Hume, California

I remember my first backpacking trip in California like it was yesterday. I was working at a summer camp on Fallen Leaf Lake and my day-off crew decided to head up to Aloha Lake to spend the night at the “Waterfall Camp.” We made our way past several smaller alpine lakes, scrambled across giant g...

First things first, you need an epic road tripping rig, especially for bombing sand dunes and the unmaintained forest roads of Big Sur. We went with the awesome 4x4 Jeep from Pacific Overlander, complete with a rooftop tent. It was a beast! Day 1, Ventura: Kayaking Santa Cruz Island No visit to t...

Growing up with my mother in Portland, Oregon and my father working in Long Beach, California I had driven up and down the I-5 many times. I never really stopped to see things in between until now. On March 31, I decided to check out Castle Crags State Park. It was wonderful. I hiked the Crags T...

When it comes to natural beauty, accessibility, and ecological diversity, California may take the cake as the ultimate adventure destination. You'll find some of the most rugged mountains on the continent, pristine beaches, old-growth redwood forests, endless sand dunes, impossibly tall granite w...

It's winter, but here in Southern California you can still go camping without a winter coat. My girlfriend and I had a plan to go to Joshua Tree to celebrate the winter solstice. With the trip getting closer I looked at the weather in Joshua Tree and saw heavy winds forecasted for the times we pl...

We are all looking for big adventures in life. Being somewhere that is so immense and feeling the simplicity of the world all at once. The day we received our permit to hike the John Muir Trail, I saw a chance to reconnect with nature and take a step back from my current life. I saw a chance to b...

There are 417 different National Park Service sites.  Yet some people only think about the 59 sites designated as national parks and never visit any others.  There are also 87 monuments, 19 national preserves, 51 historical parks, 78 historical sites, 18 national recreation areas and many other d...

There are few places on Earth where you’ll find the diversity in landscape that you’ll find in California. The best way to see it all is, of course, by hiking. Whether you’re looking out over the Eastern Sierra, the Pacific Ocean, or the wide open desert, the views you’ll find on these California...

The solo adventure. There are times when we all need to escape and explore the unknown in order to reground ourselves. Whether it is the stress from daily life, or a nagging call to learn more about who we are, the need for inner exploration mixed with finding new places is ever present. Heading ...

It is virtually impossible to describe the feeling of hiking in the ancient redwood forests in California. It’s something you need to experience for yourself. Lucky for you, we’ve put together a quick list of some of the best places to chase that feeling. All you need to do is get yourself to the...

Backpacker Magazine put out a request for photos of the Sonoma Coast to their photographer call list. I didn't have any extra original photos to give them. So I jumped at the opportunity to run out there and see what I could get! I brought my buddy Justin along, who is great because he's more tha...

Roads trips have become a staple of American culture! There is no better way to see this great nation and spend time with family and friends, then locked in a car playing road trip games. Aside from wrong turns, crying kids, the A/C breaking and being trapped in the car for hours, there is someth...

DAY 1. San Francisco, CA > Eureka, CA  It all started on an early foggy morning on HWY 1 just north of San Francisco. The morning was spent heading north up the coast, battling the heavy fog and cold weather.   Mt. Tamalpais State Park  From HWY 1, I took a quick detour through Point Reyes N...

If you live in California, you know it can be tough sometimes to book the best campsites. Oftentimes weekend reservations are fully booked within hours of the sites being available online and first-come, first-served campsites usually get snatched up before most weekend warriors can even get out ...

One of my favorite things about living in California is the ability to hop in your car and visit so many incredible and wild places. Deserts with otherworldly landscapes? We’ve got it. Turquoise glacial lakes nestled between dramatic peaks? Check. Waterfalls plunging into the Pacific? Yep. With s...

Traffic tends to wake me up at 4:30AM on the weekends. Not because of the noise or the lights, but because I have a special disdain for sitting still on an endless asphalt roadway. Sometimes I think it’s impossible to escape the clutches of the Bay Area, but with the help of a really loud alarm c...