Upper High Rock Canyon Trail Hike

From Steven's Camp, we did a 1. 5 mile hike up Upper High Rock Canyon to the meadow and corral. Headed left up the bowl to a stand of Quaking Apens, then on up to the high plateau above the canyon. We then walked south along the rim, then down the south slope, across the creek, and back to camp. 

With all the hiking around the hike totaled a little over 4 miles total.

 

National Trails Day 2024

May 31-June2. For the third year in a row, we headed to Steven's Camp in the Upper High Rock area of the Black Rock Desert for National Trails Day. The Winnemucca BLM office, Friends of Black Rock/High Rock, and Friends of Nevada Wilderness teamed up to tackle a handful of trail maintenance task to help restore, maintain, and beautify this wild place. 

Also for the third year in a row, we jumped on the trail maintenance crew for the historic Upper High Rock Trail and spent the day Saturday clearing downed tress, trimming back trail brush, and clearing the hiking track.

A great meal Saturday night by Friends of Nevada Wilderness.

(Milo kept pretty busy all day and didn't get many trail work photos)

Kayak Storage

We are finally getting a kayak rack built for (at least) our sit-in kayaks for better storage, protection, and management. We keep them covered with tarps, but we live on a year round creek under a lage canopy of Oaks. The leaves, debris, pollen, spiders, and spider weds are unrelenting and it seems like we have to wash/rinse the kayaks and vacuum the insides every time we want to use them.

This two piece rack is designed to have a canopy roof attached, but we are going to start with it under a 16x8 folding/expandable commercial canopy. This should also give us room to store the two sit-on-top kayak we use most (for fishing and cocktail paddles 😁) on the pavement beneath the lower long boats.

 

There will be slings attached to the back side of this rack like the section shown for a total of six kayaks.

Update: All compartment with slings.

Letts Lake Sortie

We made a quick day trip up to see what Letts Lake Looks like after the wildfire a couple years ago, and to see how the fishing was.

 

Fire Conditions - The forest in that area burn a lot. It looks like the Forest Service is still working on cleaning up burned and fallen trees, and rebuilding the campground areas. 

Fishing - Slow. We tried bait and lures. Took kayaks to fly fish out of, but the wind started blowing pretty hard a short while after we arrived. The lake has a serious weed growth problem that needs addressing to get it back to how it was back-in-the-day.

Silo work a spinner from the fishing platform

Emerging Dobsonflys

Hat Creek Odds & Sods

Several days fishing and exploring in the Hat Creek area of Northern California.

Fish Camp at Cassel Campground

California Margaritas

Crystal Lake

Baum Lake

Impass trying to reach Thousand Lakes Wilderness.

We might have been able to clear this dead-fall, but there was deep snow 200 feet beyond.