Outdoors highlights: 2024

A loud howl pierced a dark night in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. For most of my life, wolves were extinct in California, but I knew that some had crossed into the state and reproduced.

Yet I was backpacking 500 miles south of their Northern California turf. Could I really have heard one?

When I got back to civilization, I learned that I could have. Since a wolf known as OR-7 passed from Oregon to California in 2011, the canines have multiplied here. One pack grew into seven which produced 30 pups last spring, the most in a century. Some migrated as far south as Sequoia National Forest.

The wolves’ return to California marks perhaps the most astonishing recovery for an endangered species in state history.

Wildlife comebacks and conservation successes highlighted California’s outdoor news in 2024. Sea otters have helped revitalize kelp forests on the central coast.

Beavers have rebounded from near-extinction in the Sierra Nevada and northeast areas, building dams which capture water and help to stop wildfires. Yellow legged frogs have come back from the brink in Yosemite.

Sure, 2024 saw outdoors athletes break records and perform amazing feats as they do every year. Runner Emily Keddie set a speed record on the Lost Coast Trail, covering 25 miles of the rugged route in five hours and 29 minutes.

Joseph Roldan raced the 71-mile High Sierra Trail in a best-ever 14 hours and 25 minutes. Alex Honnold climbed the Salathé Wall on El Capitan alone in 11 hours and 18 minutes, beating the previous record by more than eight hours.

Such achievements are inspiring and worth celebrating.

Yet how can those compare with the restoration of a wild river and the native species it supports?

After Native Americans campaigned for decades, government officials agreed and workers labored to remove four dams along the Klamath River which spans the California-Oregon border. The dams nearly wiped out the river’s salmon population for decades.

Their destruction this summer marked the largest dam removal in U.S. history, delighting Native tribes and allowing the salmon population to begin a recovery.

California boasted 22 Olympic medalists this year. Kudos to them and all the state’s 121 Olympians. I’ll bet they would agree that the Golden State’s efforts to preserve its lands and coastal waters are more important to our current and future people.

Under a directive from Gov. Gavin Newsom, the state has conserved 1.5 million acres, or 2,350 square miles, in the last four years. California now protects 25 percent of its land and 16 percent of its coastal waters. Newsom has called for 30 percent by 2030.

At the suggestion of indigenous people, the Biden administration established the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, protecting 4,543 square miles along the coast which tribes and Native groups will manage.

Shout out to those who do for others in the outdoors. Here are a few efforts which caught my eye.

At this year’s California Coastal Cleanup, 46,201 volunteers at more than 750 sites recovered 332,861 pounds of trash. Thousands of volunteers have gathered to clean up Yosemite through annual Facelift events for 20 years, removing more than 1.2 million pounds of garbage.

Tens of thousands of cyclists have participated in the AIDS LifeCycle Ride, pedaling 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles, since 1994. Together they have raised more than $300 million for HIV and AIDS-related services.

And the Every Kid Outdoors Program grants all fourth graders and their families free access to federal public lands. Since 2015, the program has helped 1,105,805 students experience and enjoy nature.

Take a bow, one and all.

Outdoors authors seem to outdo themselves every year and 2024 was no exception. Pick up “Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail.”

Author Andrea Lankford takes readers on a riveting quest to find three men who disappeared from the famed backpacking route. Those who sought the missing hikers for years bring new meaning to the term “trail angel.”

Climbers will greatly appreciate the new guidebook “High Sierra Climbing Volume 3.” Authors Roger Putnam and Vitaliy Musiyenko share the knowledge they gained from climbing remote and challenging mountains.

This third volume covers peaks between Bishop Pass and Sonora Pass like the Minarets, Mount Ritter and Banner Peak. I’ve seen no other guidebook reveal such specific details which serve to make the climbs safer and more accessible.

If you’d rather watch a movie, check out “Monster Mavericks” on YouTube. The free 45-minute film by Tim Bonython shows remarkable footage of big-wave surfing at the Mavericks surfers’ mecca near Half Moon Bay.

Riveting close-ups of giant waves may make you want to try surfing yourself, or if you’re like me, glad you’re seeing other brave souls do so from the safety of home.

My own outings in the last year included long-awaited ascents of six California 14ers: Middle Palisade, Split Mountain, North Palisade, Starlight Peak, Thunderbolt Peak and Polemonium Peak.

Five years after a storm chased me off Charlotte Dome, a friend and I returned and ascended the 10,630-foot granite peak in Kings Canyon National Park. For the climbers in the audience, that’s 12 pitches with a 5.8 crux. Those climbs all felt great.

But giving to others beats personal accolades so I’m glad I was able to do that too. I coaxed my two nephews into running on their school cross country teams. They both made new friends, set personal records and got into the best shape of their lives.

I got to take friends and relatives onto several modest climbs near Ebbetts Pass and introduce them to hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. They loved it and vowed to return. Though I would have enjoyed it, it’s probably best that we didn’t hear any wolf howls.

I hope you got outdoors in 2024, but if not, there’s your New Year’s resolution for 2025. Happy trails.

Matt Johanson enjoys hiking, climbing, skiing and writing about the outdoors. His books include “Yosemite Epics,” and “Yosemite Adventures” and “California Summits.” You can find more of his writing at www.mattjohanson.com