may day hike

{Edit to add:  I don't know what's going on with intensedebate but comments are just disappearing.  I'm leaving it on so they can figure out the problem.  Arggg.}

One of our teachers at the homeschool co-op mentioned this place in passing and I was intrigued.  Possibly seeing bald eagles and geese nesting on spires?  What would be cooler than that?  We just had to find this place. {for the locals ~ She said it was in Washoe Valley, on a dirt road right after the guardrail ends on the down side of Washoe Hill going southbound.  So, any chance I had to drive that way I would look for the turn off.}  On Sunday, we headed out on our adventure.

My husband, the obsessive hiker, knows where all the great places are even though he's only lived here since 2003 and I've practically lived here my whole life.  I was jacked up knowing that I  (little 'ol me) could surprise him.  As we were driving down the hill, he was getting confused about where I was taking him.  "Don't worry Honey,  I know what I'm doing," I said to him.

Well, it's now my newest favorite place of all time.  At least for a nice Spring hike.  We have to head up to the mountains when it gets really hot in the valley.

What did we smell:  Sagebrush!  Lots of Sagebrush.
What did we hear: Quail, Geese, Red-Winged Blackbirds and other various small birds
We Felt:  Cool at first but we warmed up.  There was a nice breeze.

What did we see:

great climbing rocks

kids having fun

desert peach

brothers helping each other

old V & T railroad bridge and stone work.

geese nesting

old pelt from a coyote maybe?  poked it with a stick.

maybe a muskrat lodge?

teeth marks

lots of lizards

old animals bones, maybe cow?

caves, smiling husbands

owl pellets

lots of bones from owl pellets

bird nests

::

We never saw our eagle but we'll come back again to try.