Day Hike To King's Canyon

Today we decided to celebrate the last day of the kid's Spring Break with an outing to King's Canyon, which sports a pretty little waterfall, on the outskirts of Carson City.

It's a short hike, only about a half mile each way.  There's a fair bit of rise in elevation to it though, and the trail is steep in spots.

There's some room to park at the trailhead, and judging by the number of cars we weren't the only ones with the idea of a hike today.  But off we went anyway!

There is a nice memorial to three firefighters who died in 1976, people in our area take honoring and caring for the firefighters very seriously as we have serious brush/forest fires around here every year.

A little way up the hill, looking back at the parking area.  I have no doubt that the poor guy who lives in the house on the left is constantly beseiged with people knocking on his door and asking to use the bathroom, the phone, can I get a drink of water, yada yada yada...

Gaining a bit of elevation...

The kid with her trusty walking stick was enjoying herself...

A little further up, looking back again...

The kid channels her inner Muir!

...while her parents cop a squat, rest for a few and enjoy the view.

We get to the top where the cleft and waterfall are and gawk at the pointy, angled rocks on the hill above.

Sadly for me, this is where I am thwarted by the inability to scramble over a small rockfall in order to get to the waterfall.  I have no doubt I would have taken the quick way to the bottom if I'd tried.  Not wanting to end the day at the ER I chose to wait here while J. and the kid explored the waterfall.  It was disappointing, but maybe someday I'll be able to make the climb all the way to the top.

Husband and kid climb the rocks and find the waterfall!  My kid immediately turns into a mountain goat and climbs the rocks.

It's a pretty little thing, from here the water spreads onto the rocky ground to the depth of a few inches, then continues on down the gorge.

The base of the waterfall...

...and where it spreads out before flowing down the gorge, this is looking back at the rockfall I couldn't manage.

People over the years have carved their names into this tree.

The upper part of the waterfall...

We had plenty of company, people taking their kids to enjoy the day.  To everyone's credit, we found absolutely NO trash on our hike.  People are awesome about packing out their trash and the area is pristine.

The kid explores closer...

The moss is inspected...

 ...and pronounced 'slimey and slippery'.

Yup. pretty much.  Anyone who's ever hiked and discovered a waterfall can attest to how treacherous this stuff can be!

After enjoying the waterfall and the view for a while, it was time to head back down.

We'll definitely be back!

Eagles And Agriculture!

Every Spring, the Carson valley becomes a waystation for Bald Eagles as they gather during the birthing of the calves in the valley.

It's a great time to go admire cute baby cows and get a good look at the birds at the same time.  Bald Eagles being scavengers for the most part, they enjoy the...uh...'leftovers' the birthing cows leave behind and bat cleanup after the calves are born.

It's kind of a big deal for people to go out with binoculars and telephoto lenses to get pictures of the eagles, right along highway 395 on the way into Carson City.

Anything involving birds, especially birds of prey, is fun for us, so today we grabbed the binoculars and the camera and headed out.  We ran into lots of other people doing the same thing, newcomers would wander over and ask if we'd seen anything and get pointed in the right direction.

Lots of cows!

Including fresh ones!

Unfortunately we didn't see any Bald Eagles at this spot, although we did spot some Sandhill Cranes.

We hung out for a bit, then decided to drive a bit further afield and headed for Genoa.  We stopped to admire this guy's labor-intensive fencing, he had it all around his property.

The local newspaper has been warning people lately to stop feeding the Mule deer, they've gotten quite bold and lost their natural fear of people, coming right into people's yards and dangerously close to the highway.

This guy, for instance, had his own private herd in his yard...

This little buck waited a bit, then cautiously wandered over to the girls.

After we admired the deer we resumed our Bald Eagle search, trying some of the fields outside Genoa where things were quieter.  We lucked out and found some in the trees waaaay out in the fields.  This guy had his nest all built!

The bird in this tree didn't seem to welcome her friend at first...

...but they quickly seemed to get along quite well!

 Yikes.

And then they sat and stared at us.

One of the trailheads is also a Nature Conservancy wetlands...

...but only for important birds.

Hopefully the Bald Eagles qualify!

It's The Virginia City Camel & Ostrich Races!

This is what happens when you ask your kid what she wants to do for her 16th birthday.  Because what else are ya gonna do on a weekend?

It's a cautionary tale:  This what comes from living in the mountains where the air is thin and people clearly aren't getting enough oxygen...racing weird animals starts to sound like a good idea.  And why stop at ostriches and camels?  What the heck, toss in some zebras, emus and chickens while yer at it!

Good times at high altitudes.

I went prepared and folded some origami ostriches.

The drive up to Virginia City is total old west Gold & Silver Boom era.  There are more picturesque buildings and interesting, strange old things than you can shake a stick at.  Old mining equipment and buildings sit right alongside newer, still working stuff.

Plus, there's doodads!

I think this retaining wall is juuust about done.

This old building gave it up during our last 100mph windstorm.

The old saloons still operate and have thoroughly jumped into their history with both feet.

Gold Hill/Gold Canyon is just down the hill from Virginia City.  There are old mines everywhere, it's quite dangerous to go walking out in the hills.

'Fandango houses'.  Heh.

This place is closed, but the cool old sign remains.

The hills and rocky canyons are beautiful despite the heavy forest fire smoke.

The wild horses were everywhere today, right alongside the road.  You have to be really careful driving in.  This mare was watching over her foal who was having a snooze.

These guys looked like they were waiting for a bus...

The Fourth Ward school building, one of the old, cool buldings in town.

We parked at the fairgrounds, the hillside shows off some old buildings, mining stuff, Virgina & Truckee rail cars...and I love the camel race staff's t-shirts--'We don't spit'.

Across from the fairgrounds, looking out across a huge gully.  Multi-colored piles of mine tailings.

And of course, more wild horses.  There were piles of wild horse droppings everywhere in town, they are quite blase about wandering through the streets, ignoring people.

The view from the fairgrounds, several of the 1800's buildings.

The camels resting up before the races...

Camels and zebras and ostriches, oh my!

The kids were getting camel rides before the races started.

The V & T train made several runs throughout the day, you can see the yellow and green cars on the hillside.

The anmals were paraded before the event began.  The were all obviously very well kept and healthy.  The camels were quite slow and stately.

Then the zebras...one of the female jockeys was all dressed up in a harem girl outfit.

Then it was time to parade the ostriches!  No slow, dignified walk here, they just turned 'em loose and they ran full-tilt around the track like the huge floofy goofballs they are, it was fantastic.

When they stopped and got distraced by fans with hotdogs, these guys helped keep them focused and headed towards the holding pen.

Time to race, camels first!  The girl in the yellow shirt wore a GoPro during her rides.  They alternated running camel & ostrich races.

Oops, distracted camels get tangled up and have to be untangled by the rodeo clowns.

Ostriches next!

#2 tries to juke across #3's path!

There is no pretense of steering with any of these animals by the way, which is a huge part of the fun...for the fans, anyway.  The riders look kinda terrified and you can clearly see the regret and second thoughts.

The best you can hope for is to try and convince the animal to go in a certain direction by holding a hand up alongside their head.

...and then just fall off at the end of the run while your mount throws you under the bus and abandons you.

The local kids got in on the fun, they got to chase emus.  The girl on the right really got into it, she came dressed as an emu.

Needless to say, the birds easily outran the kids.

Then all of a sudden the racing staff tripled and arranged themselves around the ring.  We wondered what dangerous animal required that kind of presence.

Why, chickens, of course!  They put a different colored scrunchy around each rooster's neck and assigned a kid to each...the object was to be the first to catch your chicken.

And...GO!  Heck, I could have told them the best way to catch a chicken involves a cheeseburger.

This black banty roo was the cleverest and most nimble.

He was the last to be caught, and at one point came running right at us...I was sure I was gonna have to field a chicken.

I love his little Elizabethan collar and now of course I'll have to pose my chickens in scrunchies for photos...

There was a short intermission, which gives you a chance to buy barbeque and kettle corn (so good).  The crowd was very relaxed and friendly, one of the nice things about attending small town events.  Rarely do you have the stranger next to you making a trip to the concession stand and ask you if you want anything.

After intermission, it was back to camels!  Slight hiccup when #3's starting gate didn't open, boy did he ever holler when it stuck!

But they got it open and off he went!

Hang on and hope!

Another ostrich race with 'Yeah, Don't You Wish' steering.

One of the raffle 'prizes' that day was a chance to ride a camel in a race.  Some poor guy from Guatemala in a red shirt 'won'.  Yes, this is how we treat visitors to this country, poor guy.  His camel hollered and caterwauled the whole time.

At this point the poor man is just holding and waiting for Hell Featuring Camels to be over.

His camel started to wander and needed to be redirected.  Stay on task, Mr. Camel!

Zebra time!  These two waited all day to be brought out into the ring and then pee in tandem.  There were all kinds of titters and 'when ya gotta go, ya gotta go' jokes from the crowd.

The zebras were quite speedy.

This guy rode with style, his camel warbling all the time.

Just to switch things up, the next ostrich race was with chariots.

The brooms are used to help 'steer' the animal, if they are so inclined to pay any attention to a broom held alongside their head.

Mostly these guys just held on.

The final race of the day.  These guys were all over the place, the one camel gargling at the top of his lungs.

He also ran right at us, screaming at us all the while.

...and he stopped to visit the people who had snacks.   The red shirts got him moving again.

After this it was time to go.  On the drive out you are treated to a view of the V & T's yard with more cool old railcars.

One of the mines you drive alongside.

And off highway 50 we found this guy waiting to pounce on some poor unsuspecting BMW.

We lucked out, despite the heavy forest fire smoke there was a breeze and at least we didn't bake in the sun while we watched the races.  It was a lot of fun and I'd highly recommend going!