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1 week ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas
California state parks managers are bracing for a surge of summer visitors with uncertainty swirling around national parks and forests. Nic Coury/Special to The ChronicleCalifornia’s state park managers are bracing for an onslaught of summer visitors. Visitation at many of the state’s 280 park units has gradually risen since the pandemic, and summer is peak season for sightseers flocking to postcard destinations like Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay and campgrounds filling with families.
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1 week ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas
A segment of the Ohlone Wilderness Trail that weaves through the oak-studded hills towards Rose Peak. It’s bursting with colorful wildflowers blooms this time of year. Gregory Thomas/S.F. ChronicleMission Peak’s “Peeker Pole” guides viewers' eyes to other prominent features of the Bay Area landscape. Gregory Thomas/S.F. ChronicleThe Ohlone Trail passes through a historic ranching zone and cows are a common sight, along with ground squirrels, quails and other birds.
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2 weeks ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas
Caltrans is deploying two remote-controlled bulldozers and a remote-operated excavator to hasten repair work on Highway 1 in Big Sur without risking human workers. CaltransCaltrans is deploying two remote-controlled bulldozers and a remote-operated excavator to hasten repair work on Highway 1 in Big Sur without risking human workers.
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3 weeks ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas
Tourists crowd at the Tunnel View vista point in Yosemite Valley in March 2022.
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1 month ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas
A huge, upside-down U.S. flag now hangs from a prominent peak at Donner Summit near Truckee. Someone — possibly a group of rock climbers, locals speculate — affixed the flag to an east-facing granite wall. At close to 7,000 feet in elevation, it towers above its surroundings in Tahoe National Forest. It’s not visible to drivers along Interstate 80, but it’s easily seen from Donner Pass Road, a popular, scenic route for local bicyclists, skiers, hikers and climbers.
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1 month ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas |Kurtis Alexander
A woman found wounded Thursday in a building in Yosemite National Park has died, Fresno County authorities said. The woman was transferred Thursday from the park to a Fresno hospital, where she was pronounced dead the next day, said Tony Botti, a spokesperson for the Fresno County Sheriff-Coroner's Office. Details about the woman's identity and the circumstances of her death were unclear on Monday afternoon.
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1 month ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas
The first known kayak circumnavigation of greater S.F. Bay finished Wednesday afternoon at a shoreline park in Pittsburg right on the edge of the delta. A small welcoming party had gathered to congratulate the pair of paddlers, Liz Wilhelm and Dallas Smith, of Point Reyes Station, as they hauled their red tandem kayak to shore, marking the finish line of a 225-mile journey around S.F., San Pablo and Suisun bays that spanned 13 days.
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2 months ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas
On Tuesday night, Town Council members there unanimously voted to pass a pair of resolutions that roundly denounce the Trump administration's cuts to Forest Service staff and blanket spending freezes - actions that Truckee's civic leaders say amount to an existential powder keg primed to detonate once the busy summer tourism season arrives.
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2 months ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas
This summer, for the first time ever, Americans will be able to fly commercial directly to Greenland, opening a pathway for adventurous tourists to visit some of the world's most dramatic landscapes. Beginning in June, United Airlines is launching a twice-weekly seasonal flight from Newark into Nuuk, Greenland's capital city. The four-hour route is made possible by the recent completion of a six-year project to expand Nuuk's airport and add a 6,560-foot runway capable of supporting large jets.
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2 months ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas
The federal budget cuts wreaking havoc on California's national parks and forests will also affect basic services at Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks, among the most visited recreational areas in the High Sierra.
