Our friends Grace and Kristen show us a new trailhead called Galena Creek. We start high enough to enjoy some Ponderosa shade, then get a vista on the ridge between Jones and Whites creeks. Grace and Kristen Unposed Headstand

Here’s a nice outing for our setup in Reno: I bike up a nice 5-mile hill to meet Ann at a trailhead after work, lock the bike to the car and hike a bit in Toiyabe National Forest, then bomb back down the hill to return home before dark. Trailhead change from bike to hike

It seems wrong to leave the Black Rock desert without hiking on the playa, so we chart a loop with a leg on the surface. Distances here are always longer than they appear at first, and our simple little loop keeps us busy for a few hours. The cyclical bursts of wind continue, but the…

Rain and cold wind oscillate through the night, but the morning brings some serenity. Playa Sunrise Snow on the Granite Range The weather is still not exactly balmy, but the hardy conservation project leaders are undaunted. I sign up with Sandy from the BLM to do some road rehabilitation in the Calico wilderness area. Here’s…

I go against my usual behavior and sign up for a group outing. It sounds like a group that suits me: Friends of Nevada Wilderness and Friends of Black Rock. The area is famous as the site of Burning Man. A huge dry lake bed, called “the Playa”, stretches out in an area where the…

This is a good Reno discovery: a little 10-minute drive takes us to a trailhead with almost immediate access to the Mount Rose Wilderness. An after work jaunt takes us through bunches of Mule’s Ear and Western Peony into ponderosa and cedar forest, and finally into the waterlogged zone just below snow line. Not bad!…

I find out about Leslie Gulch because the colorful volcanic tuff rock towers here once inspired the development of some sport climbs. New bolting is now banned, and the little bit of information I find on existing climbs makes me think they’ll be too hard for us, so we explore the area on foot rather…