It was early November in California, and still snow had not fallen on the "Snowy Range". The Sierra Nevada is spectacular for one principal reason- at higher elevations it is almost entirely composed of glacially carved granite. Hundreds of ancient volcanos left behind quite a treasure, for as their liquid magma chambers froze into place- granite was formed. But this granite was trapped underneath thousands of meters of overlaying rock, unavailable to the terrestrial eye. Millions of years of erosion took over-rain, wind and snow removed thousands of meters of rock above the granite, glaciers carved the peaks and lakes, flowering [View Full Entry]

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Friday after work at 6pm, Brian called and asked if I wanted to go Backpacking. I asked what time we were leaving- to which he replied "meet me at my house tomorrow morning at 6am!" Thats how it was for all 6 of us who went, a last minute trip to Desolation Wilderness that turned out to be a really nice way to spend the Fall Equinox. Desolation Wilderness outlines the giant granite peaks and lakes that sit at the southwest corner of the Lake Tahoe high country. Here is the last holdout of the Sierra Nevada, where a shimmering granite [View Full Entry]

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