Yucca Valley, CA Outdoor Activities

When 20-year climbing veteran Zeke Federman started a rock-climbing school, he needed to situate its headquarters someplace that was more than simply rocky. The spot he settled on falls squarely on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range—an area boasting a varied landscape and steady climate that is friendly to year-round mountaineering and offers challenging routes to both beginners and experienced climbers with their own pet mountain goats. Zeke's climbing academy, Sierra Rock Climbing School, leads students on guided excursions across the region's higher-altitude cliffs. His staff of Professional Climbing Guides Institute–trained guides has won points with clients for combining an easygoing demeanor with a serious attentiveness to safety and the needs of beginners to go slowly. In addition to small groups, the company has also guided successful climbing outings for large corporations such as Google and Frito-Lay, and appeared in segements on The Bachelor and Dr. Phil.

Diana Lefort frolicked with horses as a child on her family's Arizona ranch, developing a passion that led to her owning and caring for several of her own quarter steeds as an adult. Now with 30 years of professional equine experience, she welcomes every opportunity to blend her two passions: horseback riding and the gorgeous scenery of the Temecula Valley's wine country. She and her team begin their stallion-studded tours at various wineries in the region, where experts demonstrate the incantations used to summon tears from grapes and participants tipple seasonal fermented juices from at the chosen winery. The team then saddles participants on well-seasoned steeds with gentle temperaments and good credit ratings for tours through lush vineyard trails as the morning dew evaporates under the rising sun or as daylight slowly unspools around them into a glorious sunset. Many tours include a gourmet meal from local farmers at the Creekside Grille at Wilson Creek Winery.

Since 1975, FAA-certified balloon pilot Dan Glick has whisked sightseers on picturesque sunrise flights over Temecula Valley wine country, packed with wining, dining, and professional photography. Each excursion feels like an occasion, with groups starting off at the Monte De Oro Winery for a preflight reception to sip and snack on coffee, mimosas, and pastries before ascending through the troposphere. As the dirigible hangs over rolling vineyards, professional photographer Megan Franks captures the adventure and the debates between intellectual birds on camera, leaving floating tourists with an HD video of the launch and more than 100 photographs of the flight experience. The sky-high journeys conclude on the ground with a round of champagne and cake to celebrate the endeavor. For special occasions, Sunrise Balloons can play celebratory launch music or adorn the carriage with banners proclaiming birthdays, anniversaries, or weddings.

Sunrise Balloons also hosts tours of the vineyards they frequently fly over. As luxurious as their airborne counterparts, tours forgo the balloon for a limo party coach that escorts passengers from one stop to the next.

Equipment crafted by companies including K2, Rossignol, and Burton lines the walls of Goldsmith's Boardhouse & Ski Rental, where experienced staffers help snow explorers to hit the slopes in style. Snowboarders and skiers on their way to carve up nearby Snow Summit, Big Bear Mountain, or a local mall Santa display swing by Goldsmith's to pick up gleaming new gear or all-inclusive rental packages that fit feet with cushy boots before outfitting riders with a snowboard replete with bindings or skis paired with poles.

With his white hair and mustache and his penchant for hot air balloons, Wil LaPointe often jokes that he looks like the Wizard from The Wizard of Oz. On every balloon ride, LaPointe wants to create an unforgettable experience for his basket of passengers, peppering historical tidbits about early ballooning with jokes and stories such as the history of the white tiger adorning one of the balloons in his fleet. The white tiger, a ward of LaPointe’s friend—a wildlife caretaker—was one of three cubs abandoned by their mother and eventually raised by an open-minded golden retriever.

Though LaPointe is a self-proclaimed “balloonatic,” he got into the business of ballooning by chance when he bought a hot air balloon to advertise for his cellular-phone business. Today, LaPointe works as a master instructor of ballooning, training new pilots in addition to travelling to schools with miniature balloons, which he uses to teach hands-on lessons about mathematics, physics, and engineering.

LaPointe was featured on CNN.com after donating a balloon ride in his deceased wife’s name to Cy Breen, who raises funds for cancer research, on Breen's 100th birthday. Breen, who raises money each year by shooting one hole of golf for each birthday he’s had, did a little jig as he walked over to the white-tiger balloon, eager to check another item off his list of lifelong dreams.