Recent Press and Articles About SYMG
Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides has been guiding in the Sierra since 1991, and we feel fortunate that our programs have been praised in dozens of national magazines, newspapers, and trade journals throughout the years. Below are a few of our favorites. We hope to see you on a trip very soon.
National Geographic Adventure
25 Best New Trips - Yosemite Grand Traverse
"On this eight-day, 57-mile trans-Sierra backpacking tour, which crosses the whole of Yosemite National Park from South to North, Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides has done all the logistical work for you. You start at one point, end at another, and never see the same terrain on any given day".
Frommers 2008 Guide Book
"Of the dozens of outdoor recreation companies that offer guided hiking and backpacking trips throughout the Yosemite region, the best of the bunch is Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides. For nearly 2 decades the professional guides from SYMG have been leading visitors of all ages to the spectacular wilderness regions throughout Yosemite National Park and the High Sierra. SYMG founder and president Ian Elman and his staff are among the top outdoor guides in the nation and are masters at providing a fun, thrilling, and safe experience for all their clients, whether it is a casual naturalist-led day hike through the Giant Sequoias or a 7 day backpacking odyssey through Southern Yosemite's Ansel Adams Wilderness (one of the best kept secrets of the region)..."
National Geographic Adventure
Best Outfitters on Earth
"Since 1991 this Yosemite outfitter has eschewed the Sierra Nevada's more popular routes in favor of backpacking and hiking trips through lesser-known areas, such as the Ansel Adams Wilderness. When its guides do enter more touristy locales, like Mount Whitney, for instance, it's only after spending a bulk of their time traversing the Sierra backcountry."
Time 2 Go Fly-Fishing. 3 days Ansel Adam's Wilderness, CA
Adventure Weekends May, 2006
"Meet Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides at the Mammoth Trailhead, and drop 1500 feet into the North Fork of the San Joaquin canton to Sheep Crossing. Over the next 2 days, you'll trek 10 miles deeper into this granite-walled wilderness. Cast for brookies and rainbows under the long shadow of 13,157 foot Mt. Ritter."
Backpacking in the High Sierra
by Nicole Davis - August, 2005
"Splurge...Welcome to the High Sierra the way Galen Rowel captured it. The folks at Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides are renowned for their intimate knowledge of the nooks and crags of Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks. The outfitter has led this trip for more than a decade...You'll tackle 10-miles a day at 8,000-14,000 feet, then kick back over walnut pesto chicken and black bean burritos..."
Backpacking the John Muir Trail
"Outside Magazine's winner for Trip of the Year - March, 2004
"Every mile on this classic American Ramble along the spine of the Sierra has a highlight...Why go with a guide instead of hoofing it on your own? For one thing, a small mule train will follow behind your group, carrying food, tents and 15 lbs of your personal gear..."
10 Best Secret Hikes in America
by Sarah Tuff-Dunn - June, 2003
"Mount Whitney has some of the most beautiful scenery in the Sierra Nevada. Too bad it also has the population density of Manhattan. Avoid the backcountry interstates this summer by following Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides on a new 9-day west-to-east 83-mile traverse of the Sierra. You'll be taking the backdoor route to Whitney..."
Hiking California - High to Low
by Maria Streshinski - May, 1995
"Last summer I explored this area [Ansel Adam's Wilderness] with Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides, based in Bass lake. SYMG let's the clients set the pace. They provide permits, maps, a lot of hearty food, and equipment, such as packs, sleeping bags, pads, and tents...Standing on top of the a mountain, or at the end of a trail and filling your lungs with cool clean air, feeling dirtier and healthier than ever before, the hard part slips from your mind as you revel in the view, the air, and the accomplishment."
Eat Gourmet Grub at the End of the Trail
by Lisa Taggart - June, 1993
"The trouble with wilderness is this; after you've sweated your way to 1,000 feet above the tree line, pitched the tent, and lit the stove, you rarely get food worthy of the view...In addition to eating good food (examples include honey-wheat pancakes with fresh strawberries, Armenian-style sandwich rolls and homemade pesto), hikers on SYMG treks begin their trip in the lap of luxury, the hot tub-equipped Pines Resort on Bass Lake. "We want people to wake well rested for their first day in the wilderness," says Mike Maciaszek, Director.
How to Become a Wilderness Guide
April, 2004
Leadership skills are of equal importance: "I look for people with a customer service background; guides have to be able to relate to people," says [SYMG] guide Ian Elman. "...there are a number of comprehensive guide-training curricula. Including Elman's Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides which will launch it's Guide's Training Course in May..."
The Secrete is Out - Shuteye Ridge, California
by Doug Robinson and Sean Jones - April, 2005
For decades, climbers have flocked to Yosemite, Tuolumne, Bishop, and The Needles, but now, after a three decade-long start-and-stop discovery process, another Sierra Gem has been developed. Shuteye Ridge offers incredible vistas, a wilderness environ, and now world-class routes.
Backpacking in Yosemite
March, 1997
"Luxurious wilderness trip" might sound like an oxymoron, but Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides proves otherwise. First, you have the luxury of doing absolutely nothing to prepare for this camping trip. SYMG supplies the tents, sleeping bags, mattress pads, stoves, water filters, and the rest. You simply show up, put on your backpack (guests carry their personal gear; guides carry just about everything else) and put one foot in front of the other. Once you hit the trails, the breathtaking views of the High Sierra back country aren't the only reward; you'll also enjoy fresh, nutritious, gourmet meals. No freeze-dried veggies or franks and beans here. Some guides even carry woks. Trips last 3 to 23 days and are tailored to the fitness level of your group. (At altitudes of at least 8,000 feet, even fit hikers may have to slow down a bit.) Whether you hike four miles or eight, you'll feel a world away from the daily grind, as you inhale the cool, thin, pine-scented air and take in the lush meadows, clear lakes, and granite peaks of the Ansel Adams Wilderness.
Flyfishing Yosemite National Park
by Bill Becher - Winter, 2005
If you want football shaped lunkers, head for western hothouse tailwater fisheries...but if small bejeweled trophies from lightly fished waters amidst spectacular scenery sounds intriguing, then Yosemite is for you. Mike Maciaszek, a guide with Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides, says that fishing Yosemite's small creeks is the kind of angling that many fly fishers started with before they joined the drift boat parade on the Missouri or spent thousands of dollars to hunt Christmas Island bonefish."
Dream Jobs
July, 1994
"Our friendship bonded in the mountains, says Ian. "The mountains can do that to you."...The result was Southern Yosemite [Mountain Guides]. Southern Yosemite supplies everything from simple guidance to gear and gourmet food and caters to customers from highly experienced to the highly impetuous-the novice who, says Mike, can see an adventure in a magazine and that same weekend get to live it "without even learning how to read a compass."
Rock Climbing - Affordable Adventure Trips
May, 1998
"Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides; Rock Climbing trips [#4 on on our affordable Adventures list]. "Enjoy awe-inspiring views as you climb throughout Yosemite or Joshua Tree. Private guides and women's only trips are available; all ability levels welcome."
Discover the Worlds of Yosemite
by Laurie Sammis - Summer, 2000
"If you choose to escape the crowds in a more adventuresome manner, plan a trip fly fishing or exploring with one of the naturalists guide's from Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides (SYMG). Although SYMG does offer rock climbing classes and adventures in and around the Yosemite area, they are most popular for their extensive array of more upscale luxury outdoor programs...Want to camp in luxury with all the comforts of home (they even bring a French coffee press) try a pack trip or backpacking into the High Sierra...
The 25 Coolest People Now
by Mark Sundeen - December 2004
Vagabond Rocker [and SYMG Guide] Tim Bluhm lives in a 1995 Chevy Sportvan, but don't let that throw you: The lead singer of the San Francisco band the Mother Hips has still managed to release nine albums, play more than 2,000 concerts, and build a cultish fan base‹all the while stringing together a life of wilderness rambles that are as much Jack London as Jack Johnson. He tramps up and down the Golden State, skiing Mount Shasta, free-soloing Tuolumne Meadows' Cathedral Peak, surfing the cold Northern California coast, and telemark-skiing the Sierra. This summer, he broke a 14-year concert streak and worked as a climbing guide in Yosemite. With a sun-soaked sound that blends Merle Haggard with the Beach Boys, Bluhm pitched his tent on a plot of California's imagination and has been singing into the roar of the bulldozers ever since, a self-proclaimed "time-sick son of a grizzly bear" along the lines of Gram Parsons and Townes Van Zandt, with a similarly loyal following. In February, lines formed around the block in San Francisco for the premiere of Stories We Could Tell, a feature-length documentary about the band. This month, Bluhm releases California Way, a two-day session that Fog City Records producer Dan Prothero calls a "love letter from and about a disappearing place." Reached by cell phone on a highway in the Sierra, Bluhm admitted that if he'd hit the jackpot ten years ago, he "probably would have just spent it all. Now," he said, "I'd buy a better van. Or at least get my brakes fixed."