Saturday, April 13, 2019

Mustang Ranch Trail - Flooded (Washoe County, Nevada)


I had wanted to get quite a few miles in today. Searching for a new nearby trail, I stumbled across the Mustang Ranch Trail, which also might be known as the McCarran Ranch Preserve Trail. According to the site I found the trail on, it's a 20 mile round trip if one completes the entire trek. 

I left home about 9 AM and headed for the trail head about 15 miles east of town just off of Interstate 80. After parking the jeep, I headed out down the flat dirt track. The Truckee River flowed rapidly alongside the trail. This time of year, the snow melt from the Tahoe Basin fills the Lake Tahoe and pushes the access over the damn to flow down the Truckee River, through Reno, and on it's way to Pyramid Lake to the north. With all of the snow and rain we have received this winter, I and most others have been concerned about possible flooding.


Reaching just about 0.7 miles down the trail, a construction barrier has been posted indicating the trail has been closed due to flooding. Dagnabbit! I venture just a bit ahead and find exactly what I was hoping I wouldn't. The Truckee River flows right over the trail here. The water is probably around three feet deep and I'm not really wanting to go for a long swim, especially given the rate at which the water is flowing. Ah well, you can't fight mother nature. I turn and head back to the jeep after having covered 1.4 miles round trip. No where near the 20 I was hoping to hike, but perhaps I'll revisit this trail later in the year.

No comments:

Post a Comment