SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST -- Don't care what it says on the calendar. Tuesday was the first real day of winter.

What a weird, weird winter. Driving up Kaiser Pass Road above Huntington Lake this week for Wednesday's bear cub story, past the locked gate where it becomes a bumpy one-lane track, the barren mountain slopes were astonishing.

The calendar might say January, but outside it feels like never-ending autumn.

Spending a November week in a remote corner of Death Valley National Park, far from the constant chirp and hum of cellphones, computers and TVs, forces a guy to really think about what's important.

If someone wrote a screenplay about Mike Libecki's life, the opening scene would be set inside a Fresno City College classroom in the spring of 1993.

ANSEL ADAMS WILDERNESS – Talk about an offer I couldn't refuse. Join us for a four-day trip to Thousand Island Lake, that magnificent spot on the John Muir Trail made famous by Ansel Adams' camera lens.

There's no better time to be outdoors than right now at the peak of summer. Need ideas? Here's my list of the best camping, hiking, fishing and mountain biking that Central California has to offer. Agree? Disagree? It's all part of the fun.

There was no time to react. One instant, Marcia Rasmussen was walking on snow. The next, she was engulfed by icy water and being swept downstream.

I am on cross country skis, following a marked trail under brilliant blue skies and bright sunshine. My destination is the Ostrander Ski Hut, a stone cabin nestled in Yosemite National Park's backcountry, nine miles from the nearest road.

Break out the mittens and ear muffs, inflate those inner tubes and head for the mountains.