Just a few weeks ago we spent a sunny afternoon high in the Virginia Mountains. We had gorgeous views of Pyramid Lake and the surrounding mountain ranges. I wonder what this view looks like now, with all the recent snow?

A crisp, cool, fall day is a perfect day to take a hike up Nevada's Sentinel Peak (known to locals as Turd Peak). Located in the Pine Forest Range, Sentinel Peak offers gorgeous views of the Black Rock Desert, the Jackson Range, the Black Rock Range and the surrounding Pine Forest Range.

We’ve been having some gorgeously stormy days in the Basin and Range this spring and we love it!

For quite some time I had been yearning, aching really, to camp out in the solitude of the Black Rock Desert on a cold, winter night--preferably on the playa. I love the feeling of a freezing cold desert night and the luxury of climbing into a nice, warm sleeping bag to melt the cold away. Breathing in the crisp, clean, crystalline air.

The weekend of January 20th was time to feed my desire. We headed up to the desert on Saturday afternoon and we just beat the setting sun to our camp spot on the western edge of the playa. The desert was just as I prefer it, not a soul in sight, other than some small birds flitting about in the greasewoods on the margin of our camp.

The playa was mostly dry, cracked in it's usual branching, quilted pattern. It felt so good to be in the presence of this expansive, dry lake bed all alone. The solitude was immense. We pulled out our chairs and just sat, soaking in the vast scenery and the deep silence that surrounded us. As the sun started to sink low in the western sky, we went for a walk along the dunes on the periphery. We then headed toward the center of the playa where we enjoyed and played on the smooth, flat surface which was renewed by last years lake.

The sun soon hit the ridge of the Granite Mountains which begun the evening light show. Starting with the golden evening light on the desert floor. The eastern sky then turned to a deep rich blue, while the western sky shown bright with the flaming colors of the setting sun. The northeastern sky then faded into lavender, wild rose, pink and salmon hues The last of the sunlight creeped up along the hill and mountain sides to our east. creating a violet alpenglow which slowly faded into gray, then night was upon us.

It was supposed to be a stormy night, but the skies opened up and gave us an amazing star show. Stargazing in winter is wonderful due to sky transparency, which is best during the winter months because cold air has less capacity to hold moisture, With less moisture, the air of course is drier, making it much clearer than in summer months when the sky appears hazier due to a higher moisture content--Tips to winter stargazing

We enjoyed the stars, built a fire, savored some hot drinks, then climbed into our cozy, warm sleeping bags and relished the night!

Goodnight!

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The violet glow of the setting sun slowly creeping it’s way up the desert hillside.

This winter has been a fairly cold one. we've seen iced over streams and creeks in many of the canyons we've explored. Unfortunately, though, the snow has been very light. Hopefully the coming weeks and months will bring us good amounts of the fluffy, cold stuff. 

​Our fingers are crossed!

A quote to inspire!

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds."
~Edward Abby

Happy New Year everybody!!!

Hi all!

We've been working hard on updating our photo tour! We've added a few albums and added pictures to a few of the existing albums. Below are links to what we've done so far and we are still working on adding. Please check out all our new photographs!

New Albums:

• Quinn River
• Winnemucca Lake
• Valley of Fire, Nevada State Park

Updated Albums:

• Black Rock Desert
• Desatoya Mountains
• Little High Rock Canyon
• Pyramid Lake
• Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge
• Surprise Valley

We hope you enjoy!

Another ghost bow! Warner Mountains, CA.

The Truckee River is high and it is moving! With all the weather we've been having lately the Truckee River is higher than it has been in a long while. I headed over to McCarran Ranch yesterday to check out the water level.

The river is high enough that it has taken out a lot of the hiking trail (Tahoe Pyramid Bikeway) near the parking area off of Waltham Way and Wild Horse Canyon Dr. I didn't have my irrigating boots with me and unfortunately a spot along the trail was too deep and too socked in with big sagebrush to get around easily. So my exploration of the river was cut quite a bit shorter than I would have liked.  

​Below are pictures from where I did get to venture.