{"id":467975,"date":"2026-09-18T14:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T14:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/467975\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T14:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T14:24:12","slug":"california-has-the-antidote-for-the-bad-news-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/467975\/","title":{"rendered":"California has the antidote for the bad news blues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a week of relentlessly dire news \u2014 rising interest rates, escalating wars in the Middle East, a prediction that AI could kill us all in ten years \u2014 this feels like a good time to remember one simple, essential truth: California is drop-dead gorgeous.<\/p>\n

A recent road trip with my wife took us to the Central Coast, where the beaches are still pristine (compared with those in Los Angeles); to Yosemite National Park, where the summer crowds have begun to thin; and to the Eastern Sierra, where the leaves at higher elevations are starting to flash their fall colors.<\/p>\n

The highlight was a hike to a chain of lakes fed by one of the state\u2019s last remaining glaciers.<\/p>\n

Called the Big Pine Lakes and unimaginatively numbered one through seven, they sit beneath the Palisade Glacier. The ancient, heavy ice sheet expands and contracts with the seasons, grinding the granite beneath it into an incredibly fine silt called \u201cglacial flour.\u201d<\/p>\n

That flour flows into the lakes below and turns the water a dazzling turquoise. Second Lake is the most stunning of them all \u2014 filling a broad, natural bowl and backed by a towering granite formation called Temple Crag that rises 2,000 feet into a brilliant blue sky and holds some of the most storied rock climbs in the American West.<\/p>\n

Even in early September, after a brutally hot summer, pockets of snow remained in the shadows around its base, at about 10,000 feet.<\/p>\n

You’re reading the Essential California newsletter <\/p>\n

L.A. Times reporters guide you through the most important news, features and recommendations of the morning.<\/p>\n

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n

It was supposed to be an easy hike<\/p>\n

The hike to get there is tame by Eastern Sierra standards: about 10 miles round trip with 2,500 feet of elevation gain. But that relative accessibility \u2014 and the jaw-dropping scenery \u2014 makes it an Instagram darling.<\/p>\n

As if to prove the point, my wife and I arrived at the lake to find a very fit, very bronzed, nearly naked couple performing complicated yoga poses in front of an iPhone on a tripod, using the lake as their backdrop.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, I got to Second Lake just as a terrifying thunderstorm was arriving from the west. At that altitude, storms aren\u2019t above you, they surround you. Thunder and lightning go off like artillery shells in every direction and the temperature can drop 30 degrees in seconds.<\/p>\n

Having experienced this before, my hiking buddy and I ran to the treeline and pulled Gore-Tex jackets, pants, hats and gloves from our packs. An influencer who\u2019d been posing in a sports bra and very short shorts sprinted past us in a panic, trailed by some poor guy juggling way too much camera gear and a frantically barking Chihuahua.<\/p>\n

Did we feel prepared and smug? Yes we did.<\/p>\n

If the shoe fits<\/p>\n

Which is why Sunday\u2019s hike was a little out of character for a journalist who\u2019s spent a good chunk of his career dispensing advice on staying safe in the outdoors.<\/p>\n

Raring to go at the trailhead, I shoved my right foot into a hiking boot I\u2019d tossed into the car days earlier only to discover it was not mine. I\u2019d packed my wife\u2019s much smaller boots, not my own.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve long used the Second Lake hike as a gentle warm-up for more ambitious outings like climbing Mt. Langley or Mt. Whitney, telling skeptical friends it\u2019s so easy you could do it in flip-flops.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, I had to put that boast to the test.<\/p>\n

Long, flat stretches of the trail covered by that glacial flour were no problem. But on the steeper, boulder-strewn sections, I had to place each step as carefully as you would climbing the crag. Any clumsy move could have blown out the little cloth strap between my toes, and I\u2019d have been returning to the trailhead barefoot.<\/p>\n

Which would have been slow, painful and disgusting.<\/p>\n

I say disgusting because the trail is also used by horses and mules that show no respect for the \u201cleave no trace\u201d rules.<\/p>\n

But even tiptoeing through mule poop, I could occasionally look up, soak in the scenery and remember why I\u2019m lucky to live in California.<\/p>\n

Top stories \"Mourners <\/a> <\/p>\n

Mourners left notes at a memorial for the NBC4 helicopter crew at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

NBC4 chopper\u2019s final momentsNBC4\u2019s helicopter was one of several news aircraft flying over the scene of a deadly bus crash in Chatsworth before it dropped out of the sky<\/a> and crashed into shipping containers and vehicles outside a warehouse.The Times interviewed several experts who reviewed recordings of the chopper\u2019s final moments and offered insights into the helicopter and its movements that afternoon.Scientists link heavy snow to groundwater in CaliforniaFor the first time, scientists have found a direct link<\/a> between the snow that falls on California\u2019s mountains and the groundwater that lies beneath Central Valley farmlands.Using satellite data, they found groundwater levels rise during big snow years, in contrast to most years, when it continues to fall.Is Trump demolishing the Kennedy Center?A cryptic photo of Trump aboard Air Force One reviewing a \u201cKennedy Center DEMO[LISHED]\u201d<\/a> printout has intensified alarm after the national arts hub abruptly closed and barricaded itself despite a prior court injunction.Trump has tied a $257-million renovation and the venue\u2019s survival to restoring his name on the facade, stoking fears of demolition as preservation groups warn of an \u201cirrevocable loss\u201d of a national landmark.More newsCommentary and opinionEditor\u2019s pickMore picksThings to do \"New <\/a> <\/p>\n

(Photo illustration by Diana Ramirez \/ De Los; photos by Werley Fotografo Studios, J. Scott Applewhite \/ AP, Marcos Felipe)<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s recipe \"Pistachio <\/a> <\/p>\n

Molly Baz\u2019s pistachio brown butter & halva chocolate chunk cookies.<\/p>\n

(Catherine Dzilenski \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

The thing that makes these pistachio, brown butter and halva chocolate chunk cookies<\/a> so special is the way they linger between the sweet and savory. They\u2019re loaded with finely ground pistachios, studded with the Middle Eastern sweetened sesame confection halva and bound together by deeply nutty browned butter.<\/p>\n

Question for you<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite place to see fall colors in California? Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.<\/p>\n

Photo of the day \"Attendees <\/a> <\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Games \"Mini <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s today\u2019s mini crossword<\/a>, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the record: Wednesday\u2019s newsletter erroneously said that Times staff writer Daniel Hernandez is launching a food-related podcast next week. It is a newsletter. <\/p>\n

Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n

Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a week of relentlessly dire news \u2014 rising interest rates, escalating wars in the Middle East, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2299,1085,891,2300,2297,340,2303,63,2302,1086,1459,2301,2298,74,225,315,688],"class_list":["post-467975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-civic-revolt","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-days","tag-essential-california","tag-israel","tag-l-a","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-may","tag-pandemic","tag-part","tag-president-biden","tag-red-county","tag-san-diego","tag-state","tag-time","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}