Outdoors

Through all the gardener’s challenges this year, vegetable gardens in the Ranchos still provided a bountiful harvest. Something to be grateful for. A pleasure to share with neighbors, friends, and colleagues alike.

On Saturday morning, eyes went to the skies for the annual solar eclipse that took place. Photos were submitted by Bill Hopp, Donald Scott, Edward Howell and Randy and Vivian Spiker.

Fall is upon us. While many of us are enjoying pumpkin spiced lattes and carving pumpkins, we are also strolling along the river corridor to look at the changing leaves in our cottonwoods.

Fall is a great time to get out and add to our cottonwood population along the river. Carson City Parks, Recreation and Open Space invites the community to come out and plant young cottonwoods with staff at Carson River Park from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18.

The moon and Venus captured in Eastern Carson City on October 10, 2023.

The USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit has begun the annual process of closing National Forest recreational facilities around the Lake Tahoe Basin for the winter season. Seasonal closures apply to many recreation areas and sites including beaches, campgrounds, forest roads, parking lots, and picnic areas.

In late summer, rabbitbrush, a gorgeous plant despite its unflattering specific name which means “nauseating,” lines the highways and clusters in clumps between the sagebrush with a striking combination of golden flowers and silver-green foliage. — Elna Bakker, An Island Called California.

On Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, Capitol City Gun Club in Carson City will host a National Sporting Clays Association Registered Shoot with Registered and Hunter classes.

Registration begins at 9:00am and shooting at 10:00am – 4:30pm. Call (775) 882-9904 for more information. Everyone is invited to come!

It was 39 degrees the morning that I write this and 30 degrees expected before the week is out — autumn is definitely here. I shut down my vegetable garden.

Quiet light along the Carson River on the first day of October. Scroll and click on each photo to enlarge.

Harvest Moon over the Carson Valley.

Hello fellow anglers. You can tell when fall has officially arrived. The sun is going down sooner, and it's time to put the heater in the boat. I have been on a little adventure over the last couple weeks fishing in our area.

Dawn light on the Carson River creates nature's painting.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, with the support of the Great Basin Institute, has canceled the popular Kokanee salmon Fall Fish Fest originally planned for Oct. 14.

The event has experienced challenges over the last few years with staffing, crowd and people taking selfies with bears.

The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team is scheduled to begin fall prescribed fire operations today, Sep. 25, 2023. If conditions and weather are favorable, California State Parks may conduct understory burning over the next three weeks in Burton Creek and Sugar Pine Point state parks and the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit may begin burning piles on Angora Ridge near Fallen Leaf Lake. Smoke will be present.

Another look at the early morning sunrise Monday above Carson City.

A beautiful tangerine sunrise filled the sky Monday morning over Carson City.

The heat has passed, but the soil is still warm. Conditions are ideal to plant trees. We all know that trees provide shade and cool a home. They clean the air and absorb stormwater runoff. They add aesthetic appeal.

A buck attempts to cross the road on Arrowhead Drive east of the airport in Carson City last week. The adult deer was able to get across safely in the precarious situation, a reminder that fall has arrived and wildlife is on the move.

Learn how to identify birds by sight and sound using the Merlin Bird ID app. Instructors will guide you through
the Merlin Bird ID app, take visitors on a short hike, and then sit by the Carson River to listen and watch for birds
at TNC’s River Fork Ranch Preserve (381 Genoa Lane, Minden, NV).

This Thursday, Sept. 28, Mark Enders, a wildlife biologist with Nevada Department of Wildlife, will discuss the history of western pond turtles in the Carson Valley and the research that NDOW has done to learn more about Nevada’s only native freshwater turtle.

Interested in learning more about hummingbirds and their migration in Nevada? Stop by The Nature Conservancy's River Fork Ranch Preserve, Saturday, Oct. 14, 11am-12pm! (381 Genoa Lane, Minden, NV)

On Sunday, October 1, 2023, club members and folks interested in membership are invited to attend the annual Member’s Day at Capitol City Gun Club in Carson City, NV from 9:00am to 5:30pm.

After the incredibly successful event last year at Lone Mountain Cemetery with the Move with the Mayor initiative, we are hosting another mass clean-up of the cemetery on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023 from 9 to 11 a.m. ‘Move with the Mayor’ is a national campaign developed by the National Forum for Heart Disease & Stroke Prevention to encourage people to live active, healthy lifestyles.

Divers monitoring Lake Tahoe have discovered invasive New Zealand mudsnails in areas off the South Shore, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and Tahoe Resource Conservation District announced Thursday. This is the first time the species has been detected in the Tahoe Basin.

Nevada residents and visitors are invited to celebrate Nevada Public Lands Day this Saturday, Sept. 23 with a “fee-free” day at Nevada’s State Parks.

Park fees, including entrance, camping (Saturday night) and boating, where applicable, will be waived at state parks throughout Nevada.

A beautiful, fiery late summer sunset over Carson City Monday evening.

Fine color in the skies Sunday over Carson City.

The calendar says the first day of autumn arrives Saturday, Sept. 23, but I’m having trouble believing it. The temperatures are lovely and there hasn’t been a freeze. Last week I was worrying about the way my cucumber and tomato plants looked before I realized that summer gardening was just about over anyway.

In early September, the Tahoe Yellow Cress Adaptive Management Working Group began their annual lake-wide monitoring surveys of Tahoe Yellow Cress in the Lake Tahoe Basin. These surveys will continue throughout September across numerous land ownerships, and on every beach where this rare plant is known to occur.