Spanish BM P1K
Hungry Ridge North P900
Hungry Ridge South P300

Continued...

After a second day of watching volleyball in Reno, I headed north out of Reno on SR445 (Pyramid Way) for a couple of afternoon hikes. The weather had cleared some, and with a fresh blanket of snow above 7,000ft, I stuck to a trio of 6,000-foot summits to help my feet stay dry.

Spanish BM

Located just west of Spanish Springs, a booming suburb of Reno/Sparks until the 2008 financial crisis, this P1K lies at the southern end of the long Hungry Ridge separating Spanish Springs Valley from Hungry Valley. The area around the summit is riddled with OHV routes and is a popular shooting area. Gunshots could be heard fairly regularly in the background, not all that unexpected for a Saturday. I parked at a turnout on the north side of Eagle Canyon Rd, a fairly new stretch of pavement connecting Spanish Springs to tribal lands found northwest across the ridge. From north of the summit, I followed an OHV road heading south up a dry canyon for a little over a mile to the base of the summit. The road became a rough motorcycle track as it made its way higher, dodging rocks and boulders in the canyon as it narrowed. The final stretch was a moderately steep climb up to the summit for perhaps a quarter mile. There is very little vegetation on the ridge or its slopes, making cross-country travel easy and opening views from the summit in all directions (N - E - S - W). Reno can just be seen far to the south against the backdrop of Mt. Rose. Windy and chilly on the exposed ridge, I wasted little time in retreating to the warmer confines of the canyon which I also used for the return. It took a bit more than an hour to cover 3mi and 1,000ft of gain.

Hungry Ridge

The topo map shows Hungry Ridge as the northern portion of the same ridge upon which Spanish BM lies, separated by Eagle Canyon Rd. I drove north on Eagle Canyon into the Indian Reservation found at the end in Hungry Valley, tucked up against Hungry Ridge. It is a small collection of about 100 homes with a school/community center at one end. I drove north from the community on dirt Loop Rd until I found a turnout I could use to start the effort up to Hungry Ridge. I don't know if there are legal issues with starting from tribal lands, but no one came by or left a note while I was out indicating otherwise. There are two primary summits to the ridge, the highpoint being at the north end and a secondary summit further south. Most of the hiking was on OHV roads that criss-cross the range. The beginning portion on tribal land showed little use, but after crossing a fence (marking the tribal/BLM boundary) in the first half mile, I picked up a jeep road-becoming-motorcycle track heading up a canyon for more than a mile, eventually connecting with a jeep road that traverses along the crest. I followed this undulating road for several miles north to reach the summit in a little over an hour.

I enjoyed this hike much better than Spanish Mountain, mostly because it doesn't seem to have the history of target shooting and it feels more remote. Though Pyramid Lake is not visible, the distinctive shape of Tohakum Peak above the lake's northeastern shore can be seen. To the east was the snow-capped (recently dry) Pah Rah Range, while Peavine was showing its own crown of snow to the southwest. I found a cairn and a wooden post at the summit, but no register here or at the south summit. The route I had taken up bypassed the south summit to the east, so on the return I made the short side visit to tag it. An old survey tower once stood there, but someone has refashioned it into a cross of sorts, using the old wire to anchor it at three points. It was nearly 7:30p and just before sunset when I returned to the van. This second outing was just over 7mi and about 1,800ft of gain in 2.5hrs. All told, not a bad bit of work for an afternoon. Better yet, I had a hotel room in Reno to return to for a hot shower, dinner, and an oh-so-comfy bed...

Continued...

Author:

Is this a correction?