8/3/2017: Fishing, backpacking, and an Aspendell visit from Uncle Kevin!

What a summery few weeks it's been! Where to even start? This will basically be a photo journal with some captions from these glorious three weeks in the mountains and on rivers.

First, Greg and I had another long weekend in Aspendell.

Beautiful weather and short 'n' sweet hike to Lower Lamarck Lake.

Silly fishing for brookies on dry flies.

 

The next day I made Greg work.

He cleared the entire yard.

It was pretty hot. 

I just kept moving rocks around in anticipation of future landscaping,

so was basically useless. 

Mattie LOVES going for little "swims" at Topaz Lake on our way to and from Reno.

She just walks in until she's chest deep and stands there for a while.

Not bad for a hurricane dog. 
She absolutely loves it. 

Then we had a relaxing week of fishing, work, school business, and spacing out at the ranch.

Scott went fishing with us one day and caught the most beautiful giant brown.

Right out of the backyard, too.

Bright gold, 24" and happily released back into the Truckee. 

I mean seriously it was a monster.

I heard him squealing from downriver and went running up there,

expecting that he was either being eaten by a mountain lion

OR had a giant fish on.

Luckily, it was the latter.

Greg and I caught some fish too, 

but they were all really little compared to that guy.

Still, I kind of won because fashion is the most important part of fishing. 

Then, backpacking extravaganza 2017!

The whole crew (Scott, Lauri, Sid, Anni, Aidan, Emme, Yeti and Dad) came down

to stay at the cabin (base camp) the night before we set out.

The kids read some of Greg's old comics to pass the time.

 

Then we headed out from the North Lake trailhead for Piute Pass.

A mellow, mostly clear trail. 

Some snow over the top of the pass, but everybody was safe and sound.  

We camped at the beautiful Muriel Lake.

Fishing was hard but people caught some brooks and goldens.

The lake was still mostly iced over when we got there - two days later,

much of it had melted off. 

 

Yeti and Dad with Muriel reflections.

After a layover day (with fun hiking to Wahoo Lakes and Upper Golden Trout Lake)

we headed north toward Lower Desolation Lake.

It was some of the most scenic and wonderful hiking I've ever done.

Days like this make you want to keep going. 

Scott and Anni, looking toward Evolution Valley.

On the way to Lower Desolation Lake.

 

Good clouds and alpenglow all week.

Laura, Aiden, Anni, Emme, Scott and Sid on

the cross-country trek up to the lake.

Dad in his element. 

I really love this picture.

After an amazing trip (and after Greg and I went out a day early to get Mattie),

we of course went to 'We Toss 'Em, They're Awesome!' (aka Pizza Factory)

for our traditional post-backpacking pizza.

This is always the best pizza of the year.

A delicious finish to a spectacular trip!

 

Then we were really excited to have Uncle Kevin come to stay at the cabin!

THANKS KEVIN! We were so happy to get to show you all around our new home.

 Sorry that we tried to kill you on Day 1.

It turns out that the hike to Blue Lake is 7 miles, not 4 miles...

but at least the scenery is awesome and the trail is good!

Uncle Kevin at Blue Lake.

Of course he caught the most AND the biggest fish of the day!

We made some burgers on our little campground-style BBQ at the cabin,

then crashed pretty early after a few beers and a long day of hiking.

The next day we walked around the neighborhood, then up to the 

Cardinal Mine.

Kevin even found a rock that contains 100%, no-doubt-about-it gold flakes up there.

No mountain lion tracks this time...maybe the recent rains washed them away.

 

But there was wildlife galore, even without the lion!

At Cardinal Village we found big tracks from the friendly black bear

who likes to break into their pizza oven sometimes.

Thanks to Kevin for getting and sending this picture!

He's a big guy. 

In the evening we did one of our favorite things -

an Owens Valley adventure to mortars and petroglyphs.

It's the coolest out there.

Here's Kevin checking out my favorite mortar rock.

The entire top of that thing has been smoothed down.

Kevin with cool petroglyphs on nice patina tuff.

Evenings out here are awesome.

Even if it's still like a billion degrees in the tablelands.

At least it's not humid - Kev checked the humidity and it was only 9% out there.

After walking with Piutes and grizzly bears,

we headed back toward the Eastern Sierra and were happy

to find a beautiful gopher snake friend admiring the light on the White Mountains. 

We got him safely across the road, then drove back into town

for MORE PIZZA.

I was so tired I almost wasn't hungry...but I still ate a lot of pizza. 

After a big day it was another mellow night with some beers, puzzling,

and enjoying the view out the window before snoozing early.

THANKS FOR THE VISIT UNCLE KEVIN!

We loved having you up and getting to show you our neck of the woods.

Can't wait to have you and Dawn back to Aspendell again soon!!!

Sunday we decide to get some work done

since we're planning on painting the place within the next couple of weeks.

So there was sanding, taking out nails, filling holes, etc. for the day to get the deck ready.

Here's Greg showing off tools and the sanded deck.

Once again I made myself mostly useless

by moving rocks from one place to another for half of the day

while Greg did actual yard work and sagebrush removal.

But I think it's going to look good once we actually get around

to doing some landscaping, which realistically won't be 

until spring of next year after the snow melts...

As always, Mattie supervised cabin operations and kept everyone on task.

She is happy, energetic, hungry, bright-eyed and hilarious.

This view, especially with this dog, could never be anything short of incredible to me.

Our little girl, inspecting the sanded and paint-ready deck.

Now we're back in Reno for a couple weeks!

Lots of prepping for calculus/statistics/coding workshops this fall.

Greg is fishing every day this week.

Burrito and the horses are happy in the pasture.

YEAH SUMMER!

Love, Allison and Mattie the Construction Dog