Gregory Thomas

A pair of new glamping outfits offering overnight stays in luxury safari-style tents are staking their claim outside Yosemite National Park. One of them, Wildhaven Yosemite, opened this spring on a hilly, 36-acre property on Highway 140, about 45 minutes from the Mariposa entrance on the park’s western edge. It offers a mix of 30 heavy-canvas tents and 12 cabins, some of which include kitchenettes. More on Yosemite: Do you need a reservation for Yosemite? Here’s everything to know about the new…

A citizens group in Big Sur concerned about the impacts of rampant tourism across the rugged coastal region is calling for an immediate halt on new lodging developments in the area, which receives more annual visitors than Yosemite National Park. The 70-mile area in Monterey County is currently inaccessible by car due to slide damage on Highway 1 at its northern edge as well as ongoing road repairs on Big Sur’s south side. Highway 1 collapse: Convoys evacuating people trapped in Big Sur In a rec…

UPDATE: Convoys evacuating people trapped in Big Sur due to Highway 1 collapse The collection of state parks dotting the 70-mile stretch of rugged coast through Big Sur are closed until further notice in light of Saturday’s road collapse on Highway 1. Highway 1 in crisis: What will it take for California to keep its iconic road from collapsing? On Sunday, the California Department of Parks and Recreation announced that campers and day visitors would be turned away at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park,…

Last weekend, Bianca Antunez stood on a granite ledge at the tip of Sierra Point, near the back of Yosemite Valley, and peered at the ground 800 feet below, her body buzzing with nervous energy. At her feet, a neon-orange ribbon of fabric extended across a gap to an outcropping about 100 feet away. Just an inch wide, the ribbon swayed with each updraft. Antunez hoped to walk along it like a tiny, undulating balance beam. Antunez lives and works in Yosemite National Park and climbs for fun. She h…

Carson City has a deal for hikers: Trek from the Nevada state capital west through the mountains to a link-up with the Pacific Crest Trail in Lake Tahoe, and then complete the 1,600-mile mountain walk north to the Canadian border, and you could earn $5,000. It’s part of the city’s plan to promote a new 10-mile trail that accomplishes a longstanding goal of providing hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians a path through the peaks separating Carson City and the Tahoe basin, a feat the city’s tour…

Beyond the pull of Tahoe’s ski resorts, the region’s “snow play” areas and sledding hills attract tens of thousands of people this time of year. But visitors are leaving behind more than tracks in the snow: They’re abandoning large numbers of broken plastic sleds. These aren’t classic wooden toboggans or metal saucers. They are distinctly flimsy candy-colored polyethylene that sell for about $5 to $15 at grocery stores and outdoorsy shops around the basin — convenient and affordable enough to fu…

UPDATE: Avalanche watch issued for Tahoe area, some ski resorts announce closures Skiers and snowboarders hoping to cash in on the monster blizzard creeping towards Lake Tahoe should probably already be packing to hit the road or driving into the mountains. Weekend hopefuls should prepare to hole up in their ski leases or hotel rooms for a couple of days, with the expectation they won’t get in their first turns at ski areas until potentially Sunday when conditions improve. Tahoe’s highest peaks…

On Saturday, 34-year-old Mike Petkov of San Francisco drove along winding Highway 88 to Kirkwood, the big-mountain ski area south of Lake Tahoe. He needed an “adventure day” to blow off steam, he said, and opted for an afternoon cruising the ski area’s forested glades, with Kanye West’s new album playing in his earbuds. Petkov, a clinical trial manager for a biotech company, had never skied at Kirkwood, and he couldn’t have picked a better day: A week of storms had filled in the runs with fresh…

A picturesque waterfall in Northern California that President Theodore Roosevelt once called “the Eighth Wonder of the World” will be closed to visitors for the year, beginning in April. About an hour east of Redding is Burney Falls, a 129-foot-high spring-fed cascade that tumbles out of the volcanic highlands near Lassen Peak at McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park. Though in a remote part of the mountainous north state, the falls are easily accessible and have in recent years become mobbe…

After a relatively dry start to skiing season, the storms that drenched California’s lowlands the past week have brought a welcome dollop of fresh snow to the Sierra, ushering in what might be the year’s best skiing and riding conditions. “The big storm is what everyone needed to get in the mode,” said Jon Slaughter, Sugar Bowl Resort’s director of marketing and sales. “You can finally put the rock skis away and get out there and just enjoy it.” January delivered a steady rhythm of light snowfal…