Oh Happy Day!

Aaahhh....the perfect birthday: camping, a successful hike up Arc Dome, Skeena, Spencer Hot Springs.... At least I managed to pack in the majority of that!

PS- Looks like the flat tire is both irreparable and not covered under warranty. To add insult to injury, the tires might just be worn enough that all four tires will need to be replaced. Ouch.

To Arc Dome!

The couch full of camping gear is almost all packed into the car. My next step is to go choose a book or two to take with me. Happy Labor Day weekend!

Silly Me...

Dogs aren't allowed in national parks, so there was no Wheeler Peak this weekend for me. However, I did manage to unsuccessfully hike Arc Dome (weather was closing in just as we were about to hike up the final mile or so); successfully do Mt. Moriah (a 10-hour, 15-mile, 5000+ feet of elevation walk in eastern Nevada where the only people seen were two bow hunters hiking in just as we were finished); and make 2 stops at Spencer Hot Springs out by Austin.

A great way to spend the long weekend. Photos to come.

The Arc Dome Loop

Ken wrote this description of the loop we did in Arc Dome:

Our trip started at Columbine campground and followed Stewart Creek up and and up along an old and now no-longer-legal jeep road. After climbing to about 10000' we dropped steeply into Sawmill Creek where it became evident that there's not much money in the Toiyabe National Forest budget for such mundane things as trail maintenance. Dropping down into the canyon, the trail was washed out enough in a few places that Kirsten had to stop and ponder just how to get across. Lower down in the canyon the trail would virtually disappear whenever it got close to the creek.

I actually really enjoy these kinds of trails but the brush was thick and scratchy and it didn't take long for our legs to admit defeat. So we dropped our shorts and put on long pants. Our legs were now hot but happy. At the junction of the Reese River trail we hung a left and started up the mighty Reese River. There are many places in the world where a trickle of water this size wouldn't even warrant a name but here in Nevada, well, we were just glad there was water at all. We camped a couple miles up the trail at a camp that appeared to not have seen anyone since hunting season. It was a grassy creekside, ok riverside, spot complete with what I'm beginning to see is normal in a backcountry Nevada campsite, and that is putting the firepit in the only truly flat spot in the site. Next morning we continued up the Reese crossing it at least a dozen times with a few of the crossings made artificially more difficult by the hard work of beavers.

Towards the top of the canyon we stumbled into another backcountry Nevada phenomenon, that being the semi-permanent hunting camp. I'm no expert on wilderness rules but I'm pretty sure that leaving four huge canvas tents up for the whole year violates some part of the the Wilderness Act. But what really irks me about these sites is that the trail which can be a bit tough to follow as it is, tends to branch off unnoticed and lead straight to the hunting camp with not a sign at all that the real trail heads off in a different direction. You'd thing they'd at least post a “trail” sign to keep us hungry hikers from pilfering their stuff (it would have been soooo easy). As it was we ended up quite a ways off the real trail and I actually got to use the GPS for something useful.

We were far enough off route that we actually ended up descending down to the saddle that separates the Reese from the South Twin (yes another) River. By this time we were ready to camp but as luck would have it the only people we saw on the entire loop were camped in what appeared to be the only spots around. This leads me to my third observation of backcountry Nevada: campsites are few and far between. Unlike the Sierra where there are sites scattered almost everywhere, Nevada sites are at a premium and rarely if ever approach the level of even an average Sierra site. We finally found an adequate site all the way down the valley where we were to head up to the North Twin River.

The next morning we headed up and up, crossed another saddle and then started our cross country (ie: off trail) adventure. The only thing preventing our hike from being the perfect loop was a perhaps three mile section separating the North Twin River from the Toiyabe Crest Trail near Arc Dome. By the topo the cross country appeared pretty easy, not even that steep, but even in this dry of a year there was a snow field at the top to add a bit of spice. From the beginning Kirsten didn't like the looks of this pass and the snow sure didn't help. We ended up ascending though the rocks on the side but Kirsten was not too thrilled about the steep rocks so I ended up carrying her pack up as well as mine, so I got to climb it twice. In truth it was probably only a class 2-3 but plenty intimidating to someone not used to cross country travel.

Once up it was but a short stroll to the trail and we decided to give the side trip to Arc Dome a miss and instead headed down down down to Columbine and some semi cold beers.

Arc Dome Wilderness

About a month ago, while searching reno.craigslist.org for used vehicles, I completely lucked out and found a 1989 4Runner in terrific shape with only 116,000 miles on it. (Fellow Toyota lovers agree that I got a good deal on it and friends who haven't discovered the magic a Toyota can offer wonder why I'd buy a vehicle with over 100,000 miles on it.) The trip that Ken and I went on this weekend was its first test, and it passed with flying colors. However, most of the dirt roads we travelled on were pretty well-maintained. We didn't have any problems following the roads (sometimes roads can fade out) and the conditions were pretty good (that is until we tried to cross over the Toiyabe Range on 017 so we could hit the hot springs before we headed back home...we were stymied by snow and had to turn around).

Our actual backpacking trip was four days and three nights. We parked the 4Runner at Columbine campground (a very nice campground considering how far away from anything it is...it actually has an outhouse!). No other vehicles were there. Hmmm...it looks like Ken has taken the map to work, so I can't really describe the route we took...we hiked up, we hiked down, we went through cow pastures, aspen groves, lots of sagebrush and thorny rose bushes, and went up a really steep section that freaked me out but Ken helped me get through. After Ken brings the map back I'll better describe the route we took. We made a loop where there wasn't one (hence the scrambling up a mountain without the benefit/safety of a trail to follow), which may be of interest to other folk who may be interested in doing the same thing.

This was also Skeena's first backpacking trip. We worked her pretty good although she didn't help her case any by all the running around she did the first two days we were out. I swear, for every ten miles we hiked she probably did 40. By the time we finished on Monday, she was exhausted. She slept all the way home and all day yesterday. Even today, Wednesday, she's pretty mellow. I've been giving her little doggie massages to help her feel less stiff, but I think that she is still in recovery.

Right before this trip, I bought a new DSLR camera. It was a bit big to have to carry around for four days, but I was glad to have had the chance to play with it. That said, I definitely need to learn how to use it. I've never used a film SLR camera so I have no prior experience or knowledge with a 'real' camera. Lots of my pictures look washed out and I need to figure out how to use the different aperture and shutter settings. But some pics did turn out.

The photos:




I made veggies and dumplings the first night. Dumplings are the easiest thing in the world to make. As we were leaving town, we stopped at Trader Joe's to do a bit of last minute shopping (we needed turkey jerkey and crackers). Ken also grabbed a bag of cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots. All I did for dinner was to boil the veggies, add a packet of cream of chicken soup, mix a bit of Bisquick with water, spoon the mix on top of the veggies in the pot, put the lid on it and let it sit for 5 minutes, and voila! Veggies and dumplings.


The first night we camped in what looked to be a hunters' campsite. Off to the side of the clearing in a patch of trees we found the commode. So for a person who hasn't perfected the art of squatting, this leg of the hike might be suitable because there's an easy place to go.

We found all sorts of barbed wire fences in differing stages of dilapidation. Although we didn't see cows, there's lots of evidence that cows are still grazed through out the area we were in: cow patties and meadows that had been torn up from all the trampling.

Ken and I have different tastes in gorp. I prefer M&Ms, almonds, walnuts, and cashews. He like peanuts, raisins, and M&Ms. (Raisins...eeeww!)

This was a passable meal of stuffing, chicken, and the remaining veggies. Usually we add a packet of gravy, but I forgot to buy one this time. At least it was a high volume meal even if it was fairly bland.

Ken kicking it at our second campsite. It wasn't a great site, but it did offer a few rocks to lean against and a fairly flat place to set up the tent.

Skeena was one tired puppy by our third night. We wrapped her up in Ken's raincoat so she wouldn't get cold. We did let her sleep in the tent at night, though. We had to carry her and place her in the tent because she was so tired she was pretty immobile.

Dinner number three was the best dinner. I cooked up some Minute brown rice with a packet of instant pumpkin soup, a pack of chicken, the peas and corn I had dehydrated, and several shakes of curry powder. We topped it off with shredded coconut and cashews. Very, very yummy.

This was the slab of mountain we had to walk up in over. Although I wasn't exactly crawling up, a decent portion of the ascent I did have to use my hands and feet. I was extremely glad when I got up to the top, which is where we connected with trail.

Close to the end of our loop, we walked through another aspen grove with Basque carvings on the trees. In the duration of our trip, we went through three or four others. There is a book called Speaking Through the Aspens: Basque Tree Carvings in Nevada and California by J. Mallea-Olaetxe that was published the the University of Nevada Press that I am going to read one of these days.

By the end of our trip, my feet were really happy to get out of my boots and into some flip-flops! Luckily, no blisters formed and no toenails were blackened.

At the end of our trip, we wanted to hit Spencer hot springs on the other side of the Toiyabe Range. We followed an awesome dirt road up to Ophir Summit just to be stopped from heading down the other side by this very patch of snow. I was bummed. Next time.