Sequoia High Sierra Camp: Luxury living in rustic setting

• Tahoe between two covers

  Outdoor writer Ann Marie Brown blames Lake Tahoe for her inability to hold a regular day job. But all who love Northern California's mountain vacation mecca will thank her for the extensive legwork required to assemble the new Tahoe guide from Moon Publications ($17.95, 247 pages).

• Nature's light show

  ANSEL ADAMS WILDERNESS -- There's something about camping in the eastern Sierra that makes it almost mandatory to wake at first light. No, it's not the hard ground that leaves your back sore. It's the light -- the ethereal light.

• So long to summer ...

  Wasn't it just Memorial Day weekend? Is it possible that the triple-digit heat spell in July -- almost two weeks' worth -- was over a month ago? We made it through high water and high temperatures because we always have high hopes in this sweet spot for outdoor fun. Be safe and enjoy Labor Day weekend. See you outside ...

• Outbound escapes

  Racing San Rafael

• Fishing line

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• Summer's last flings

  It's gone by too fast; it always does. But there's still time to celebrate summer before the days grow short and the chill of fall sets in.

• Return of the cranes

  Each fall, tens of thousands of sandhill cranes overwinter in the Central Valley. The magnificent birds, standing 5 feet tall, are a threatened species in California. Docent-led tours to see and learn about them are held Sundays and the second Thursdays and Saturdays of each month (except holidays), starting Sept. 24 and continuing through Feb. 15.

• Adventure of the week: Get inline and get going

  Sure, you can get around on skateboards, longboards, bicycles -- even the newest Segway model. But there's nothing quite like going out for a stroll on a roll.

• Adventure addict

  Imagine crossing a narrow ridge top 12 inches wide, with drop-offs of a few hundred feet on either side, for three hours in the middle of the night.

• Outbound library: Into the minds of explorers and adventurers

  Just months after the spring climbing season on Mount Everest -- during which 11 climbers perished in their quests -- Canadian Geoff Powter offers a new book that probes the psychological makeup of nearly a dozen renowned adventurers.

• Gearing up: Soon, you'll want to wear one of these

  Sure, it's warm now, but the time isn't far off when the beginning and end of your paddling days will come with a stiff wind and cooler air.

• Outbound escapes

  Paddle perfect

• Fishing line

  Top Picks

• How to in Sacramento: Use sunscreen properly

  1. Buy broad-spectrum products with a sun-protection factor of 15 or higher.

• Camp's up!

  Max Kagan, wiped out after a day of riding the waves, an evening on the Santa Cruz boardwalk and a night of sleeping under the stars, fumbled with his dark sunglasses.

• Adventure of the week: Spend a fun weekend on the rocks

  Whether rock climbing is something you've always wanted to try or something you'd like to get better at, there's a unique opportunity to get vertical this weekend during the Bear Valley Boulder Bash.

• Outbound library: A great guide to hoofin' it in the Tahoe-Reno area

  If you hike, backpack, bicycle or kayak in California or Nevada, a series of guidebooks published by the Wilderness Press in Berkeley should be your outdoor companions.

• Outbound escapes: Hike with a view

  Hike the Mendocino Headlands on Sunday. The free, guided and family-friendly hike will be led by California State Parks volunteers.

• Fishing line

  NORTH COAST RIVERS

  ROGUE RIVER-The salmon bite down low got good last week for both bankies and boaters. Bankies tossed spinners and Spin-N-Glos in the first set of riffles above tidewater while trollers worked from the jaws up to the Netter's Hole with green and gold Rogue Bait rigs and the occasional straight anchovy.

• Outdoor workouts

  Bored silly by mats and machines? Venture beyond the sweat-stained walls of traditional gyms and go outdoors.

• Shift less

  I was immersed in my story about fixed-gear bikes, doing all the things reporters do: make phone calls, chat with people, do research … go for a spin on my De Rosa.

• Adventure of the week: Tahoe - area hikes with a leisurely air

  At least three months remain before the mountain hiking season segues into the snowshoe season, so there's still lots of time for walks in the woods.

• Outbound library: More light on the subject of lighthouses

  More than 2,200 years ago, fires were set on mountaintops to guide ships on the Mediterranean Sea. By the mid-19th century, beacons that were substantially more sophisticated starting sprouting up and down the U.S. West Coast. Learn about many of them in "California Lighthouses," a 45-minute DVD from Southport Video Productions.

• Gearing up: It's tiny, light and casts well; whether it catches fish is up to you

  At first blush, the Compact Pen-Sized Collapsible Fishing Rod and Reel from gofastandlight.com looks like something Ron Popeil would hawk on an infomercial. Though it costs about the same as the Pocket Fisherman (Pocket Fisherman is $20; Pen-Sized Collapsible is $19, including a choice of reels: spin, fly or casting), this tiny gizmo might really have some backpacking applications. We took it along on a six-mile hike into the Echo Lake chain and cast it a few times. It fits quite nicely into a pack, and the rod expands to 36 inches. It weighs only 2 ounces (about the same as nine quarters, according to a news release). Granted, this isn't something you're going to use at a Bassmaster's fishing derby, but its compact size and light weight underscore the company name: Go Fast and Light. Did we catch anything with it yet? Well, uh, no. Could have been operator failure.

• Outbound escapes

  Get Trailworthy

• Fishing line

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• Adventure of the week: Hike the ring around the gem that is Tahoe

  It took a corps of volunteers 20 years to create the eight-segment, 165-mile Tahoe Rim Trail, which officially opened in September 2001. It was an incredible feat.

• Outdoor library: Movers, shakers of Sierra and Bay Area

  So you think you know Northern California? Mary Hill and Doris Sloan know it inside out.

• Outbound escapes

  Wildflower power

• Fishing line

  Top picks

• A cool place to paddle the morning away

  As hawks soared overhead and egrets patrolled the shore, we enjoyed our on-the-water vantage point as we paddled east on Lake Natoma.

• Outbound library: Maps show the where without the tear

  Topographic maps long have been a hiking staple. They often are worn thin and fragile from repeated foldings and unfoldings. And sometimes, their important landmarks haven't been updated in years.

• Gearing up: Keep an evaporative head

  In the category of personal cooling, hats off to Frogg Toggs' Hydroweave cap.

• Outbound calendar

  A tale of survival

• Fishing line

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• Adventure of the week: You'll like...like...like...this Echo Lakes hike

  With the heat on in the Valley, it's time for a trek into the cool Sierra. But let's not stress over it. One of the easier hikes is along the trail that parallels Lower and Upper Echo Lakes. It's part of the Pacific Crest Trail. Though the altitude is around 7,400 feet, the elevation gain is negligible. This hike is ideal for beginners and hearty children, and for veteran hikers wishing to enter the Desolation Wilderness beyond Upper Echo.

• Outbound library: Trips abound in the Sierra's southern end

  The Wilderness Press opened its doors in Berkeley in 1967 and wowed 'em with its first title, "Sierra North," written by founder Thomas Winnett.

• Gearing up: This litle piggy went kayaking, this little piggy...

  Yes, we're talking toes here, but these way-cool shoes are called FiveFingers.

• Outbound calendar

  Images of a wonderland

• Fishing line: Top picks

  BERKELEY--Excellent action continued on the party boats last week, with the boats targeting either salmon or bottomfish, and switching over when weather or action required. On Wednesday, the New Goldeneye scored true live bait potluck action with rockfish limits and eight lingcod from the Farallones, then 10 halibut to 18 pounds from the Marin shoreline. On board the Goldeneye 2000, a salmon effort scored only five kings, but a switch to bottomfish produced not only limits of rockfish, but 55 lingcod to 25 pounds. On board the Happy Hooker, anglers scored rockfish limits, then got to supplement the live bait action with stripers and halibut in the bay over the weekend.

• High adventure: Think you're ready to climb Mt. Shasta?

  If climbing Mount Shasta is in your plans, here are some considerations. You will need two permits, available at either the Mount Shasta ranger station or at the trailhead:

• Outbound calendar

  JUST DUCKY

• Fishing line

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• Adventure of the week: Stunning scenery is reward of Bodega Head hike

  Blue sky, cool breeze, gorgeous wildflowers and the dramatic Pacific coastline of foam-capped waves crashing over mussel-crusted boulders and empty sand beaches. Those were the dramatic elements that combined to create such a sense of exuberance in my hiking partner that she actually began skipping along the trail, singing, "We're off to see the wizard. …"

• Gearing up: Bounce, bounce, bounce...splash

  Next to building a fort, a floating island may be the closest thing to a child's idea of summer nirvana.

• Outbound escapes

  Sunny side up

• Rollin' on the river

  The first time you roll a kayak upside down in a frigid river, you learn the meaning of "brain freeze." Your scalp tingles, your mind goes dizzy, and every instinct in your body says "get out and get out now." You grab the rip cord and the next thing you know, you're swimming -- and perhaps ready to do it again.

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