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Memorial Day
Weekend Trip
“I’m sick
and tired of Mayuary!” My buddy was over last Thursday. He’s a bundle of
energy, full of wit, and never timid about making up his own words. He was
grousing about our lingering winter and refusal of spring to take the lead.
“So, should
I empty my snowblower gas can into the truck?” I asked.
“No! Don’t
even think about doing that. It will snow a foot!”
“You were up
on your roof uncovering your swamp cooler.”
“What a
mistake! I’m damn lucky I didn’t charge the water system. The whole thing would
have froze and I’d have water leaking everywhere. That is if the sun ever
decides to come out!” He was on a roll.
I had to
ask, “So you going out on the boat sailing this holiday weekend?”
“I’d sure
like too, get some use out of the slip I’m paying for.” He countered, “So what
are you two doing this weekend?”
“Well………we’ve
had lots of plans. School graduation ceremony is Friday evening so no quick
getaway. We were invited to meet two friends in Mt. Shasta early Saturday for
breakfast and then ski up to the Red Banks and ski back down as a warm up to
climbing and skiing Shastina on Sunday. Then the Lady was saying since we were
already up there we should stay and ski Lassen on Monday. That got the other
two excited and thinking about taking Tuesday off too.”
“And?”
“I’ve been
checking the weather every day. Looks like rain and snow up there all weekend.
I just heard the trips been canceled since we won’t have nice spring snow conditions.”
“Mayuary I
tell you!” He was enjoying himself. “You still going somewhere?”
“Well the
Lady and I were thinking if this storm cycle stayed a little north maybe the
east side would be fun. We were thinking about skiing in the Virginia Lakes
area.”
“You been
checking the weather?”
I just
looked at him.
“And?” he
asked.
“Saturday
partly to mostly cloudy. Chance of snow Saturday night and Sunday with wind
gusts of 75 mph.”
“Sounds like
fun, so are you going?” He smiled.
“We’ve got
everything in the truck except the food. I think we’ll just head out to the
middle of Nevada again. We have a lot of fun out there.”
That’s how
our plans fell into place.
We left
early Saturday morning and stopped for breakfast at the Roadrunner Café in
Dayton. We headed east, a quiet day on Highway 50, the cares of a busy few
weeks melted away. We left pavement just east of Austin, headed over the
Toquima Range, and then continued south down Monitor Valley. There was not
another vehicle on Monitor Valley Road. Our plans were to see how high we could
get into the Alta Toquima Wilderness, if the weather cooperated. We had brought
winter mountain gear. This was Mayuary, remember.
We pulled
into Pine Creek Campground mid afternoon and found it half full for the holiday
weekend. It’s a nice place, people ought to be enjoying it. The clouds built
throughout the day. After dinner we walked up on the bench to the north and
headed north. This gave us expansive views to the north and to the east across
Monitor Valley to the cloud shrouded Table Mountain area in the Monitor Range.
We had left camp with just wandering in mind. The camera was back in the truck.
The light was spectacular with the occasional shaft of sunlight gloriously firing up spots
across the broad valley. God light, some folks call it. It was a great evening.
We were alone. It was quiet.
Sunday
morning as I rose up in bed and looked out the window I said, “It sure is
foggy.”
“And the
ground is completely white, looks like we got some snow.” the Lady reported
from her side. We still had coffee and breakfast outside.
We decided
to head up the canyon on a day hike. The flowers were trying to make a go at
spring here.
It was cold
and Pine Creek was overflowing with high water.
We tired of
the stream crossings in the slick conditions and at one daunting crossing
decided to just climb out of the canyon to the north, get a view, and then work
the ridge back down to near camp.
At a spot
back near camp I pulled the camera out for a shot down the Pine Creek drainage,
at camp, and down into Monitor Valley with the Pine Creek Ranch in the
distance.
You’ve got
to love the vast open space that Nevada offers.
It snowed
all afternoon. We decided to just hang out in the camper, read and nap, watch
it snow, and off and on take an occasional walk in the weather around the
campground. Folks were bailing, packing up and leaving. We just relaxed. It was
great to just almost do nothing for a change. This was a time having the
furnace in the camper was priceless. It was a wonderful day.
The weather
broke a bit around dinnertime. We bundled up and ate outside then headed back
out on a walk to catch evening views.
With the
clearing evening skies we figured we had a cold night ahead of us.
We carry a
polarguard quilt with us for pulling over the sleeping bags when needed. It got
used this night.
Dawn was
clear and cold.
When I
returned from wandering with the camera and mug of coffee, I found this ready
on our small table.
Pine Creek
Campground sits in the riparian area along Pine Creek. The bird life was
active, even with the weather. A pair of Flickers looked like they were on eggs
in their nest in a hollow in a Cottonwood.
Our plans
for Monday were just to ramble and explore. We were packed up by 8 and headed
out from the campground.
We wanted to
spend some time east in the Monitor Range, specifically checking out the Barley
Creek access into the Table Mountain Wilderness. It was obvious that the
Monitor Range has received more precipitation than the Toquimas with snow still
on the trees at a lower elevation. As we started the climb out of Monitor
Valley we hit classic gumbo. The sun had dried only the surface of the road. Underneath
was goo. We stopped at the top of the first downhill stretch. We laughed at the
tires that were now gumbo donuts and then laughed at ourselves and our now
gumbo shoes. We are cautious traveling in the remote places we visit so we
decided we’d come back again at a drier time and check out this area.
As we
traveled across the valley, looking at the towering Toquima Range, the Lady
said, “I really like it out here.” I pulled over to the side and took a
picture.
When we
intersected back with the Monitor Valley Road, we had a great view of the Stone
House Ranch up against the Toquimas with Mt. Jefferson’s South Summit above.
Traveling
north we stopped where rushing Pine Creek reached the valley bottom.
Continuing
north we decided to venture up Northumberland Canyon in the Toquimas. This was
a very active mining area. These supports for a long gone water pipeline ran
for quite a distance.
I’m told
that the old Northumberland town site was completely obliterated by this huge
open pit mine near the top of the pass.
We had hoped
to make the top of Northumberland Pass and look to the west into the Smoky
Valley and the Toiyabe Range beyond. We were blocked by a large snowdrift
across the road.
We returned
to Monitor Valley and continued north spotting some invasive species along the
way.
There’s a
spot up on a bench near the Monitor Range we enjoy camping at. It is in the
open, exposed to the wind, but has wonderful vistas.
As we were
cleaning up after dinner the Lady said, “There’s a speed goat coming up to
check us out.” Pronghorn are speed goats in the Lady’s language. When they are
running with their bright white rumps displayed, they are “bouncing butts”.
This was a young pronghorn with a big belly. She acted a bit odd and did not
want to leave the area; we suspected she was about ready to have a little one.
Of interest
is that there was an abundance of elk nuggets on this bench and evidence of
bedding areas. We had not seen this up here on our last visit.
We did not
forget the camera for the evening light.
The wind was
howling as Tuesday morning dawned. This was our last day, an extra one to make
the weekend longer, and we were working our way home enjoying the vistas as we
traveled.
Since we
were driving by, we made a stop at Spencer Hot Springs and found that BLM has
been doing some safety improvements there.
After
Spencer, we soon hit pavement, the first time in three days. Here is one of my
favorite billboards along Highway 50.
The rest of
the drive home was relaxing, uneventful, except for the wind. Tahoe was covered
with white caps. It was probably not a good day to go sailing. "Mayuary," I say.
