Category: Hiking

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.

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

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

036 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.

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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.

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

034 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.

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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.

067 049 112 Antelope cropped-1

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.

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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.

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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.