September 9th to 19th, 2019
182 miles, 40,200' gain
Day 1: Roads End to Dougherty 13.1 miles, 6,600'

Day 2: The Bitch, Simpson Meadow,  17.4 miles, 1,500'
Day 3: Tehipite Valley 12.8 miles, 4,700'
Day 4: Rancheria 19.6 miles, 3,800'
Day 5: Courtright 21 miles, 2,600'
Day 6: 23 miles, 2,800'
Day 7: VVR 9.1 miles, 1,300'
Day 8: Cassidy 17 miles, 2,200'
Day 9: Clover 14 miles, 4,600'
Day 10: Fernandez & Merced Passes 19 miles, 3,500'
Day 11: Glacier Point & Yosemite Valley 13 miles, 1700'

[Pics] [Caltopo]

These days I struggle a bit to come up with peak based trips to lead for the Sierra Club Wilderness Travel Course that are accessible but that I haven't done before. In 2017 I'd lead a climb of the SPS peaks Koip and Kuna from this trailhead and found it to be a nice trip but a bit on the long side for a mixed group. So I'd decided why not revisit the area and climb one of the multiple peaks around Mono Pass.

And so this two day climb of Mount Lewis was born. The peak itself is on the Vagmarken Sierra Crest List if you're into that sort of thing or if you are not peak motivated then it's a relatively lightly used trail that takes you past waterfalls, gives you multiples lakes to pick between for camping, and lets you visit a historic mining site before presenting you with an epic view of June Lakes.

August 17th & 18th, 2019

Mount Lewis (12,320')
Day 1: 3.5 miles, 2,200'
Day 2: 11.1 miles, 3,200'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

The Sayward Canoe Route is a 48 -ish mile loop on Vancouver Island Canada involving 12 lakes connected with 13 portage sections where you have to transport your craft along trails and gravel roads. (This is actually much harder than it sounds!) It’s most commonly done in 3-5 days but we decided to hit it a little more aggressively and started at 4 pm on a Saturday at the southern end of Gosling Lake heading counter clockwise and finished about 2 pm Monday.

We ended up doing this route almost by accident. When planning our big 17 day road trip I'd come across mention of how amazing the cold water diving was off Vancouver Island and so we started to look for complimentary activities to justify the sizable drive out west from Banff. And since we had been itching to get out on another major paddle adventure after the awesome experience out in the San Juan Islands last summer this jumped out immediately when we came across it.

This was one of the major activities during out 17 day road trip across 8 western states and 2 Canadian provinces.  The previous few days had been spent in Banff and Jasper which were spectacular but our initial peakbagging plans had been scaled back due to the constant rain / snow.

July 20th to 22nd, 2019
Sayward Canoe Route

Day 1: 9.5 miles Gosling to Goose

Day 2: 14.3 miles Goose to Grey

Day 3: 8.4 miles Grey to Gosling

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

This hike was done during our 11 day dive-centric vacation to Indonesia. While most of the trip was spent on a liveaboard diving our butts off but we did have a day or two on either side to play tourist and since I've done very little international traveling I was eager to get a peak.

Normally I would go for the country or island high point but in Bali that would be Mount Agung which was off limits due to the minor issue that it's been actively erupting since 2017. So we ended up settling for Batur.

This is also one of those areas like Kilimanjaro where you're basically required to have a guide despite the basic nature of the hike. (Read here what someone went through trying to do it solo and you can read reviews on TripAdvisor of people claiming to have been assaulted.)

We didn't care enough to mess with any of that and found a guide outfit that would pick us up at 2 am, get us up the peak, and promised to return us to Denpasar early enough to pick up our dive luggage and catch our boat which was leaving around 1 pm. And they threw in a trip to a local coffee plantation.

And the price for all of this? $55 a person for a total of 1.5 million Rupiah via Bali Trekking Tour. Ouch.

June 29th, 2019

Mount Batur (5,633')

6.2 miles, 2,200'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

Each year I take advantage of the long holiday weekend around Memorial Day to get out and do an early season backpack with the goal of getting back in "backpacking shape" for the summer trip season.

In the past these trips were 4 or 5 day buttkickers (for write ups on many of these trips you can browse the tag Memorial Day Massacre) but the last few years I've had to hold them to 3 days thanks to Jen's sadly draconian teacher employment contract which doesn't allow for floating vacation days.

This year thanks to the whole quitting my job and adventuring for the summer situation (more on that here) I wasn't about to limit myself to just three days so I decided I'd just stay out after Jen had to return to gainful employment making for a nice long seven days total with the plan of revisiting some seldom visited terrain in the Southern Sierra. And because it's still early in the season in what's been an interesting year so far I hit everything from sun to wind to rain to hail to full on snow.

May 25th to 31st, 2019

Saddlehorn Peak (7,408')

Finger Rock (Attempt) (9,220')

Peak 9156 (9,156')

Day 1: 10 miles, 3,000'

Day 2: 10.7 miles, 2,700'

Day 3: 12.5 miles, 1,200'

Day 4: 6 miles, 750'

Day 5: 11.5 miles, 2,000'

Day 6: 18 miles, 3,000'

Day 7: 8.7 miles, 450'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map] 

I've made a solid attempt of late to stop saying no to more involved trips on account of them being too much time away from work or too expensive since quite frankly the events of the last year or two have shown the things I've been sacrificing for just aren't worth it. And so you're seeing more trips like this, Florida, and the oncoming onslaught of Summer 2019.

This was one of those bucket list trips that I'd looked at for years. Buckskin Gulch is considered the longest and deepest slot canyon in the southwest United States and possibly the world.  It's claim to fame is that you can backpack through it and them meet up with the Paria River and spend several days descending down to the Colorado River. Compare this with other slot canyons in the area where you're lucky to get the better part of the day.

I of course love me some slot canyon. So then the limiter became getting the permit which are rather limited (more on that below) but this year Jen got lucky and so the week after the Wilderness Travel Course Snow Camp wrapped up we were off!

March 30th to April 4th

Day 1: 15 -ish miles 

Day 2: 14 -ish miles 

Day 3: 12 -ish miles

Day 4: 10 -ish miles

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

Those that follow this site know that I'm a volunteer instructor for the Sierra Club Wilderness Travel Course down here in Orange County. I run Kaweah Group which is one of three groups in the area and so my schedule tends to be dominated by the class in the January to April timeframe.

The class began on January 22nd and we have had three of the ten Tuesday night classroom sessions so far but we'd yet to actually get outside with the new crop of students. That all changed this weekend with a full day hike excursion to Sierra Peak.

We'd originally planned on Mount Wilson from Sierra Madre but the seemingly endless series of storms we've been experiencing this year resulted in temperatures in the 30s, high winds, and 3-5 ft of snow up top. That the prospect of a steep trail with a big drop off to the side less than ideal so we ended up changing at the last minute.

So off we went to Sierra Peak with a forecast of temperatures in the high 40s, high winds, and rain pretty much throughout the day.

February 10th, 2019

Sierra Peak (3,045')
15 miles, 3,000'

[Pics] [Caltopo] [Map]

Zion is a funny place since it's becoming increasingly popular yet there really isn't as much to it as some of the other National Parks. The main canyon is stunning but so choked with people they have to shut down the park entrances on a regular basis to avoid it turning into one long angry parking lot.

And when it comes to hikes the thing that most people know about Zion is Angels Landing aka that scary thing your Aunt did once where she thought she was going to die.

Now don't get me wrong Angels Landing is a fun little hike and there are enough narrow sections to make the pit of your average persons stomach drop a bit but it's also a well-maintained trail with chains to hold on to whenever you get anywhere near an edge. The first time I did it my girlfriend at the time had really worked herself up about the exposure only to comment she felt somewhat less badass considering we were passing 6-year-olds along the chain.

So, Angels Landing is fun but not the end all be all of Zion. For my money if you want to do something and see the best view of the park from the front country then Observation Point is the thing to do. It's all on trail and doesn't have the exposure issues but the view from the top looks straight down the main canyon and you even get to look down on all those people on Angels Landing.

I hike a fair amount. Some would even venture to categorize it as "a lot"  So you would think that after 10 ish years of this I'd be fairly well adapted and basic hikes would, in general, go smoothly. And you would, of course, be completely incorrect.

It seems like there's always some new sort of issue cropping up so it shouldn't have been a huge surprise when I woke up and made the long fridged stroll to the campsite bathroom only to realize I was having a rather major chaffing issue that was going to make any hiking rather unpleasant.

But hey, it's a Matt trip, it's freezing, and things go a little wrong. Life as usual!

We didn't finish our climb of Jenny Peak and Jenny's Nipples until almost 2:30 pm which only left us with a few hours before dark. And going along with our periodic Thanksgiving trip nipple theme we decided to knock out Nippletop!

Nippletop is another fairly obscure peak on the eastern end of Zion far away from the usual tourist-friendly activities in the main canyon. It's a good way to spend a few hours while getting in some unique views and welcome solitude assuming you're ok with a bit of loose 3rd class scrambling.

This was a part of this year's Thanksgiving trip aka the 2018 Turktacular!  This year I was out in Zion Utah climbing a series of smaller peaks. For the other days see the tag Turktacular 2018 and for what I've gotten up to other years see the tag Turktacular.

November 23rd, 2018

Nippletop (6,715') 

3 miles, 1700'

[Pics] [Caltopo] [Map]

Jenny Peak is an obscure bump in an area of Zion National Park that doesn't see near the amount of traffic as the main canyon. The peak itself is lower than a lot of its neighbors but it makes for that with the enjoyable class 3 -ish scramble and a summit view that engulfs you in a spectacularly beautiful and underappreciated area of the park.

It's also apparently located in a closure based on what I found out after we did the peak. We didn't see a single sign anywhere along the route but YMMV.

This was a part of this year's Thanksgiving trip aka the 2018 Turktacular!  This year I was out in Zion Utah climbing a series of smaller peaks. For the other days see the tag Turktacular 2018 and for what I've gotten up to other years see the tag Turktacular.

November 23rd, 2018

Jenny Peak (6,310')

Jenny's Nipples (6,240')
3.9 miles, 1,500'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

September has been a rough month for me. After a strong summer a confluence of health issues forced me to drop out of several trips and dial back others.

I was finally starting to feel at least somewhat better though not quickly enough to salvage the four-day buttkicker trip to Zion I had scheduled for this weekend. When it became apparent that it was going to be best to reschedule that trip Jen and I decided to head up to the Sierra and try something moderate without the pressure of having a group relying on me. After looking at options we settled on Piute Mountain located in a remote part of Yosemite and accessed out of Twin Lakes (the one north of Mono Lake not the Mammoth one.)

September 29th to October 1st, 2018

Piute Mountain (10,541')

Day 1: 10.8 miles, 3,100'

Day 2: 16.8 miles, 4,200'

Day 3: 10.2 miles, 800'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

A little known personal fact is that I was adopted when I was just a few days old. The next 30 some years I didn't have any contact with my birth family despite a few attempts from both sides to find each other.

Then came a Facebook message from a stranger pointing me to a post on a Texas adoption registry. After a little online digging and 9 months of waiting for someone to check their Facebook non-friend messages I went from being a lifelong only child to having two half sisters and a half brother.


I got to meet Clare, JoAnn, and my birthmother Kim for the first time last Christmas when visiting family in Texas. (My half-brother Adam is in the military and was in Hawaii at the time).

A good time was had by all and when we got to talking Clare, whose hobbies include Crossfit and running marathons dressed as Wonder Woman, was interested in trying out one of the Sierra backpacks I'm always talking and posting about. So I threw out a few options and we settled on a three day to Mount Silliman in Sequoia.

September 21st to 23rd, 2018

Mount Silliman (11,188')

Day 1: 5.2 miles, 3,400'

Day 2: 2 miles, 1,400'

Day 3: 5 miles, 100'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

August 25th & 26th, 2018
Mount Crocker (12,458')
Hike In From McGee: 5.9 miles, 2,300 ft 
Hike In From Mosquito: 20.3 miles, 5,200'
Summit Day & Out: 11.9 miles, 2,400'

This was yet another set of peaks I'd eyed for a number of years but never got around to actually climbing meaning they'd been standing out as the only remaining red dots in the area on my Peakbagger SPS map.

Since pretty much everyone we know who has tried to do both Sawtooth and Needham with a group as a two-day backpack has ended up turning back on Needham we decided to make it three and toss in the unlisted Mineral Peak as a bonus climb. We also advertised it as intending to maximize the 3rd class as much as was reasonable and took the opportunity to camp at the less visited Crystal Lake vs the more commonly visited Monarch Lakes.

August 17th to 19th, 2018
Sawtooth Peak (12,343')
Needham Mountain (12,520')
Mineral Peak (11,615')
Day 1: 5.6 mile s, 3,700'
Day 2: 5.7 miles, 3,800'
Day 3: 6.7 miles, 1,600'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

Last year a trip to Mineral King to climb my namesake peak happened to occur around the birthday of my good friend Victor Gomez. Seeing as how he is a fellow beer aficionado we turned the latter part of our first day into a lakeside alpine beer tasting event.


It turned into such a photogenically good time we just had to plan another! And so this summer we decided to visit Treasure Lakes in August and climb a few easier (-ish) end 3rd class peaks. And we filled up pretty much instantly.

August 4th to 6th, 2018

Trapezoid Peak (12,920')

Mount Johnson (12,871')

Hurd Peak (12,237')
Day 1: 3 miles, 1,300'
Day 2: 6.7 miles, 3,400'
Day 3: 5.5 miles, 2,300'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

Ian Campbell is a relatively minor named peak near Florence Lake in the Western Sierra. It's not on any list and doesn't particularly stand out from a distance but its located above a spectacular lake that's only a few miles in along a seldom used trailhead. Combine this with the fact the campsite is low enough to allow campfires and the lake warm enough to be ideal for swimming a good chunk of the summer and you have all the ingredients for one of my favorite WTC Experience Trips to lead.

This is the second time I've done the trip with the first time being with Jen Blackie in October 2016. The only real downside is that the drive is on the long side but that can be helped that by having people camp along the way and starting later than usual since it's such a short day in.

This trip happened in the middle of a bad fire season with the Ferguson Fire outside Yosemite causing massive smoke problems across the Sierra. In fact Yosemite itself was evacuated during this time. We decided to do the trip anyway after looking at the smoke modeler here and for the most part it wasn't that bad except in the late afternoons but be aware the views are usually even more spectacular. Unfortunately conditions like these are just a fact of life in the Sierra particularly with the last few years of drought conditions and warmer weather.

This was a three-day trip primarily aimed at students who had taken the Sierra Club Wilderness Travel Course though it was open to anyone who follows Sierra Club outings.


This trip came about because Olancha Group Leader Garry McCoppin had been here in the 1980s with a precursor to Wilderness Travel Course when he broke his leg during a glissade gone wrong. He's now in his 70s (and kicking more ass than you'd think possible at that age) and wanted to get up there again to see the area.

I'm always up for an adventure with Garry and we planned a moderate sounding three-day adventure. The first day would be an easy-ish hike into camp where we'd spend the afternoon relaxing and maybe get in a lake swim or two. Then on the second day we would follow the trail up to Mesan Lake and climbed a chute to access Mount Mallory and Irvine. (We didn't make the latter due to weather but I'm not overly heartbroken as it really looks like it's better done from Arc Pass.)

And then we threw in Lone Pine Peak on the last day because it's a) a fun climb and b) so damn impressive from 395 that many people assume it must be Mount Whitney.

July 20th to 22nd, 2018

Mount Mallory (13,845')

Lone Pine Peak (12,944')
Day 1: 5.1 miles, 3,500'
Day 2: 6.3 miles, 3,700'
Day 3: 8.4 miles, 2,500'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

Temple Crag is one of those peaks that is very well known and yet relatively seldom climbed.  It straddles the North and South Fork of Big Pine Creek areas and is probably right up there with Whitney and Lone Pine Peak in how commonly people post pictures of it online and for good reason.


This is the view of Temple Crag from 3rd Lake in North Fork from a trip a few years back.  It pops up early on as you're climbing up the drainage and just dominates the sky.

It's yet another peak I'd tried to plan periodically but never made it up.  The closest I'd ever come was maybe 1/2 of the way up Contact Pass after a failed attempt at the North Palisade U Notch turned into Sil and Gayley with time to spare.  That time my battered knees and the horrible slog up the pass caused me to turn back and eventually make plans for this weekend to get it via South Fork of Big Pine Creek along with Randy de los Santos and Gracia Plascencia.

July 14th & 15th, 2018

Temple Crag (12,976')

7.2 miles, 4,300'

9.3 miles, 3,100'

[Pics] [Caltopo] [Map]

Mount Emerson is a relatively accessible mountain on the Sierra Peak Section list located off to the north of Loch Leven as you climb Piute Pass. I climbed it years ago via the standard 2nd / 3rd class route on my way to climb Pilot Knob and Four Gables and I remember at the time looking at the description of the 5.4 technical route and looking down at what looked like a very gnarly ridge. Since I generally prefer the overall experience of backpacking in the Sierra over shorter day hikes it's sat there on my list of things to do eventually.

Then this weekend rolled around and Jen and I were looking for something interesting to do after coming off the San Juan Islands paddle trip on Wednesday. I'd flown back into town Thursday morning to work for two days while Jen was driving back from Seattle and would be passing by the Eastern Sierra. We didn't feel up to planning anything too involved and hit upon the idea of knocking out two easier technical alpine climbs which turned into Crystal Crag Saturday and this on Sunday.

The route description for Emmerson lists it as a 5.4 but I would caution against underestimating the difficulty. This is an alpine route and while the pitches aren't incredibly difficult they are awkward in places and the anchor options are very limited. I know of one bailout and one major accident that happened up there and after having done it myself now I can understand a little better what might have happened. In addition once you reach the ridge there is an intense 4th class scramble that requires some not insignificant route finding. But the reward is an intense route up a peak that's fairly pedestrian by other routes.