Carson City is Nevada's state capital but is not part of any county. Instead, it is an independent city. It used to be part of old Ormsby County, which slowly lost area as new counties were formed from its hinterlands over the early part of the 20th century. The county nomenclature was dissolved in the 1960s (1969, I think) when it was little more than just some land surrounding Carson City. At that time all services were absorbed into that of Carson City. For county highpointing purposes, Carson City is treated as a county-like civil subdivision. Besides, its highest point, Snow Valley Peak, is a great day hike with a bicycling option. There is also a familial connection to Carson City for me: my grandfather lived here for many years until his death in 1994.

I was on a short swing through Nevada visiting county highpoints. Yesterday I had hiked Mount Jefferson in Nye County, then from there I drove into the Carson City area and made a successful short hike up Mount Davidson in Storey County - above old Virginia City. This put me close to Carson City, with plans to visit a couple of the county highpoints surrounding Lake Tahoe. I ended up at a somewhat skanky hotel on the main drag US-395. The area wasn't too bad, but the hotel was pretty run down overall. In any case, once the day started I was ready to roll. From Carson City I went up the US-50 grade to just west of the US-50/NV-28 junction near Spooner Summit, to the entrance of the Spooner Lake Recreation Area. After paying a small day-use fee, I parked and got ready. The lot was full with lots of hikers, bicyclists and even some horse trailers. The route to Snow Valley Peak is 5 miles one way from the parking lot: 4 miles along forest road open to biking and the last mile up a steeper 4-wheel drive road that is closed to bikers. The biking portion along the forest road is mostly pretty solid. The road gains 1,100 feet over these four miles, and 500 of it is in the last mile, so the grade is very reasonable. However, I discovered that hiking muscles don't necessarily translate into biking muscles, and I ended up walking my bike up the last little bit of the main forest road when I got pooped a little faster than planned.

Just below the saddle at a point with spot elevation 8,157 feet, there is a junction for the road/trail up to the summit. I locked my bike to some nearby trees and started walking up to the top. This is a sandy, steep track that appears to see some vehicle traffic, probably for the electronic stuff on the summit. Overall, this final portion is 1.1 miles to the summit, 1,100 feet of gain, with amazing views of Lake Tahoe starting about half-way up. At the ridge, I followed the Tahoe Rim Trail... but should have continued on the road to the summit. I ended up hiking cross-country to amend my error, but the summit was easily reached amid a stiff breeze and cloudless skies. Views over Tahoe were tremendous, with the surrounding peaks that ring the lake spanning the western horizon. A few minutes of rest and relaxation, I hiked down to my bike. then rode my bike out, taking care in the steeper areas and the periodic bits of sand. I'm not an expert mountain biker but I took reasonable precautions and had a blast! The 4 miles out took only about 20 minutes and the overall hike/bike took a shade under 3 hours. Now, onto my next objective just a few miles down the road: East Peak in Douglas County.