I’m always looking for books, poems, photos and videos that capture the essence of the Sierra. This was too good not to share! Harmen Hoek is one of my favorite YouTube artists creating stunning imagery and cinematography in every video he releases. His latest video combines the Rae Lakes Loop and the High Sierra Trail.

I’m in prep mode for this year’s Sierra trek. I have a permit to backpack North on the John Muir Trail from Onion Valley to South Lake in August 2026 and will be joined by some close friends, Lord willing. The route is 62 miles as planned. I’m following a new program this year called…

Next steps on the Curious Trail have led me to a book titled Voices for the Earth: A Treasury of the Sierra Club Bulletin. The book was published by Sierra Club Books in 1979 and edited by Ann Gilliam. While reading the introduction, written by Harold Gilliam, I was moved by a story I had…

When I consider the various Sierra Club Bulletin articles from the early years, this one stands out. Not only in length, 107 pages total, but also in detail. It’s a first-hand account of Joseph LeConte’s first trip to Yosemite during the summer of 1870. The words are captured in Sierra Club Bulletin Volume 3 No….

I can remember, maybe not every detail, but I recall the feeling, standing in the presence of the California Big Trees for the first time. It was Grant Grove in May of 2005. In that moment, time stood still, there was no place to be but exactly where I found myself. There were no items…

An interesting thing happens to a man when a landscape changes his perspective. When he suddenly sees beyond the world of streets, cars and city traffic. When his sense of scale is confronted by the superlative trees around the edge of the meadow. What happens naturally to a man who is waking up? He begins…