What better place to have a midlife crisis than 14,000 feet high on an active stratovolcano? [caption id="attachment_11115" align="alignright" width="600"] Going up, photo by David Bunker[/caption] Mount Rainier rises like a wayward iceberg from the green sea of moss, fir and ferns that drape both sides of...
The towering range in central Nevada tests route-finding skills and serves up wild serenity on a 72-mile backpacking adventure Sunset over the Shoshone Range from the Toiyabes I sometimes envision the highways and off-beaten paths that crisscross Nevada’s vast landscape as contrails intersecting in the sky. They...
Beyond Tahoe, the region features several dramatic caverns that lure adventurous spelunkers to explore Caves harbor secrets so intriguing that spelunkers will go to extreme lengths to uncover them. They will search for days to find a hidden opening or dive into unforgiving darkness. They will...
Ski Alberta’s Banff, Lake Louise and Norquay on one cool Canadian Rockies trip O Canada! Your natural charms are many, but perhaps none so staggeringly stunning as the steep, snow-covered summits belonging to Banff National Park. Established in 1885, not long after three Canadian Pacific Railway...
A backcountry snowboarding adventure into the Great Western Divide Mileage smileage. This is one of those High Sierra adventures where it’s better not to know exactly how far we’re trying to go. Distances and elevations spinning in our heads might only distract from our confidence. The...
Bucket-list adventure achieved: Climbing five fourteeners in a day Perched on a narrow ledge, I lean out from the rocky mountain face to scan the terrain above me. I can see a scrappy corner that’s climbable, but the rock looks sketchy, too loose to risk messing...
Mt. Whitney tests the mettle of a rag-tag group of hikers with weather, elevation and steep granite The darkening clouds clustered above us on the shoulders of Mt. Whitney were starting to look angry. It was a bad portent for our eclectic band of eight adventurers. For...
Nakoma Resort is much more than golf and Frank Lloyd Wright The two-year-old, 42-room Lodge at Nakoma was the first such amenity built in the Lost Sierra in more than a decade Forget the Frank Lloyd Wright clubhouse for a minute and the master’s architectural imprint. Put...
Record 2016–17 winter opens the door to a backcountry snowboarding adventure in the Southern Sierra Hideous knocks and squeals reverberate through the truck cab with every rotation of the tires. The veteran shocks and struts on our trusty Tacoma absorb heavy blows in a vicious off-road...
Scratching a summer itch to shred at Nevada’s Sand Mountain Recreation Area It’s mid-August, there’s not a snowflake in sight, but once again, we’re strapping in. Wishful thinking about snowboarding just isn’t enough for freaks like us. Driving east from Fallon on lonely U.S. Highway 50, you...