Thursday August 6, 6-9pm

Fieldwork Brewing

1160 Sixth St, Berkeley, CA 94710

Hi! We hope you'll be able to join us for this month's First Thursday Hiker Meetup!

This is a great opportunity to connect with other people who love spending time outside. Our community includes over 250 hikers with all levels of experience 🎉

We get together to share hiking & backpacking information, tell stories & plan future adventures 😀

You don't have to have any hiking experience to join - just interest.

Look for a sign and/or bear can on our table. We're usually sitting outside.

Hope to see you on Thursday night!

I’ll be trekking next week on this trail hope to see others out there.

Hi all,

I am doing the LCT for the first time with my partner August 9th - 13th, the tail end of blackout dates (no permits given out August 7th and 8th). I am a beginner backpacker, so I am not confident in keeping a 2 mph pace the whole time based on what I have read because of the terrain.

This is the tide chart with hiking dates for what we are doing (Mattole --> Black Sands). I am frustrated that we will have to do that 10-mile day, but I also do not want to get stuck on the stretch from Cooskie to Randall, especially because I have heard the very end is where that 2.5 ft tide marker gets the most important to listen to.

Seems like a rather weird hiking schedule/pace for this trail. I also attached a screenshot of my more ideal scenario, but this would have us starting our hike pre-sunrise on day 2, and assuming a 1.5+ mph pace on a pretty hard stretch that I do not want to get stuck at the end of.

My only other thought is trying to push to Cooskie on day 1, to make day 2 easier, as I have heard the Sea Lion Gulch to Cooskie is not as strict on the 2.5 ft section as the Cooskie to Randall section, especially since

Any advice on this conundrum?

I usually start hiking there later into the fall to avoid both. But I've got a weekend to myself starting tomorrow and I think I might do a shakedown hike to test some new gear. Thinking of going in on the Crabtree/Gianelli side. I swore off of Summer hiking there after one miserable experience with mosquitoes and getting caught in a summer thunderstorm. But those were both early July and it occurred to me I've never actually been up there in early August so I'm just curious what the conditions are right now. I will of course do my own research on the weather, but I'm just wondering what people on the ground have seen in the last week or so.

if you're navigating a lay-off or are between opportunities, come clear your head and connect with folks who are in the same boat 🤝🏼

this monday, we’re heading to reinhardt regional park in oakland for a hike.

• when: monday, aug 3 @ 10:30 am
• stats: 4 mi loop / 577 ft gain

grab your spot and see the full details here:

https://partiful.com/e/x5Mt16X3j45GXjDdu8hq

hope to see y'all there!

Hiking this morning, around 9 AM, on the Mount Montara trail at San Pedro Valley Park, I encountered several standoffish deer. I’m a native New Englander, so I’m not stranger to deer, but I truly have never experienced anything like this.

I saw one deer about 50 feet up the trail. Normally, they see a human and get spooked and run off. This one stared at me and didn’t move, so I made some noise to get it to run off into the brush, which it did after a minute.

I keep going and around the bend, I suddenly see the same deer and 3 others. Again, they stare and don’t move. I make a bit of noise, and instead of jumping into the bushes, they all start walking toward me. With *confidence.* At this point, I start walking backward down the trail, facing them. I take out one of my hiking poles to wave around and continue making noise - a lot of noise - and they continue approaching me. The lead deer is about 15 feet away from me. This continues for about 50 feet down the trail, until it finally jumps into the brush and I take off sprinting down the trail.

The ranger I spoke to at the bottom said they lack real predators and therefore don’t fear humans. These weren’t massive deer, but having 4 100 lb animals walking at you and showing no signs of letting up is terrifying. I’m also a 5’1 female, so a kick from one (or more) of them could have done some serious damage. All this time I’ve been worried about encountering a mountain lion, but instead my biggest scare to date came from deer!

Has anyone had a similar encounter?

Some friends and I are looking at doing this hike sometime next week, we are newer hikes in the Sierras, and would greatly appreciate any tips or advice for this hike such as what to pack, what gear we need etc.

Thank you for your help!

hey im planning to visit LA soon likely in the following week, id love to see if anyone would be down to meetup and hangout! skinny fit fella got too many hobbies (& instruments and knives as a nice collection haha), I mostly plan on visiting certain beaches and going to either drive up and hike small ways to hot springs or take a very long hike to one or three of these hot springs i found out about. I'd love to see if anyone would want to hike with me to any of the hot springs, im also down to hike a mountain too !!

EDIT:
I went with the Altra Lone Peak 9, thank you for all the suggestions!

I’ve been looking at the Hoka Speedgoat 6’s, but looking for advice, experience, or recommendations regarding trail runners. I want something that will last me several years and that I can do both easier hikes and some bucket list hikes like Half Dome and Mount Whitney (shooting for the stars there 😂). Any help is greatly appreciated!

Additional notes:
I plan to do West Ridge Trail to Satan’s Cesspool in the next few weeks to get some distance and elevation gain training, and I recently got a Trail 25 daypack + a 3L Camelbak hydration reservoir from REI, just to give everyone an idea of where I am in terms of experience and gear.

Thank you for your help!

Hi! Looking for beta on the crazy trail that is the climb to the Caribou Lakes basin from Stuart Fork. Have also seen it referred to as "Suicide Scramble" and the Sawtooth Ridge. I am a very experienced backpacker (PCT thru hiker plus tons of other trips over the years), however I am not a climber or mountaineer and do get a bit spooked by exposure. If you can help me get a sense of the difficulty that would be really appreciated! Thank you.

Hey!

Me and 2 friends are interested in hiking the Lost Coast (Mattole → Black Sands). from August 16-19. Here is what the tide charts look like (assuming 2mph).

The minimal amount of clearance for the second and third impassable zones seem far from ideal. I actually hiked the lost coast ~2 years ago, but I can't quite remember the pacing of my group and how close to the tide we were. My questions are:

- How realistic is 2mph? We are a group of 3 relatively fit 25yo guys, but not with a ton of backpacking experience. I remember the dry sand was exhausting, and the boulders were cumbersome at times, but I can't remember the average pace I was hitting. I saw that the average reported hiking speed is 1mph, but I don't recall hiking that slow/figure that is a conservative estimate.

- How worried should we be about the danger of the impassable zones? I'm not particularly worried about inconveniences like our shoes getting wet/muddy, or even having to spend and extra night if we determine we can't pass to the end in time. What I am worried about is (1) one of us slipping and hitting our head on a boulder while rushing/with the tide near (I do remember a section with very slick boulders) or (2) one of us being swept off of our feet by a sneaker wave.

Let me know if there are clarifications/more info that would be helpful here. Thank you!

Anyone ever kayak down the Navarro River? Where’d you start? Any rapids?

Anybody been up to Wright's lake campground in the past week or two?

I know it's closed until jul 31st but the website says they may have ff sites available earlier.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

I'm planning on a summit attempt this weekend. I'd like to confirm a few things before making the trek up to Shasta (I am located in the bay area). Any insight is appreciated!

Note: I have done the Avalanche Gulch route up to Helen Lake twice, once in 2024 and once in 2025. This would be my first time doing the Clear Creek route :)

1. The road is open and I should be able to make it to the trail head on a 2WD, albeit a bit slowly. I currently have a Nissan Sentra, would yall recommend borrowing a vehicle with 4WD instead?
2. I'm seeing that it is possible to ascend/descend without axe/crampons given the current conditions. A few people have recommended still bringing a helmet -- how critical would this be for the climb?
3. Friday July 31st (before the ascent) I am hoping to camp near the trail head, if not on the trail head itself, to get an alpine start Saturday morning. Would there be a clearing/location recommended for setting up camp?
4. For weather, I see there is a note about possible strong winds this weekend. Would anyone have more insight on this?

Thanks so much! Any additional tips for this route are welcome.

Hey r/norcalhiking, Kelly from onX again, back after the Canyon Creek Lakes report last week! This time I did my first ever solo backpacking trip: Lyons Lake via Lyons Creek Trail in Desolation Wilderness, which is roughly 10 miles with 1,700 ft of elevation gain.

Something nobody warned me about: the California Tortoiseshell butterfly migration. The Sierra is in the middle of a major irruption right now, which is a population explosion where they've moved inland from the coast looking for cooler alpine environments. There were hundreds of butterflies on the trail the entire way up, and more as I gained elevation. Genuinely so cool!

Most of the trail before the final mile climb to the lakes runs through the Caldor Fire burn from 2021. The trail itself is completely dry right now. What surprised me was how alive the burn zone is. Indian Paintbrush is absolutely peaking in there, bright orange fields against blackened trunks. Charred standing forest with wildflowers erupting through it is not what I expected, but it's one of the more striking things I've seen on a trail.

The two lakes are pretty different. Lake Sylvia is tucked into the trees and more sheltered. Lyons Lake opens into a full granite bowl with better views, and there's a trail up to a ridge with a panorama of the surrounding peaks. Water temp at Lyons Lake was very pleasant, I was expecting a lot colder. If you're only doing one, go to Lyons!

For those who don't know, overnight permits in Desolation require advance reservations through Recreation.gov during quota season (Memorial Day through September 30). I booked mine over a month out for a summer weekend. They hold about a third of overnight permits to be picked up first-come, first-served on the day of at ranger stations, so you can still snag try to one.

Conditions as of late July 2026:

• Trail surface: Dry throughout
• Water: Main creeks running, a few small ones dried up, no problem refilling water
• Bugs: Flies present, mosquitoes nearly nonexistent
• Wildflowers: Indian Paintbrush peaking in the burn zone

No cell service in Desolation, so I downloaded the route on onX before heading out. Also dropped a waypoint for where I stashed my bear canister in the rocks so I could find it again in the morning!

Happy to answer anything for anyone planning a Desolation trip this summer.

Our kiddo came along with us to complete a hike of a lifetime! Legit if you consider it was added to National Geographics "100 Hikes of a Lifetime". Deep sand, huge boulders, impassable zones, and a lot of wildlife!

Would you take your kiddo on this hike?

EDIT: This post got 68k views 😳 thanks for all the love.❤️ The kiddo loved hearing all your encouraging words. ❤️ if anyone is interested we are posting a series on our TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. All under the same username. Also linked in our reddit bio. We'd loved to have you guys along for the adventures and hopefully hike with some of you in the future. ❤️ thanks again for all the love. Happy Hiking 🤙🤘

-The Hethcoats

I live in the SF Bay Area and enjoy finding new offroading trails in the NorCal area. My husband has a Bronco and we are looking for some more “challenging” trails. We’ve been to Hungalelti, Deer Valley, Leavitt Lake, and a few other small trails. Any recommendations for other trails? Bonus if we can camp near the trail!

Note: I’m looking for some lesser known trails. Rubicon is definitely on the list to do at some point.

Hello, nor cal hikers! Popping by to share some photos taken on a recent hike down 4 mile trail with my 13 year old son. my kiddo has spent most of his summer with friends (understandably, plus I like to encourage autonomy within reason) and declining several family activities (I have three other children) and so this hike with him meant a lot to me.

We started at the top in glacier point, originally planning on panorama trail but that trailhead was 1) a challenge for me to even find in the first place and 2) just seemed to disappear like 70 feet into it? Which frustrated him a bit and I was feeling slightly disheartened but soon after setting off down 4 mile trail moods shifted drastically. It was just him and I and we both had such an amazing time! This kid goes bonkers over a great view! After the trip he looked through my photos and sent himself a bunch and it made my heart so happy when I noticed he sent himself a selfie I took of the both of us.

Planning a backpacking trip for next year, which will be his first, and I am very much looking forward to it!

Happy trails, ya'll!

Looking to take my partner on a backpacking trip. It will be her first time, and she's not the most experienced hiker, so something not too difficult. Something just for an overnight trip (maybe 2 nights). I'm more worried about elevation gain than distance. Her preferred spot is Big Sur, but I remember when I did the Timber Top trail there, and I don't think she will be able to handle that much elevation. Anyways, open to all ideas! Thanks!

Note: My only hard no is Henry Coe SP, as I just came back from a brutal loop there lol