May 27, 2013

Washoe Lake State Park

Carson City, NV

It was cooooooooold last night!  And it stayed cold all day.

The sun tried to come through the clouds several times during the day

but never really succeeded so when our batteries had only reached 85% by 3pm, Monte reluctantly dug the generator out of the basement and got it going. 

 

 

 

 

Monte got these great pictures of the baby magpies in the nest right outside our window.  

There are 5 babies.

How cute. 

We took a ride into Carson City planning on doing a driving tour.  We had received a map with a corresponding informative CD when we visited the Visitor Center on Friday.   We started out at the Capitol building and drove to the next destination.  But after that it got confusing and it seemed to me that in order to follow the numbers on the map we would have to retrace steps. It had started to rain at this point and I said let’s forget it. 

The rain let up by the time we returned to the campground and although it was still chilly we went for a short bike ride.

 

 

 

 

Monte noticed a trailhead and suggested we take a hike.  We weren’t dressed properly so we returned home and drove back to the trailhead after changing into our hiking shoes.

 

 

 

 

 

The trail difficultly was listed as moderate but it kicked my butt.  I think the altitude has a lot to do with it—that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. 

There are several trails to choose from that begin at the trailhead. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The trail we chose was only supposed to be 1 miles round trip.   

We realized when we returned to the car that we had taken a different trail and it was much longer than a mile.

When we started back, Monte noticed a gazebo on a hilltop and asked me if I thought I was up to a detour.

 

 

  I told him I would try but couldn’t guarantee that I would make it all the way up. 

 

 We came to a fork in the trail and couldn’t agree which one was the shorter trail so Monte took one and I took the other.

Monte made it to the gazebo much sooner than I did. 

But that didn’t mean that his trail was shorter.

  I had to stop several times to catch my breath and he confessed later on that he practically ran up the trail to make sure he got there first.

That is the campground in the distance.

The views from the top were certainly worth the effort.

My car at the trailhead. 

When we started back down, we found a trail leading back to the parking lot that was much shorter than the trail we had taken up.

Monte got a fire going when we got home. 

Tomorrow is moving day and I am not sure exactly where we will end up.  But one thing I am sure of is that it will be an adventure getting there.