Peavine reveals its secrets grudgingly to hikers
by John Trent, Outpost contributor
This is an unseasonably warm day in November - near the end of Peavine's hiking and biking season. In the spring, the leaves are rich and green. The runoff from the snow is plentiful, giving the leaves strength to youthfully rustle with the chilled breeze. In the summer the leaves grow languid and darker. They seem to sense that fall is not far off. Fall is a time of rich harvest colors, a time when Peavine's backside becomes, in its hidden splendor, one of the truly beautiful spots in northern Nevada.
Late afternoon on Peavine's west flank. Down below is the Belli Ranch and Boomtown. Photo by John Trent. |
Harriet Burgess, the executive director of the ACL - a woman who has traveled throughout the West to acquire private land for public use - is still taken with the aspensí beauty. "It's incredible," Burgess says of the aspens. "They're some of the biggest I've ever seen. Peavine is a great, magical place."
Each aspen tells a story, and to glance at some of the carved initials marking many of them gives a brief introduction of probably all-too-brief relationships nonetheless preserved forever in the Peavine aspens: BILLY AND ROSE; JOE WITTE '77; there are also homesteader names such as CANEPA, whose families raised Hereford cattle near this same spot 50 years ago.
Continuing downill, the hiking pace increases, passing more memorable sights. About a mile from the summit on Peavineís west side are several large boulders. A close inspection reveals bowl-size indentations made by Native Americans who ground food against the base of the boulders. "You can actually touch history sometimes," says trail runner Joe Braninburg, who makes it a practice to often stop here to thoughtfully skim his leathery hands along the base of the boulders.
Continuing down Peavine's backside, mule deer on the ridges are often easily spotted. They move in packs, five or six or even a dozen. Peavine is one of Renoís major watersheds and is a stopover for mule deer who migrate from California. The deer try to blend with the brush and remain still. When they think hikers, runners or mountain bikers no longer are paying any attention, they bound quickly away. They are muscular and graceful - not unlike the mountain where they quickly make their secret retreat.
Peavine is a special mountain for many reasons. To look at it from across the Truckee Meadows, or to stare at it from your back window in the morning doesn't do it justice. "There is just so much more than meets the eye," Joe Braninburg says.
And he is right.
Posted Dec. 16, 1997
Copyright 1997 Nevada Outpost
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