The backpack was about 35 miles in the Toiyabe Range, smack dab in the middle of Nevada. The nearest small towns are Round Mountain and Austin. The nearest "medium sized" town (by Nevada standards) is Tonopah. The area is rarely used by backpackers; it is used more often by horsepackers for fall hunting trips. The most frequent animal life form is range cattle (but we only saw two; they were both dead).
The trip lasted 6 days. We had an option on a 7th day, but Hurricane Nora took care of that. The trip was sponsored by the Sierra Club. We started with 13 people, but one left with illness after the first night. The night before the pack trip started, we all met in a campground outside of Austin for a get together evening. It was colder there, at that lower altitude, than in most places on the trip, even though the other campsights might be higher in altitude. We drove in the early morning to the turnoff into the mountains for the South Twin River.
The trip started at about 6000 feet elevation, but the first day involved a climb of about 2000 feet. And 25 river crossings. We hiked from the parking lot to the canyon entrance for the North Twon River along a dusty road lined with sagebrush. Sagebrush was the major flora until you reached the alkali flats at the bottom of the Big Smokey Valley. But we were climbing, not descending. The river occupied a narrow canyon, where the most abundant early plants were wild roses and up higher were willows. It had been a good season for roses,as ther were literally milions of rose hips around. There was little in the way of lizards, rabbits, or other wildlife along the trail. Apparently, our group was big enough to scare them away. The first day's travel, 3 and 1/2 miles, was pretty uneventful. We continued to splash across rocky stream crossings. The river wasn't wide, usually the crossing was 10-20 feet. But it was rapid and the rocks were slippery.
The first night's campsite was in a tree shaded area where two forks of the river came together. There were no bugs to bother us, though. After a quiet meal and a campfire, we settled in for the night. Tomorrow would be similar to today, except for fewer river crossings. The climbs were not extreme and the country was relatively closed in. It did open out a little, though. There was space for a little sagebrush beyond the domain of the river. There was also time to take the wrong trail for a while and then to retrace our steps ( adding a couple of extra river crossings. My boots held up well.) Still being on the east side of the mountains, it cooled off fast, though it did not get extremely cool. Night did come early, though. The highlight of the evening was seeing the alpenglow on Arc Dome. We watched the cumulus clouds gather as the afternoon wore on. Finally they became large, threatening a thunderstorm. We recorded 2 or three drops each.
The third day was the killer day of the trip. The walk was 7 miles. But it included an ascent of 2300 feet, followed shortly by a descent of 1700 feet. This placed us on the west side of the mountains and took us by or through several aspen groves. We left the North Twin and went up a number of dry canyons. The aspen groves on the mountainsides or in the canyons were a beautiful gold or yellow, with selected groves colored red. The open land became grassy as well as filled with sagebrush. This day of the climb was my undoing. I seemed to have no low gears (I guess spending the week in Atlanta before the trip "unaclimatized" me to the altitude). Going uphil was my weak point during the trip. Going downhill, I guess, was my strenght. Las Vegas is at 2100 or so feet. I gladly accepted an offer from those better off than me to lighten my load. We finally climbed out of a broad canyon to a pass, curled around it, and then went up a ridge to a broad peak. At that point, I enjoyed the lunch break, as the picture indicates.
The high point of the trip was 10,700 feet (we were to attempt to ascend Arc Dome, at over 11,700 feet two days later). At this point, we could see Boundary Peak, the high point in Nevada, which was right on the California border, about 150 miles away. We could see three ranges to the east: The Toquimas, the Desatoyas and Table Mountain. The ridge to the south prevented views in that direction. We could see over teh Toiyabes to the next range to the north. After lunch came the broad descent. Views remained panoramic for a while. Then we descended int gradually narrowing canyons that were still pretty grassy. There was little water left in these canyons. But they were generally lined with willows or other shrubs. Aspens grew in groves on the mountainsides. We crossed a beaver dam on Big Sawmill Creek after lunching beside another beaver pond. Finally, we came to our campsite. It was grassy and along a stream, the Reese River. It was also like other campsites in the area, filled with cow and horse droppings. The packers, taking only small groups, typically only kept one area clean in large camp areas. We saw a number of raptors in this area, including a harrier hawk.
As the evening wore on, we watched the stratus clouds come in and finally cover the sky. Thinking nothing of it, we went to bed. The next morning, it was pretty clouded over. We saw a few deer walking away, skirting our campsite. As we broke camp, it started to drizzle. We had another 7 mile, up and down day. We wound around the edge of the mountain, starting on the west side. By the time we reached the pass (about 9800 feet), we were on the east side of the mountain. We passed a number of aspen groves of brilliant yellow. Climbing up to the pass, I slowed again. It was near noon, so it had been drizzling for about 6 hours already. Coming over the pass, we were hit head on by the wind. Keeping warm or dry was not a real problem, though most rain gear can only take so much. But the wind was the coldest we had seen. We stopped for lunch in that wind. The canyon we came down was steep and narrow. But the colors of the aspens in the rain were simply brilliant. Unfortunately for me, my camera basically gave up the ghost at that time. Something in the electronics went bad, so I couldn't record the colors. We wound down the canyon in the rain, wound around a few ridges, and finally came to our campsite. Since I had no change of pants and no thermals, I stayed in my temt to keep warm. It had risen to moderate rain, so it made no sense to get out anyway, unless you had to. I wasn't, however, the only one who stayed in my tent. Several others, including one of the trip leaders, stayed in to keep dry and warm.
Unfortunately for me, keeping dry was not easy. I msnaged to kick the top off of one of my water bottles and soak my sleeping bag. But by morning, the sun came out. We probably had slightly less than 2 inches of rain during the storm, but it was a steady rain that lasted over 12 hours. Everybody put their stuff out to dry on bushes, ropes, tents, anything we had. This was to be our layover day, where those who wanted to could climb Arc Dome. But that plan was scrapped because of the wetness. The group decided to hike out rather than to stay at that site for the day. By 10:00AM we were mostly dry. We packed up and followed the trail over a couple of ridges until we came to the South Twin River. We followed in down it's canyon, crossing it over 15 times. Again, the crossings were pretty easy. We stopped for lunch by an abandoned mine's stamp mill. Finally, the South Twin's canyon narrowed and became too steep, so we climbed the ridge the trail followed, making our last ascents before coming to the mount of the canyon. Just short of the mouth, we saw a pair of bighorn sheep come down over the pass, intop the canyon we occupied. They didn't stay on the trail, but they dis stop to try to figure out what we were doing in their territory. Finally, we both tired of the game and walked on. The final descent wound around to the parking lot and out cars. Everyone first opended their cars and got out the coldest drink they could find. Then they took off their boots an put on something more comfortable.
All in all, it was a very pleasant hike, with less wildlift that I expected to see. The countryside was marvelous and the fall colors as advertized. The fellowship was great and the adventure over.
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