Outdoors

Best place to see at-risk art before it’s all stolen

Petroglyphs
East of Sparks

It’s a few miles out into the dyn-o-mite desert, east of the east burgs in Sparks, along a desert path strewn with freaky trash. A humungous shot-up appliance here. A gross, old mattress there. You follow a curving road up steep inclines and down steep hills. You’re tempted to take shortcuts, but you remember last time and stick to the straight, no never straight, always forward path. Good thing you brought plenty of H2O and Fritos. (Aye, yi, yi-yi. I am the Frito Bandito.) There’s no shade. Finally, you spot a rocky outcropping rising above a large stretch of desert that looks (for good reason) curiously like a dry lake bed. When you climb on the rocks above it, man, it’s like traveling hundreds of years. As you eye the stick figures and symbols etched into the rocks long ago, it’s easy to guess what life must have been like before television.

Place least likely to develop an Olympic diving event

Washoe Lake
Lakeshore Drive in Washoe Valley

A glorious mud puddle. The water doesn’t gleam crystal clear like it does at Lake Tahoe, but it’s warmer, and it only manages 4 feet in depth even after walking a quarter mile into the lake. You will never drown! The bottom’s a little muddy, but it’s more pleasant on the toes than rocky spots like Hidden Beach. And it’s only 25 minutes from downtown Reno. Dogs love Washoe. The water is shallow and lukewarm enough that even Chihuahua-size pups that are typically afraid of the water can splash around and have doggy fun. The inch or so of water washing across the rippled sand when the wind picks up sounds like a heavy rainfall. It’s a unique, oversized swimming hole. Since the lake has been steadily shrinking since the flood of 1997, visitors have been dwindling, which means you and your furry best friend might be the lake’s only company.

Best place to wonder at nature

Take West McCarran Boulevard south past Fourth Street, Mayberry, Plumb/Caughlin Parkway. Head up the hill toward Cashill, watching the road to your left at all times, until you see Steamboat Ditch. Continue on up and around the hill until you reach Cashill/Caughlin Parkway and do a U-turn, continuing back down the hill until you come to that spot where you saw Steamboat Ditch. Pull onto the shoulder and, after checking your rearview mirror, get out of the car and take a long look at the dry-for-winter Steamboat Ditch. First, you can wonder what the hell you are doing here. Then, you can wonder if that water really runs uphill naturally. If that doesn’t evoke a sense of awe, you may have more existential questions on your mind.