he would diagnose a person. I wanted to do a podcast with him. I even had prepared the list of questions I was going to ask him. I procrastinated. “Next year” I said to myself. Now I regret not having taken that step to talk to him about the podcast and driven to his gorgeous home in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Every time I backpacked in the high sierra, I would take photos of my boots in front of iconic mountains and lakes and send them to him. For my first hike, I composed an email as I was climbing Donahue pass (via voice recording) and sent it to him later that day from the summit of Donahue pass.

His “German friends” are trying to help Kevin’s customers through his website. I have written to them. I hope my lasts can be transferred over to one of his peers.

Here is a lovely documentary about Kevin:

This is a great loss to the hiking and backpacking community. Kevin helped a lot of people.

Rest in peace, Kevin.

This time around I had a friend from So.Cal who is joining me for this year’s JMT section hike, so we decided to meet somewhere in between. Big Sur is inviting and I have always wanted to backpack there, so we hiked the Kirk Creek to Vicente Flat trail.

For starters, since Hwy 1 is closed six miles north of Kirk Creek Campground, I had to drive through forest roads to get there. The drive through Fort Hunter Liggett and then up the mountain range to get down to Hwy 1 is an adventure in itself. I got a sense of Big Sur as I was going up the mountains into deep fog.

The weekend I hiked (last weekend of April), rain was forecast in the afternoon. My friend and I both reached the trail head at 10:30am and started the hike immediately.

Within a mile or so of hiking, we got to see Big Sur at its best.

Not too late after this video, it started to rain. We started to hustle up the trail. We had planned to hike 5 miles up to Vicente flats. The entire tail is no more than 1.5 to 2 feet wide the entire way except for the Espinosa flat campground at mile 3 which has space for about 8 tents. There is no place to even sit down for a few minutes. The first 2.5 miles climb steeply to about 1,800 feet of elevation gain with great views of the ocean. You then crest the top, it is relatively flat till you get to Espinosa campground.

Once you go past the crest of the climb, the trail narrows with wild growth on both sides. It was clear that day hikers climb the first two miles or so and then they return. This meant that once you go past this, you are brushing against shrubs and plants up to your waist on both sides. I did see poison oak along the trail, so beware and do not wear shorts on this trail.

We reached our campsite at around 2pm. The Vicente flats have no reservation and it is first come first served. No one passed us on our way up, so I was surprised to see that there were already 8 tents at the campsite. Turns out six of the hikers were there for the previous night and were returning after a day hike to the “summit”.

It rained on us for an hour or so, but when we reached the campsite, it stopped. We started a fire at around 3pm and had it going until 7:30pm. The campsite itself was glorious. It is in a canopy of redwood trees. There is space for about 18-20 tents here. Since this is first come first served, in Summer, I expect if you are not here by 9am, you won’t find a campsite. As noticed in this video, the creek runs right next to the campsite, so it is easy to filter water and we had the lullaby of running water for the night.

I noticed that my socks and inner layer of injinji toe socks were both soaking wet. I use custom boots made by Kevin Leahy and I have done some shallow creek crossings in the High Sierra, and my feet have never got this wet before, so I wasn’t sure what was going on.

We had steady rain throughout the night. The next morning when we woke up, it was still a strong drizzle, but being inside a canopy, we felt that it was raining harder here with all the overnight rain still in the trees being dumped on us. We quickly packed, had a cold breakfast and started the hike back.

Once we left the campground, the rain almost reduced significantly, but it was replaced by a steady mist and fog the entire hike down. It was like being in a gentle version of the mist trail.

I fell clumsily as we left the campsite, so my friend led me down and after a mile, he said he was soaking wet waist down. We swapped places and almost immediately, I realized what happened. The plants on both sides that were rubbing against us, they were dumping all their water on our legs - since we were the first on the trail. The entire time, it was like having two running water taps by our sides. That explained why my socks were wet. Soon enough, I was wet from my hip down.

I have never carried a rain pant with me on my hikes, I surely missed one this time. I could feel that my socks and injinji layer were soaking wet again, and I did not like the possibility of blisters, but we had little choice but to press on.

More pretty views of Big Sur on the way down. We made it back by 10am (we left the campsite at 7:30am) and drove back through the forest roads again (which, once again is an expedition worth by itself).

I highly recommend the Ventana flat trail for a one night backpacking trip. It has everything, reasonably hard trail with a backpack, wonderful campsite, running water (at least in Vicente flat, the creek is year around). But without permits, be there early in the morning, or you may not find a place to camp.

Here is the AllTrails link, again. https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/kirk-creek-to-vicente-flat-campground-a2fe8c0

Happy trails!

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/ed-r-levin-county-park-trail

This is a great time to be hiking the East Bay Hills. It is green everywhere. The one downside is that the parking lot opens only at 8am even though the trails are open at sunrise. You can park your car about 1.5 - 2 miles ahead of the park gates and walk, but the distance adds up quickly.

We parked by the Sandy Wool Lake parking lot and started the hike. The initial ascent is steep, we gained about 500 feet within the first 0.75 miles and the wildflowers are around you almost immediately.

Within the first mile, there is a paragliding launch area with a road access to it. The scenery starts to get greener.

There are unexpected areas of shade in the trail, which makes it rather pleasant to hike.

I am not a big fan of hikes where you can see your car’s parking lot all the way to the summit of your hike :), this was one such hikes, but you start to see the greater Bay Area come into focus. Downtown San Jose comes into view, and you identify the landmarks, Hwy 680, Hwy 880, Hwy 237 and you can spot familiar places in and around Milpitas.

Once we climbed about 1,000 feet, poppies started to appear, along with lupines.

My friend and I followed the alltrails map and turned about 0.5 mile from the summit of Monument peak (photographed here). It was another 500 feet of climb. We had a hard stop at noon and we didn’t have enough time to summit and return (saving this for another day). By 10 am early April (Apr 5, 2025), this got hot enough to make it a tough hike. Once you go past about 2,000 feet, there is little shade or cover, so go prepared with a lot of water.

Once you reach this junction, you have a choice of backing up along the Monument peak trail, or All Trails suggested we loop around the Sierra Trail, which was a tad bit longer. Thankfully, we took the Sierra Trail, which turned out to be a blessing. The Sierra Trail is less traveled, so the trail barely has space for a single person to hike and often even that is covered in grass - this may not be a pleasant trail to hike during or just after rains, but there were poppies EVERYWHERE in this trail.

Along the Sierra trail, your view is a bit more North, you see the views of the bay, Alviso, Dumbarton bridge and as the crow flies, I was able to see Redwood Shores, and all the way to San Mateo.

I really enjoyed this hike, although it is fairly steep at times with sharp gradient rises (AllTrails correctly labels this as a hard hike). I think this is a harder hike than Mission Peak, and at least this time of the year, it is a far better hike than Mission Peak. We hiked this on a Saturday morning and we only saw about 10-15 hikers in total within two miles of the summit - there were a lot of hikers going up around noon when we were coming down, but in that heat, I don’t think they were going really far.

I can’t wait to get back on this park and do a lot more hikes. There also appears to be a trail between Monument Peak to Mission Peak, so that long awaited backpacking trip from Fremont to Livermore should actually be a multi day hike from Milpitas to Livermore.

I expect this to be a very hot hike during Summer, but for Spring and Fall, this is a very pleasant hike.

Spring in the Bay Area is when the rolling hills turn (almost) emerald green. All over the East Bay, the rolling hills come alive. There are many great hikes in the East Bay. I have written about Del Valle, Flag Hill in Sunol, Briones, Round Valley, Morgan Territory and the Diablo summit hikes before. I routinely hike the Pleasanton Ridge area, although frequent mountain lion sightings there have made me stick to crowded trails. (Note to self: write about the Pleasanton ridge trails).

Last weekend, my friend, my daughter and I hiked the Indian Joe Creek trail to the summit of Cerro Este Overlook in Sunol Regional Wilderness.

Broadly speaking this is the trail we took: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/indian-joe-creek-trail-to-canyon-view-trail.

The view from the summit of Cerro Este Overlook is absolutely stunning as the above picture shows. You get grand views of the Calavaras reservoir on one side and the sprawling green hills of Sunol, including Flag hill in the other direction.

The hike starts near the main parking area / staging area in Sunol regional wilderness. Very quickly, you face the expected Sunol rolling hills:

Wild flowers are starting to bloom all over the park. The climb is reasonably steep with some loose gravel, but there is plenty of shade during the ascent and you are meandering through the forest, so it is a very pleasant hike, at least this time of the year.

If you are up for a longer hike, you can hike the Indian Joe Creek, Vista Grande, Eagle View and Canyon View loop where you take a longer route to get to Cerro Este Overlook. We started the hike at 2:30pm, so felt that the shorter (~5.5mile) hike was ideal to return before it was dark. The fork towards Cerro Este is unmarked, so make sure you are carrying a paper map or downloaded trail maps before you hit the trail. As with all hikes in Sunol, the only time you will have phone signal is near the summits and nowhere else.

As you near the summit, you get to see Wool Ranch from a different perspective (than what you see from the Flag Hill hike) and eventually we get to see Flag Hill as well.

The view from the summit is absolutely worth the hike.

The descent from the summit is sharp and steep and we eventually catch up with McCorkle trail which we routinely hike during our Sunol backpacker camp hikes. I don’t know what I dislike more, the descent on McCorkle or the ascent with the fully loaded pack, most likely the former. The anterior tibialis and calf muscles were getting a full workout, but the views kept us going.

This time of the year, you won’t go wrong with any of the Sunol hikes, but this one in particular was not crowded at all, the crowds were on the Flag Hill hike. One of these years, I need to hike from Sunol to Del Valle and from Sunol to Mission Peak. That’s a great 2-3 day backpacking trip to be done in Spring. Popularly known as the Ohlone Wilderness 50K trail race, this can be backpacked over 3 days as well. Fun fact, apparently this was the only official marathon the late Galen Rowell used to run.

Happy trails!

I have tried to hike this section three times in the past two years. Once in July 2022, when the trail was still under a lot of snow. Then when everything seem to line up just fine, in August 2022, the night before we headed out on the trail, Hurricane Hilary made landfall. I was still very tempted to go on the trail since I was so emotionally invested in hiking the section. I reached out to one of my mountain mentors for help - he curtly responded me with “here are the seven ways you will die” (not may die, can die, but will die).

Last July, there was a lot of rain on the area and we changed our minds and headed to Rae Lakes instead.

So I am going try for the fourth time to hike this section. Got a permit in late July to hike the section from Cottonwood Pass hiking north towards Kearsarge Pass. Fingers crossed and hopefully 2025 is the year!

One of the interesting things about hiking was reading many hiking and backpacking related books. The Trail by Ethan Gallogly is a fun read. It somehow manages to be both a novel and also a very interesting version of Elizabeth Wenk’s books about the geography and history of the area, definitely worth a read.

Last year was also the first year where I spent more time on the art show circuit than on the hiking trails and I got to meet folks who paved the trails of the High Sierra many years ago. I also met Ansel Adams’ realtor and a four year old who summitted Mt. Whitney. Quite the experience, I should say :).

Hello, it's been a while since I wrote a newsletter on NorcalHiker. One of the reasons being my art shows and photography business has taken a lot of my time. I've done a lot of art shows exhibiting photos from the High Sierra and I've met some remarkable people who have hiked the High Sierra as well. I met Ansel Adams’ one time realtor; I have met multiple people who worked on the PCT and the JMT building the trail, including the person who said that they were among the first set of people who actually created the trail for Thousand Island Lakes. It's been quite remarkable, but it's taken my time away from doing anything else.

So coming back to hiking, this year, yet again, I tried to hike the section between Cottonwood Pass and Kersarge Pass. If you remember last year, I had two permits to hike the section between Cottonwood Pass and Kersarge Pass. I had a permit for end of July and the snow conditions were so bad that even end of July was not safe enough. There was still a lot of snow on the trail, so I skipped it. I had another permit for end of August; a couple of days before I started hiking, hurricane Hillary made landfall and it was very unsafe, particularly to climb that section, the highest section on the JMT. So instead I went to Snow Creek for a very short two-day hike instead.

This year, I had a permit to go the other direction from Kearsarge pass to Cottonwood pass.

This was the plan to hike the section over six days. Each day is marked in different color: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/kearsarge-pass-to-horseshoe-meadows-dd50e4d

• Day zero, we drive from the Bay Area, leave a car at Cottonwood Pass. We would then leave another car at Onion Valley, stay overnight at the Onion Valley Campground for acclimatization.

• Day one, we will go over Kearsarge Pass and stay at Kearsarge Lakes.

• Day two, we join the JMT and start going south to Upper Vidette Meadows, cross all of Vidette Meadows and camp near the base of or start climbing towards Forester Pass.

• Day three, cross Forester Pass and camp near Tyndall Creek.

• Day four, hike all the way past Wallace Creek to Crabtree Meadows.

• Day five, Crabtree Meadows to Soldier Lake crossing Guyot Pass.

• Day six, Soldier Lake over Cottonwood Pass and exit. Drive the car from Cottonwood pass, pick the other car at Onion Valley, stay at Lone Pine overnite and return.

Unfortunately, this year as well, thunderstorms rolled in the week we were planning to hike. When we visited the ranger at the Lone Pine ranger station to check weather conditions, they advised to expect thunderstorms pretty much every day for the next four days. The ranger recommended us to be below the tree line before 11 a.m; this meant crossing Forester Pass before 11 a.m. and getting down.

Do I really want to be on the Forester Pass when it starts snowing and hailing? I wasn't really sure.

I had just also finished reading the fantastic book called The Trail by Ethan Gallogly, where the two protagonists actually end up in a severe snowstorm going up Forester Pass and coming down. It was still fresh in my mind.

Day one, we go over Kearsarge Pass and we see these dark clouds rolling in. The summit of Kearsarge Pass to Kearsarge Lakes is roughly about a mile and a half. My friend and I sprinted down to the lakes. Since I am fairly comfortable setting up my Tarptent Double Rainbow Li tent under duress, I was able to setup my tent within a minute and stay dry.

But the rest of my group members were not so lucky. A lot of them got drenched, thoroughly soaked and the rain did not let up for a couple of hours. My experience with High Sierra summer thunderstorms is they happen over 30-45 minutes, and clear quickly. This time when it rained, it rained for hours. When thunderclap started, the thunder went on for hours.

We had a couple of first timers to the High Sierra multi-day backpacking who were this added to my pre-existing concerns about crossing Forester Pass under questionable conditions had me rethinking our plans. So I came up with a plan B. Working with my friends, we decided to shorten the hike and instead of going South, we go North to Rae Lakes. We would do nero or zero days alternatively and end our days early before the rain came in.

So the revised plan was:

• Day 2: Kearsarge lakes to Charlotte lake

• Day 3: Charlotte lake to Rae lakes over Glenn pass

• Day 4: Stay at Rae lakes

• Day 5: Return to Kearsarge lakes

• Day 6: Return to Onion valley.

Note that rangers now allow you to stay two nights at Rae Lakes (it used to be one night). On day 2, after a short hike to Charlotte lake, thunder and rain followed us for over an hour of stunning thunderclaps. I was too stunned to react to even make an audio recording.

I had somewhat conveniently forgotten is the Glen Pass is probably the second hardest pass after Forrester Pass. People who have done Muir Pass, particularly northbound may disagree with this or Donahue Pass, southbound may disagree with this, but Glen Pass is hard on both directions. Little did I know that doing an out and back hike, I would be crossing Glen Pass and Kearsarge Pass in both directions.

Day three, again, we had to brave the thunderstorms and rain. Couple of us who were able to go ahead on day one, we scrambled and we were able to find a fine camping spot right across from the Painted Lady.

Note that while FarOut suggests there are 5+ campsites at Middle Rae Lakes, it is well over 200. It is almost impossible to locate your group if you get separated. Luckily, our group found us. We stayed there on the third and fourth nights, and took a day hike to the sixty lake basin on day 4. The sixty lake basin is a destination in itself worth exploring for many days.

This is the first time in any of my through hikes that I've stayed two nights at the same campsite. I see doing zero days going forward a lot to unwind and relax.

Day five, we woke up and started going southbound over Glen Pass. The trail going up southbound to over Glen Pass is one of the toughest I have done. It is a lot of scree and talus. A lot of the ways reminded us of the Mount Dana hike, which when you have a fully loaded backpack, when the ground is moving under you, a proper and total ankle buster.

Thankfully, the rain had stopped and we stopped racing time to get to the campsite before it rained. Day five, we ambled our way back down south back to Kearsarge lakes.

The last day was gorgeous sunrise at Kearsarge Lakes. I didn't expect that I would be camping at Kearsarge Lakes for two nights, but on our first night and on our last night. Going down Kersarge Pass back to Onion Valley on day six, it is a relentless five mile downhill once you summit. The first mile and a half we climbed quite significantly from Kearsarge Lakes to Kearsarge Pass, followed by over a five mile descent.

Since we had a car at Onion Valley, we drove back to Lone Pine and stayed at the Best Western there. A couple of us drove up to Cottonwood pass to retrieve our second car. We were treated to some gorgeous views of Mt. Whitney.

Here is the strava link tracking the hike: https://www.strava.com/activities/12012231665. Note the elevation profile :).

I will be displaying the Rae Lakes photo and many photos from the High Sierra at my upcoming art show at Livermore Art Walk, on Oct 12th, 2024, in downtown Livermore. If you are in the area, please stop by :).

Until the next time, goodbye and happy trails.

I have carried serious cameras for my hikes.

• It was the Panasonic Lumix LX-100 for the first few hikes

• The Nikon Z6 and 14-30 f/4 for the High Sierra Trail

• The Nikon Z6 and 24-70 f/4 for the High Sierra Camp loop

• The Nikon Z50 and the Nikon 16-50 for all the subsequent JMT section hikes

• The Nikon Z7ii and 24-120 Z currently

The tripod I have carried with me at all times is the UltraPod. It is lightweight, very stable given it is very short and usable. Can I do better than this for my upcoming JMT section hike between Kearsarge pass and Cottwonwood pass? Here is a list of what tripods I have tried and what I think I am going to carry with me to the JMT.

In theory, a serious backpacking photographer needs three tripods.

• A backpacking tripod

• A travel tripod that goes in your carry on

• A heavy duty tripod for car photography trips and short hikes

Can we combine all these three into one tripod? My “heavy duty tripod” over the last twenty years have been:

• Feisol Carbon Fiber + Kirk BH-3

• Gitzo Traveler 1 series + Kirk BH-3

• Gitzo Traveler 1 series + RRS BH-55

• Peak design carbon fiber travel tripod

• RRS TQC-14 tripod + RRS BH-55

• RRS TQC-14 tripod + RRS BH-40

The one tripod I was very excited about in this was the Peak Design CF travel tripod. I was hoping that it would be the one tripod for all three use cases. While it ticks most use cases, it was unable to handle the 200-500mm Nikkor lens and the only time I took it to a beach, I just could not get the sand out of the tripod no matter what I tried. Peak Design told me to NOT attempt to disassemble the tripod to clean since it has 48 parts per leg and I can’t put it together. Worse, they don’t offer a cleaning service as well. Looks like the Peak Design tripod is not meant to be used in wilderness or anywhere near sand or dirt. So out it went.

My last rig, the RRS TQC-14 + BH-40 handles the travel tripod and the heavy duty tripod use cases well. I can keep the tripod and ballhead in my carry on. Perhaps, I may have to remove the ball head and keep it separately if the bag is too small, but I can carry it with me in the carry on. The rig is stable enough for my 100-400 Z Nikkor, provided I don’t use the extension of the center column and I am careful with micro vibrations. Let us focus on the backpacker tripod.

I bought a Sirui T-005SK T-0S used from FredMiranda. It is 2.4 lbs. I used it primarily for my Z50 (when I took two cameras) and used it for my time lapse photography. I also carried it with me on at least one backpacking trip to Taft Point. It is stable, reasonably light and very usable, but heavy.

For my upcoming JMT trip, I wanted to do something lighter than this, but something better than my ultra pod. A friend has the SIRUI Traveler 5CX Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod which is perhaps what I was going to get. It is 1.9 lbs, very stable and folds into a short package. But can we do better?

The same friend found this very interesting tripod, the Aziak backcountry tripod and the Aziak backcountry lite ball head. A quite remarkable package for 1.5 lbs and a 20 lbs weight capacity that folds to 15.5”. I got the kit and tested it.

I really like the tripod and ball head. It is very stable. It was able to handle my Z7ii and 105mm micro nikkor quite easily. It was very stable. It is everything that is promised from a light weight tripod.

I then turned my camera to the side and used the vertical slot to test vertical orientation. Because of the way the lever is setup, it was obstructing the handle, by mistake, I was able to completely disengage it from the ball head.

The creator of the ballhead said this to me.

You are the first customer to ever have that disassembled! It is a left hand screw, so it looks like you were trying to adjust it and just kept unthreading it while trying to tighten it. Its only a 1/4 ball head so you should never pull out the clamp and reposition it past a 1/2 turn, and it appears you just unthreaded in multiple threads. To put it back on, just thread it to the left, reposition the handle, and thread left again. It shouldn't be any issue in the wilderness as long as you dont unthread it 3 full threads when it only needs 1/4 turn to lock and it locks itself in place by design since the base stops it from turning further if you dont pull out on the handle. 

Definitely user error. In trying to tighten the ballhead in the vertical orientation and not by reading the fine manual, I managed to disengage it completely. This one is on me, but I didn’t feel comfortable using this in the wilderness going forward. If I get any kind of dirt into this setup in the wilderness, it will be hard to clean.

This does not mean that this exceptional ball head and tripod won’t work for you. In all likelihood, if you are not as clumsy as I am, please take a look at the Aziak backcountry tripod and lite ballhead.

So back to the drawing board. After reading about table-top tripods, I bought the Oben CTT-1000L Carbon Fiber Tabletop Tripod (Long). It is 1.1 lbs (without center column), I was torn between the short version that collapses to 10” but only goes to 15” or the long version that collapses to 15” but goes up to 28”. I went with the long version. Without the center column, this is reasonably stable with my Z7ii and 24-120, provided I am close by. At 1.1 lbs it is not too hideously heavy (sorry ultra light backpackers).

It folds to the same size as my Helinox zero chair. That is two luxury items now.

There is also a slightly different version (it seems like the same manufacturer) called the Aoka Travel Tripod, but I went with the Oben.

There it is. I am going to try the Oben CTT-100L on the JMT this year. Watch this space for reviews from the trail and how it fairs on the trail.

This is the trail we use.

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/sun-18-apr-2021-04-57-f5f8590

We hike through the McCorkle Trail and return via the Camp Ohlone trail (aka the Little Yosemite trail).

McCorkle trail is gorgeous in Spring. Poppies along the trail and great greenery.

Since we reserved only six weeks before the hike, we only got Sycamore campsite. I have stayed at the other campgrounds, so I thought Sycamore couldn’t be very different than the other campsites.

Turned out Sycamore campsite was pretty bad.

• There is no level ground to pitch tents

• There is heavy growth of weeds and sharp thorny bushes all around. We had to clear some of the ground to be able to fit 3 tents, albeit very tight

• Did I mention thorny bushes? They were nasty, prickly and hurt.

We couldn’t take our boots off even for a short walk without hurting ourselves.

The sunset, sunrise and scenery is top notch, as always, but the next time, I will checkout Morgan Territory area for a shakedown hike.

I recorded a fantastic podcast with Howard Fox at Outdoor Adventure Series. He released it today. We talked about backpacking, photography and how it all comes together for me :). Please do listen.

If you get to the end :), Howard has instructions on how to win a free print from my photo gallery as well ;).

https://www.outdooradventureseries.com/anands-outdoor-odyssey-from-tech-guru-to-hiking-enthusiast-and-nature-photographer/

This is the view from Snow Creek campsite. I am giving away this print free for one of you, details at the end, but for now, let us talk about the hike.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my hike to the John Muir Trail was canceled due to Hurricane Hillary. As I mentioned before, I had a permit to hike to North Dome for Memorial Day, and that was canceled because Tioga Road did not open until July this year.

I then made a reservation to Rancheria Falls, which was canceled due to Pika Fire which originated in North Dome, but the smoke was intense in Hetch Hetchy.

We were looking for a hike that was overnight since we had to return before the storm moved in. Pika fire had shut down all the trails in the area, but fortunately, the fire was completely put down last week and the trails opened up. We got an overnight permit for North Dome.

Unfortunately, Pika fire has burned 850 acres of high ground and camping is forbidden in the area for the foreseeable future. The park ranger suggested either hiking to Indian Canyon or to Snow Creek. Both Lehamite Creek and Snow Creek are flowing this year, so both are good options. We chose Snow Creek since it was closer to Half Dome.

The hike is downhill going in, from Porcupine Creek towards the valley.

https://www.strava.com/activities/9688134754

The trail is shaded almost the entire way and lovely walk through the woods.

About 2 miles (Apple watch miles, not trail miles), there is a fork in the trail and you have to left towards Mirror Lake. That is the hard left in the map above.

There are many camping sites as you near the switchbacks, but just before you reach the switchbacks, you get this open area with a great view of Half Dome.

I deliberated about the campsite a lot given the thunderstorms were rolling in later in the day. There were trees burned down by a lightning close by and young trees in its place. There were safe spots with young trees and shade, but the view was not great. The photographers in the group (including me) won, and we ended up pitching tents in the wide open space here. A decision, I think was not very wise, when I look back now.

After a relaxing afternoon with clouds rolling in, the sky opened up just enough at sunset to give us a spectacular sunset - Instagram reel of the sunset.

The location also had one of the best views of Clouds Rest I have seen. That is Clouds Rest at sunset. We were also able to see hikers going up and down the cables on Half Dome as well.

However, the real fun was just after sunset, when the thunder and lightning started. The closest lightning was 7 Mississippi away, and that was not a good feeling. We had Internet connection at the campsite, so we were monitoring the weather closely. We had two Tarptent Double Rainbow Li and one Gossamer Two. They all stood the strong winds that picked up, although one of the stakes on the Two came out and had to be restaked. However, I did not like the choice of our campsite. Being in an open space such as that is great for photography, but not for safety. NOAA’s instructions on campsites explicitly says to not do that.

The thunder abated in an hour and it rained rest of the night, but it was uneventful. Storms were coming in early the next morning, so we left at 7am and hiked back. It rained for a couple of miles and we had to hike in our rain gear, but it was manageable.

https://www.strava.com/activities/9688134552

The return hike is uphill and particularly nasty for the last mile. Plenty of wildflowers give you company along the way - Instagram reel.

Overall, all our gear held and did their job. I would do better with campsite selection the next time.

Print Giveaway

I started taking my photography a bit seriously this Summer. I launched my website as a self-service solution and I will be doing a few art shows this Fall.

I have a print of that Half Dome sunset at the top of this page to giveaway exclusively for the readers of NorcalHiker. I know some of you have already subscribed to the newsletter in my photography website, but if you are interested in this photograph, please signup again. It does not send multiple emails, but lets me know that you are interested in this giveaway.

https://www.anands.net/norcalhiker

I will randomly pick one email next Monday night and announce the winner here on Tuesday. If you live in the US, my printer, BayPhoto will ship it directly to you. If you live overseas, I have to find a printer in your country and sort it out, but I will.

Thanks for being great readers of this newsletter. It is a lot of fun to write this and I am super happy with the Half Dome sunset photograph and I can’t wait to see it at one of your homes.

I am at snow creek overlooking Half Dome. I should have been at Soldier Lake on my first night on the JMT section hike from Cottonwood pass to Kearsarge pass.

Hurricane Hilary had other plans. I’m lucky I found out about this two days ago and not on the trail. I am reading people are exiting the trail at the moment.

We came here for an overnight stay at North Dome but Pika Fire has burnt 850 acres of land around North Dome and camping is forbidden. That brought us to Snow Creek and an intimate view of Half Dome.

Weather expected tomorrow, hopefully we will make it out dry.

The memorial day trip to North Dome was canceled because, well Tioga Road wasn’t open until yesterday.

I had a permit for Stanford point in June, but I was single parenting that weekend and headed to India and missed that one.

My third trip is scheduled to Rancheria falls in Hetch Hetchy this upcoming weekend, but between the Pika Fire and the flu I caught on the flight back from India, it is starting to look iffy as well. Somehow, we have, in California, managed to get into a situation where heavy snow, massive water flows and wildfire all co-exist at the same time, making backcountry adventures even more harder.

This means that my section hike of the JMT in a few weeks would be the first backpacking trip of the year and the shakeout hike would be the first night at Cottonwood Pass camp ground. I do know that my gravity filter was broken and replaced it, maybe I should test everything at home this weekend to see what else needs a fix.

Now, for the self plug.

Over my summer break, I relaunched my photography website, this time using a full service storefront, with a focus on marketing and brand building. It is a challenge like no other, for an introverted programmer to scale, tougher than climbing the passes in the High Sierra, but here I am :).

To celebrate the launch of my brand new website, I’m giving away a 20"x30" metal print of "Valley View Dramatic Light" (retail value $270!) 🎉👉 (shipping to the United States only).

ENTER HERE: https://www.anands.net/new-website-giveaway

The winner will be announced on August 2, 2023.

I will also be providing EVERYONE who enters (even if you don't win!) a one-time discount to buy anything on my site at 20% off.

Good luck! 💪
BTW – I’d love to know what you think of my new website!

This year has been a damp one for backpacking so far. Tioga road hasn’t opened yet. That’s the fourth time I’ve been unable to hike to North Dome for weather reasons.

All that snow meant Yosemite is full of water and visitors. A few weeks ago, a group of friends took a weekday off and hiked the upper Yosemite Falls trail. My first serious hike of the year. I carried my Katadyn gravity filter with me but didn’t test it this year (got cocky). It promptly failed. Frenetic searching on YouTube provided options to fix it on the trail. It marginally improved. I had changed the filter last year and it only has a few dozen liters on it. I was annoyed enough that I bought a Platypus gravity filter to replace it. Let me see how much longer before I give up and go the UV light route.

A few months before that, during one of those mad winter months with a lot of clouds, valley view provided us with this.

I’m lucky to live 3 hours from Yosemite door to door (if I leave at 4am), but this year has been tiring. Good year to visit the park on a Wednesday, I suppose.

If you are on the John Muir Trail Facebook group and are following Lange Jorstad’s photos, you will know that as of April 1, 2023, this year is a record-breaking year for snow in the Sierra Nevada.

The podcast linked to this post contains interviews with Daniel Winsor, who hiked the Sierra Nevada portion of the PCT in 2017 (another high snow year) and Ned Tibbits, the founder of Mountain Education, on how to hike the Sierra Nevada on a high snow year.

It is nearly four hours long and totally worth it (the first 20 minutes or so are skippable). Please listen to it if you are planning to hike the High Sierra this year.

As for me, I have wilderness permits on the High Sierra starting from Memorial Day, but I have no hopes of making it to any of them until late August, when I will attempt to hike the JMT from Cottonwood Pass to Kearsarge Pass.