Category: Hiking

Hiking the Stevens Trail with the Sierra Canyon Hiking Group

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Spring is here and tax season is over. That means that the Sierra Canyon hiking and snowshoeing group just switched from snow shoeing to hiking for our Monday activities. It also means that since Duke is done working as a tax preparer he can hike with me during the week. Yesterday we hiked the Stevens Trail, a nine mile out and back hike that starts just of of Interstate 80 in the town of Colfax at an elevation of 2352 ft and descends to the North Fork of the American River at an elevation of 1360 ft.

According to the BLM description of the trail "The Stevens Trail is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places." It was built during the gold rush and was used from 1870-1895.

The trail is fairly easy and the views are stunning.
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It was a cool clear day. The trail was lush and green and the wildflowers were out in abundance. I’m trying to learn the names of a few of the wild flowers we saw. I think this is Bush Lupine.

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I’m not sure what this is but we saw quite a lot of it along the trail.

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Our lunch spot was right next to the river.

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If you would like to see all of my pictures of the hike you can see them on Flickr here.

I really enjoyed snowshoeing but it was great to be hiking again and it was great to be hiking with Duke again.

Sierra Canyon Snow Shoe Hike to Eagle Lakes

Yesterday seven of us (Walt and six ladies) from the Sierra Canyon hiking and snowshoeing group did a snowshoe hike to Eagle Lakes. Round trip distance for the hike was just under five miles. The trail head was just off Interstate 80  west of Truckee, California at exit 164, Eagle Lakes Road. The elevation was around 5400 so much of the snow was melting and there was a lot of running water. A few times we were walking on dirt and fording creeks. Although we have had a lot of very windy days lately we were lucky to get a really nice day. The trail had some ups and downs. It was a good work out and a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures. If you would like to see the rest you can see them on Flickr here.

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As you can see we had to cross water several times.

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This is one of the Eagle Lakes. You can see that he ice is starting to break up.

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Here is our lunch stop overlooking the lake

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Earthquake and hikes

A sharp jolt woke me up early Saturday morning. I realized immediately that it was an earthquake – a pretty substantial one. If the epicenter was more than a few miles away then I thought it must have been quite a big quake judging by how strong it felt and sounded to me. It took me a while to go back to sleep but eventually I did. First thing Saturday morning I checked out the quake on the USGS website. They described it as being 2 miles ENE from Verdi-Mogul. That is exactly where I live! It was only a magnitude 3.0 but no wonder it felt big. I was almost on top of the epicenter. Today I put the exact coordinates into my GPS and found out that it was actually centered about one mile to the east of me. I think I’ll use the GPS to go check out the exact spot.

I received the GPS for Christmas and I’ve been having fun learning how to use it. Yesterday I hiked 3 miles up the mountain we live on. The top of Peavine Mountain is a long way off but going 3 miles up gave me a good work out and some great views. Where I turned around I saw a herd of about 40 deer.

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The hike yesterday was so nice that today I decided to do another out my front door hike. I also decided to try to find my first geocache using my GPS.  This time I headed down hill. A new road is being built that will connect us much more directly with interstate 80. It is supposed to open this spring. I walked down the new road, across old highway 40 and down to the Truckee River. The geocache was fairly easy to find. It was kind of exciting to find my first one!

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I decided to try to find another geocache nearby. It was back up the hill from the river. The location was supposed to be in this old car but I couldn’t find the cache. As I was making my way back home I startled some more deer. It was fun hike and a beautiful day. I am inspired to find some more geocaches!

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Now that I’m home I’ve checked out the clue to the cache. Maybe later this week  I’ll try again to find it.

My first time

Duke and I went snow shoeing with the Sierra Canyon Hiking and Snow Shoeing Group Monday. Neither one of us had ever snow shoed before. Our route was generally along Ophir Creek which is southwest of Reno and then south off of the Mount Rose highway near the summit of the road. It was snowing and blowing but in spite of that and the cold we had a great time. I loved it. Just to be outside, in the mountains and to experience the world transformed by the snow was exhilarating. It turns out that snow shoeing is easy and fun.  Here is a picture of Duke and I at our lunch break.

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At one point Linda tried out a Hillside Self Heating Hot Cocoa that I think she said she got at Costco.. It sounds like a great idea for a winter outing doesn’t it? But guess what. The instructions say
"For best results activate at room temperatures (65 and 75 F)".  So much for that idea. After waiting 8 minutes for the hot cocoa to heat up, Walt tasted it and said it was cold! Yuck!

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If you would like to see the rest of my pictures from the hike they are available here on Flickr.

Sierra Canyon Hiking Group – Reno – Hike to Hunter Creek Falls

Seven of us from the Del Webb Sierra Canyon hiking group did the hike up Hunter Creek to the falls today.  The trip was only about 5 miles round trip with about 1000 feet of elevation gain but it was a really difficult hike because the trail was narrow and rocky with lots of steep parts on gravel. In spite of the difficulty the hike was well worth it.

One of the great things about this hike is that it goes through some wonderful wilderness but the hike starts only about a ten minute drive from home.The trailhead was at the end of  Woodchuck Court which we reached from Plateau Road. The trail followed Hunter Creek and canyon. There was lots of ice on the creek which made it really pretty. If you take this hike be sure to take the right fork about a mile in near a grove of Aspens. We went left and stayed near the creek which turned out to be a mistake. We had to make our way through thick brush and then scramble up a very steep bank to get back to the trail.

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We had lunch at the falls which were covered in ice but still had a lot of water flowing.

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This was one of the prettiest and wildest places we have hiked to and the amazing part is that we were probably no more than 5 miles from downtown Reno.

If you would like to see all the pictures from the hike you can see them on Flickr by clicking here.