Marion's Blog

Silver Peak Mount Rose Hike

For ten years the Silver Peak Brewery which has two great restaurants in Reno has sponsored a hike to the top of Mount Rose. For a donation you get a t-shirt and beer at the top. The hike benefits the Nevada Land Conservancy. Their web site says that they have been so successful that because of over use this is the last year that the hike will be on Mount Rose. 

Mount Rose overlooks Reno and at 10,775 ft high is the highest peak around Reno.

We did the Silver Peak Mount Rose Hike one other time two years ago.  I blogged about it here. It was cold, there was snow at the top, and it was VERY windy but still fun. This time the weather was unseasonably warm. Getting to the top was relatively easy. I'm sure that was because Duke and I hiked 32.5 miles with packs on our backs on the Tahoe Rim Trail about a week ago. Saturday afternoon it was wonderful to sit on top with all the people and dogs and enjoy the views and a beer.

From the top we saw a helicopter land in the meadow way below. Apparently they were there to evacuate someone who was having heart problems. We started down and about an hour from the top came upon two guys who had just found a guy collapsed and unconscious on the trail. As we approached he started vomiting and they turned him on his side.  I called 911 and explained that we were were about half a mile above the helicopter that was already there. The man was coming around by this point. He said he was 75 and didn't have a  history of heart problems. He had already been to the top.

We think it was probably the altitude and the heat that got to him. The paramedics hiked up from the meadow and reached in about ten minutes. Apparently in addition to the helicopter guys some more paramedics had hiked in to help with the first guy. We hiked on down and watched the LifeCare helicopter lift of with the first guy who they had carried down the trail and loaded on the helicopter. Another helicopter came in and circled but I don't think it landed so I am guessing that the guy we helped hiked out after he felt better.

If you would like to see all the pictures from this hike they are available on Flickr here.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Barker Pass to Echo Lake - We did it!

Duke and I just finished the section of the Tahoe Rim Trail from Barker Pass to Echo Lake. We did it as a four day backpacking trip. Several of our friends from the Sierra Canyon Hiking Group did it in two days of hiking. The hike is a total of 32.5 miles. Four days was hard. I can't imagine doing it in two.

Day 1 - Barker Pass to Richardson Lake

We started the hike last Friday.  We picked up our Desolation Wilderness camping permits in Tahoe City then drove two vehicles to Echo Lake which is just off of highway 50 at the south end of Lake Tahoe. We left the truck parked at Echo Lake and drove the car north to our starting point at Barker Pass. What with stopping for lunch and all the driving back and forth we didn't get on the trail until about 2. Our first night was at Richardson Lake which is just north of the start of the Desolation Wilderness.By the time we got there it was around 7 and we didn't have a lot of time to get our camp set up. Duke does all the cooking when we camp. The red beans and rice were really good.

This is a picture of our camp site at Richardson Lake.

Richardson Lake

Day 2 - Richardson Lake to Fontanallis Lake 

Our first day of hiking was only about 7 miles so we needed to do more on day 2 if we wanted to average 8 miles a day. We ended up camping at Fontanallis Lake which was one of the prettiest lakes we saw. It was overcast and cool most of the day, perfect weather for hiking. The evening and first part of the night were very windy. The tent even blew away and we had to catch it before we could stake it down.

The battery on  my small camera died  on Saturday (day 2) and I discovered that my back-up battery wasn't charged so these are my last pictures from the trip.

This picture is of Fontanallis Lake.

This picture is of our camp site at Fontanallis Lake.

Day 3 - Fontanallis Lake to Aloha Lake

This was by far the hardest day of the hike. We climbed over 1000 feet up to Dick's Pass. From the top which is at 9,380 feet we hiked down 1,700 feet and then back up about 500 feet to Lake Aloha. It sounds like a very welcoming lake doesn't it? Wrong! In my opinion this is the moist inappropriately named lake ever. It should be named Desolation Lake, or Moon Scape Lake, or even Granite Lake. There are very few trees and we had to walk aver a mile along the shore of the lake to find an OK camp site. Lake Aloha is part of the Sacramento water system and the water level was way down. I think where we camped is usually under water. The vast amount of granite and very few trees did make for one of the most memorable experiences of the trip. As it got dark we lay on a big slab of granite and watched the millions of stars and the milky way come out. We even saw a meteor!

Day 4 - Lake Aloha to Echo Lake

The hike out on Monday was relatively easy. During the summer there is a water taxi on Echo Lake which allows you to avoid the last 2.5 miles of the hike. It was closed for the season so we got to admire all the cabins along the shore of Echo Lake as we hiked out. The Desolation Wilderness ends about 3 miles before the end of the hike. Soon after we started hiking Monday morning a ranger checked our wilderness permit. We also had a ranger check the permit while we were camped at Fontanillis Lake. I wonder what happens if you don't have a permit.

Conclusion

Backpacking is hard work. The scenery was wonderful and the weather was great, but I must admit I am glad to be done.

We have now hiked the whole Tahoe Rim Trail all 165 miles of it! We did it in 10 hikes:

• Barker Pass to Echo Lake - September 18-21, 2009
• Spooner Summit to Tunnel Creek Road- June 28-29, 2009
• Barker Pass to Ward Creek Road - June 23, 2009
• Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek Road - June 19, 2009
• Ward Canyon to Tahoe City - June 16, 2009
• Big Meadow to Echo Lake - Aug 14, 2008
• Kingsbury to Big Meadow -  Aug 7, 2008
• Brockway to Tahoe City  - July 3, 2008
• Mount Rose to Brockway -  June 26, 2008
• Spooner Summit to Kingsbury Grade - June 21, 2008

Tahoe Rim Trail - Spooner Summit to Tunnel Creek Road

Last Sunday and Monday, June 28-29 Duke and I hiked the 17 mile section of the Tahoe Rim Trail from Spooner Summit on Highway 50 to Tunnel Creek Road. The last three miles were off the trail down to the lake. The same road we took at the end of the Mount Rose to Tunnel Creek Road section. We did the hike it in two days and camped out seven miles from the beginning of the trail. Given how much rain we have had and the fact that we still saw some snow it was surprising to me that we only saw water once on the trail. It was at about 10 miles in. Here is a picture of Duke filtering water and refilling our water bottles.

Here are a couple more scenery pictures. If you would like to see all the pictures from the hike you can see them on Flickr here. We only have one more section to do to comnplete the Tahoe Rim Trail. It is the 32.5 Echo Lake to Barker Pass section through the Desolation Wilderness. I think we will do it as a four day back packing trip in August.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Barker Pass to Ward Creek Road

Yesterday Duke and I hiked the section of the Tahoe Rim Trail from Barker Pass to Ward Creek Road. I think it is one of the prettiest sections of the trail. The views were fantastic.

It was a total of 11.8 miles and though my feet hurt at the end it didn't seem as hard as last week so I must be getting in a little bit better shape. The hardest thing about the hike was that there were sections of the trail still covered with a lot of snow so that we couldn't always find the trail. We just headed in the right direction and eventually the trail would show up again. Walking over snow does slow us down so the hike took 6.5 hours.

If you would like to see all of my pictures from the hike they are available here.

 I think next week we will hike a section on the west side of Lake Tahoe that is about 17 miles. We are planning to do it as a one night back pack.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek Road

We hiked another part of the Tahoe Rim Trail yesterday. This time we hiked on the east side of the lake. Duke and I started at Tahoe Meadows on the Mount Rose Highway and hiked 9 miles south on the Tahoe Rim Trail to Tunnel Creek Road. Tunnel Creek Road is also called the Flume Trail and is very popular with mountain bikers.  We hiked down three miles from the TRT to highway 28 which is on the shore of the shore of the lake. So we did 9 miles on the TRT and 3 miles down to where we parked the truck.

It was a beautiful day. It started out with completely blue sky but by the time we were finished thunder clouds were rolling in. The views from this part of the trail are fantastic.

Here is a list of all the parts of the trail we have done so far.

• Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek Road - June 19, 2009  ( yesterday)
• Ward Canyon to Tahoe City - June 16, 2009
• Brockway to Tahoe City  - July 3, 2008
• Kingsbury to Big Meadow -  Aug 7, 2008
• Big Meadow to Echo Lake - Aug 14, 2008
• Mount Rose to Brockway -  June 26, 2008
• Spooner Summit to Kingsbury Grade - June 21, 2008

Here are a few of the pictures from the hike yesterday. You can see all my pictures on Flickr here.

The only snow we saw was at Tahoe Meadows where we started the hike.

There were lots of wonderful views. This is the east shore of Lake Tahoe

On the Trail Again - Tahoe Rim Trail - Ward Canyon to Tahoe City

Last year Duke and I hiked several sections of the 165 mile long Tahoe Rim Trail. This year we plan to complete it. Our 2008 hikes were all very long hikes. Several of them were 20+ miles. What I learned from our hikes last year is that 20 miles is more than I want to hike in one day. I can do it but after about 12 miles it just isn't much fun. If you would like to read about the sections we did last year they are here.

The Tahoe Rim Trail web site has a list of how you can break the trail into 14 day hikes. Today Duke and I hiked the shortest segment, Ward Canyon to Tahoe City. It was an easy, 5 mile, two hour hike. It was great to be out on the trail again. Our next hike will be the Barker Pass to Ward Canyon segment which is south from where we were today. Looking that way it looks like there is still quite a bit of snow on the trail where it meets the Pacific Crest Trail but I bet we can do it next week.

If you would like to see my pictures of the hike they are on Flickr here.

Pictures of Birds

When Duke and I were at the Malheur National Wildlife refuge in April we stayed at a couple of Bed and Breakfasts. Malheur is very popular with bird watchers. Every time we sat down to a meal with other tourists the first question we would be asked was "Are you a birder?"

I certainly don't think of myself as a birder but it has been fun on our recent travels to take some bird pictures and then use my copy of The Sibley Guide to Birds to try and identify the birds. I decided to start a Flickr set with one picture of each of the birds I have identified.

Here are a couple of the pictures. If you would like to see all the pictures you can see them on Flickr here.

I think these are Avocets. We saw these two in a puddle just east of Vya, Nevada last April

And I think this is a Chukar. He was on the edge of a meadow near Alkali Reservoir, Nevada. When we were out hiking the next day another Chukar startled me big time. He came right out of the bushes next to me and ran around pretending he had a broken wing. After he had done his job he flew away.

Looking for Baby Pronghorn

When Duke and I took our road trip in April we saw lots of baby horses, burros, dear and cows.

Apparently pronghorn have a longer gestation period than most animals and the babies aren't born until May so we didn't see any baby pronghorn. So earlier this week we decided to take a one day camping trip up to Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge to see if we could see any baby pronghorn.

It was a bit cold and rainy but we still had a lot of fun. It always amazes me how few people we see. We didn't see another sole once we left the blacktop. It is a beautiful area.

Because of all the rain we have had the wild flowers were abundant. We saw literally hundreds of wild horses but only about 20 pronghorn. We did get to see one baby so we can say mission accomplished.

The pronghorn baby pictures didn't come out to good but I really like some of the other pictures. Here are a few of them. You can see the rest on Flickr here.

Steamboat Ditch and the Tom Cooke Trail to Hole in the Wall

Back In February Duke and I hiked the Tom Cooke Trail to Hole in the Wall. This hike is on page 233 of the book Afoot & Afield Reno-Tahoe A comprehensive hiking Guide by Mike White. The trail starts right next to the Patagonia Outlet on the Truckee River and heads south and then west along the Steamboat Ditch to where the ditch goes through a tunnel.

If you are familiar with Reno you are familiar with the ditches but otherwise you are probably wondering what I am talking about. Reno has a series of canals that carry water from the Truckee river for irrigation. I wanted to know more about the Steamboat Ditch but had a hard time finding any information. The Reno library wasn't able to help me.

Finally today I went to the library at the Nevada Historical Society. The people there were incredibly helpful and I learned a lot.

As the Reno area was first being settled in the second half of the nineteenth century most ranches got there water by buying shares in a ditch company. About 130 miles of ditches were created in the Reno area primarily for irrigation. 

The last ditch company was formed in 1877. It was the Truckee & Steamboat Irrigating Canal Company. Trustees  hired Chinese labor to construct the 33 miles of canal. White laborers were angry and announced that they would drive the Chinese out by force. In spite of their threats the Steamboat Ditch was opened July 1, 1880. It took two years and $40,000 to build

The Steamboat Ditch starts at the Nevada-California Line near interstate 80 west of Reno. Water is taken out of the Truckee river and is carried in flumes and through canals to an area south of Reno near Steamboat Creek. On our hike we walked along the ditch to one end of a tunnel that was built through a hill above the river. It is a long dark tunnel and you can just see the light at the end of the tunnel.

During the winter if you ever take Interstate 80 into Reno you can see the flume for the Steamboat Ditch on the other side of the river. The icicles hanging down underneath the flume are beautiful.

There are other paths to hike along the canal and I am looking forward to exploring more of the Steamboat Ditch and learning more about it.

Lola Montez Lake to Upper Lola Montez Lake to Lily Pond to Buzzards Point with the Sierra Canyon Hiking Group

Thursday six of us fro the Sierra Canyon Hiking Group did an 11 mile hike. We exited interstate 80 at the Soda Springs/Norden exit and parked on the road just north at the Lola Montez trail head.

The trail to Lower Lola Montez Lake is relatively easy and about three miles long. From there we climbed to Upper Lola Montez Lake. There isn't a trail but someone has put rock cairns along the route and climbing up through the boulders to the lake wasn't too hard.


From Upper Lola Montez Lake we followed a jeep road and did a bit of cross country to get to Lily Pond. Half the group sat and enjoyed Lily Pond while Duke, Walt and I bushwhacked our way to the top of Buzzards Point. It was a tough slog but the view from the top was phenomenal. By the time we got back down to Lily Pond my pants were covered in thorns.


If you would like to see all of my pictures from the hike you can see them on Flickr here.