Wilderness hiking will become an annual retirement project. I completed a first test of what my 63-year old body can take in the summer of 2024. I hiked for 35 days about 370 miles through the Sierra Nevada with a 40-50 lbs backpack at high altitudes. A second 14-day hike covered 120 miles in 2025 when I explored the Sierra Nevada off the main trails. It exposed me to almost daily swimming in lakes and streams motivated by an adventureous surfer/hiker who picked me up as a hitchhiker in Yosemite National Park.
- Pioneer Basin in California’s High Sierra: Beaches, Swimming, and Trout [14-day near but off JMT]
First essays with photos from 2024 are
- First Lessons, Maps, and Hot Spring [35-days on and near the John Muir Trail in California];
- Looping through Yosemite [Creative routing and permits to experience the John Muir Trail (JMT].
Icy Seas 