With winter quickly approaching and most of the high passes already closed due to snow, I've been searching for more and more local hikes that remain at low enough elevations as to allow me to do them through the winter. I have hiked a number of them around town, but doing the same trail multiple times a week can get boring quickly. All that said, I came across a write up online about the Ophir Creek Trail, which seemed to fit the bill, at least a portion of the trail.
The trail starts at the Davis Creek Regional Park, which is just a few miles south of Reno on old US 395. A quick trek through some lush forest terrain leads across the first of several creek crossings. This one offers a small bridge, but that will be the last of those facilities along the way. I've not done a great deal of hiking in the area at this time of year, but the orange pine needle carpet and the occasional pine cone makes a nice contrast against the green of trees and the white granite boulders scattered around the landscape.
The next creek crossing (I believe this one is actually Ophir Creek) is a matter of rock hopping while crossing a series of stream fingers. It makes for a beautiful site. The trail is pretty well maintained and marked, though there are a few branching trails that require me to pay some attention to where I'm going. At point along the way, I'm offered a terrific view of the washed out canyon cut by yet another creek. This trail winds it's way up the hillsides adjacent to Slide Mountain, the home of the Reno's premier ski resort. Slide Mountain was presumably named due to it's proneness for periodic and often devestating landslides on it's southeast face. It appears to me that some of the devestation visible in this canyon was probably caused by the last landslide, which occured in 1983.
Up until this point, this trail has been a pretty relentless ascent up this mountainside, but this next section flattens out a bit. Here the ground below my feet is composed mostly of pulverized granite and a few oddly shaped granite tours sprout out of the eary. One formation, made of two large monoliths, reminds me of Laurel and Hardy.
Another much larger one on the opposite side of the trail has a large irregularly shaped boulder balanced atop a granite pyramid. This area reminds me of my beloved Yosemite. My time in this area is shortlive though as I continue on. Just after this section, the trail shares it's path with a off-road trail, which I later discover leads to a small lake within the canyon below. Luckily, I come upon a sign indicating that my trail continues abruptly uphill, while the road continues on to the lake. I opt to take the more difficult uphill path.
This section of the trail, steep as it is, seems to be less trafficed than what I have traveled on thus far. It winds through some dense shrubs and cross more trickling streams, including a moss-covered waterfall that must be crossed. This one reminds me of my time in Scotland.
I wonder how much further it is before I reach my destination at Tahoe Meadows. The steepness continues as I pass through another lush meadow, but this time ripe with fall colors and a young aspen grove stripped of it's fall leaves by the strong winds at this altitude. There is also some snow up here, though it has melted and refrozen into small patches of ice. At one point, though I'm being cautious, I slip and fall on my arse. Only my pride was injured, luckily.
A little further and I finally reach my declared turning point, the intersection with the Tahoe Rim Trail in the forest around Tahoe Meadows. I do an about face and begin the return trip. I'm hoping this will be a little easier, as it should be as much downhill now as there was unshaking uphill on the way up. It turns out to be fairly easy traversing the return route, but I didn't remember it being quite so steep. About halfway back, the impact of each step starts killing my knees. I try to slow down a bit, which seems to help.
Eventually, I reach the parking lot where I left my jeep this morning. In total, this was a nearly 16 mile trek with nearly 4,000 feet of elevation gain. That's very steep for an out and back hike, but it was great exercise. I hope I feel the same way tomorrow.
On a windswept hill overlooking Virgina City, timeless reminders of this areas prominent days can be found. In 1859, the first major silver deposit in the United States, the Comstock Lode, was found here. As many a man came here to make seek his fortune in the silver mines, Virginia City quickly exploded into the queen of the boom towns, swelling to a population around 15,000 in the late nineteenth century.
As I wander amounst the terraced graves of those laid to rest here, I'm intrigued by many of the burial practices of the time. The majority of the graves are surrounded by ornate fencing of wood or wrought iron. This was apparently a common practice during the Victorian Age. Also, a number of the tombstones are carved from wood. As you can imagine, 120+ years has made much of the text unreadable.
It's also interesting to me that the cemetery is sectioned off by relgious sect with the Mason's claiming the largest area. There are sections for the Hebrews, Roman Catholics, and many others strewn about these hillsides. And also of note, few those laid to rest here were native Nevadans. In fact, I'm fascinated by the number of markers indicating natives of Ireland.
All in all, there are a probably a couple of thousand graves here, and nearly all of the markers, fencing, and other ornatmentation are in disrepair. It is humbling though to think of these pioneers and the fortunes they claimed from the earth below us. Now though, they are simply dust in the wind, as we are all destined to become.
