Featured Favorite: Bullfrog Lake and The Great Western Divide
January 30, 2017
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Bullfrog Lake and The Great Western Divide, Kings Canyon National Park
On a damp day in late August, I set out in the early morning hours to backpack from the Onion Valley trailhead, an Eastern approach into the Sierra Nevada, to Charlotte Lake, nine miles into the wilderness. The clouds above were dark and menacing. As I neared the Sierra Crest’s...
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You hike alone? Aren't you afraid?
November 12, 2016
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You hike alone? Aren’t you afraid?
It had been a great day! I’d set off at dawn on a solo hike of the Paradise Valley Trail out of Kings Canyon National Park. This beautiful 13 mile round trip takes hikers to incredible down-canyon views of the Sphinx, to the ferocious deluge of Mist Falls and up into serene and peaceful Paradise Valley. All in al...
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Want to try hiking? My advice: Get your body ready first.
November 07, 2016
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If you’ve never hiked before and think you’d like to try...
Ok, this is the thing: I take photos when I’m out hiking and backpacking. 99% of my photos were taken somewhere “out there.” I love to hike and explore the wilderness and I love to talk about it, but it wasn’t always that way for me.
I mentioned in another post that, the first time I eve...
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Wildflower of Hope
April 11, 2016
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A tear slips from my eye. I can feel the loss – a feeling of emptiness and an ache deep at my core. As the wind swirls around me, I hear the loud “crack” of another of nature’s creations snapping and falling to the ground. The charred remains of the pine forest are all I can see: a once beautiful and vibrant place whose life has been consumed. I’m...
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Kilimanjaro
January 29, 2016
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My face, nose, lips are numb; my feet, my hands, they feel frozen. Most of all, I can’t breathe. No... I’m breathing, but there isn’t enough air and I feel like I’m sucking what little air there is through a cocktail straw. Three, four, five steps; stop; breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe. Altitude sickness – it’s been with me since about 17,000 ft...
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© Esta Willman