Blogs from El Dorado National Forest, California, United States, North America

A Dose of Outside A Dose of Outside is intended to share a bit of nature with you as experienced on my local hikes and other adventures. Take a moment to look out the window or step outside and see what it is you see. What you smell. Notice what’s growing around you. Use all your senses and really get A Dose of Outside! CAMP DATES: 8-17 / 8-18-2013, Wolf Creek, Union Valley Res, El Dorado National Forest This weekend we’re planning on trying out the new REI Comfort Cots to see just how luxurious our car camping experiences can get. Our buddy Frank is meeting us, driving from the south, so we are trying to choose a destination somewhere kind of in the middle. We opt for the closest place that feels like far away, ... read more

My friends and I went on this trip in Late February, 2006- We rallied the troops for an overnight snowshoe trip to Crater Lake, an alpine lake at 9000 feet just east of Kirkwood Ski Resort. It snowed a few inches that night, and got down to 20 degrees F! (-5 C). It was a trip that was filled with my incessant bitching about the cold and how miserable backpacking in the snow is. Of course, after it was over- I loved it! We made a fire in the snow that burned 3 feet deep by morning, a fire that made the night pleasant and magical. The aspens and firs surrounding camp were magical. It was totally silent, a forecast for a light storm kept others away. The next morning we were greeted with snowmobiles-someone called ... read more