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Best epic backpacking trip: John Muir Trail Best mountain climb: Mount Shasta Best deal: $15 bay boat tours at Fisherman's Wharf Most dramatic easy hike with view: Pohono Trail, Yosemite National Park Most difficult-to-reach wilderness lake: Little South Fork Lake, Trinity Alps Wilderness Epic kayak run: Clavey Falls,  Tuolumne River Best mountain swimming hole: Dorris Lake out of Mono Hot Springs Most pristine redwoods: Boy Scout Tree Trail, Jedediah Smith Redwoods Best short backpack trip: Skyline-to-the-Sea, Big Basin headquarters to Sunset [...]

The Bay Area has 137 trail camps and they provide some of the region’s last refuges of peace. In addition, 52 sites at seven great trail camps in the Santa Cruz Mountains will open May 1. Here are the top 10: 1. Sunset hike-in, Big Basin Redwoods 2. Tomales Bay boat-in, Point Reyes National Seashore 3. Wildcat, Point Reyes National Seashore 4. Sky Camp, Point Reyes National Seashore 5. Pantoll walk-in, Mount [...]

1. Free: Trailhead access to 40 million acres of land operated by the U.S. Forest Service in California, Oregon and Washington 2. Free: Hand-launching kayaks, canoes and inflatables at 190 small lakes without boat ramps that you can reach by car in national forests in California 3. Free: Wilderness permit for camping on multiday trips in wilderness in national forests 4. Free: Parking and access at 71,028-acre Point Reyes National Seashore. 5. Free: Parking and access for hiking and mountain biking at [...]

On the eve of the release of my new novel, “The Sweet Redemption – An Inspector Korg Mystery,” my lawyer has advised me it’s OK to clear the air about a story from a few years ago where a reporter insinuated I was linked to marijuana. I had no involvement. There were no charges. There wasn’t a follow-up story in the media that charges had been dropped because there were no charges in [...]

From the Pacific Crest Trail, less than mile from the trailhead, you can turn and look down at a panorama of Echo Lakes (Tom Stienstra/The Chronicle) From Lake of the Woods, you can scan across sapphire waters and beyond up stark, granite slopes to spike-tipped 9,983-foot Pyramid Peak. It’s only a 2.5-mile walk to reach this spot and a few lakeside campsites (empty on our visit) from the boat-shuttle trailhead at [...]

Why do people climb mountain peaks? Maybe this adventure of my trip up 8,878-foot Twin Peaks west of Lake Tahoe (near Homewood) will help explain it. The trip is 12 miles, including a trek over rock blocks for the final summit ascent. The trailhead is at 7,650 feet at Barker Pass, where you hike the Pacific Crest Trail for five miles, then split off on the Tahoe Rim Trail to the foot [...]