I have started mountain biking again. Rock climbing again. Hiking again. And eating (mostly) healthy again. I am busy almost all the time with very little time for stopping. Just the way I like it. This lifestyle makes me happy.
It has been almost a month since my last post. I have been so busy living life that I forget to post in here. This past weekend I visited friends in Elko, NV. They moved there last summer and when I went as part of a Team Rubicon Op in February, I re-discovered how amazing the area is for outdoor adventuring.
I left Boise in a snowstorm. Stopped to pick up Thai food in Mountain Home, which came highly recommended by my friends. I would have to agree with their assessment that it may be the best Thai food in Idaho. She is located in a bus at the entrance to a trailer park. And balls! The serving size and taste was great! Chai-yo Thai at 1500 American Legion Blvd, Mtn Home. Yummo! Except that I had about 5h more of driving and smelling that food about set me over the edge.
I ran into multiple snow storm flurries. Some of which were blowing hella hard and made visibility quite low. Thankfully the roads remained decent. Especially since my Jeep was in the shop (again) and I had a rental car. Much thanks to friends for letting me borrow a bike rack that would fit the car so I could bring my MTB along for the trip.
I stopped multiple times to explore the Owyhee River which was flowing hella high and fast. It looked wonderfully fun to paddle, aside from how narrow it is and all the overgrowth. I'd probably injure myself. Very scenic drive through the Humboldt-Toyiabe NF Jarbidge region. When I arrived in Elko, we went for a walk and wandered into the Halleck Bar Party at the NE NV Museum just at the time when they were raising a glass to Beefeater Gin. Mmmm, free food that was yummo esp some of the Basque options. And of course, it seems all Basques know each other and we chatted with the cooks who, in fact, knew some Basques we know in the Boise area, hahaha! We explored the museum some, too. Great timing! Good times.
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view of Terminal Cancer Couloir for skiing |
Next day we went to the Ruby Mountains, Lamoille Canyon Rd/227 area to go snowshoeing. We drove as far as the Altima could take us, stopping along the way to take photos and explore a beautiful waterfall that fell alongside the road and had frozen mist. There was a crap top of trucks and snowmobiles (yuck) at the snow-end of the road (~7mi of the 12mi rd). We parked about a half mile from Thomas Canyon CG entrance and hiked to it, put our snowshoes on and snowshoed up the canyon. The snow was perfect for snowshoeing and soon I got pretty hot in my snowpants. So I rolled them up to my knees and eventually took them off altogether. I had tri shorts on underneath. Unfortunately, I neglected to put sunscreen on my legs. I am still feeling the burn on them...3 days later! We had to get out of the way of a few groups of snowmobilers...who happen to be breaking the wilderness boundary rules by being in there *sigh*. Mechanised recreation has a way of making nature less enjoyable. It is loud and smelly and can often be destructive if "Stay the Trail" and "Leave no Trace" are not followed.
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| View looking back to Thomas Canyon CG and Rd |
The trail goes into the canyon. Ideally, in warmer weather, there are plenty of waterfalls. Only the stream was flowing. There were plenty of frozen waterfalls on the cliff faces, that we heard break apart and fall from the rock faces. The trail ends in a glacial cirque where we turned around. We saw traces of backcountry skiers and ran into one on our way back. We followed the sled route back to the CG and found some steep pitches. The sun had warmed the snow to mashed potato level and going down the pitches in our shoes may not have been wise. So we opted to butt louge down. WHOA! Hella fun! I put my snow pants back on and went sliding hella fast down the pitch. The second pitch was even longer and steeper. I thought I would hit the trees and go into the stream. I was laughing so hard, I cackled and drooled all over myself. So. Much. Fun!!!
Then we went to the California Interpretive Trail Center. I have been to the Oregon Trail one in Baker City, OR and thought both were very well done. Very informative and presented in an appealing manner. I climbed up on a schooner wagon...with quite a bit of difficulty. I am not sure how pioneers managed to do it day in, day out. I learned more about the Donner-Reed party and the trail options they took. It seems to me that their choice to go all the way around the Ruby Mountains to Overland Pass was not such a good idea and that the Hastings Cutoff may not have been much of a cutoff.Nights full of homemade ice cream, spicy food (trying to improve my tolerance) and I finally got to try waffles and chicken for breakfast, wooo! My last day was spent in Tuscarora, NV. An old mining town that went belly up in the 1880s and had a mini-revival in the 1960s when a ceramics school opened. My friend and I hiked Mount Blitzen (8,130' ele). There was no established trail. We simply blazed our own. And dang, we chose the steep route up, skirting around remaining snow pack and over shale fields. But the views were totally worth it. There was a USGS marker and register at the top that we logged into. I learned that ladybugs tend to be at the peaks where they gather and mate. There were large "clumps" of them. The views of the Independence range to the east and the Tuscarora range to the west were breath-taking. The hike back down was much easier as we followed the snow melt creek. We were sorely tempted to butt louge again, but had nothing to safely assist stopping in a controlled manner. And those snow sections were quite large and steep.
We explored Tuscarora, however tiny it is. Fascinating and beautiful little town. We parted ways and I was off to Boise. I thought via looking at maps that I could taken NV 226 to connect to Owyhee, NV, which it does do. But when it parallels Mountain City, NV, the road turns to dirt. And being in my rental car and clouds overhead that looked to be full of rain, I opted to turn around and drive all the way back to the turn off with NV 225. *sigh* A red fox decided to race me while I flew along 226. And on the way to Elko, a turkey vulture tried to take out the front end of the Altima. I had to slam on the brakes and swerve to avoid that bird. And hella large bird that it is!
The drive back was uneventful. I was already missing my adventures and sad to be going back to Boise life. The weekend before I participated in the 1st Annual Kayak Slush Classic race at Bogus Basin. We brought our kayaks up to Bogus and basically bobsled/bumper-boated down a course they built. Four boats at a time, the top two moved on to the next heat. The first few heats were slower, but as more races came down, the course became more packed down and smoothed. There were times, boats went over the banked edges. It was a wonderfully fun shitshow. We went forward, backward, sideways, slamming into each other and the course walls. I went by myself, which was kinda lonely. But I am so glad I went anyway. There was a snowstorm going on and it was foggy. We could not see the finish from the start on the bunny hill near the chairlift next to the main lodge.
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| Photo c/o Bogus Basin Staff. |
Local news station and a Boise-based adventure filming person was there, too, to record the event. I did not place at all. But stuck around to watch the race finish. Totally worth it and I plan to do it again in the future.
I also signed up for the Silver Valley Ride to Defeat ALS in June near Coeur d'Alene. I better get my ass in gear. Gotta start biking more miles! I brought my bike with me when I camped along the Middle Fork of the Boise last week on the way to Atlanta. Very scenic trip. Solo hike up Cervidae, camping and biking trip. I love life. :-)
