Tom Stienstra - 52 Weekend Adventures in Northern California: My Favorite Outdoor Getaways

view of Half Dome from Glacier Point

On top of Mount Whitney, I took a seat on a rock cornice, peered across 100 miles of alpine peaks, ridges and canyons, and felt free in the world. A light breeze swept up the canyon. The air tasted thin, cool and sweet.

I felt this dreamlike sense of the past, as if the ghosts of John Muir, William Brewer, and Joe Walker were guiding me. As I took in the scope of the landscape, I also sensed the answer for my life was out there. I felt this calling to venture to every lake, river, and mountain, to every park, national forest, and wilderness, to see it all and write about it, and to live a life where I would always feel this way: free in the world.

Many know something of this sensation. We get there on different paths, but arrive at the same place. It was the only way I could find my place in the world.

One night at a gas station, at one of the many jobs I worked to pay my way through college, a guy asked me for change. As I opened the till, he got behind me and then hit me in the back of my head with a hatchet. The paramedics got there before I could bleed out; they saved my life. When I got out of the hospital, it felt like I was cast in a movie that was set in the wrong time, that I didnt belong in the present day, but in the 1830s, out there with mountain man Joe Walker, camping at the Forks of the Kern.

In a crowd, a building, a city, in traffic, everything felt miscast. Yet in the outdoors, everything was right, even perfect. It wasnt long before I found myself roaming across the land with my dog, Rebel. I often teamed up with my best friend, Jeffrey Patty (nicknamed Foonski) and his dog, Sam. I eventually discovered that Jeff was recovering from a car accident where he nearly died from head trauma. Back in the day, we had no idea that we had severe PTSD; our dogs were like service animals. Later, my big brother Bob (nicknamed Rambob), six years my senior and imprinted by severe trauma from combat in Vietnam, also found a place with us on the trail. Michael Furniss also joined us. In a society where few understand PTSD, we were misfits, yet on the trail, brothers.

Among us, weve never talked much about our near-death encounters, but on a subliminal level, they connected us. For each of us, when we were out there, hiking, fishing, boating, biking, tracking wildlife all was right with the world.

I remember how I felt that day on top of Whitney and the lesson that came to me. It can speak to anybody. The outdoors can set you free.

Tom Stienstra

John Muir Trail: Mount Whitney to Yosemite Valley

Mountain climb: Mount Shasta

Mountain climb for youngsters: Lassen Peak, Lassen Volcanic National Park

Sierra panorama: Mitchell Peak, Jennie Lakes Wilderness

Most difficult permit: Mount Whitney from Whitney Portal, first weekend of August, 2 percent odds in preseason lottery

Lake view: Mount Tallac, Desolation Wilderness

Most unique payoff: Sierra Buttes Lookout, Tahoe National Forest

(top left) Lassen Peak trail; (top right) Mount Shasta summit; (bottom) Mount Whitney

Most dramatic easy hike with a view: Glacier Point to Pohono Trail, Yosemite National Park

Prettiest wilderness lakes: Shadow, Garnet, Minaret, Ediza; Ansel Adams Wilderness

Chain of lakes: Meeks Creek Trail to Genevieve, Crag, Hidden, Shadow, Stony Ridge, and Rubicon Lakes, Lake Tahoe Basin

Sierra trailhead: Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park

Hikers boat shuttle: Echo Lakes to trailhead for PCT/Desolation Wilderness

Overnight backpack for kids: Deadfall Lakes, Trinity Divide, Shasta-Trinity National Forest

Complete mountain resort: Convict Lake Resort

Drive-to view: Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park

Prettiest lake trail: Wapama Falls, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, Yosemite National Park

Trailhead for fishing: Agnew Meadows to River Trail on upper San Joaquin River

Snowshoe trek: Badger Pass to Dewey Point, Yosemite National Park