Sierra Vista Park Side Notes:

1. This came up on social media recently and it is important to raise the visibility. If you see “Private Property” signs along the trails at Sierra Vista, please respect them. When the park was still a failing golf course and prior to selling to the City of Reno, the property owners gave all neighboring owners an option to purchase the land adjacent to each’s individual parcels. Most neighboring owners passed, but some now own what are effectively piers of land extending a few hundred feet into the park. Most notably, the land North and East of the gravel trail right at the beginner flow loop and intermediate jump trail on the uphill end of the park is, as the signs indicate, privately owned. To maintain good neighborly relations with those who live at the park edges, lets respect the signage where these private/public boundaries exist.

2. The pump track is coming! Dirt work is expected to begin next week near the drop zone area. Please be cautious of heavy equipment and unexpected temporary trail impacts. I’m sure the crew will try to keep disturbances and hazards to a minimum, but a little flexibility goes a long way to everyone benefiting.

This Weekend’s Events

• Thursday, February 17:

  • 5:45pm

    • Silver State Striders will be running hills in southwest Reno. Departing from the Eclipse Running, this is ~8-10 miles of pavement and hills. Lights and reflective attire required. More details on their website.

• Saturday, February 19:

  • 8:00am

    • Silver State Striders are running a mixed surfaces 21 mile route out of Pinehaven in upper Caughlin Ranch. Route options of 18 and 13 miles also available. More details on their Facebook Group Page.

Trail Outlook

Somewhat a repeat of last weekend with a little less dust and a few more soft spots. The forecast calls for warm days but increasing winds Sunday midday into the evening bringing a President’s day holiday colder temperatures much like we have had this midweek. No water is expected this weekend even though there was a chance on the long term forecast earlier this week.

Because of the repeat of conditions, here are the trail conditions from last Thursday… As it stands this morning, all trails west of Keystone Canyon excluding Evans Creek and the N jump line are firm enough or outright dry. The canyon trail itself does have some isolated mud but is entirely usable between the Keystone East parking lot and the radio towers (Hoge Rd). All other single track climbing out of Hoge Rd has extensive mud, snow, or both and the warm days are only going to make those areas worse. 4wd roads climbing out of Hoge are somewhat better and you can access the Total Recall bench via the roads, but no segment of single track is deep mud free. Similarly, the only dry access to the Poedunk bench is via climbing Fisticuffs. Both up and downhill from the bench along Poedunk trail feature extended snow and mud. The longest continuous segments of dry single track are West Halo climbing out of West Keystone or Kings Row trailheads or Las Brisas and the Las Brisas Connector. Both park trail networks (Sierra Vista and North Valleys) are entirely useable as well as outlying parks such as Wedekind and Hidden Valley. Three weeks ago there were barricades preventing use of the advanced jump line at Sierra Vista due to lingering water between lower jumps so make sure to scout that line before dropping in.

If you are swapping the running and riding for a little back country sliding, check out the latest avalanche conditions over at Sierra Avalanche Center. Fresh thin layer over the old hard crust is likely to move fairly easily. Knowing where to look can make the difference of coming home.

If you get out, let us know what you saw by submitting a trail report.

Be kind, be safe, and enjoy.