Brace for Cold - a photo on Flickriver

Brace for Cold

            2023-09-30, Day 4
Wind-driven clouds laden with moisture push the freezing point to ever lower elevations as the snow line advances in our direction on a cold autumn morning, Arc Dome Wilderness, Nevada.

For the past several years, my friend and I have explored various wilderness areas in western North America in the September time-frame. The benefits of this time of year involve availability of state-sponsored daycare (i.e., kids are back in school), a relative lack of mosquitoes compared to mid-summer, cooler temperatures, and theoretically the prospect of crisp days on the trail with the potential for autumnal foliage. On the risk side of the analysis, September brings a significantly greater chance of snowfall. Last year we thought to mitigate the chance of snow by hiking into the mountains in Nevada. Chances of precipitation are typically low and temperatures are typically warm compared to points further north. 

All of the above being said, the photograph depicted here clearly illustrates that escaping September snowfall in any of the west’s mountain ranges is devilishly tricky. On the last morning of the trip, we awoke to a storm front pushing from west to east over the Toiyabe Crest and down into the valley where we sipped our morning coffee. Not long after we broke camp, the air was crowded with fat flakes and visibility was reduced to a level that significantly hindered navigation given the lack of trail. We attempted to stay close to the predetermined route by consulting the iPhone-based GPS, and this resulted in several predictable discoveries. First, FaceID does not work to access said device when one is wearing a hat and tightly drawn hood. Second, with enough snow coming down at a rapid pace the capacitive touchscreen quickly loses its ability to recognize and respond to one’s fingertips. Taken together, it becomes more annoying than one might initially expect to gain access to the device, unless of course one has had the foresight to preemptively turn off the standard security features (which I hadn’t done). 

The snow piled up quickly on the waist-high sage, the pines, and the aspens as we moved down the drainage. It was not long before feet, hands, and legs were wet and chilled, despite the so-called waterproof properties of Gore-Tex. Over the previous days it became clear that Hurricane Hilary moved a good deal of material in this part of the Basin and Range, resulting in numerous landslides that proved adept at erasing trail. We wondered what we might encounter lower down in the valley where water volumes were greater and the passage more constricted.

Taken in: United States / Nevada / Ophir (historical) (show map)

Taken on: September 30, 2023

Tags:

Arc Dome Wilderness

Fall

Nevada

Toiyabe Crest

Toiyabe Crest Trail

Toiyabe National Forest

autumn

backpacking

clouds

high country

high elevation

morning

mountains

snow

snow clouds

snow storm

wilderness « less

Sets appears in: • Mountains and Sky

Groups appears in: • The American Southwest • The Southwest United States more » • The Nature Conservancy • Un-enhanced American West • CIELOS Y NUBES, SKIES AND CLOUDS • My favourite Photographers « less

Camera: Nikon Z 6, f/11.0, 1/10 sec, 27mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon Z 6
Lens:	NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S
Aperture:	f/11.0
Exposure Time:	0.1 sec (1/10)
Focal Length:	27mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.2 (Macintosh)
Show full info

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