Monitor Pass - August 2020

 

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The Escape

 

"It's 111° here," our friend Ted reported as we chatted on the phone late Friday afternoon.

"It's 93° here," I replied. "When it hits 90° here, we consider it gawdawful hot; hotter than the hinges of Hades."

The previous day the temperature had climbed to 95.9°, the hottest we'd ever seen in 30 years of living in our house. The previous record was 95°. To be fair, the coldest we'd ever seen it here was 5°, one of our first winters.

"Is your camper packed?" we asked.

"We're going to start cooling the refrigerator tomorrow," Ted answered. It takes a long time to bring it down when it's 111°."

"We might head to cooler high country Sunday morning," we continued.  "We don't want to see what we might see on a Saturday around here. Maybe the masses will be heading out Sunday morning."

The Lady added, "I've been watching the point forecast for Monitor Pass - high of 77° with 30% chance of thundershowers. I want to sit up high in cooler temperatures. I want to escape!"

"Keep us posted." Ted finished.

 

We packed the truck Sunday morning and arrived at one of our favorite spots on Monitor Pass around 10:30 in the morning. We were pleased that the area was fairly empty. Perhaps school kids returning to school was working to reduce the huge influx of flatland pilgrims we've been hit with.

 

We leveled the truck by driving up on large rocks in front, raised the top, and set up camp. I set up our two camp chairs.

"What are you doing?" the Lady asked. "Let's go climb those high points and watch for the Teds to drive in."

"What happened to 'I want to sit?'" I asked.

 

Away we went through the sage and junipers. We must have missed the Teds as we were down climbing the backside of a summit outcropping. We noticed they had arrived and were setting up camp as we circled back.

 

After lunch, the sky darkened but the storm skirted us to the west and then dropped into the Carson Valley to the north.

 

 

Later in the afternoon we noticed that smoke from the Loyalton fire had filled the Carson Valley.

 

 

With the active cloud cover, we hoped for nice evening light as we enjoyed our dinners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The show started as darkness came. Songs from coyotes around us announced the beginning. The storms were too far to the east into Nevada to hear thunder, but the flashes of lightning lit up the sky. Lightning played across the tops of clouds. It was spectacular but we could not help but worry about all the possible fire starts. We climbed into our campers around nine and fell asleep to the continuing flashes outside.

 

The overnight temperatures for sleeping were glorious. Cool mountain air at 8500 feet fit the bill perfectly.

 

The next morning started out in our usual fashion. I climbed out of the camper early as the Lady commenced with her well practiced "fussing". This covers getting up, washing up, getting dressed, etc., and happily ends with two steaming mugs of Peets Coffee.

I usually wander away and time my return to intercept delivery of one of those mugs. This morning I wandered the dirt road back toward the pavement, curious if anyone had moved into one of the other dispersed sites during the night.

 

Ted was up when I returned. The Lady exited our camper with the coffee and announced she wanted to walk the road toward Leviathan Peak. Off she went. I followed a few hundred yards behind, working to catch up. The Lady's tracks were in the left track. I quickly noticed new bear tracks in the right track, going the same direction as the Lady.

 

 

 

 

 

The tracks were not there the night before. I was surprised the Lady had not commented on the tracks. She does not miss much. Had the bear stepped in behind her, followed, and then quickly stepped off and disappeared? I found the spot where the bear moved off the road and entered the sage. I caught up to the Lady and we returned to the tracks. It would be fun to figure out the puzzle and where was the bear? We returned to camp but on the way I returned to look at the road I had walked earlier. Sure enough, new tracks showed the bear had followed me, but turned on the other road as I turned up to camp. We had just missed seeing it.

 

Upon hearing our story, Julie & Mrs. Ted wanted to track the bear. Off we all went. The bear had not initially turned up the road toward Leviathan Peak, but had moved past our camp and then turned toward a small hill.

 

 

 

 

 

Through their see mores, the girls saw a possible cave in the rock outcropping and volunteered my services to go over, crawl inside, and see if ole fuzzy face was home. I obliged them. The depression was empty and not a den site. But, the junipers in the morning were beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

Ted, still fighting fatigue from chemotherapy, returned to camp. He had done well on this walk. Mrs. Ted continued on with us, wanting to check out a large aspen patch for the bear. We did our best to locate the critter, but without success. The Lady wanted to hike up to the top of Leviathan Peak. I joined her as Mrs. Ted also returned toward camp.

 

 

 

 

 

Just a hop, skip, and a jump and we were on top with the Lady busy checking all the views with her see mores.

 

 

 

 

 

Three quarters of the sky was blue, but we had the other one quarter to be concerned about.

 

 

 

 

 

The storm was coming from the southwest and it was time to get off the top.

 

Hail hit as we reached the base of the peak and started cross country back to camp. The cold hits on our shirts were wonderful but we hoped the storm would pass before soaking us or driving us to seek shelter. Thunder cracked overhead with cloud to cloud lightning. We returned to camp at noon and climbed into our camper. We stretched out in the bunk and listened to the rain and wind. The scent of wet sage and wet earth hung in the air and filled the camper. The rain turned to hard driving hail. The Lady read. I dropped off into a deep afternoon slumber.

 

The storm eased around dinner time. The Lady climbed out of the camper and said, "There has to be a rainbow. We must see the rainbow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain returned and we ate dinner inside. The rain slowed and we again exited the camper and hoped we could take a walk before dark in the cool freshly washed air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sweetwater Mountains to the southeast were hit with ghostly light just at sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

We did walk in the evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long pants, wool shirts, fleece hats, and rain coats signaled that we had accomplished our task of escaping the heat.

 

The night was wonderful with all the windows open. We slept so well and woke to delightful morning temps in the mid fifties. After a lazy morning, we packed up and thanked our good friends, the Teds,  for a wonderful quick two cool nights up high so close to home.

 

We took an alternate route home to do some exploring and be reminded of other possible quick getaway spots when the need arises to escape again.

 

Unfortunately, this line of thunderstorms pummeled the entire state and ignited wildfires across California that continue to rage. Be safe out there everyone.