A Guide to Cooking at camp

Anything you can cook at home, you can cook while camping. It just takes having the right gear and skills to make it happen. When it comes to camp cooking, the gear you need will depend on two things: what you want to cook, and the amenities that are available at your campsite and both […]

My Winter Desert Camping Guide and Gear List ⛺️🌵✨

Until moving to Southern California, the winter never particularly interested me. I used to dread the changing of the seasons — a cold that chills you to the bones, power outages, and early mornings spent shoveling snow out of the driveway. The start of winter marked the start of seasonal depression, but not anymore! Living […]

9 Days On The Tahoe Rim Trail: A Solo Backpacking Adventure

Day 0: Getting to Lake Tahoe The drive up to Lake Tahoe from San Diego was about 10 hours. Since I was going alone, I decided I would break up the drive to make it a little more enjoyable. So, I decided to visit one of my favorite Eastern Sierra mountain towns, Mammoth Lakes. Mammoth […]

Food and Resupply on the tahoe rim trail

Bear Canisters: Hard sided bear canisters are now required along the whole Tahoe Rim Trail. It used to be only Desolation Wilderness that required it, but with the active bear population in Tahoe it is now required on your entire trip. Using a bear canister is a good idea not only for your own safety, […]

My Tahoe Rim Trail Gear List

I recently finished hiking 175 miles in 9 days solo on the Tahoe Rim Trail, and I’m exciting to share all of the details from the trip to help you plan your own TRT thruhike! In this post you will find all of the gear I packed with me, the clothing I wore, and some […]

Everything I pack for a winter backpacking trip in the SoCal desert

One of the reasons that I moved from the East Coast to Southern California was the access to a diverse range of outdoor spaces; from sea cliffs and endless beaches, to mountains with alpine lates, and deserts with slot canyons and giant sand dunes. There are so many wonderful places to hike, camp, and backpack […]

Solo Backpacking in Saguaro NationaL Park

November 2024 I spent the morning organizing gear and packing my car, getting ready to head out on a solo adventure to Saguaro National Park. The plan for this trip came together very last minute, when I was researching over the weekend. As a school teacher, I am fortunate to have week long breaks from […]

My first solo adventure of the summer

Bee’s Trail Journal, June 2024 Day 1: Idyllwild My solo adventure began with a visit to Idyllwild, a quaint mountain town below San Jacinto, the mountain I planned to hike the following day. Idyllwild is a PCT town and depending on the time of year you will see dirty hikers and backpacks stringing the sidewalks […]

Backpacking on Catalina Island with new friends

Come along with me, 3 of my new friends, and a dog names Pickles, on a 2 night backpacking trip on Catalina Island. DAY ONE: We took the ferry out to Avalon and started our hike along the trans catalina trail toward Blackjack Campground. It was cloudy on the ferry ride and in the town […]

5 tips for beginner solo backpackers

How many of you discovered your love for camping and backpacking later in life? And how many of you want to start backpacking or camping but don’t have someone to go with? Well, you’re not alone! There are plenty of people who did not grow up recreating in the outdoors and who started to explore […]