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 ,
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 for a little over a mile to the base of
the summit.
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 ( - - - ). Reno can just
be seen far to 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 ,
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
-becoming-motorcycle track heading up a canyon for more than a mile,
eventually connecting with a jeep road that traverses . I
followed this undulating road for several miles 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 above the lake's northeastern
shore can be seen. To was the snow-capped (recently dry) Pah Rah Range,
while Peavine was showing its own crown of snow to . I found a
cairn and a wooden post at , 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 , using the old wire to anchor it at
three points. It was nearly 7:30p and just before sunset when I 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...