My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
Last week’s Sierra Canyon snowshoe hike was a killer. So this past Monday we did a much easier snowshoe hike. Twelve of us went to the Donner Pass Lakes (Azalea, Flora and Angle lakes).
The whole trip was a little over 4 miles starting from Donner Summit Sno-Pak.
The sun was shining and the snow was crunchy and sparkling. It was a great trip.
If you would like to see the rest of the pictures form the hike you can see them on Flickr here.
Last November I wrote a blog about what it is like to live in Sierra Canyon a Del Webb’s over 55 active adult community in Reno. Today I got a comment on my posting asking about the weather here. Shirley, the commenter is from Washington state near the Canadian border. She asked about snow, cold, heat and dreariness. Here is my reply to her.
I
suspect you would really like Sierra Canyon. You asked about snow. It
really is not bad at all. This is my first winter in Reno but
apparently we have had a lot more snow than usual this year and it
doesn’t seem like all that much to me. I think we have had 5 or 6
snowstorms and the snow has melted in between them.To me we had just about the right amount of snow. We had the beautiful snow
experience but it didn’t last or block the roads for very long.
If you haven’t picked a house here yet you might consider getting a
south facing driveway. It had never occurred to me but
the snow melts in our south facing front yard much faster than it melts
on the yards across the street from us. It is amazing to drive down our
street a couple of days after a snow storm. The yards on the right have
no snow and the yards and driveways on the left still look like winter
with lots of ice and snow.
It gets cold here but it is nothing like living in the midwest. We
spent quite a bit of time in Iowa this winter and there is a big
difference between temperatures in the 20s and 30s like we have in
Reno and temperatures around zero like we experienced in Iowa.
You asked whether it is gloomy here. Just the opposite. Reno is
high desert and as a result we have a lot of very sunny days. It is one
of the things I really like about living here. Because it is desert it is also very dry here. We run a humidifier quite
often. Living in a wetter climate like
Washington means that because ] it is wet it is very green. I suspect that
the thing you would miss most about Washington is the beautiful lush
green vegetation. If I was picking a color to describe western
Washington it would be green. My color for Nevada would be brown.
You may wonder about all the snow in my snowshoeing pictures. We
are right up against the east side of the Sierras. Most of the moisture
from the Pacific hits the Sierras and is dropped on the west side of
the mountains. If you drive 30 miles west from here there is still a
lot of snow. Here there is none.
One other thing about the weather in Reno that you didn’t ask about
is the wind. Especially where Sierra Canyon is situated right up
against the mountains we get a lot of wind. I kind of like it but I
know it drives some people crazy.
I am probably not a good person to ask about the heat in the
summer. We didn’t move up here until the beginning of July and I didn’t
start living here until late August. I spent a good part of last summer
taking care of my Mom who died a the end of July. My husband Duke says
that there were very few days that he turned on the air conditioner.
These houses are VERY well insulated. Don’t get me wrong, Reno can have
very hot weather but as I understand it extreme heat is not the norm. I
think there is a big difference between Las Vegas and Reno. We are more
than 400 miles farther north.
Weather can make a big difference to your state of mind.
But I think the gorgeous scenery and the abundance of bright sunny
days make Reno a great place to live.
Let me know if there is anything else you would like to know.
Marion
Last Monday six of us from the Sierra Canyon Snowshoeing group tried to go to Galena Falls from Mt Rose Trail head. As you can see in the pictures there was a lot of snow. There was also no trail to follow so we could not find Galena Falls. It was one of the hardest trips we have done because we were walking across very steep slopes which meant we all fell multiple times. My ankles were getting a work out too. In spite of the hard work it was a beautiful day. Being outside in such beautiful country is good for my soul.
If you would like to see all of my pictures form the hike you can see them on Flickr here.
You can just barely see the roof of the restroom building in these pictures.
Here you can see Lake Tahoe in the background.
And here is a shot of Mount Rose.
When we decided to turn back we sat down on the side on the hill and had lunch first.
The wind is howling, the dust is blowing and the windows are rattling. I'm glad I am snug inside my house. You can see the dust in this picture.
Yesterday I competed in the snow shoe race for the Reno Winter Senior Games. The race was over a 5km course at Northstar Ski Resort. We went pretty much up hill through the trees for the first half of the race and down hill for the second half. I finished the race in 56.08 minutes which was fourth overall and first in my age group (55-60). Of course there were only 12 people participating in the race and I was the only one in my age group. I think next year they will promote the event more so that they have more participants. I had a lot of fun and I plan to do it again next year.
There was a photographer there from the Sierra Sun. You can see her pictures including a close up of me here.
A couple of other people used my camera to take pictures. Here are some of them. You can see the rest on my Flickr account.
Marion's Blog 