I don’t publish most of my run logs, but I’m going to share a few as I try to ramp up for the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey on June 1. I’ve been making progress already over past few weeks, so I’m hoping I’ll be in good shape for my 3-leg share that should total 15-18 miles.
Today I try fast/slow intervals of 8 minutes apiece, and run barefoot. I manage about 10 miles in an hour and a half, feeling good 
Our final family getaway outing takes us to Sugar Pine State Park. The first feature you encounter here is the preserved Hellman-Ehrmann mansion guest house, completed in 1903.
The park also bears the name of Ed Z’berg, a California legislator and nature advocate. We explore a little of the local nature, finding giant sugar pine cones and cute goslings.
Ann wants to introduce me to stand up paddleboarding. I don’t go for the headstand like she does, but it does seem like a great way to get out on the water.
Neither of us fell off the paddleboard, so we go for the voluntary dunk. You can tell from our expressions how nice and warm the water is.
Lunch is great. I’d tell you where we ate, but they tell Ann’s dad not to photograph their sign, so I guess it’s a secret.
After lunch Ann, dad, and I get dropped off for an end-to-end hike of the Rubicon trail. This is a great shore hike that tours Emerald bay and the deep Rubicon bay, passing a restored lighthouse. Bird sightings include mergansers, a diving western grebe, and a gorgeous pileated woodpecker (sorry no picture).
There’s no more sign of snow, but they’re ready for its return.
Ann and I find a nice network of trails starting near our lodgings in Tahoma. It looks like you could connect to trails in sugar pine state park from here.
Ann’s parents have an invitation from a cousin to use their cabin for the weekend – a boon for sure. We coordinate this with a visit from my dad and Sarah to create a small family gathering.
I stop with Ann’s parents Bob and Carol at the great overlook on the Mount Rose Highway.
Soon enough we’re all at the cabin.
As our first outing we head to Emerald bay in blissful weather.
We hatch a plan to take Dad and Sarah’s folding bikes down the Vikingsholm access road, until we see the “no bikes” sign.
The dock in front of Vikingsholm provides a nice snack spot before we look at the mansion.
Dad, Sarah, and I continue to lower Eagle falls.
As a last exploration some of us head up towards upper Eagle falls and Eagle lake.
Just looking to get on some rock we find good conditions at Dinosaur Rock. I manage my first lead of the season on The Left Seam, which is rated 5.10a but is easily cheated down to about 5.7. We run laps on that and Color Me Gone 5.9 until spent, then go home happy. We have so many other things we want to do this summer that we’re uncertain how much climbing we should pursue, but little outings like this are leaving us wanting more.
My version of the worldwide WP 5k is a barefoot excursion through my favorite parts of Reno. If you know Reno you might be able to guess the route from 30 seconds of video:
I accept my first mission to find and count sage grouse. I’ll warn you that there are no sage grouse photos. It’s hard enough to spy on them through binoculars.
I do learn a few things about my home region. I knew it was big and rough, but hoped we’d be able to drive to Wall canyon reservoir before sunset. You gotta drive like you live for it out here. Every road we turn onto gets smaller, until we’re charging through creeks, mud puddles, and over steep rocky obstacles. Luckily there are no squeezes smaller than our camper, and we reach the reservoir just as stars are coming out.
Saturday we figure the tough road trend will continue so we take the camper off the truck. It’s the right decision – huge sage bushes squeeze the road until we can barely get the truck through. Several miles of that brings us to an obsidian-strewn plateau where the grouse reportedly party. I find some old-looking grouse poop, but start to think we’re in the wrong place.
We take turns driving and running back to camp, then do some lounging and bird watching. There are several birds on this lake that I haven’t seen elsewhere recently: cinnamon teal, sandpipers, and american avocets.
Sage grouse always party at dawn, so we rise at 3:30am and grind back up to the plateau. It’s still dark when we arrive, and I see nothing. But rolling down the window reveals a low gurgle-like sound. I drive closer and see a few faint blobs in the darkness. As the light grows it becomes clear that there are many, many sage grouse strutting their stuff out here. I get to counting. Like most amateurs, I’ve been told, I have to resist the temptation to just gape at the crazy birds and concentrate on getting a good count.
That done we buckle up for the long bouncy roads home, where I plan to run a little 5k this afternoon…
We should know better than to underestimate a desert peak, but we casually decide to hike up Tule Peak near Pyramid lake and it hands us our hats. We don’t give ourselves enough time, food, water, or hutzpah for this 3,700-foot cross country ascent. There are great rock formations and views for us anyway, as well as a good workout.
Locals seem to regard this lake as ominous, rich in lore of drownings and water babies. Our first exploratory run results in no tragedies. We’re won over first by the multitudinous birds (pelicans, cormorants, grebes, coots, mergansers, and more), then by the multitudinous stars. Maybe it’s because we stick to the shore, as shown in my 3-second timelapse. The pyramid rises in the distance on the far shore.
