Stuart Weiss Photography

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

Stuart Weiss became a passionate photographer and writer in the middle of his life. He moved from Manhattan to California and fell in love with the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the arid expanse of Desert and The Great Basin Mountains and Ghost towns that lie in the rain shadow to the east.

He and his Golden Retriever backpacked the highest peaks and explored glacier fed lakes, streams and rivers. He always backpacked with his Nikon Film Camera in hand, capturing images of this very dramatic landscape. During this time he also published, edited and contributed to California Explorer Magazine, a periodical filled with unique knowledge for backpackers. He also contributed to other Outdoor periodicals of the time. Most of the images featured on this site were taken during this magical time in his life.

He continues to explore the landscape, now on his bicycle, through the viewfinder of his new Nikon Digital Camera.
On March 1, 2018 he left Bath, Maine for a small cottage in senior housing in East Hampton. Bicycling along byways in the flat terrain is a joy. Past memories are renewed recently I became 85, Utopia it’s as close as I can get.

Guestbook for Stuart Weiss Photography

Mike Bondi(non-registered)

Stuart Weiss...you are my hero! More than 35 years ago, I stumbled across a rack of Califoria Explorer magazines in a San Jose, California public library. I'd been traveling for a new job and was spending a week in Northern CA and since internet did not exist, the library was the place to go to do research. I was looking for material to plan my next hike in the Sierra. I'd been backpacking since 1976 and I was hungry for information on new hiking adventures. I struck gold when I found your magaizine. I read four or five California Explorer volumes and I was hooked. I subscribed when I got home and I've received every copy published since. Your love affair with the Sierra Nevada mountains, the deserts, and the geography and history of California and the West was made abundantly clear in every issue you published. Your work inspired me and thousands of others to hoist a pack and get outside and explore.
I've been an avid backpacker for over 45 years and I've followed many of the path abd trailss you described in your magazine. Today, I want to reach out and personally thank you for following your conviction and passion and working so hard to publish such a wonderful magazine. You have changed lives by encouraging me and many others to get outside and be one with nature.
As a footnote, I was saddened when you turned over the reigns of California Explorer but I stayed true and always looked forward to each delivery. Then, this past week I received the November/December 2022 edition and I read that this editon would be the final print version published. An era is coming to an end, but the love of the outdoors that California Explorer inspired will live on.
Stuart, THANK YOU! Well done good and faithful servant.