Getting Out

Devil’s Dance Floor

Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Ron Erskine
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
Hell for Sure Pass. Gorge of Despair. Lake Lola Montez. Wonderful place names are scattered across Sierra Nevada maps colorfully depicting the difficulty of passage or honoring everything from the Devil to wayward Gold Rush dance hall girls. When a friend sent me a list of [...]

Brokeoff Mountain

Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Ron Erskine
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
Where did it go? Didn’t we just uncork some bubbly and toast the arrival of 2017? And now, another new year is at hand. Whether you make New Year’s resolutions or not, the beginning of the year is a good time to reflect. We know we should be doing a little more of this or a [...]
The pink hues of sunset illuminate the snow of the Emigrant Wilderness

Requiem for a backpacker

Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Ron Erskine
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
Early October 2017. 9,500 feet. Emigrant Meadow Lake. Emigrant Wilderness. It is late afternoon. I lay tucked in my sleeping bag staring at the ceiling of my small one-person tent. Every two or three minutes, I slap the rainfly to remove snow collecting there. Six inches are on [...]
Hikers visit the newly-opened, iconic radar tower atop Mt. Um.

Stunning Summit

Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Ron Erskine
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
Most beloved landmarks have an air of aesthetic elegance that endears them to us. Most, but not all. The massive radar tower atop Mt. Umunhum that has looked out over the Santa Clara Valley since 1957 gets no style points, but this sterile concrete obelisk is loved nonetheless. [...]
beachy skies in the Marin Headlands

Between sand and sky

Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Ron Erskine
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
There are few places on earth where the handiwork of nature and mankind meld so beautifully as at the entrance to the Golden Gate. I challenge any world traveler to cite a scene grander than the view of the San Francisco skyline beyond the Golden Gate Bridge from any number of [...]
solar eclipse transitions

Eclipse Exodus

Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Ron Erskine
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
“Sometime in your life, be sure you see a total solar eclipse.” I received this advice years ago from a couple who regularly traveled to exotic corners of the globe—places like Turkey and Mongolia—to witness solar eclipses. It was earnest advice, and I never forgot it. [...]

Horsetail Falls

Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Ron Erskine
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
Homeward bound on US Highway 50, around a bend just a fistful of miles west of Echo Summit, Horsetail Falls appeared through my windshield with sudden grandeur. At that very corner, the narrow conifer-clad landscape widened into a sweep of bright granite carved millennia ago by [...]

Sweeping Views

Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Ron Erskine
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
Every January 1, we begin the year by making a resolution with an eye toward self-improvement. Each of us could do a little less of this or a bit more of that, but we rarely stick with it. Several weeks into the new year, we revert to our old ways. Last January, a group of [...]

Battle of the beach

Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Ron Erskine
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
Long before Martin’s Beach was a battleground pitting a landowner’s purported property rights against the peoples’ right to coastal access, it was simply a destination for surfers and beachgoers. I knew of Martin’s Beach before it became a regular news item, but I had [...]
Mirror Lake Yosemite

Whitewater runoff

Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine
Ron Erskine is a local outdoors columnist and avid hiker.
Ron Erskine
Latest posts by Ron Erskine (see all)
Plentiful winter rains bring a spring of singular delights: energized creeks, top shelf wildflower displays and green hills that persist through April. As wonderful as our lowland spring has been, it is quaint and timid compared to the cirque du soleil of water shows in Yosemite [...]
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