Bit of Betsy

All is Gold

There is a time in the mountains when the land begins its final stretch before winter. The days gradually become shorter; the sun still warms your skins but starts to burn a little less brightly. The creeks flow fast and cold, already prepared for the ice and snow that is destined to cover their banks….

Photo Essay: Home for a week

How to pack as much as possible into a week in Maine. When you miss your flight and get in a day late spend whats left of the afternoon at a local apple orchard, extra points if they have baby goats. Use every bit of daylight to see the sights. This means going to the…

Moon Rise

The harvest moon rising over Popham Beach State Park.

Hiking : Middle Palisade

Elevation- 14,019 Distance- 12 miles round trip ( An estimate – the last part of the hike is off trail) Oh Eastern Sierra, how I love thee. The only part I do not love is having to wait till 8am at the Ranger Station surrounded by pushy Mt. Whitney hikers just so I can get…

Why I Hike Solo

I begin to ascend out of the dirt parking lot. It is early and I do not pass anyone on the trail. All I can hear is the shrill call of a Steller’s Jay in an otherwise quite forest. The early morning dew helps to keep the dust down, but later, when the sun…

To The Sierra Nevada With Love

Over the past few years I have fallen in love with the California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range. Since moving to California I have become a self proclaimed desert rat, odd for a girl from Maine. But something about the high alpine lakes and the lichen covered granite of the Sierras remind me of home. Since…

Why You Should Set Goals

Why should you set goals? Goals hold you accountable to achieve something. You can look at goals as dreams made attainable because you set parameters around them. For example Instead of saying, “I want to hike more”, set a goal of hiking 10 new trails in three months. Or instead of thinking “I want to…

Hiking : Mt. Langley

Mt. Langley, 14,026 feet of sandy windswept granite is one of the high places of the world. Langley is my second 14er and number 14 on my 30 for 30. My friend and I picked up our permit at the Lone Pine ranger station and started the hike in. Unfortunately we were not able to…

Inversion Workshop: Overcoming Fear, Upside-Down

In case anyone happens to find themselves in Riverside I will be teaching an inversion workshop at Anam Cara Yoga on August 20th! In Yoga, inversions are characterized by any pose where the head is held lower than the heart. Inversions are said to lower blood pressure, improve circulation, and increase energy. For many people…

The Importance of Being Your Silly Self

When we are children we play with unbridled enthusiasm. We explore, we ask questions, and we act silly as hell never pausing to worry how we appear to others. At what age do we start caring what other people think? Is there something ingrained in our developing consciousness that makes us fear the judgment of…

White Mountain and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest

We recently visited the Inyo National Forest to hike White Mountain and see the ancient bristlecone pines. Typically when we drive north on highway 395 we are headed to the eastern sierras, this time we made the turn east towards the White Mountains. Highway 168 out of Big Pine winds up out of the…

Notes From the Field: Burrowing Owl

I turn over in bed and look at the clock its 230am. Normally I would roll over in bed and sleep for another few hours before work but today is not a normal day. I scuffle around in the dark like a sleepy possum and somehow make it out the door with all my gear….