Hiking in Desolation

I went hiking for the weekend in the Desolation Wilderness and it was COLD!




I was in Reno Friday night for a fundraiser for NOS. Unfortunatly I left my camera in the car and didn't get any pictures of Jessica and me all dressed up. Friday afternoon and night it snowed a couple inches. I knew it was going to be cold. So after watching Texas come back against OU I headed up to South Lake Tahoe.



I got to the trail head about 3pm and had about 5 miles to get to my campsite. I hurried up there to make it before dark, so I didn't take many pictures. It was all up hill and I got to the lake about 6pm. There was two inches of snow on the ground and the sun was starting to set. I was glad to get into my tent, but then found out my lighter wouldn't make a large enough flame to light my stove because of the altitude. So I ate a granola bar and laid down. Then it started to snow.




I slept on and off through the night. After it snowed probably 2 inches, the winds came at about 50 miles an hour. I was at 8400 feet and it was probably close to 0. I was wearing all the clothes I brought, and stayed pretty warm. I was thrilled when I could tell it was getting lighter outside and got up to take some pictures.




The frozen waterfalls around looked great. The little streams had standing ice and I couldn't really feel my feet in my cold boots. Once I got my stuff packed and started hiking I warmed up and feeling came back to most of my body. But still four days later, my pinky is still regaining feeling.



So I decided to change plans and not stay in the backcountry another night. I hiked to the top of Mount Tallac and the altitude kicked my ass. From the top I could see over Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Range. It was pretty amazing. Then I hiked out to my car and drove to a Forest Service campground.



The next day I went to Horse Tail Falls in the morning and it was amazing. Water pouring from pool to pool over sheets of granite. It's right off of Highway 50, but couldn't feel more remote. I was glad I made the choice to check it out instead of freezing another night in the mountains.




It was great to get in one last backpacking trip before winter really sets in.


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Hardly Strictly

The first weekend of October I made the trip to San Francisco for the Hardly Strictly Music Festival.




It's a free music festival put on by this guy who had a lot of money and wanted to see good music. The line up is great and it's a great reason to go visit San Fran. It's a six hour drive from here which almost seems like nothing now. We got there Friday, just in time to see Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. I was glad to get to see them while they are still touring. It was a good show with gospel and Zep tunes, but I would have enjoyed it if it was a little faster tempo.



The next day we got up and wandered around downtown. We wandered into a random Chinese parade with one marching band and one dragon following. A very short parade, but an unexpected surprise. Then while sitting on Market waiting for a bus we saw all of these people going by for some kind of an event. We heard is was for the "Love Parade." It looked like Burning Man without the boobs or sand.




The love parade was holding up the bus, so we just walked. We got there just in time to get to the front to see the Gourds. They put on a great show and played Gin and Juice, always a favorite. I took a complete video of it so it limited the pictures I took the rest of the trip. But being front and center was awesome. Then we saw the Del McCoury Band before we saw Robert Earl Keen. I pushed my way to the front for Robert Earl Keen and had a great time and made some friends.






That night I went out to a club that was an after party for the Love Parade. It was pretty entertaining, and I don't think I've been smashed in a room with that many people in awhile. And then I was also surprised at the concept of closing time, still gets me... Walking back to the hotel I ran into a friend and stayed up later then I expected.





The next morning we got up and headed to the show. We saw Red Wine which is an Italian bluegrass band. If you ever see the name, go to the show, they are great! They speak and look Italian, but when they sing it's straight from Appalachia. Then we went and hung out at a stage and saw a few random acts before we saw Iron and Wine. He was great and I would love to see a show in a smaller venue. It was absurdly crowded Sunday so we left before the end and got back to Winnemucca about 1am.



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Burgdorf Hot Springs

A couple weeks ago Jessica and I took a trip up to Idaho. We stayed the night in Boise and had fun in the big town. Went to some bars and randomly saw a band. The next morning it was pouring and we loved it. We hadn't seen a good rainstorm in awhile. The weather was cloudy/rainy for most the weekend so I didn't take to many pictures, but it was nice not to be in the desert.




Saturday was the highlight of the trip when we went to Burdorf Hot Springs for the night. It is north of McCall, ID and in the middle of the Payette Forest. The history says that a guy went up to mine for gold, and found this hot spring, so he made camp there, and stayed there till he was 82.



The pool itself is amazing. It's 30 feet wide and 50 feet long and 5 feet deep. It's a real pool. The sides are logs and it has a gravel bottom. It holds 225,000 gallons and has almost no sulfur smell.



We stayed in one of the 10 or so cabins they have there, that were built at different periods. Ours was called First Cabin and had a date outside that said 1846. We don't know if the cabin was that old, they had obviously redone the walls and ceiling and had a new stove installed, but the ceiling beams were hand hewen with chisel marks on them. The whole place is off the grid, there was a wood burning stove and an oil lamp, and an outhouse.



Staying there was great. The clouds broke up enough at night to see some stars and shooting stars and the steam coming off the pool in the morning was spectacular. It was hard to leave Sunday and come back to Nevada. It felt like a lot more then a weekend.


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Burning Man

From Burning Man

I went to Burning Man for the last four days this year. It's impossible to fully describe what it's like, but I'll try to capture some of it.




I got in Thursday evening and was excited to get out and about. Most everyone else had been there since Monday, so were a little more laxed about the evening. We decided our destination was going to see a band called ALBINO! play. Now at Burning Man, having a destination and getting there are two different things because there are tons of distractions along the way. First we stopped at some random trampolines then at the Hookah lounge where they had cool music and fire dancing, and then there was an art car with a band playing.



We made it to see Albino and I don't think it took over an hour to get there, that's pretty good time. Burning Man is also known for its absurd and extravagant costumes and this year was no different.

Guy with tutu and headdress.		My costume was a full suit.

So after albino we wandered around some more. We came up on a temple of sorts burning. It looked pretty cool. Then we rode on a few art cars and ended up on the other side of the playa. We then stumbled onto the coolest art car ever, the home brew art car. They had kegged their beer and had taps in the back. It was delicious and one of the last solid memories of the night. After that there was rave domes and wanderings, we made it home safe.

From Burning Man

The next day I got up to volunteer for the BLM which was basically driving around and taking pictures for monitoring purposes. It was a good excuse to drive around on a golf cart checking things out.

Bike powered blender with margaritas.	Superheros

The temple this year was pretty neat. It was done by a different artist and it had it's own flair. The coolest thing was the double helix staircase in the middle to get to the platform. Going up you would look people in the face that were going down, trippy. As usual it was a solemn place of reverence which always seems weird and appropriate in the middle of a huge party.






That afternoon we looked at more art. We figured out the weird blocks were actually Tetris blocks. There was the faux pool, the Bummer (an oversized hummer), a temple, a massive rubber ducky art car and so much more. I also found my favorite theme came of the year called F-ing Unicorn camp and they had the best game called Uni-corn-hole.





Then there was the best bar. It's called The Deep End and it is always bumping during the day with the best drinks around. It's always at 9 o'clock and D, and I go there at least once a day. This year the drinks were Absinthe smoothies. (Half bottle of Absinthe, frozen strawberries and limes, two redbulls a little powdered milk and blend. Mmmmm) Check it out.



Friday afternoon is the legendary critical tits ride. It's like critical mass where bikers ride through major cities, but it's all topless women. It's more of a women empowerment then parading for guys. There are probably 5 to 10 thousand people with ages ranging from 8 to 80. Pasty art takes on a whole new definition. It happens at 4 and at 3.45 people come streaming from all parts of the city to the middle to ride or cheer on. The whole scene is quite amazing.





That was basically one day. We went back to camp to take a nap before going out and were treated to on of the most amazing sunsets. If you ever wondered what it's like to see a sunset in 360 degrees, this is as close as it gets.





That night we went out and saw the Lotus Girls fireworks show, then an art display burning, and looked at some cool night art. Unfortunately it was dusty this year so night pictures looked like a lot of spots, so I didn't take my camera out. There was one display that had book covers welded out of steel and they had a gas fire coming out of them. Then there was the wheel of fire where they built a fire in a circular cage and there was a crank to spin the cage and eventually centrifical force would hold the fire on the outside of the cage. It was like a flaming clothes dryer.




So that was ONE day. Saturday Jessica and I cruised around on golf carts again. Saw more art on the open playa and they were prepping the man to burn that night. About noon dusty gusts started to build up and by one it was almost a complete whiteout. At about the same time our golf cart stopped working. So we hunkered down and waited. In a little clearing we shook the golf cart and it started working so we made a trip back to camp without stopping and got back just before the worst part of the storm hit. So we were safe in a trailer waiting out the storm for about four hours. It happens and you just have to deal. I was just glad I wasn't lost in the dust.





Luckily it all cleared up by about 8 and the burning of the man proceeded. It was awesome. The party is always intense. We found a great place near the north side so we could get close and there was great 80's music coming from an art car that we never found. The fireworks were great and the man burned perfectly. The entire thing was on fire at the same time and it completely collapsed like a building coming down. It was hard to widdle down the photos.



What a show!!! After the man came down the fire dancing came out. There was so much fire dancing you get picky after awhile. They make really great pictures too. Then Jessica and I wandered the playa from party to party and hopped on art cars. The ducky was out and looked awesome, but we didn't try getting on. We passed out about three and it was a great night.




We had enough so we decided to come back Sunday afternoon, so we could have Monday to work on moving in to our new house. On the way back we got a flat tire, bound to happen on Jungo. But it was better then having to leave the same way as the rest of the traffic.



I'm already thinking about going back next year. Word around town is we're going to put together a real camp next year. Anyone is more then free to come out and join me!!!

And here's the map:

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