The Santa Ynez Mountains are an east to west coastal mountain range part of the greater Transverse Ranges of Southern California. The range is essentially a high ridge with steep and rugged terrain on either side mostly inhabited by chaparral vegetation but there is oak woodland on the lower slopes and some pine tree stands…
Category: Trail Running
Reyes Peak & Haddock Mountain
Between the Pacific Coast and the Cuyama badlands of Ventura County lies a high mountain ridge that supports a beautiful forest of sugar pines, Jeffrey pines and white fir. The lengthy ridgeline is named Pine Mountain Ridge with two prominent points along the ridge named Reyes Peak (7,514 ft) and Haddock Mountain (7,431 ft). Most of the ridge is…
Wildcat Point & Cold Mountain
Wildcat Point and Cold Mountain are two fairly remote and obscure destinations north of Tuolumne Meadows between the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne and canyon country of northeast Yosemite. The scenery at both locations is stunning. Wildcat Point is to the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne what Clouds Rest is to Tenaya Canyon; a lofty…
Half Dome’s Diving Board
Photo albums here and here. Two spots are referred to as the Diving Board on Half Dome. The most commonly visited, but unofficial diving board is located near the summit on a small overhanging lip above the precipitous northwest face. This feature has also been named “The Visor” and is the preferred name to differentiate with the…
Red Mountain Basin Loop
I visited Red Mountain and Hell for Sure Lake around the same time of year in 2012 and had an awesome time so I was looking forward to returning. This time I would ascend Mount Henry at the northern end of the Le Conte Divide with a striking vantage into Piute Canyon and the rugged section…
Cirque Crest Loop: Windy Point & Marion Peak
The Cirque Crest is located between the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River which form the heart of Kings Canyon National Park. Naturally, the terrain is extremely rugged and the scenery is magnificent. The Cirque Crest is one of the most remote areas in all of the High Sierra. Typical access from the west…
Ericsson & Genevra
Mount Ericsson and Mount Genevra are two points along the rugged and immensely scenic Kings-Kern Divide which is a high barrier between the Kern River watershed and the Kings River watershed, two of the three important watersheds in the Southern High Sierra (the other being the Kaweah River). The point separating these three watersheds is aptly-named Triple…
Big Sur Adventure Running
Last Updated: February 12, 2015 A special post on Big Sur Waterfalls here. The Big Sur region is an adventure running playground. The Ventana Wilderness, Silver Peak Wilderness and a handful of state parks form a network of protected public land over the northern half of the Santa Lucia Mountain Range that is one of…
Black Giant, Charybdis & Evolution
The Ionian Basin is one of the more remote and striking regions in the High Sierra. The feature names within the basin – Charybids, Three Sirens and Scylla – take on a Greek Mythology theme making it all the more intriguing. While the John Muir Trail crosses Muir Pass just to the northwest, few seem to…
Electra Loop – Electra Peak & Lyell Fork Merced River
The Lyell Fork of the Merced River is one of the most remote and rugged regions in Yosemite National Park. Any approach requires many miles on trail followed by off-trail travel. The lower part of the drainage features a splendid series of meadows as the river snakes through a grassland with an amazing view upstream to the chiseled…
Leor Pantilat's Adventures