When I lived in Southern California, I enjoyed spending time each summer exploring the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains — John Muir’s Range of Light<\/em>. While much of California is hot as an oven in the summer, these mountains offer a pleasant climate and excellent backpacking opportunities. In the summer there’s enough water in the lakes that you don’t need to carry more than a day’s worth — very different and much easier than what’s required when backpacking in the Mojave desert. The weather is warm in the day, cool at night, and almost without any rain. As it’s so dry, there are few mosquitoes when water from the spring thaw has evaporated so these pests likely won’t irritate you. And it’s an awesomely beautiful place to explore.<\/p>\n Most of my California backpacking adventures were on the drier eastern flanks of the Sierra Nevada range, in the Cottonwood Lakes area. But I made three backcountry trips to Ostrander Lake in Yosemite National Park, including one with a Yosemite Association group, one alone, and one with my wife and kids (our first family backpacking trip — everyone was excited as you can see in the photo below)…<\/p>\n