This time two weeks ago it was snowing.

If you ever wondered why our weather seems to be so willing to change at the flip of a coin, it is partially due to the absence of significant moisture in the air. Relative to more humid locations (you know… nearly anywhere outside the great basin), the very dry desert air buffers less energy. That means extremely rapid temperature changes and brief but energetic atmospheric events. If Reno’s dynamic weather is not your cup of tea, look into places with regularly higher humidity. Those places are more likely to have very predictable weather cycles and temperature extremes in a narrower band.

In other news, RTC has fired up the new FlexRide route between Galena and Incline Village/Sand Harbor. $5 one-way for all drops except Sand Harbor (+$2 to cover park entry). Multiple drop-off/pickup locations up on the mountain. And the vans have bike racks. ;) More details at the link.

Weekend Events:

Here are the events that are on the radar for the second weekend of June:

• Through June:

  • Sky Tavern Ski and Bike Park is fundraising for their next round of trail construction via a mountain bike raffle. More info at the link.

• Thursday, June 10, 5:45pm:

  • Silver State Striders’ Thursday evening group run is departing from the Galena Creek Park Trailhead for the ~9 mile Jones/Whites loop. Details on their website.

• Saturday, June 12, 8am:

  • Silver State Striders’ Saturday group run is departing from the Olympic (Formerly Squaw) Valley parking lot for some serious vertical up and over the Escarpment into the Granite Chief wilderness (~12 miles). Details on their website.

• Saturday, June 19, 8-11am:

  • Muscle Powered is hosting an outdoor gear swap in Carson City. Vendor fees plus a small portion of sales go toward their ongoing mission of multimodal access in and around the carson valley area. You can register to sell your own gear, donate gear for them to sell, or shop at the swap. Any muscle-powered outdoor gear welcome, but no hunting equipment, guns, ammo or archery gear, no motorsports gear, and no used safety gear like bike helmets. Registration link and more information at the link.

Trail Outlook

After this quick chill down, we will be slowly warming back up. Nice overnight lows and midday highs through the weekend with reasonable evening wind. Please be mindful of sparks if you are out target shooting or 4-wheeling. This recent wind has pulled a lot of moisture out of the already dry vegetation. Relatedly, if you are planning on riding Clear Creek down in Carson, you may have limited parking at the Jack’s Valley road trailhead due to mop up of the fire from yesterday.

As always, if you get out on the mountain, submit a trail report and let us know how it is. I’ll update the front page as reports come in.