Winter Solstice on Peony Peak

sunrise on winter solstice from Peony Peak

This morning I hiked up Peony Peak, which is my unofficial name for a small peak/large hill northwest of my home in Carson City. The sun was behind a band of clouds at the official sunrise time of 7:15AM, but it popped out about 15 minutes later.

This is my favorite short hike, about two hours from my door out and back, depending on which way I go. From the top I can see Carson Valley south to California and Washoe Valley north to Reno. On the east there is the Pine Nut Range with Rawe Peak and others, and on clear days the area around Dayton. To the west is the much higher Carson Range, and southwest Freel Peak, the highest.

I named the hill Peony Peak because there are a lot of Brown’s peony (Paeonia brownii) on the north and east slope. Peony Peak is 5636 feet, and my apartment 4720 feet or so, so the walk up is less than a thousand foot climb, but half of that is a straight-up section of trail on the south facing slope of the peak. The south slope is nearly free of snow, two weeks after a snowfall of about 18 inches, but the top and other slopes are still deep in snow. I sometimes walk from my door to go backpacking, up over Peony Peak, over to Lakeview Gate, and up into the Carson Range.

Some of my Peony Peak photos are on Flickr. I know somewhere I have photos of flowers on Peony Peak, but apparently I didn’t keyword or tag them properly, so I can’t find them.

Granite Chief backpack

Lady Fern with fall color

I had a great three day backpack trip in the Granite Chief Wilderness, enjoying fall colors and doing some exploring of abandoned trails.

Check out my trip report on Granite Chief blog at http://granitechief.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/powderhorn-2009-09-23/

A summer of backpacking

the gorge on Five Lakes Creek

I’ve spent most of this summer backpacking, and that mostly in the Granite Chief Wilderness. It is my current favorite place in the world. As the fall comes, I’m broke and happy. As a result of spending so much time in the Granite Chief, I decide to start a website and blog on the wilderness, at http://granitechief.org/ and http://granitechief.wordpress.com/, respectively. I noticed as I tried to find out more about the wilderness that there isn’t nearly as much information as for many wilderness areas. There is no official wilderness map, no official guidebook, and no extensive sources on the Internet. This is the first summer since I was a wilderness ranger in the Gila (1983-84) that I’ve had so many nights out.

I’ve also been working on some environmental education projects, helping to plan the Tahoe Watershed Tours that occurred in August and now working on the Tahoe Environmental Literacy Summit that will occur October 11.

With the school year started again, I’m substitute teaching a little, but that starts off slow as teachers are reluctant to miss days early in the year.

This last week, after a three day backpack trip in the Granite Chief that finished off my exploration of all the trails, I attended the Echo Summit Dance Weekend at Camp Sacramento. Two days of contra dancing, incredible music and strong calling, wonderful people from all over California and beyond. Ahh!

with Joe and Howard in the Bowl of Fire

I hiked on Sunday with Joe Herbst and Howard Booth in the Bowl of Fire area, off the North Shore Road of Lake Mead NRA. This was the first time the three of us have been together in… well, not sure, but well more than 10 years. I see Joe at least once a year, and Howard at least twice a year, but this was a long-overdue reunion.

We drove up Callville wash to the end, then hiked around and through the Bowl of Fire, and back to the car. The day was perfect, blue skies, warm temperatures with a breeze that kept it from being hot, and none better company.

Photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/sets/72157600004707642/

backpack in (winter)

On the Presidents’ Day weekend I got out for a three day backpack in the Sierra foothills. Walked out my door to Ash Canyon where I slept overnight beside the creek, then climbed up the ridge to the south, and over to Kings Canyon past the waterfall, then up the road that snakes towards the ridge to the south, and along that ridge to the west saddle where Kings Canyon Road (the old Lincoln highway) crosses from Kings Canyon to Clear Creek, camped there, and back home on Sunday.

Highlights were the lone pine that sits on the ridge between Kings Canyon and Clear Creek, which is visible for miles from certain angles, and is a bonzai-like tree about 20 feet tall. Probably very old, though not large. The closest other trees are a half mile further west on the ridge. The top of the ridge, to the south of the saddle, is also a really cool place, flat, with large pines and rocks along the outside edge to sit on an stare off into space. The weather was pretty amazing, 56 degree Fahrenheit on Friday, with a little spatter of snow early Sunday morning. Very pleasant for backpacking.

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/sets/72157600004892629/