First Day Hikes

A few years ago, Nevada State Parks started doing First Day Hikes on New Year's Day along with America's State Parks. Last year I did a hike to the gazebo at the overlook on our Deadman's Creek Trail hike and had around 20 people. This year I did one at Dayton State Park and one though the sand dunes at Washoe Lake.

This morning, it was below 20 degrees but sunny. I had no idea how many, if any, people would come as I pulled into a parking space at the casino. It was exactly 10 a.m. and no one had come yet, but I waited around another couple minutes. I had one person from Dayton decide to come, so we started the walk. As we got closer to the mill site, two more people joined us. They had arrived early and thought I'd probably cancel because of the cold--they decided to join us and we all did the walk. It only ended up being about 1/2 hour, but I think we were all okay with that! As I drove toward Carson City, it was a while before I could feel my face again!

We walked up to the water tank and then made our way back down through the stamp batteries. All three people are from Dayton and had kind of walked through the mill site, but never really understood what it was. It was fun showing pictures and explaining how it worked (even though my knowledge is limited...I'll learn more as I go though).

Snowy sand dunes with a view of Slide Mountain in the background.

Two people from Washoe Valley (locals) who had never been on this hike. They have lived in the area since the early '90s I think. It was fun introducing them to the Dune Trek trail and meeting their St. Bernard puppy! Most of those trails in the background are rabbit trails.