A Little High Rockin'

Starting into the canyon

I've always been curious to explore in Little High Rock Canyon. First off, it has a great name, and second, since I rode my bike out there a few years ago to the edge of the canyon I knew that I had to get back and explore into it.

On a recent weekend I finally got my chance. I went out with Renee to "volunteer" in the wilderness and we spent the Saturday at a place called Smoky Spring to the south of the canyon. On Sunday we took the day off and hiked into the canyon. It was even better than I expected, soaring rock cliffs, undergrowth. And, we weren't even really able to explore that much of it, as the day got late and we needed to make it back to Reno. Still, the good bit that we got into makes me all the more determined to make it back. It seems, at least for me, one of those places that will call me back again and again.

Driving north into . . . the road to Gerlach

First morning campsite and Renee's rented truck.

Headed north, the Selenites catching last sun

Stopped for dinner at Bruno's in Gerlach. I'd never eaten there before. I had the famous ravioli and wasn't too impressed :(

Our campsite on the first morning

A sign: entering the Conservation Area (and this one not all that bullet riddled, surprise surprise)

After working all day, we still had the energy to hike up the rimrock behind Smoky Spring

Renee on the rimrock behind Smoky Spring

Our camp, and the rimrock we hiked earlier behind us

View north from the Smoky Spring rimrock

Little High Rock "Lake" in the morning (although it did have some water, so i guess I shouldn't be dismissive)
 

Renee and cliffs

Coco (as always) loving a patch of frozen "snow" in a shady recess at the bottom of the canyon

Coco ice skating at our lunch break spot

Loving to explore, although right before we got ourselves in the middle of a thicket of wild rose

Just some sagebrush in the canyon

Painted hills on our way out

I have been writing a story lately that has to do somewhat randomly with the saga of Shoshone Mike the last "Indian Battle" of the west when Shoshone Mike's band, fleeing the reservation of southern Idaho, wintered in this canyon and ended up killing four stockmen after the stockmen discovered that they had been butchering beef to survive the winter. This began a more than two hundred mile chase across the desert and the eventual trapping and killing of Shoshone Mike's band outside of Winnemucca. While that wasn't so much on my mind, it was apropos to visit the canyon now, and to appreciate how hard it would be to winter there. I also this past week read Shoshone Mike by Frank Bergon, it re-creates the story fictionally, so the canyon seems to be at all stops.

Still, it isn't for me, or anyone, it just is there, and it, not the stories, or the ghosts if you believe in that kind of thing, that will lure me back.