Marion's Blog

April 2010 Road Trip in North Central Nevada - Falls Creek Falls - Jacks Creek - Elko

A couple of weeks ago Duke and I took a short road trip through north central Nevada. When we take a road trip we like to get off the beaten track and follow the back roads. What that means in Nevada is that we often go hours without seeing another vehicle. It also means that we see a lot of gorgeous scenery and interesting wildlife.

On our most recent trip we camped the first night in the Santa Rosa Range in Falls Creek Canyon and hiked to Falls Creek Canyon Waterfall.  Falls Creek Canyon is just off US highway 95 forty miles north of Winnemucca. The camp site is about four miles east of the highway at the end of a very rough rutted road. It was a beautiful site and we had it to ourselves.

The hike to the waterfall is short and relatively easy. We had to cross the creek a few times and I got my feet wet. Duke did better. The route is described as hike 5 in the book 50 Classic Hikes in Nevada by Mike White. We were there April 25th and there was a lot of water in the creek and snow on the peaks surrounding us. We were camped right next to the creek.

 

It was a wonderful warm evening. We cooked our steaks over the fire and watched a marmot play nearby, When the full moon came up it was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

 

From Falls Canyon we drove around to the east side of the Santa Rosa Range to the Singas Creek trail head which is described as hike 6 in 50 Classic Hikes in Nevada. We did a short hike and then headed east across the Owyhee desert to the Independence Mountains and camped at the Jacks Creek camp ground. Along the way we had a flat tire and had to turn around at one point when the road was washed out. Since we no longer had a spare tire and since a big storm was coming in we decided that it probably wouldn't be prudent to explore any remote back country roads. so we headed to Elko.

We stopped to look for interesting rocks and fossils at several sites in the area including the old mining town of  Tuscarora.

Elko is a town we stayed in on one of our road trip last year. There are four Basque restaurants in Elko. Last year we ate at and really enjoyed Biltoki. This time we tried The Star Hotel Basque Restaurant which is the oldest of the four. They were very busy even though we were eating late. We also noticed that there were a lot more woman than men. That was undoubtedly because Elko is such a  thriving mining town. The food was wonderful , the service was great and ambiance was fun.

If you would like to see all of my pictures form our trip you can see them on Flickr here.

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The Retired Ladies Road Trip to Zion National Park - Part 2

My friends and I just returned from our Retired Ladies Road Trip to southwestern Utah. My post for part one of our trip is here. It covers the first three days of the trip.

On day four we hiked to see some petroglyphs at Anasazi Ridge above the Santa Clara River west of St George.

 

After lunch we hiked in Snow Canon State Park to a natural amphitheater set in white sandstone.

 

On day five, Saturday, we hiked again in Zion National Park. We hiked the Angels Landing Trail. It was amazing and spectacular. The first part of the hike is up, up, up a trail cut into the rock of the canyon wall. You can see my friend Amy on the trail about two thirds of the way up the cliff.

 

From the first cliff top we switched back through a narrow canyon.

And then along the cliff face and up using chains to hold on. This was the part of the trail that was scary although if I didn't look down it wasn't too bad.

We stopped for lunch at a flat spot with a fantastic view. From there the trail goes up a very narrow crest to the top. We decided to go no further. The trail is challenging enough without adding ice and snow! The picture below is of our lunch stop. You can see the top and the crest that the trail goes up to get there.

I think the Angels Landing  trail is perhaps the most amazing trail I have ever hiked.

On day six of our trip we headed home across Nevada on Highway 50. It is a beautiful drive. We saw very few cars but we did see plenty of hawks, some pronghorn, and a very unusual weather phenomenon, hundreds of little mist columns coming from the clouds to the ground. It was beautifully unearthly. Here is a picture of some of the pronghorn from the truck window.

The Retired Ladies Road Trip to Zion National Park - Part 1

My friends Amy and  Linda and I are on a road trip to visit another friend Stephanie. She lives near Zion National Park in southwestern Utah.

On day one we drove from Reno to Lone Pine down the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was overcast as we drove south so we didn't have too much of a view of the mountains. We stopped at Manzanar, one of the World War II Japanese internment camps. It is a sobering place with an excellent visitor center. Well worth a visit,

 

On day two we awake to beautiful blue skies and a wonderful view of Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states.

 

From Lone Pine we drove down into Death Valley, the lowest place in the United States, and back up to Stephanie's house in southwestern Utah

 

Today - day three we went to Zion National Park. It was snowing when we started our hike up Zion Canyon and then the sun came out as we reached the end of the trail and started back to the truck.

From Zion Canyon we went east and did the Canyon Overlook Trail. We saw very few people and we saw a family of mountain sheep right near the trail. I took a lot of pictures.

The view from the overlook was phenomenal too. Do I look like I am having a good time?

All my pictures form this trip are on Flickr here.

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