A personal geography of landscape and place, art and geo-science.
River Mountain 3789 ft (1155 m) – 1013 ft gain 2021.11.13 Away from hotel early, going for two days in a row. If I must hang around Vegas for the week, I can focus on a few highpoints in some of the smaller local ranges. Continuing east of the city,
Frenchman Mountain 4052 ft (1235 m) – 2400 ft gain 2021.11.12 I slept much better in Kyle Canyon the other night. The past two nights, however, have been strange. I have a room at the Flamingo in Las Vegas; it is a perfectly fine room with a nice view, but
Charleston Peak 11,918 ft (3633 m) – 5300 ft gain 2021.11.09 We have not been on a big hill for a few months. The smaller, hidden gems are a pleasure, but nothing beats some elevation gain and ultimate altitude. I had a work week in southern Nevada, so we decided
Rowland Mountain (‘Rocky’) 6911 ft (2107 m) – 650 ft gain 2021.09.24 The mornings have the feel of autumn, but the midday still holds the heat of summer; it is that time of year. Here, at the close of September, I had a landform mapping project in support of archaeological
Donnelly Peak 8533 ft (2588 m) – 2317 ft gain 2021.09.12 There is a problem with names in this part of the desert. And, as a geographer and some-time chronicler of Great Basin landforms, I strive to maintain a sense of where I am. It stands to reason that the
Peak 6507 6507 ft (1983 m) – 910 ft gain 2021.09.11 On Nevada Highway 34, a wonderful dirt road north of Gerlach, there is a steep right-hand turn just after the Lund Petrified Forest. The forest consists of a couple of upright trees trapped behind a fenced enclosure, but we
Powell Mountain 9530 ft (2905 m) – 1988 ft gain 2021.08.13 It took a long time to get going today. Smoke from Sierran wildfires has filled Carson Valley for weeks it seems – now the typical summer atmosphere, and the heat has been oppressive, forged one-to-one with the unending haze.
Grayback Mountain 7510 ft (2289 m) – 1200 ft gain 2021.07.11 Well, that didn’t take long. I must have gotten a little sleep. It is, at most, four hours after returning from Peak 6632, which we summited soon after midnight, and Darren and I are headed for our approach to
Peak 6632 6632 ft (2021 m) – 600 ft gain 2021.07.10 It has been a strange week, but maybe this is just how they are now. A 5.9-magnitude earthquake shook our house, Portland hit 113° (and Gardnerville not much less), the Beckwourth Fire Complex continues to rampage, and monsoon-like storms
Nevada Hill 8,048 ft (2,453 m) — 950 ft gain 2021.06.14 Irreversibly altered by wildfire – 2021.07.19 I have been here before, a couple times. On those two previous walks, I have not been successful in reaching the summit of Nevada Hill. It is not a prominent peak; it is