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(Fig. 02)
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10/19/2015 Trip Notes: At the end of the paved Deer Creek Picnic trail (Forest Road 068A) FIg. 02) it intersects with the unpaved Cougar Ridge Trail Road (Fig. 02). On our previous visit here we turned left at this junction and headed back to Deer Creek Road (NV-168). When we left the parking area it was 38 degrees. This time we decided to turn right and continue up Cougar Trail Road in search of Deer Creek Spring. As we round our way up the road we found ourselves in the middle of a small grove of Aspens (Fig. 03). It was an unexpected sight. Even though they were a little past their “peak”, we still enjoyed the views. After crossing the creek and passing a sign that said “private Property – Keep Out”, the road started to climb more steeply. For the next quarter of mile of a mile we passed seven or eight houses. They ranged from small, one room log cabins, to homes that were quite large (Figs. 04-07). We found some that had been abandoned, that were being slowly destroyed by the elements (Fig. 08). Even though we could see a couple more houses further up the mountain, after passing the house in (Fig. 07), the road started to climb much steeper. At this point we reached an elevation of 8,900 feet, climbing up nearly 600 feet over the past mile and a quarter. From here we decided to turn around and begin back. (Continued below)
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(Fig. 08)
Trip Notes Continued: By hiking off the road near the end of our hike, we had a vantage point with a view of Mummy Mountain (Fig. 09). Even though it had warmed up since we started, there was still frost on much of the ground cover Fig. 10). We also found several patches of what we thought were snow, but it turned out to be small hail stones (Fig. 11). On the slope in the picture in (Fig. 09), we came across several rocks that contained sea bed fossils (Figs. 12 & 13). On the way back down (Fig. 14), a little more sunlight began to touch some of the aspens (Figs. 15-17). Today's hike was even better than our last visit here. Again, after the hike we went to the Mt. Charleston Lodge for lunch on the way home.
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| (Fig. 10) |
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| (Fig. 17) |
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