The rush of mountain peaks. The thrill of backcountry hikes. For Castro Valley High teacher and freelance writer Matt Johanson, there are few things more sublime than spending his summers exploring the Sierra Nevada range. He backpacks Yosemite’s backcountry and hikes Mount Whitney — and then writes about those experiences for this publication and others. Now his most recent book, “Sierra Summits: A Guide to Fifty Peak Experiences in California’s Range of Light” (Falcon Guides, 2019), has won a National Outdoor Book Award.

Each fall, the NOBA Foundation bestows awards in 10 outdoor categories, from nature guides to outdoor literature and children’s books. Johanson’s “Sierra Summits” traces 50 of his favorite outdoor adventures in Yosemite, Tahoe, the Central and Eastern Sierra and Kings Canyon that can be completed in a single day and without technical gear. You can scale mountains, he says, without giving up the day job.

The book, which won in the outdoor adventure guide category, was singled out by NOBA judges for taking “a different approach than many climbing guidebooks. In fact, it’s not really for climbers. It’s for non-climbers. No ropes or climbing equipment needed. No overnight bivouacs on icy ledges required.”

Honorable mention in that category went to California adventure writer and journalism professor Ann Marie Brown for her “150 Nature Hot Spots in California: The Best Parks, Conservation Areas and Wild Places” (Firefly Books, 2019), which explores the full length of the Golden State, from snowy Mount Shasta to otherwordly Joshua Tree National Park. Brown has taught at San Francisco State, the University of San Francisco and, until last year, Sierra Nevada College at Lake Tahoe.