Vacation 2009, Day Five: The Elk Was Fine, Thanks

Just to give you fair warning, this is kind of a blah entry. Today was all about hiking.

Today was another Chamber of Commerce day here on the north side of Lake Tahoe. Kimberly was intending to return home after a short hike, so we headed off to the Ophir Creek trail off Nevada State Highway 431, a short distance north of Incline Village. This three mile trail runs through a creek-fed meadow, with lots of grasses and flowers, and then through some woodland back from the meadow. The latter portions had numerous boulders and other lava rock. At some points our voices were echoing, with a sort of canyon effect. We also saw a lot of birds and ground animals. The trail had a lot of moderate grades, so we were going up and down hills a good portion of the time. Mostly it was fun talking with a friend on one of these hikes. I usually hike alone with my ipod sapping the remainder of my dwindling hearing sense. If I'm going to lose my hearing to noise, I guess its better that the noise be Kimberly. (OK, admittedly, that doesn't read as good as I intended).

After Kimberly hit the road, I headed to the Mt. Rose trailhead to hike the Mt. Rose loop. This is a higher than 10,000 foot peak at the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevadas. The loop trail doesn't reach the summit, but does loop for about six miles near the mountain and it gains about 520 in elevation to the trail's highest point. The scenery was a little more alpine in nature, owing to the 9,000 foot elevation. I noticed I'm hiking stronger today than Sunday, and it dawned on me the difficulties I experienced on Sunday must have been due to the altitude. Going from Austin at 300 feet to Lake Tahoe elevations of 8,000 and 9,000 feet posed greater problems than I figured, at least on Sunday. Today I'm moving along much more quickly, at about a two mile per hour clip.

At this altitude, the sky was an electric blue color. Not quite the same brilliant blue that you find in Santa Fe (and nowhere else), but definitely reminiscent. Almost like watching the sky on an HD television set. The air was cooler and clearer as well. In short, it was great hiking conditions. About a mile and a half in, after passing Tamarack Lake, I passed an interesting waterfall and climbed up to the top. It was a 20 minute or so detour, but the views from up top were well worth it. What was not worth it was wiping out to get the photo you see above. The brown rocks were extremely slippery, and how I didn't smash the camera or wind up dead on the rocks below is beyond me. After the waterfall, the trail follows the creek through a really attractive meadow at the base of the mountain, then the trail moves through a really attractive canyon until it splits off to go to the summit. Instead, I turned west to make the loop, going up some pretty steep grades until I made it to a graded access road with a smallish lake/pond where I stopped for lunch.

One thing I really like about the Sierra Nevadas and the Lake Tahoe area is the weather seems pretty constant and forecasts are reliable. Today was the first day I've noticed any clouds, and every day has been in the 70s while the nights are in the upper 30s/lower 40s. By comparison, the weather in many Washington parks and the park services' attitudes about it is very "sky is falling." Here, the worst you see are signs warning about snow and ice. In Washington, signs are posted everywhere you turn warning that the weather can change any second. That it WILL change before you reach your destination, and if you're not carrying the 742 items they recommend, the weather will kill you, or cause hypothermia, or break your legs, or cause dehydration, gout, scabies, hepatitis C, Lyme's Disease, or syphilis. In Washington, park weather swings apparently can steal your identity and run up charges on your American Express card, embarrass you in front of your girlfriend, take away your Christmas bonus at work, and trigger an IRS audit. Here, the weather is the same when you end your hike as when you begin.

After lunch, I resumed the hike, which was mostly downhill until the end. About two-thirds of the way down, the trail led to some really phenomenal views of Lake Tahoe. Again, check out the flickr photos. I finished around 4:00, making for about 5 1/2 hours of hiking today.

When I finished, I drove further north towards Reno. SH 431 is a Nevada "scenic highway," until shortly before it reaches the Reno city limits. The scenery pretty much stops on a dime. Once you cross into Reno it becomes desert and the temperature noticeably rises about 10 degrees. I stopped at the first gas station, in something called "Galena Estates." This place reminded me of every suburban development ever. The gas station was pretty weird, having a bronze statue of Mark Twain sitting on a bench near the front door. It was pretty creepy.

I came back and rested at the condo, then went to the Hyatt for dinner at Kimberly's insistence. In any case, without my personal chef, I was going to have to search out dinner anyway. Its fun on vacation to get dressed up and go somewhere nice; somehow it makes the spectre of dining out alone seem somewhat less pathetic. I had elk chop and spinach which was really good. Some old guy sat next to me and insisted on talking to me even though I had on my best "stay away from me" persona. He asked "how's that elk" about eight times in five minutes. Once again, Drunk Old Guy managed to find me. This always happens. You know, if I wanted someone to ruin a great dinner on vacation with annoying conversation, I'd have paid someone to come with me. I mean, paid someone's way to come with me. So I finished dinner as quickly as possible, like being on a date, and beat it home for leftover panna cotta and to work on the blog.

Tomorrow-Marlette Lake