Cone Peak is the King of the Big Sur Coast and a visit to the region is always awesome. Rising 5,155 ft above the Pacific Ocean in around 3 miles as the crow flies, the summit has a commanding view of the region with stunning coastal vistas. The rugged topography is simply spectacular with a…
Category: Travel
Andrew Molera State Park
Andrew Molera State Park has some fantastic trail running and scnery. In the spring I did a hike up East Molera Ridge to Post Summit. The East Molera Ridge route has spectacular views with a gorgeous display of wildflowers and green grass in the spring. A use path continues beyond Post Summit along Cabezo Prieto to…
Cone Peak Marathon Loop
California’s spectacular natural landscape ranges from the Pacific coastline to the Sierra crest, each filled with many inspiring destinations and experiences. As the seasons shift into late autumn and winter I gravitate to coastal adventures. This time of year has reliably less fog along the immediate coast and interior locations are comfortably cooler. This is…
Little Lakes Valley to Morgan Pass
The trailhead at Mosquito Flat in the Rock Creek area is one of the highest trailheads in the Sierra at just over 10,000 feet and provides easy access to wonderful hiking, climbing and trail running at Little Lakes Valley. The visitor less inclined to travel many miles will find quintessential High Sierra scenery within merely…
Whitney to Langley
I don’t often visit the Whitney Zone due its long distance from the Bay Area (7 hours) and convoluted red tape associated with the permitting process. However, I’m always looking for new scenery to explore and parts of this region I have never seen. Snagging some last minute day use permits for the weekend, I…
Caribou Lakes, Trinity Alps
The Caribou Lakes area is one of the finest regions of the Trinity Alps with fantastic scenery and beautiful alpine lakes. The trailhead is at the end of a long and slow gravel road that is quite rocky in spots; passable in low-clearance sedans but caution must be exercised. The extra effort required to reach…
Annotated Panoramas Collection
Check out the complete set of Annotated Panoramas on Flickr.
Red Slate Mountain
The region between Rock Creek and Mammoth Lakes hasn’t drawn my attention in the past. I’ve always thought the peaks in this sector of the High Sierra are loose choss piles (at least that’s how they look from Hwy 395), devoid of the granite ruggedness found in other parts of the range. While Red Slate…
Mount Hoffmann
Mount Hoffmann is geographically near the center of Yosemite National Park. Along with Tuolumne Peak, it forms a small subrange between Tenaya Canyon and Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne with impressive prominence from other high regions of Yosemite. It therefore comes as no surprise that Mount Hoffman’s 10,850 foot summit has one of the best…
Tapto Lakes
The Whatcom Pass and Tapto Lakes area is one of the most scenic in all of the North Cascades. It’s a bit of a schlep to get there by any approach so it comes as no surprise that this is an infrequently visited corner of the range. From the west it’s 18+ miles via Hannegan…
Leor Pantilat's Adventures