Month: May 2017

Pic: Walker Lake, NV with Mt. Grant hiding in the clouds. Larger image

They looked like good, strong windbreaks.

But around 0500, I was startled awake by reinvigorated wind and rain, this time from the east where my car offered no quarter. I lay drowsing off and on, idly hoping my little REI tent was up to the challenge. The rain settled down a bit, but then I woke half an hour later to howling wind from the west! How does that even work — there’s a huge mountain, to say nothing of the Sierra Nevada, over there. How is that not a better windbreak than a 2003 Subaru? Also, isn’t this a desert? Isn’t it basically summer? wtf.

Eventually, the storm passed and I napped for a few more hours. The tent held up like a champ (thanks REI).

Next stop: Death Valley National Park.

Pic: Isa is packed! Outside my storage unit, Livermore, CA

I spent a few final hours with reliable power and internet to do backups and download some maps of Death Valley, said goodbye to Kiel and Cheryl’s dog, retraced my steps back to Kirkwood, then pressed on to Walker Lake. Between first dinner in Waterloo, a pit stop at my PO box in Kirkwood, second dinner in Gardnerville, and intermittent drizzle and rain and flurries, I arrived at Twenty Mile Beach well after dark.

Walker Lake is a surprisingly large body of water tucked underneath Mt. Grant and US-95 to the west. When I found a spot away from the few RVs already parked for the night, I hopped out and was nearly knocked over by the wind whistling down the valley from the north. Scouting in the dark is never easy, but this is a lake bed in the high desert so I knew shelter would be in short supply. I found a small thorny bush to form a partial eastern fence and parked my car next to it, forming a stout barrier from the strong northerly wind. This worked well enough to set down my tarp without it blowing away. Half an hour later, I zipped into my sleeping bag and passed out without so much as a single episode of Survivor.

Pic: Windbreak, proof of concept.

Pic: Hiking toward Thunder Mountain (near Kirkwood, CA) with Jon on my last day of skiing for the 2015-2016 season

At the end of 2015, I quit my job and spent four months skiing at Kirkwood. Then, one year ago today, I set off on an open-ended road trip through the American Mountain West. When I left, there were two dates on my calendar: a Flaming Lips concert at Denver’s famous Red Rocks Amphitheater, and the day the spreadsheets said I would run out of money.

For the next few months, I’ll be posting pictures and stories I accrued last summer while hiking, backpacking, and road-tripping through brilliant Utah sandstone, imposing Colorado granite, and the endless skies of Wyoming and Montana. I hope they provide inspiration for the adventures in your life!