July 30, 2008: Spring Creek, Nevada

If the balloon ride wasn't cool enough, I also got to witness one of the better lightning storms I've seen in recent memory. It was a pitch black evening and the lightning was attracted to some (very) low hills behind my sister's house. I aimed my camera in the general direction on a long exposure, hoped it was in focus, and prayed for the best. When the storm moved directly into my sister's backyard, I wasn't so excited... Here's some of the shots:

I had really only been to this part of the world for the holidays and was determined to investigate the nearby Ruby Mountains a little now that it was summer. Though not particularly high -- the peaks are in the 10-11,000 foot range --there are no foothills and they rise an additional 5-6,000 feet above the surrounding area.

View of Rubies from my sister's backyard:While the rest of the region is sun-baked brown, this narrow band of mountains hides trees, green grass, accessible alpine lakes, some decent rock climbing according to the sporting goods store owner I spoke to (about 100 routes currently up. I couldn't find anyone to climb with while I was there, but I did do some bouldering and the rock quality is quite good.), and even a few small glaciers hiding out.

Multi-pitch potential:

So my sister and I rousted the dogs out, and took them for a little stroll over one of the passes. It was a completely different world from the sagebrush lowlands with leftover snow, pretty little lakes, and an abundance of wildflowers thriving at over 10,000 feet.

Someday I would like to take a little time and hike the length of the Rubies. They are only about 12 miles wide and 70 miles in length, although it would be possible to add another 20 miles by incorporating the adjoining East Humboldt range to the south. It could be rather spectacular, actually, to do it in winter with a randonee set-up and ski some of the peaks (there is heli-skiing in the Rubies). That may just warrant a little more investigation...