Exploring the Black Rock Desert

One of the great things about Ting's work is the opportunity for volunteer work in the outdoors. This past weekend we had a chance to head up to the Black Rock Desert to work with the BLM. The goal was to get together with some Americorp volunteers and work to close off some bootleg ORV and truck trails to keep from further scarring up the desert. The Black Rock Desert is an amazing place worth saving. There are many many historically significant sites from recent history back over 10,000 years. The cryptobiotic soil takes hundreds of years to develop and can easily be destroyed by a vehicle or even a footstep. Our goal was to camoflage some of these trails so that they might have a chance to regenerate.

I left my camera in the car during the work sessions but here are some picts from our playtime. The playa is a giant dry lake bed most famous for the yearly Burning Man festival.



Tent camping on the playa. No animals, no trees, no mosquitos, miles of flat, baked mud.

Zoe enjoying a tangy grapefruit in the morning sun

The playa is up to 30 miles across and 5 to 10 miles wide. The silt from this ancient lake is said to be close to 10,000 ft deep in places

Here's what the surface looks like up close. The cracks in the mud can go down 3 to 4 inches in some places. Every winter and spring the playa remakes itself.

Zoe can run for miles.... But she's never out of view

You can drive freely on the playa. Here we are chasing the BLM guys heading out to do some work on some bootleg trails. We're going about 80 mph with the hands off the wheel taking picts. There's nothing to crash into!

This pilot stopped by our encampment to say hello.

You can also ride around for miles. At night you can close your eyes and pedal for minutes at a time, floating over the surface.

Here's where things get gory. Sunday we went hking near the black rock mountains. I put Zoe on my shoulders but the off-balance feeling of 30 lbs of kid combined with loose scree and steep hiking caused me to have a bad bail. Zoe banged her noggin' and I sliced my finger open rather badly. Volcanic rocks are sharp!

Zoe examines the very rocks that caused all the damage.

The fault line that runs through the black rock desert creates lots of geothermal activity. Here is a natural hot spring in the middle of the desert.

Part of the old Emigrant trail from the 1849 gold rush goes through the black rock on the way to California and Oregon. This guy stopped at the hot springs and never made it much further. 

Ricky's Visit - Part II

After recovering from the Flume Trail we made the three hour drive down to Yosemite early Sunday morning. The goal was to find a campsite vacated from the weekend visitors then hike to the top of Vernal Falls then past there to the top of Nevada Falls. The round trip would take us about 4-1/2 hours with close to 2000' of elevation gain.

After the hike we returned to the campground which was promptly visited by a large black bear at dinnertime. Ricky got some picts but they are a little shady. Lets just say that the bear was as big as a motorcycle and pasted two campsites distance away from me while I was boiling some pasta! I started yelling and making noise (along with everyone else in close proximity) and the bear ignored my cooking and ambled into the woods...

Anyways...If you've never been to Yosemite then these pictures hardly do it justice.



The most famous climbing destination in the world - El Capitan 


Ricky hiking towards Vernal Falls

Serious rapids on the Merced River beneath Vernal Falls

Ricky at the base of the falls on the mist trail

The hiking is STEEP! The steeps are slippery...

On top of Vernal Falls looking down at our progress (Yes, those are people hiking up the mist trail!)

Our second waterfall - Nevada Falls. Pure force of nature which cannot be described in words or picts on the Internet!

Ricky provide a better idea of the magnitude of this waterfall

At the top of Nevada Falls looking into the canyon we hiked up

Liberty Dome and the backside of Half Dome

Back at the campsite (a black bear would come wandering through in another 1/2 hour

A look at at the Yosemite Valley and next years hiking goal - the top of Half Dome! 

Ricky's Visit - Part I

Last weekend Ricky Eugenio made his first trek to Reno to explore the great outdoors that surrounds our town. I took off Friday and Monday to make the most of our adventure time. This first series of picts was on Friday July 29th where we spent the day on the Flume Trail in the high country around Lake Tahoe. You can see our route in this link.


Ricky with Lake Tahoe in the background

Climbing a fire road from Spooner Summit to Marlette Lake

At Marlette Lake still looking pretty fresh (approximately 7800' elevation)

Ricky on the Flume Trail with Lake Tahoe long drop below

The clear waters of the lake a thousand feet below (This is Sand Harbor)

Climbing up the Tahoe Rim Trail to the opposite side of the mountains

Topping out at close to 8700' in a mountain meadow. Marlette Lake below and Lake Tahoe in the distance

Ricky cooling off in Marlette Lake after a long downhill

Tired and happy