Hiking Water Canyon

We're in Winnemucca, Nevada, which was the site of a crossing of the Humboldt River for those intrepid Western emigrants who braved the California Trail.  After a stormy day and getting new tires for our Jeep, we turned our attention to hiking trails in the area.  We were surprised to find how many hiking trails (and, of course, Jeep roads) there are in this area.  The basin-and-range features of northern Nevada produce an amazing number of interesting outdoor opportunities!

Rising almost 2,000 feet above the town of Winnemucca and tucked into the northern end of the Sonoma Range, secluded Water Canyon is one of the premier recreation areas in Northern Nevada.  It offers a rugged, picturesque setting along the canyon's upper reaches and a lush riparian area of cottonwood and aspen trees along White Creek, which streams down the canyon toward the Humboldt River.  The waters of White Creek provided the necessary water for the early development of the town of Winnemucca.

Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the canyon offers sites for overnight camping, picnics, hiking, biking and limited ATV use, all at no charge to visitors. As an improvement to the trail system and other recreational opportunities, BLM has installed campfire rings, grills, trails, shelters and information kiosks at various sites along the road up into Water Canyon.

We decided that this photo would make the most appropriate trailhead photo.  One of the snowy peaks in the Sonoma Range beckons us up the canyon:

We hadn't even considered that we might encounter snow, because the area in the Humboldt River valley is so dry and the weather has been so warm recently.  We quickly discovered that the snowmelt has swelled little White Creek to the point where stream crossings needed to be approached with care:

We had several of these little wetfoot sections on our way up the trail.

The geology of Water Canyon is dominated by volcanic rocks.  Large, craggy volcanic formations loomed above us --

-- and we found a wide variety of types of rocks of igneous origin underfoot.

Of course, that wasn't all that we found underfoot.  Here, Kathy navigates one of the snowy sections we encountered as we turned uphill on the branch of the Water Canyon Trail that branched right toward an old mine:

Looking up and ahead, we began to realize that the trail would probably get more snowy before it ever cleared again:

We got a gorgeous view, straight up the trail, of Sonoma Peak, at 9,396 feet the highest peak of the Sonoma Range:

But there was snow enough for us down where we were.  We finally decided to call it a destination when we reached snow that was about 4 feet deep.  We looked for a place to have lunch, and this spot in the sun, next to the friendliest of boulders, looked perfect:

Kathy found our lunch rock and demonstrated the proper method of sitting on the rock while finding purchase for the hiking boots in the slippery snow:

Our view down the canyon toward Winnemucca was expansive, if not dramatic:

Kathy grabbed the camera and snapped this photo of David as we mushed down the trail toward solid ground:

We reached the trail junction between the Water Canyon Mine Trail, which we were on, and the main Water Canyon Trail, which leads up to a yurt that you can camp in.  As we had driven in, we think we spotted a backpacker who, with his trusty puppy, had camped at the yurt this weekend.

For now, approaching the trail junction, we decided to turn up the trail toward the yurt:

Shortly up the second trail, we crossed White Creek again (for the fourth time or so), and looked back across toward the volcanic formations that lined the canyon we had climbed:

Now to climb up a gentler canyon, with less snow:

We spotted a shallow cave trailside, formed by the underside of some huge volcanic formation.  It was clear that this has been a favored campsite for hundreds of years:

Don't forget to look back down the canyon as we climb!

The rocks along this branch of the trail were spectacular, including this boulder, filled with quartz and spotted with all types of colorful lichen:

As we reached the bottom on our return, back at the trailhead, we spotted this spectacular, colorful boulder that must have been formed by tremendous heat and pressure.  It typified other types of rocks that we encountered all along the second branch of the trail:

That's about it.  But we can't conclude this trail blog without commending the BLM, or the community, or some whimsical trash company, for their colorful painting of the trash dumpsters all along the road up Water Canyon.  These are, hands down, the most fun dumpsters we've ever encountered.

So, you just never know what you'll encounter on an adventure hike.  Perhaps the BLM will tell us who to thank for the carefree dumpsters when we go over to the BLM office tomorrow.

POSTSCRIPT:  We were the beneficiaries of an accidental FB group facetime call initiated by Judy, while she and Mike are on their route up US 93 toward Ely -- not so very far from us by Western standards.   We had a great ad hoc video conversation with some of our new friends from Quartzsite.  Mike and Judy, stay safe on the road.