Snowflower / Alpine Walk
Snowflower Mountain is the last Sierra peak over 10,000ft at the range's northern end. It lies along a very long ridgeline extending north from Mt. Rose, eventually dropping down to the Truckee River many more miles to the north. The route I took to reach it from the east is along a portion of the Rim to Reno Trail that follows Thomas Creek. Had I known ahead of time, I probably would have driven the additional three miles up the road that follows the creek to the higher TH that cuts significant miles off the effort. Ignorant at the time of this option but still wanting the extra credit for not using it, I started at the lower TH just off Timberline Dr. The parking lot is large and the restrooms look newly built as does the
information kiosk where the trail
starts. I had sort of stumbled upon this location the night before
without knowing anything about the Rim to Reno Trail and this trailhead. I thought I was
going to use a portion of the Jones Whites Creek Trail and cross-country the rest, but I
had found something that would do quite nicely towards getting me to Snowflower Mtn. It
had snowed some a few days earlier, quantity uncertain, but I didn't expect it to amount
to much and with the sun shining brightly these past two days I thought most of it would
melt off. Still, I knew there would be significant snow coverage at the highest
elevations, so I came prepared with snowshoes and poles.
Starting out at 7a, I spent more than an hour plying 
the trail
up Thomas Creek before encountering the 
first sections of snow. At first these
were patchy and mostly on the north-facing slopes where the trail climbs high to get
around some private inholdings. Another hour and a half later found me making the
arduous 
switchbacks up out of the creek canyon. Though south-facing, the trail
eventually became more uniformly covered in snow as I climbed above the
8,700-foot level. On went the snowshoes. At the end of the switchbacks I was
only able to follow the trail for a short distance before losing it completely. The new
snow had amounted to 4-7" and it had definitely not melted off. I found some
flagging tape where I thought I might regain the trail, but it amounted to
nothing. In trying to gain the main north-south ridge, I started up a
subsidiary ridge, moving to the south side which I thought might be easier. I
found a loose 
talus slope
with 3" of snow that made for some slow going and did a number on the metal teeth of the
snowshoes. Almost two hour after putting them on I had traveled barely more than an
additional mile to reach 
Pt. 9,896ft. 
The snow had been unexpectedly
tough, sinking in with 
every step, heavy and unconsolidated. I had thought it
might take me three hours to reach the summit, but now it was more than 4hrs and I was
still a mile away. I briefly considered giving up and heading back down. Visible now to
the south, Snowflower Mtn
looked far away with several intermediate bumps to add to the difficulties. Using a trick
that often gets me remotivated, I decided to at least head down to the first saddle,
knowing that the closer I got to my goal the greater the chance that I would not turn
around.
It worked. Once I got going again, I kept up a steady pace going up and over the first
bump, around the second, and then up the 
final stretch to the
summit ridge of Snowflower.
It took another 45min to complete the traverse, getting to the highpoint shortly before
noon, almost 5hrs all told. It had been many months since I had taken 5hrs to reach the
first summit of the day. Though it had been breezy much of the morning, it was almost
calm at 
the summit and I found it very pleasant. I found no register, but then
I only made a cursory effort of clearing snow from around the summit rocks to find one.
I pulled out a box of 
Maui Caramacs
(Chocolate, caramel and macadamia nuts) that my wife had handed me the day before. She
had gotten them from one of the visiting teams from Hawaii while reffing at the
volleyball tournament this past weekend. Later she would ask me what happened to them
and feign offence that I hadn't saved any for her. I told her they had saved my life in
the mountains and she should be grateful. She said she'd rather have the Caramacs.
The clouds that had hovered around Mt. Rose all day had cleared long enough to give me
a nice view of the Carson Range highpoint several more miles to 
the south.
The day before I
had thought it might be reasonable to traverse between Snowflower and Mt. Rose, but that
seemed laughable now. I turned my attention east to a lesser summit called Alpine Walk
Peak, little more than a bump in the middle of Snowflower's East Ridge. From my vantage
point, much of 
the route looked brushy, but it would prove to be no big deal.
The initial decent was down snow-covered slopes, rather easy on the snowshoes now that
gravity was working to my advantage. As the snow relented I had to pay more attention
to 
the route in order to avoid the brush, mostly skirting 
the edge
between the snowy, forested north slopes and the 
brushy ridgeline and south
slopes. It was 1:30p by the time I had covered the 1.5mi to Alpine Walk.
The summit was rocky and modestly brushy, but without a tree nearby it offered
nice views in all directions.
I had considered dropping off the 
SE ridge into Whites Canyon to pick up
the trail
I would find there, but the route looked brushier still and I was not really
wanting to extend the outing any more than necessary. Instead I chose to descend to the
north off Alpine Walk, a route which proved far easier than I had imagined. The upper
2/3 of the north-facing slope was 
consolidated snow that made for quick
descending without need of the snowshoes. Below that the steepness continued and though
some modest brush was encountered, it was not much of a hindrance, with the result that
it took only 40min to return to the 
Thomas Creek Trail. Another hour went by
before I saw the first of two parties, the only ones I encountered all day. The first was
a younger, fit-looking couple with smallish backpacks, snowshoes strapped to the outside.
They were heading up to camp in the snow, an activity I would not envy them for.
The second was a lone
female, age uncertain, who I spied off-trail crossing the creek on a log with her small
dog in tow, not far from the trailhead. It was nearly 3:30p by the time I
returned to
the van, making for a 8.5hr outing - it felt more like a day on the Sierra Challenge for
all that.
Steamboat Hills
Southeast of the junction of SR431 and US395, lie the Steamboat Hills, a small group of
desert bumps
in the Sierra foothills east of Mt. Rose. I had planned to do this earlier
when I had a free hour or two during the volleyball tournament, but with plenty of
daylight left and enough energy to manage it, I decided to stop by for visit after I
had returned from Snowflower and Alpine Walk. I 
parked
at the end of paved Fawn Lane off
SR431, just about mile northwest of the highpoint. A high clearance car can take one of
several dirt roads much closer to the summit, but with my more limited means of
transportation, my choice would have to do. For the most part I used the dirt road
leading up from where I'd parked, the last part to the summit up relatively easy
crosss-country. It took but 35min to reach the unnamed summit, featuring the Triple Crown
of summit items - a 
wooden cross, a 
benchmark, and a
geocache. The geocache was housed
in an ammo box with all sorts of tradables and a register that appears quite popular.
To the south can be seen Washoe Valley and Lake just behind the slightly lower south
summit of Steamboat Hills. To 
the north lies the great expanse that dubs itself
the Biggest Little City in the World. There are a few communication antennae and other
instruments in the area, but they
are thankfully not located at either highpoint and are fairly small. It was 5p by
the time I 
returned
to the van, taking just over an hour for the 2.5mi round trip.
I had planned to spend another day in the area, but found myself less than properly motivated. My boots were soaked from the outing to Snowflower and my feet suffered some as a result. I decided to head home instead, knowing I would be back again in two weeks for yet more volleyball and hiking. Seems I'll have no shortage of reasons to be in Reno over the next few years...