There is a completely different arrangement of wildflowers in bloom on Hunter Creek from our hike last month. Instead of Mule’s Ear and Western Peony, we find bright Snowy Thistle and an orange hummingbird flower I don’t recognize. There are surprisingly few people out enjoying the warm evening. I do another bike/hike combo, meeting Ann…

It’s supposed to be hot today and I’m inspired to go further into the mountains. We negotiate the west shore of Lake Tahoe, which is totally mobbed, especially at Emerald Bay, continuing to Echo Lake, a small lodge I remember as the one Pacific Crest Trail resupply point where our package never showed up in…

The Galena Creek trailhead made a good impression on us last weekend, so we return for a longer loop hike today. Between the creeks we climb to higher ground, recently covered with snow. Fresh pine smells, a cool breeze, bright red snow plants, flowering Oregon grape, and a few Snowbank Clitocybe mushrooms greet us up…

Our friends Grace and Kristen show us a new trailhead called Galena Creek. We start high enough to enjoy some Ponderosa shade, then get a vista on the ridge between Jones and Whites creeks. Grace and Kristen Unposed Headstand

Here’s a nice outing for our setup in Reno: I bike up a nice 5-mile hill to meet Ann at a trailhead after work, lock the bike to the car and hike a bit in Toiyabe National Forest, then bomb back down the hill to return home before dark. Trailhead change from bike to hike