Eagle Rock (Washoe County, Nevada)

 

Originally, Deanna (the meetup group organizer) had planned to hike the Rubicon Trail today, but with an incoming winter storm, she changed it to Seven Lakes Mountain, which is just a few miles north of Reno. Driving up to our meeting spot, the clouds darkened and freezing rain started to hit my windshield. I went ahead and met the few brave souls willing to rough it in this weather and we decided to move the location once again to Jumbo Falls, south of Reno. Radar showed that the area was clear of precipitation.

Driving down to the trail head, we geared up and started down the jeep trails on foot. Earlier in the spring, I did a fair amount of exploring to find this waterfall and became somewhat familiar with this maze of jeep and dirt bike trails. This time though, we were on foot as opposed to off-roading it. Leaving the trail for a short distance when we discovered we were on the wrong one, we crossed a muddy wash by hanging onto a barb-wire fence. I was lucky enough to find the one soft spot under the fence and as my foot sank six to eight inches into the mud, I grabbed for whatever I could to keep from falling. Unfortunately, I grabbed the barbs and cut my hands up a little bit - nothing serious.

As we continued on, a light sleet began to fall. Undeterred, we bundled up a bit and continued on, but as the precipitation began to come down a bit harder and the dirt trail became more muddy and slippery, we decided to only go as far as Eagle Rock, which is a column basalt formation in route to the falls. Like the much more famous Devils Postpile, south of Yosemite, volcanic activity has created a pile of hexagonal columns rising from the ground. I've seen several of these formations over the years and they are all quite interesting. 

Making the turn, we started back towards the trail head. With the mud building up on our shoes and the cold wind blowing through us, we quickly covered the distance and arrived at the parking lot to dry off and warm up. Though not as far as we had intended, the 8.1 miles we covered still provided a decent workout, though the weather made it a little uncomfortable. Not a problem for us die-hards.