Nevada Rambler

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A Thanksgiving Day hike to Hunter’s Peak for some geocache maintenance.  The new Sun Valley Regional Park picnic area and trailhead is very nicely done. This track mostly follows the many trails and roads in the area, but has a couple of cross-country segments. There are many ways to the top of the peak.

GeoLocator for latitude 39.6117783 longitude -119.7867279

(Above) Panorama from Peak 7219. Left to right: Michael, Mt. Rose, Martis Peak, Verdi Peak, Castle Peak, Babbit Peak, Dixie Mountain. [??]

Michael and I car-camped overnight and spent Sunday exploring this isolated area west of Peavine Peak and east of Dog Valley. From a campsite on NFS road 134A, we hiked part cross-country and part on roads up to Peak 7219 (same destination as last year starting from the Copperfield trailhead). Great view of the Sierras from this high vantage point. Also hunted down a geocache near the peak. Returned via Meadow Valley (where we originally intended to camp, but were thwarted by a creek crossing we judged to be impassable–by wimps like us without skid plates), and then NFS road 192 which is on the USFS topo maps but is now mostly non-existent. Saw five deer, two rufous-sided towhees, a herring gull, some hawks, and several ATVs and dirtbikes. This is a great area, and it was nice to be out on a warm if windy weekend before the snow returned this week. What a great place!

Photo Album

Track and Profile (with glitches at border between UTM zones coincident with the NV/CA border, longitude 120.000 deg W)

Geocache: The Peaks from Peavine

Statistics:

7.67 mi (3.31 mi uphill, 3.24 mi downhill, 1.02 mi flat)
~1670 ft total ascent – 18.9 % uphill grade, 87.3 % downhill grade
5:09:17 total time (4:00:15 moving, 1:09:02 stopped)
0:31:19 pace (1.9 mph average speed, 33.3 mph max speed)
21.642 difficulty, 40.468 effort

Trailhead camp directions: Take Bordertown exit from U.S. 395 at the California/Nevada state line. The access road on the west side of the highway heads north, then turns back south across the railroad tracks to Long Valley Road. Follow Long Valley Road about 4 miles to the Forest Service border signs, turn left at the junction and go about 1.5 miles to a 4-way intersection. Turn left onto NFS road 034A, which dead ends at a creek in about a quarter mile. (Coordinates on Geolocator below). This is a well-used campsite; it required a lot of cleanup to make it comfortable, but was a nice place despite that. Brought home a big garbage bag full of shotgun shells, broken glass, and practice targets of various ilks. It’s not really a trailhead either, but crossing the creek led east through the forest to an open area that was easy to traverse cross-country until reaching roads.

From PeavineWest20…

GeoLocator for latitude 39.6064186 longitude -120.0092773

A nice hike on the southeast side of Peavine Peak with Joe and Michael, overlooking Reno with this amazing view of Mt. Rose (above). Parked on the main road to the peak and did a loop hike. On the way back we hit a couple of geocaches (below).
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Track and Profile

Geocaches: Mischievous and B-52

Statistics:

3.38 mi (1.56 mi uphill, 1.54 mi downhill, 0.23 mi flat)
~880 ft total ascent – 14.9 % uphill grade, 26.6 % downhill grade
2:41:25 total time (1:45:36 moving, 0:55:49 stopped)
0:31:16 pace (1.9 mph average speed, 3.2 mph max speed)
6.739 difficulty, 11.893 effort

GeoLocator for latitude 39.5801010 longitude -119.9022675

It’s taken a while to get this posted. M and I went geocaching in the Bordertown/Dog Valley area, just inside California northwest of Reno. Found two caches on a nice day to be out.

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Track

Geocaches:

Catch22

Coyote on the Border

I’m attending a conference in the San Bernadino Mountains north of Los Angeles.

Photos

Track of a short Geocache expedition.

GeoLocator for latitude 34.2652283 longitude -117.1877365