High Sierra Topix

Coastal hiking! If you watch weather reports, some of the clearest and best weather on the coast is in January. And places like Henry Coe Park- cannot backpack in summer because too hot and no water.

Living in the desert, in the winter the temps cool down enough to do woodworking in my garage. That's my favorite winter hobby. For exercise I like to trail run. Last year I bought snowshoes and other winter camping gear and spent a little time in the mountains. I plan to do a little more this year. My brother is trying to talk me into trying ski touring. Maybe a little too ambitious though.

I realize you were looking for alternatives to the Sierra in winter, but I would recommend checking it out. Joshua Tree and Death Valley are nice, but winter in the Sierra is like being in another world.

There are easy solutions to each one of the 'challenges' in winter and the payoffs are epic views, no crowds, no need to carry water etc. My base weight in winter is 10 lbs.

I'm also in SoCal so I started out with some easy overnight snowshoe trips to San Jacinto (via the tram) and then moved on to Piute Pass (the road is always plowed to Aspendell).

Alpine Mike & I did a snowshoe trip over Lamarck Col earlier this year:

http://seatosummitultralight.blogspot.c ... -2016.html

From camp on Darwin Bench:

+1 on the skiing. You still get to be in the mountains, but you don't have to do all that climbing. Plus, there's usually a beer waiting at the bottom. What's not to like?

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+1 on coastal hiking. I forgot about Catalina. There are a few nice places along the Trans Catalina Trail where you can camp right on the sand:

http://seatosummitultralight.blogspot.c ... trail.html

We do a lot of winter trips where we just explore the desert with the 4runner, dayhike, and car camp. The possibilities are seemingly endless....lots of desert to explore out there, and after some good rains the desert is absolutely wonderful.

sparky wrote:We do a lot of winter trips where we just explore the desert with the 4runner, dayhike, and car camp. The possibilities are seemingly endless....lots of desert to explore out there, and after some good rains the desert is absolutely wonderful.

One nice thing about Mohave and Sonora Desert areas are if one has 4WD even without major clearance and good maps, there endless numbers of dirt roads in vast empty regions with fascinating features one can drive out on and easily find seclusion. And as you noted by late winter after good rains, the desert can explode with wildflowers taking on incredibly beauty. However because of the long night hours car camping tends to make more sense because one can more easily do things for a few hours during evenings inside a vehicle given battery power versus just having a headlamp in a tent. And then again, there are significant numbers of small wilderness areas now all over the deserts that one can venture out into.



David
http://www.davidsenesac.com/2016_Trip_C ... 016-3.html

Los Padres NF. I'll get one or two Sierra trips in a year, but maybe a dozen in the Los Padres.

It will be summer in South America. Head to the Andes.

Out of your budget? Backpack the So Cal or Arizona desert ranges. Good hiking is not restricted to National Parks or Congressionally designated Wilderness. Some great places to explore on foot can be found in BLM or FS general multiple use lands.