Snow was coming down heavily on the drive to Rikert. Once there I could see the wind was blowing the snow so a pulled on my anorak before heading out. It remained on for the trip. I headed up to the end of the western leg of the race trail which come to find out was named Craigs Hill, the upper end of which I took on the last trip to Frost Trail.

The upper most trail was all ungroomed while the close-in snow making trails were groomed fit for the Olympics. Quite a contrast. I accessed the backcountry trails by climbing the racing trails. My extra wide waxless, backcountry touring skis more than filled the tracks as racers whizzed by me on skinny skis.

Short walk along Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur.  It was a rainy day, but we couldn't resist stopping on our way from Kirk Creek Campground to Pacific Grove.  It was nice to have the whole beach to ourselves due to the weather.  Always beautiful at Pfeiffer Beach.

After a particularly cold period thanks to a polar vortex; good weather for the weekend made us want to explore the Silver River. We felt the warm snap would bring out the wildlife and hopefully the much storied monkeys of Silver River.

So my brother Gregg and I set of to Ray's Wayside to paddle to the head spring and back. Rain and drizzle all the way from St.

We closed out the year with the great winter day paddle from Durbin to Palmetto Leaves Park. My brother Greg and friend Dennis put in off of racetrack road and noodled around the area south of Racetrack as far as we could get. Then we headed out through the trail and stopped at  Clark'sn and had lunch on the dock and then continued on to St Augustine Road.

Valley Spokesmen club ride to the summit of Mt. Hamilton and back from the intersection of Alum Rock and Mt. Hamilton rds.  Beautiful warm day for the ride as one of our members celebrated his birthday by treating us to sandwiches at the top with help from his daughters who drove up with the goodies.

The South Kaibab Trail begins south of Yaki Point on Yaki Point Road.
Access to the trailhead is by shuttle bus (Kaibab Trail Route). Offers
day hikes that range in distance up to 6 miles (round trip). Best views
for a relatively short hike. Steep trail, no water, little shade.

Nice hike in Malibu with great views of the ocean (once you hike to the top of the hills of the canyon).  We tried to follow modernhiker's guide, but didn't go all the way to the end of the Deer Valley Loop (which was more of an out-and-back). It can get hot and windy here, so be sure to bring enough water. The ruined mansion was interesting.

A fantastic hike in a fairytale winter landscape.  A whole day all alone, just the three of us.  The plan was to go also to Druid Arch but a Ranger we met before we came at the Elephant Hill Trailhead warned us that the last 500 feet might be very dangerous and maybe even impassable due to ice.  We didn't take the risk and decided to do the hike to Druid Arch next April (2014).

a rather easy hike to a very remarkable place, the False Kiva.  Do pay attention to the waypoints, because otherwise there is a big chance you will end at the edge of the cliff...200 meters above False Kiva...Please do respect that ancient place, leave everything intact and do not leave any trash.you can find a lot more pictures on our blog at http://kalaman0032dec2013.blogspot.