GREAT YEAR FOR SNOW PHOTOS
(Photo by Hank Moreno)
It’s April and there’s still plenty of snow in the mountains around Reno. So, last weekend we decided to head up to the higher elevations to shoot a few photos. My son, Hank, got a new digital camera last Christmas and he’s been eager to try to fill up a few memory cards with shots.
We drove up the Mount Rose Highway toward Lake Tahoe. As we climbed out of the Truckee Meadows, we could see some recent snow, which this year just seems to keep falling. The mountainsides were blanketed with the white stuff and only the top portions of the trees poked up through the snow.
As the road zigzagged up the mountain, we could see that the high peaks were thickly layered with snow. In most years, only the mountaintops are covered and you can see plenty of craggy rock walls and cliffs. But this year, the snow is so thick that hardly any rock is able to break through the covering.
We continued past Sky Tavern, a city of Reno ski facility for local kids, and the new Mt. Rose Visitor Center, which serves as the trailhead for the Mt. Rose Trail (we’ll hit that beautiful stretch of trail after the weather warms up in either the Spring or Summer).
Just ahead, my son asks me to stop because he’s spotted a snow-covered tree that he thinks might make a good photo. We pull over, climb out of the car and begin our slog through the deep snow. As we trudge closer, we see that the tree is barely alive with part of its trunk exposed and largely devoid of bark. Frankly, it’s a scrawny thing. But despite its scarecrow appearance there is something strong and proud in the way it just stands there in the snow defying everything that Mother Nature has thrown at it.
After my son snaps his shot, we head back to the car to look for other winter scenes. I have no doubt that he’s going to quickly fill up his camera’s memory card.—-Richard Moreno
