Snow Near Gold Butte

It really does snow in southern Nevada. On this day, I woke up to a really thick, heavy snow. It didn't snow very much, a half-inch at most, but it was the wettest, stickiest snow I've encountered in a long time.

Joshua Trees

The place where this video postcard was filmed is just to the north west of the old Gold Butte townsite (on the road towards Lime Canyon). The roads out to here were generally good (all dirt, of course, and accessed from I-15, west of Mesquite). The view from this particular spot was fantastic and nobody else was around. I love Joshua Trees, and even these ones which were damaged in 2005 by the Tramp and Fork Fire were just lovely.

Cacti: Not Good for Skeena's Paws

Ever had to pull out the pliers to remove a cactus burr from your dog's paw? Not a pleasant thing to have to do (especially from the paw of a 20 pound tri-colored terrier). However, after a few days' rest, Skeena is recovering and her paws are looking okay.

Spencer Hot Springs

My latest road trip extravaganza began last Thursday with a night somewhere outside of Austin and a brief morning dip at Spencer Hot Springs. While I have shared the pools at Spencer with strangers, I truly do prefer to arrive when there's no one else around.

September 6, 2009

The log book on top of Mount Moriah, up there since 1992.

September 5, 2009

Letting a cool stream chill off the beer.

September 4, 2009

A grove of Aspen trees near Columbine campground on the Toiyabe Crest Trail (in the Toiyabe Range, Nevada).

September 3, 2009

Ken looking for Skeena.

K + Skeena

Me & dog on top of Mt. Moriah.  After 5000 ft of elevation gain, I thought she could use a little lovin'.

Photo?...What Photos?

I have photos to post from last weekend, but I can't figure out my new photo-editing software. I'm so impatient when it comes to learning stuff. I just want to be able to do it. This time, though, I need to sit down and read through the manual, something I won't have time to do until after I get to Japan (probably). So until then, maybe no pictures.

I need Kirsten-intuitive software.

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.

Labor Day Weekend

Another birthday is almost upon me (tomorrow, the 4th). As I get older, I still enjoy doing special things for myself and having special things done for me on my birthday (because, you know, some people stop acknowledging their own birthdays). This year I'm going to celebrate by hiking Wheeler Peak, out in eastern Nevada. I did it once a few years back, but it's time to go out and do it again. Plus, this weekend will be the only chance for me to get out east this year. I've been so focussed on the bike riding that I haven't ventured out too far from home.

It's time for a little road trip. :)

Why I Love Nevada

I love Nevada. Last weekend I did a quick overnight trip along the Toiyabe Crest Trail (parked at Ophir summit and hiked south). These two pics are proof as to why Nevada is a fine place to be:

Schell Creek Range

About two months ago Ken said to me, "How do you feel about going out to eastern Nevada on a Nevada Wilderness Project trip?" Yeah...it sounded great.

"What kind of trip?" says me.
"A backcountry ski trip," says he.
"Hmmm...You know I don't ski so well," says me.
"We'll bring the snowshoes just in case," says he.

The only thing I needed to do was to make my membership current. Thirty-five dollars for a weekend in the mountains out in eastern Nevada with a group of like-minded, nature-loving, hard-core skiing folks sounded like a good plan for the long Presidents' Day weekend (and as an added bonus, a private donor is currently matching donations through March 15).

We left Reno around 6:30 am Friday morning. Aside from gas, we stopped for only two things on the 7-hour drive across the state: breakfast and the Shoe Tree.

Mmm-mmm...sausage and hashbrowns.

The Shoe Tree

The Shoe Tree is amazing. Pairs of shoes have been flung up into the highest reaches of the tallest branches...and it's a really tall tree. Perhaps my favorite thing about the Shoe Tree, though, is that it was actually on our map.

Initially, we had planned to stop in Ely for lunch, but in true devil-may-care form, we decided to drive straight through to our destination: as far up the Berry Creek road as we could get. Fortunately, we stopped for gas and I popped into the mini mart to buy Red Vines, M&M's, and Mentos for the remainder of the journey.

We arrived at the beginning of the ski in and found two other folk preparing for the journey. Not far behind us was the snow cat that had been commissioned to carry in the two kegs of beer and case of wine. We gathered our packs, ate one last Clif Bar, and started to make our way in. The skiing itself wasn't too bad. We mostly followed the cat's tracks in, and the whole deal was along a road. There were a few uphill bits I had problems with (we forgot to bring the skins for my skis), but it was mostly pleasant going while it was still light out.

Aspen tree that has been presumably carved by a Basque sheepherder

Then twilight started its descent. By this time, I had spent so much time stopping to take photos of the aspen trees, we were significantly behind everybody else. Pretty soon it was getting difficult to see and I was starting to really hope we were going to get to the cabin where we would be staying soon.

Just as the light was turning from twilight to night, we came to the cat, stopped. The driver told us that the others had headed up to where the cabin was supposed to be, but since no one had returned yet he wasn't quite sure if they had gotten there. Ken and I waited around for a while to see if any one was coming back. I changed into my snowshoes and hopped around to try to keep warm. Eventually, the two guys came back, we hooked up the sleds, loaded in food, beer, backpacks, and a few bottles of wine and took off for the cabin.

Preparing to haul in supplies for the weekend.

Because I had snowshoes on (and I wasn't pulling a sled behind me), it was fairly easy going. However, it was so cold my nose was sticking too itself every time I took in a deep breath. About 45 minutes later, we were at the cabin, a fire had been started, lights were turned on, and all the D-Con (rodent poison) had been removed.

And then we made a fantastic spaghetti dinner with buffalo meat while the guys made another run back to where all of our stuff had been dropped off. When they came back, there were three more people in tow. We ate and settled in to our first night's sleep only to be woken up around 2:30 by the coming of three more people and three dogs. Two more folk arrived Saturday morning and we were at the count for the weekend: 14 humans and 6 dogs.

The days were filled with skiing (snowshoeing for me) and the evenings saw us eating great food and recounting the day's adventures. I was a bit bummed to have to leave Monday morning, but I was spurred on by the promise of hitting Spencer Hot Springs outside of Austin. And now that Ken and I have had the SKI vs. SNOWSHOE competition, I know that I can actually keep up. It's a bit slower going on the downhill, but I can definitely hold my own. I will no longer put up with this snowshoeing-is-for-people-who-can't-ski nonsense.

Some pics from the weekend: