What's K Up To?

Biking and hiking, of course!

A Frozen Gilmore Lake

Standing on Gilmore Lake looking across it.

Ice bubbles are cool.

On the way up to Mount Tallac today, we detoured over to Gilmore Lake to check out how frozen it was. Skeena definitely does not like being on the ice; my guess is because she doesn't like the way the ice groans. I don't blame her. I find the sound disconcerting as well. Tallac was cold and windy, but the views from the top were lovely (as always). It was too cold, however, to take photos.

10125 Peavine Road

I walked up to the top of Peavine today. We parked at the Kings Row access area and followed random roads up, up, up to the top. Yeah, it's easy enough to drive up to the summit, but I've always wanted to hike it. It took us about six hours and I figure we climbed about 3200 feet (Peavine sits at 8266) and maybe walked 6-or-so miles (update: I was just told that it was closer to 13 miles up-and-back, which just goes to show how terrible I am at estimating distances). According to the sign above, the peak has an address, but when I plugged it into USPS's zip code finder, no zip code for this address could be found.

(Side note: While I was looking up information about Peavine, I found this interesting-to-Kirsten site on arborglyphs, which, if you know me well, you'll know I love seeing Basque-carved aspens.)


And, of course, a few obligatory Skeena, Wild Dog of the Sierra photos...

Trees....

Trees are great. These trees are along the Corral Valley Trail, outside of Coleville, CA (along 395 south of Topaz Lake).

Rabbit Brush

The rabbit brush is a-bloomin'.

Changing Aspen Leaves

I haven't been in the US in October since 2004. One of the things I really missed about October is the changing of the leaves. Earlier this morning, Skeena and I did the Jones-Whites Loop. On the final leg back to the trailhead, I couldn't help but stop and take a photo.

XO from Tallac

Saturday was a beautiful day to hike Mount Tallac. There were a ton of people on the upper portion of the Mount Tallac trail going up and coming down. Plus, there were quite a few folk at the summit. Per usual, we went up the Mid Tallac trail (which I hear isn't on any of the maps, but the trail definitely exists) on which we only saw one other guy who came running from behind me and rather startled me.

Peter Grubb Hut

Les Fleurs!

...a few flower pics from yesterday's hike off of Carson Pass. The wildflowers were going crazy. On the Winnemucca Lake stretch there were several people out with cameras & really large lenses snapping shots. And me? My camera can easily fit in the palm of my hand (long live the Digital Harinezumi 2 Triple Plus!).

Bubble Flowers

I'm not sure what these are, but they grow close to the ground (like phlox) and if you step on them they pop like seaweed. The pics are from my Sunday hike up to Snow Valley Peak.

Introducing the Brinno Time Lapse Camera!

Right before I returned to Reno, I mail ordered a Brinno time lapse camera from Photojojo. I was pretty excited that it arrived before I left on last week's backpacking trip. I need to play with it more, but I'm thrilled to have a new toy camera to futz around with. This particular sequence was shot near the (locked and empty) Marble Valley Cabin early Friday evening (August 12, 2011) as camp was set up, dinner was cooked, and the tired hikers called it a night.

Some to see a bear would pay a fee

Personally, I've seen enough bears to last me the rest of my life.

Lazy Afternoon

Skeena was too tuckered to stare at the pine duff with me. She picked a spot in the sun, sprawled out, and spent the afternoon snoozing.

Neither Horse nor Bear

While I originally thought this pile might be from a bear, we later came across some that was definitely from a bear, so, in hindsight, I don't think this came from a bear. I don't think it came from a horse, either, but I'm stumped as to what animal this came from. Maybe it is horse, but it's pretty black and horses usually leave multiple piles and this was the only one for quite a while.

Sun Through the Trees

Flowers of the Marble Mountain Wilderness

Freshly back from a 6-day backpacking trip in the Marble Mountains of northern California, here's a sampling of the flowers along the trail. I took two cameras with me: my Digital Harinezumi 2 Triple Plus (of course) and a new time lapse camera I bought only days ago. I haven't checked the time lapse pics yet, but I'll upload if they are of any interest.

Albania: A Hiker's Dream?

It's time to upload some of the vidpos I made while in Kosovo (or in Albania, in this case) but haven't had the time to upload. Obviously, even though I did a lot of work-related stuff while I was there, I had a bit of time to get out and see other stuff as well. I really, really, really would like to get back to the Bajram Curri area to do some hiking.

Trash on Lower Peavine

Not only do I dislike it when folk are out shooting while I'm roaming around lower Peavine, I hate to see piles of dumped trash and empty shotgun shells.

My Day

Earlier today I hiked up in Keystone Canyon (making a slight detour after not being able to identify where gunfire was coming from and in no way wanting to come in contact with stray bullets) before heading over to Tacos El Rey (in the Safeway shopping center on North McCarran) for a fantastic & cheap lunch.

I See Berries!

This is something I hate to see when I'm hiking: bear poop. Happily,
this was the only instance of it all summer.