Category Archives: recreation

Let’s Go Skiing

April 21, 2024informational, personal, photograph, recreation, travelLake Tahoe, Northstar, Reno, Sierras, skiing, snow, travelArnie

<br /> Lake Tahoe Snow<br />

Snow in the Sierras

Lots of winter snow is a boon for those who love to ski.

The Lake Tahoe area is noted for its many ski slopes. This past March our plan was to visit relatives in Reno, Nevada and then drive to one of the nearby ski resorts. We made plane reservations, packed and were on our way.

We traveled by plane from our home in Grand Rapids to Reno which is the closest airport to Lake Tahoe.

We arrived in Reno to some very nasty weather on Friday. Snow in the Sierras was predicted to be six feet deep.

As predicted the snow fell heavily over the Lake Tahoe area. Some places reported eight feet of the white fluffy stuff. Yes, as skiers we welcomed the snow – but not this much. All of the ski resorts were closed to the public as the workers there were doing their best to dig the lifts and gondolas out of the deluge and groom the slopes and trails.

The interstate highway from Nevada to California was closed for safety reasons and the traffic was stopped at the state line for three days.

On Monday my son who lives in the area said that we might try to reach one of the ski resorts by an alternate route. To our surprise these roads were relatively clear of the snow. Instead of a drive of 45 minutes by the interstate we drove for two hours to reach Truckee, CA by this “backdoor” road.

Truckee is home to the Northstar Ski Resort and sits close to the north shore of Lake Tahoe. Since the main road to Truckee was closed in both directions – Nevada from the east and California from the west, the parking lot was not very full.

On the back road we were treated to some very nice scenery.

The alternate road was relatively clear of snow and tarffic.

Here’s our skiing crew ready to hit the slopes at Northstar.

The four of them are ascending on the quad chair.

Later on we took the gondola to one of the higher slopes where we enjoyed the view from the top.

The skiing was great with lots of fresh powder and uncrowded slopes.

We finished skiing by late afternoon. We took the interstate that was closed for three days had just reopened. Half way back to Reno we could see that the vehicles stopped at the Nevada-California border since Friday were starting to move on the other side of the highway. As you can see there were an amazing number of vehicles crawling along Interstate 80 to reach California.

We’ll remember the time we asked for snow and received way more than we needed.

Our March ski trip turned out well despite the exorbitant amount of snow that the Sierras received. We also got to visit with our son and his family for a few days.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

A Death Valley Visit

January 27, 2024informational, nature, personal, photograph, recreation, travelalluvial, badwater basin, Death Valley, desert, flooding, lake, Las Vegas, national park, rains, salt, salt flat, zabriskie pointArnie

<br /> Death Valley Visit<br />

After the 2023 Floods

A scenic two hour drive from the bustling streets of Las Vegas takes you to this expansive desert area. The place is called Death Valley and is the nation’s largest national park.

I’ve visited Death Valley many times before. On this trip I spent only a few hours there specifically to catch a glimpse of something special as you’ll soon find out.

My first stop was at Zabriskie Point

…especially noted for its alluvial runoffs.

They date back millions of years

…and form some amazing landscapes.

Twenty miles down the road is Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America. It sits some 280 feet below sea level.

Badwater is a salt flat that spans the width of the valley. It’s basically a dried sea bed from millions of years ago.

Here’s a closeup of the terrain at Badwater. Normally the entire basin is covered with salt similar to this. You can walk on some of the terrain but other parts are thin and considered dangerous to traverse.

Something drastic happened this past August. Unprecedented torrential rains caused extreme road and terrain damage. The basin was in part turned into “Lake Manly”. While only a few inches deep in remains there as of January 2024.

As you can see here, many visitors trekked to Death Valley to view the lake in the Badwater basin

As I was driving I couldn’t help but spot large patches of yellow off to the side of the road.

While these flowers are not one of Death Valley’s infrequent superblooms, these patches may be a byproduct of last August’s downpours and flooding. Regardless, these dandelions were a bright spot that stand out against the park’s vast desert terrain .

My drive to Death Valley was to see the “lake” that was formed by last summer’s rains. Once again I’m amazed to be a witness to mother nature’s way of creating scenes that I can thoroughly enjoy.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

A Visit To The Parks

September 27, 2023informational, nature, personal, photograph, recreation, travelBadlands, camping, Grand Tetons, grandkids, Jackson, kids, Mt Rushmore, travel, vacation, waterpark, YellowstoneArnie

Camping with Young Ones

I’m attracted to the national parks of the west. For each of my visits, I’m armed with a detailed list of attractions that I want to enjoy and photograph. However, this past August’s visit was a little different. I invited a granddaughter and grandnephew to accompany me on an end of summer excursion. We would go to a few of the parks and stay in a small popup camper. So this series of photos are not my usual scenic variety. Instead they are a scrapbook of places that the kids and I visited.	Adeline and Elliott are surprised to find snow in August.
Standing beneath the elk arches in the Jackson, WY town square.	Looking at a grizzly behind glass at Jackson Lake Lodge
Riding the tram to the top at Jackson Hole Mountain	At the Willow Flats Overlook in the Tetons
Checking out the shoreline at Colter Bay	Nice view of the Tetons at Jackson Lake Lodge
Layers of travertine at Mammoth Hot Springs	Watching the flow at Tower Falls
Painted bison at a W. Yellowstone restaurant	Lots of steam and noise at Beryl Springs
A reprieve from the parks in Rapid City, SD	Fun at the water park
Presidential faces at Mt Rushmore	Last stop at Badlands Nat’l Park