Tune In to the Sounds and Stories of the Sierra
Join us on the Sierra Rec Now podcast as we explore the beauty, history, and adventure of the Sierra Nevada. Hear from local experts, outdoor enthusiasts, and passionate storytellers.
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Discovering the impact of Margaret Murie on our Nations National Parks and Conservation Few names resonate in the conservation world like John Muir, but in this episode, we shine a much-deserved spotlight on Margaret Muire, a pivotal yet overlooked figure in American environmentalism. Join host Charlie Pankey and guest Walter Meyer as they delve into … Read more
How Much of This Lake Tahoe Murder Mystery Is Real? Sierra Rec Now · Seeing the Sierra · Hosted by Charlie Pankey Watch on YouTube · Listen on Spotify Lisa Parsons writes about places she knows—and adventures she has lived. But where does real experience end and a Lake Tahoe murder mystery begin? In this … Read more
What if your next great mountain adventure wasn’t about reaching a summit before noon, beating your personal record, or finishing a race? What if it was about running through the Dolomites in Italy, stopping for espresso at a mountain refuge, or spending a morning exploring the trails around Yosemite with a group of people who … Read more
Adventure, Community & the Story Behind SWOOP There is something about meeting people who have built their lives around the outdoors that I never get tired of. Their stories are rarely just about the mountains they have climbed or the trails they have traveled. More often, they are about the people they met along the … Read more
What happens when a child steps into Yosemite National Park for the first time? For thousands of students each year, that first experience comes through NatureBridge, where Yosemite becomes something more than a national park they have seen in photographs or learned about in school. It becomes an outdoor classroom filled with granite walls, waterfalls, … Read more
Getting kids outside doesn’t require a trip to Yosemite, expensive outdoor gear or an elaborate family adventure. Some of the best outdoor activities for kids may be hiding just a few minutes from home. Our Guest: Deanna Ratnikova Founder and CEO The Go Decks Deanna Ratnikova is the founder of GO Deck, a collection of … Read more
Camping with kids doesn’t require the perfect RV, expensive outdoor gear or a perfectly planned family adventure. Sometimes it starts with a borrowed tent, a pair of hand-me-down boots and simply deciding to get outside. Our Guest Natalie Vereen Davis Natalie Vereen-Davis is the creator of CampingKiddos, a family camping and outdoor travel resource helping … Read more
Courtney Rosiak-Quinto set out on her first solo thru-hike, following the 174-mile Tahoe Rim Trail around Lake Tahoe through high-elevation terrain, long water carries, unexpected challenges and the Sierra landscape that has helped make South Lake Tahoe feel like home. Taking on the Tahoe Rim Trail Alone The Tahoe Rim Trail—or TRT—travels through California and … Read more
Richard Campbell spent decades exploring the world by foot, bicycle, ski and boat before turning that life outside into 10Adventures, a global platform for guided and self-guided hiking, cycling and active travel. Richard joins Sierra Rec host Charlie Pankey to share how summers working on his grandparents’ farm, family camping trips in the Canadian Rockies … Read more
There are people who go outside to see something, and there are people who seem to spend their lives learning how to notice what is already there. For photographer and author Larry Laverty, that education started remarkably early—with birds, butterflies and an oak tree outside his childhood home. It continued in the mountains, including an … Read more
How Sawyer Became an Outdoor Essential | Founder Kurt AverySawyer Products is one of the most trusted names in backpacking water filtration—but that’s not where the company started. In the first story from Sierra Rec’s Built Outside series, host Charlie Pankey sits down with Sawyer founder Kurt Avery to explore the unlikely 42-year journey behind … Read more
After foot surgery kept author and Sierra explorer Lisa Michelle away from the trail for nearly three months, returning to Sierra Nevada backpacking gave her a new appreciation for every hike—and a new idea for helping other women experience the mountains. Lisa returns to the Sierra Rec Now Podcast to talk with Charlie Pankey about … Read more
Some places are almost impossible to explain until you’ve stood in them. Juan Veruete calls the Sierra Nevada his “million-word places”—landscapes where even the best photograph never quite captures the scale of what’s in front of you. In this conversation, Juan joins the Sierra Rec Now Podcast to talk about a backpacking life shaped by … Read more
Editor’s Note Some conversations begin with a question. Others begin with a moment that stays with you long after the weekend is over. Last weekend, my wife and I took our one-year-old grandson on his very first camping trip. Like most grandparents, we spent the weekend watching him discover things many of us stopped noticing … Read more
Why Planning Like a Local Changes Everything A few years ago I was invited to Mammoth Lakes for the opening weekend of trout season. The group was made up of friends from Los Angeles who had been making the trip together for years. Fishing was the reason everyone came to the Eastern Sierra, but it … Read more
Why do so many of us leave the mountains… only to spend the rest of our lives finding our way back? Raised in Portola in California’s Sierra Valley, Rocci Twitchell grew up fishing alpine lakes, riding horses through Mohawk Valley, exploring the Sierra Buttes, and spending weekends around Yuba Pass, Packer Lake, Gold Lake, and … Read more
Search & Rescue Volunteers Need Your Help | How One Simple Donation Could Save a Life Episode Introduction Every hike begins with the hope of reaching the summit, discovering a hidden alpine lake, or simply enjoying another day in the mountains. But when an accident happens miles from the trailhead, a dedicated team of Search … Read more
Hidden Sierra Nevada Adventures: Exploring Owens Valley Beyond the Guidebooks July 7, 2026 • Charlie Pankey Most visitors experience Owens Valley from Highway 395. They stop in Bishop for lunch, drive through Lone Pine, admire Mount Whitney from the road, and continue north toward Mammoth Lakes. But according to photographer, backpacker, mountain biker, and off-road … Read more
Why do we keep coming back to the mountains? That simple question shaped one of the most thoughtful conversations we’ve had on Sierra Rec Now. This week, Charlie Pankey sits down with backpacker, fly fisherman, and creator behind Juan Backpacks, Juan Veruete, to discuss the John Muir Trail, the Tahoe Rim Trail, ultralight backpacking, and … Read more
Few experiences in the Sierra Nevada are as powerful as stumbling across an old cabin tucked into the forest and wondering who built it, who lived there, and what life looked like in these mountains long before modern trails and recreation. This summer, outdoor enthusiasts have a rare opportunity to do more than simply admire … Read more
For many visitors, Yosemite National Park begins and ends in Yosemite Valley. They’ll marvel at Half Dome, photograph Yosemite Falls, and spend a few unforgettable days exploring one of America’s most iconic national parks. But according to Yosemite guide Kara Maceross of Lasting Adventures, the real magic often begins when you leave the pavement behind. … Read more
When people think about California National Parks, Yosemite, Sequoia, and Joshua Tree usually dominate the conversation. Yet tucked away in Northern California is a park many travelers have never explored—one filled with steaming geothermal features, volcanic landscapes, alpine lakes, wildlife, and surprisingly few crowds. On this week’s episode of the Sierra Rec Now Podcast, I … Read more
Mountain music, pine forest camping, Gold Rush history, and one of California’s most enduring Sierra traditions. For years I’ve driven through Grass Valley on my way to Sierra adventures. Like many people, I usually thought about the historic downtown, the Gold Rush roots, maybe a stop along Highway 49, or cooling off in the Yuba … Read more
Why Tioga Pass feels like a completely different way to experience Yosemite National Park. Every year when Tioga Pass opens for the season, something shifts in the Sierra Nevada. The mountains suddenly feel connected again. Backpacking trailheads reopen. Snow-lined roads begin winding back into the high country. Tuolumne Meadows slowly wakes up after another long … Read more
Snowfields, hidden waterfalls, Pacific Creek, Kinney Lakes, and one of the wildest scenic drives in the Sierra Nevada. Every year when Ebbetts Pass opens for the season, I feel the pull to go. Not because I have some big objective or adventure planned. Honestly, most years it’s just a classic Sierra “dink around day.” A … Read more
Most people don’t realize this until after they’ve driven it once: Sonora Pass Highway 108 out of Sonora California isn’t just a scenic drive… it’s a sequence of moments. The problem is, if you don’t know where those moments are, you’ll drive right past them. I did. More than once. So if you’re heading up … Read more
Sonora Pass Is Open: What to Expect Driving the Sierra Right Now Every year in the Sierra, there’s a moment when everything starts to come back to life. The roads that have been buried all winter begin to open. Snowbanks line the edges of the pavement. Waterfalls start pouring off granite walls. The rivers rise, … Read more
Twelve miles deep in the Emigrant Wilderness, life slows down. Morning light cracks through the trees. My tired body rolls out of the hammock. The birds are already singing. Somewhere down the trail, I can hear horses moving through camp—another group starting their day before the sun fully breaks. And for me… There’s one thing … Read more
There’s a moment on every trail where things shift. Maybe it’s mile three. Maybe it’s mile ten. Maybe it’s that first overnight when the noise fades and it’s just you, your thoughts, and the dirt under your feet. For me, that shift often happens somewhere in Tuolumne Meadows—a place that continues to redefine what “far … Read more
Yosemite, Travel, and The Landmark Project on This weeks Podcast There’s a moment—and I don’t know exactly when it happens—but if you’ve spent any real time in a place like Yosemite National Park, you know it. It’s that feeling when you’re leaving… and you’re already thinking about coming back. That’s really where this conversation with … Read more
This week on the Sierra Rec Now Podcast, we step outside our normal trail talk and into something a little more uncomfortable—and maybe more important. A Different Kind of Episode We just released our 25th edition of Sierra Rec Magazine—our Spring Gear Guide. Hundreds of products.New innovations.Gear we genuinely love. And then we recorded this … Read more
What Sierra Backpackers Need to Know About Permits in the West After more than a decade of backpacking in the Sierra Nevada, I’ve developed a rhythm to planning trips. I know how to read snowpack. I know how to map routes. And over the years, I’ve figured out how to work within the permit systems … Read more
Rae Lakes Loop Backpacking Tips: Discovering One of the Sierra Nevada’s Most Iconic Trails One of California’s Most Desired Backpacking Loops For many hikers exploring the Sierra Nevada, the Rae Lakes Loop in Kings Canyon National Park sits high on the bucket list. The route is legendary among backpackers for good reason. Over roughly 40 … Read more
If you’re starting to think about backpacking trips in Yosemite this year, you’re not alone. Spring is the season when hikers across California begin opening Recreation.gov, checking wilderness permit dates, and planning the routes they hope to explore in the Sierra Nevada. On this week’s episode of the Sierra Rec Now Podcast, I sat down … Read more
A Story About Preparedness, Perspective, and Why the Little Things Matter on the Trail There are moments in the mountains that stay with you — not because of the view, but because of what they teach you. This week’s Sierra Rec Now episode opens with one of those memories. A late-afternoon descent from Cathedral Lakes … Read more
The Lost Sierra has long been one of California’s most quietly spectacular regions — vast forests, winding rivers, and small mountain towns that feel a world away from the crowds of Tahoe and Yosemite. In this episode of Sierra Rec Now, I sat down with Greg Williams, the visionary behind the Connected Communities initiative, to … Read more
Car camping in the Sierra is having a moment. With lighter snowpack this year and more families looking for flexible ways to get outdoors, we’re seeing a real shift in how people approach camping across the Sierra Nevada. Campgrounds are often full. Permits can be competitive. And more and more people are looking at dispersed … Read more
Sierra Rec Now Podcast with Jim Morrison and Christina “Lusti” Lustenberger For most of us in the Sierra Nevada, a “big day” in the mountains might mean a long approach, a steep climb, or timing conditions just right. For ski mountaineers Jim Morrison and Christina “Lusti” Lustenberger, that idea scales to an entirely different level. … Read more
You don’t have to ski to enjoy winter in the Sierra. Around Lake Tahoe and Alpine County, snowshoeing offers another way to experience the mountains: following a creek through snowy forest, exploring an open meadow, or spending a few hours outside with family and friends. During my years living in Carson Valley, these outings became … Read more
By Charlie Pankey | Sierra Rec Magazine Lake Tahoe is often described as impossibly clear, impossibly blue, and impossibly pristine. But beneath the surface — far beyond what swimmers, paddlers, and boaters ever see — another story is unfolding. In the latest episode of the Sierra Rec Now Podcast, I sat down with Jenny Uvira, … Read more