Welcome to the Northern California Hiking Trails blog. Iʼm John Soares, co-author of 100 Classic Hikes in Northern California, third edition and author of 75 Hikes in Californiaʼs Mount Shasta and Lassen Volcanic National Park Regions, revised edition. I did a lot of tramping and trekking in the wilderness long before I wrote the books, but doing the very enjoyable research for the hiking guides took me all over Northern California, from Santa Cruz to Crescent City, and from Mokelumne Wilderness to the Warner Mountains, Mount Shasta, and the Trinity Alps. So I have a broad perspective of the region. And a deep love for it. Iʼll share that love with you.

The overall focus of this blog is foot travel, but Iʼll also examine various facets of being outdoors, from maximizing trail-time enjoyment to details of hike updates to political, economic, social, and environmental aspects of north state trails. I also examine various stories and issues of interest to hikers.

I live near Mount Shasta in the far north of the state, about 60 miles or so south of the Oregon border, and I grew up around Redding just to the south, so Iʼll talk a bit more about Lassen Volcanic National Park and the Trinity Alps, for instance. But thereʼll be plenty on the Bay Area, the coast, and Sierra Nevada, I promise.

Blogging Area: Northern California, from Monterey Bay and Yosemite all the way to the Oregon border.

Blogging Since: July 2008