An invitation to go cross-country skiing in the northern Sierras of California provided a great excuse for a spring road trip. We left Seattle with no definitive plan after the skiing ... just some ideas. Maybe Joshua Tree National Park, then up the California coast. Maybe stopping by Crater Lake in Oregon for a winter visit. Maybe northern Arizona, either after or instead of Joshua Tree. Maybe Utah. Very vague.
Our cross-country ski destination was Royal Gorge, the largest cross-country skiing resort in North America. It's located off I-80, a few miles west of Donner Summit, about 45 minutes west of Reno. And thanks to Karen's sister, we had deluxe accommodations within a 5-10 minute walk of the resort. So we spent 3 days skiing there, and another at a slightly more posh resort, Tahoe-Donner. There was plenty of snow (ok, perhaps that's an understatement), and we had spring skiing conditions during our stay ... icy in the morning, very soft by late afternoon ... but lots of sunshine! Not ideal snow, but we loved it!
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| Devil's Peak from Royal Gorge |
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| Karen with Joan, our fearless navigator! Not to worry, we walked up to here, and went down another way!! |
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| Wind-swept snow formation on a backcountry warming hut |
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| Bountiful Snow! |
As our stay there came to a close, we zeroed in on northern Arizona for the next phase of our trip. Specifically, we wanted to check out Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon ... all new areas for us. So we pointed the loaded-up Outback out of the mountain snow storms and down through a much-milder Nevada ... with Las Vegas as our first day's goal. We don't find any attraction to the Vegas glitz, but we'd heard there was good mountain biking. So, we stayed in Summerlin (on the western outskirts of Vegas), and enjoyed a morning mountain bike ride out of Blue Diamond, near Red Rock Canyon National Recreation Area, before continuing our drive. Big desert country, with Joshua Trees!
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| Riding through Joshua Trees |
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| Joshua Tree blooms and the Sandstone Bluffs |
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| Cottonwood Valley and Sandstone Bluffs |
Activities
- Cross-Country Skiing
- Royal Gorge: Palisades > Stagecoach > Deer Lake > Wildy Hut > Yuba > Emigrant > Sidewinder > Palisades
- Royal Gorge: Yuba > Wildy Hut > Yuba > Big Ben > Rodney's Run > Palisades > Sidewinder > Sleigh Ride
- Royal Gorge: Summit Connection > Timberline > Pine Marten > Nose Dive > Bogus Basin > Bill and Flora's Point > Silverado > Sterling's Canyon > Reindeer > Big Ben.
- Tahoe-Donner: Little Dipper > Big Dipper > Boot Hill > Sundance Hut > Crazy Horse > Blue Extra > Crazy Horse > Sundance > Tumbleweed > Lions Leap > Chickadee.
- Mountain Biking
"Oh Wow!" Moments
- Biking through the Joshua Trees!!
Random Scenes
- Taking a walk in a very nice park in Summerlin after a long day's drive, we noticed that all the adjacent housing was in numerous gated communities. Hmmm. Certainly not what we're used to seeing.
Random Questions
- Is it better for the cross-country ski trails to be icy (early in the day), or a mix of icy in the shadows and soft in the sun (later in the day)?? Answer: After thinking it was better to be consistently icy, Tom made a beeline for the start of the first trail on the 2nd morning ... and picked up significant speed, then wiped out spraining his thumb. Ouch! So, apparently it's better to be a mix of icy and soft!!
- Will all this snow melt out in time for our son, Brian, to hike through the Sierras in June on his PCT journey? Doesn't seem likely!
Tom's Daily Stress Points
- Will we be driving through snowstorms in the California mountains? (stress level = low)
Sleeps
- Soda Springs (Royal Gorge), CA
- Gruffy High Camp (rental cabin) ... AWESOME!
- Summerlin, NV
- Hampton Inn. Good. Breakfast on the better end of hotel breakfasts.
Noteable Eats
- Summerlin, NV
- Juan's Super Fajitas. Very popular and crowded. The food was just ok.
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