American Safari AKA April 2009 Road Trip

Duke and I decided to go on a ten day road trip as soon as tax season was over. We left April 17 and spent 10 days exploring northwestern Nevada and southeastern Oregon.  The area is a combination of mountains and deserts. There are lots of wide open spaces, big sky and very few people.

After we left paved roads on Friday at the town of Nixon east of Reno we didn't see another person until Saturday morning. We saw less than 10 people Saturday and Sunday until we surfaced in southern Oregon Sunday afternoon. We had a wonderful time camping. On BLM land you can camp almost anywhere  you want.

This is our Friday night camp site.

032
 

And here is our Saturday night camp site at the north end of the Jackson Mountains Wilderness at the top of the pass. We could see forever.

062 

On Sunday night we had a beautiful spot right by a road surrounded by huge boulders. There were wonderful echoes. Since there were no other people we built our camp fire right in the middle of the road. Duke dug a hole, put the fire in it, and then buried the ashes the next morning. We left no trace!  The steam in the picture is from our camping pressure cooker that Duke used to cook the jambalaya for dinner.

104 

Once we reached Oregon we stayed in hotels and at a field station. We explored the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and the areas around it.

171

In the picture below you can see Duke clearing a tree off a forest service road we were exploring. Eventually on this road there was too much snow so we had to turn around.

180

For our last two day we headed back into Nevada. We spent two nights in a wonderful cabin at the Old Yella Dog Ranch. It was snowing when we arrived but by Sunday when we left the weather was beautiful.

003 (2)

It struck me that this trip was like a safari within a few miles of home. We saw lots of animals. Hundreds of pronghorn antelope, wild horses, wild burros, coyotes, cattle, and sheep. We also saw an amazing variety of birds. Sandhill crane, Great blue herons, egrets, coots, cinnamon teals, avocet, ducks, chickens, geese, Northern Harrier and Ibis.

022

The weather really worked with us. It had snowed less than a week before we left so there wasn't much dust and we only had problems with muddy or snowy roads a couple of times. When we were camping the weather was warm and when we had the cozy cabin at the Ranch it was cold. The pictures will give you a better sense of some of our adventures. They are available on Flickr here.

115

It was a wonderful adventure. We are ready to go again!

The New Marion Vermazen Podcast

I have always
believed in learning by doing so when I decided I wanted to do  a
podcast interview show I decided to jump right in.  The podcast is on a new blog http://marionvermazen.blogs.com/mv-podcast/

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes by selecting Subscribe to Podcast from the Advanced menu and putting in the podcast feed. http://marionvermazen.blogs.com/mv-podcast/rss.xml Or course you can also just listen to it on your computer from the blog

The podcast will allow me to feed my curiosity and share conversations with interesting people.

Allison Brown – My Daughter – Episode 1 of the Marion Vermazen Podcast

Allison Brown – My Daughter – Episode 1 of the Marion Vermazen Podcast

I have always believed in learning by doing so when I decided I wanted to
do a podcast interview show I decided to jump right in. Here is my
first effort. Roll your mouse over the bar below and you will see a play button.

Allison Brown – episode 1 – Marion Vermazen Podcast

You should be able to subscribe to my podcast by clicking on the link at
the top of the column to the right. If you want to subscribe in iTunes from the iTunes Advanced menu select Subscribe to Podcast and copy the feed URL.

"  http://marionvermazen.blogs.com/mv-podcast/rss.xml  "

In
this first podcast I interview Allison Brown about Travel, History and
interviewing. As many of you know Allison happens to be my daughter. This is a picture of the two of us.

066

In
my podcast I also refer to Charlie Rose's interview with Doris Kearns
Goodwin and her husband Richard Goodwin. If you would like to see that
interview it is available here.

I am am very eager to hear your suggestions and feedback.

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.

Hile in the wall 003
Hile in the wall 005

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.

002

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.