Nevada Rambler

Overnight carcamping and dayhiking trip with Michael to Wall Canyon, in the Buffalo Hills west of Smoke Creek Desert, part of the Poodle Mountain Wilderness Study Area. Very interesting area. We saw wild horses, and signs of deer and/or antelope and also sheep. Besides scat, a sign for sheep was that several large boulders near the trailhead had strands of wool hanging on the sides – - apparently from sheep scratching themselves in shedding season. Also near the trailhead: an intact horse skeleton with some skin and hair left – - didn’t survive the winter.

A dozen years ago Joe and I hiked here, up Wall Canyon to Button Mountain according to my old log book. M. and I didn’t make it that far because the canyon was very slow going, with no trail, dense vegetation in the creek bottom, and loose rocky sides. It’s hard to see how J. and I could have made it that far back then. But that was at the end of a long drought, and likely cattle were grazed in the canyon then, so quite possibly the dense vegetation in the bottom of the canyon just wasn’t there back in the mid-1990s.

Michael wrote up a nice trip report with details on the hike on his website.
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Track and Profile

We drove to Wall Canyon via the scenic route past Pyramid Lake

and Smoke Creek Desert.

This 100-mile route took 3 hours (with a few stops for photos) from Reno to the turn-off on the main Smoke Creek Desert Road. The dirt/gravel road starting north of Sutcliffe was well graded; it would take longer with the more usual washboard conditions. The return route via Gerlach and NV Hwy 447 and I-80 was 20 miles longer but took only 2 hrs 15 minutes.

Evans Canyon Trail in Rancho San Rafael Regional Park. We headed uphill past the UNR “N”, then descended to the head of the Evans Creek Trail (at a new apartment development off of N. Virginia and was used to be West Parr Blvd). The official Evans Creek Trail is less steep and has shorter and longer loop options. Windy, wintry day, but good for a short local hike.

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Trailhead: At the Basque Monument in Rancho San Rafael Park, Reno. Park at the ball fields off of Virginia St. north of McCarran.

Hike to Seven Lakes Mountain. This is a BLM area north of Reno near the Nevada/California border, north of the Red Rocks developed area. We visited four of the “lakes”, all dry except for the spring or water hole above. Nice views of the surround desert ranges and varied landscape. We saw five mule deer, unfortunately didn’t have the cameras out when they were close. and quite a few birds.
Photos

Track and Profile

Directions from Reno: Take US 395 North, past the California border and Hallelujah Junction and turn right on Red Rock Road. Head west past the Nevada border and continue south on Red Rock. Turn left on Gymkhana Rd., follow this left as the smaller road where the main appears to go through a private road, and the go to Dry Valley Rd, turn left (north) to the trail head. High clearance vehicle required for this route. It is also possible to take Dry Valley Rd. all the way from Red Rock Road from its intersection farther south.