Fall Break: Soldier Meadow Hot Springs

After leaving Pyramid Lake, we made our way to our next destination. We paused in Gerlach at a little travel store.  We took our time on the gnarly dirt roads. There wasn't much traffic, mostly hunters. The Black Rock Desert is vast and people don't usually target the area for vacationing, unless it's Burning Man! In that case, thousands of people fill the playa. We drove by it. We would have stopped to play but the day was getting away from us. After a bumpy ride and a dust covered 4runner, we made it to Soldier Meadow to reunite with our friends who had already set up their camp. 

It was going to be a great weekend with Jess, Patrick, Lily, Benjamin, Loren, Billie, Theo, and River. I love that we left a remote part of Nevada to another remote part ;) 

Here are some informational signs about Soldier Meadow: 

We quickly pitched our tent. The kids really wanted to try out the hot spring! (Ok, I did too!)

It was so great to sit in the hot spring at sunset. Hot steam from the spring permeated the warm glow of the sky.....

The next day it rained, and rained which put a damper on the mood. It was too drizzly to spend time around the fire. Good thing we had a hot spring to jump into! When we weren't in the tent, we spent time in the spring watching rain drops pitter patter on the water. Because the temperatures dropped, the steam from the hot spring was thicker. It looked mysterious and beautiful. We spent hours playing in the water. I took lots of photos of the spring because the lighting changed so much throughout the day. There were periods of the day where heavy cloud-cover felt haunting, which was appropriate for Halloween weekend Haha.....

We are lucky because the weather could have been cold this time of year. We have had a warm trend this Fall. Temperatures are ideal.

View of our camp, waiting for the rain to stop. Willow learned a new song that day as we sat in the spring. She knows all the lyrics and tune to "rain, rain, go away." Haha

Finally, blue started to appear through the clouds and the rain let up. Just in time to cook dogs over the fire! We were all delighted :)

Can you tell the kids were thrilled to get out of the tent!

Trail from camp to hot spring..... hop, skip, and jump :)

I think we outdid ourselves on s'mores this trip. It was relaxing to watch flames dance around the ring...

I was fortunate that the clouds departed to let some stars shine through for night sky photography.
 I took photos for about 20 minutes before it got cloudy again....

Billie, Jess, and I got some time without the kids at the hot spring. You can see the campfire from the spring in this next shot....

Simply being. Soaking in solitude. Ahhhhhhhhh

Before we departed camp the next morning, we all jumped in one last time. It was a sunny day and the temperature of the air was so much warmer that we couldn't stay in as long.

We are going to miss this place :)

After loading the truck, Bryan and I walked around one more time to see the native fish: "Speckled Dace." You could see them swimming really fast through the water in strong schools. 

This is the "Soldier Meadow Cinquefoil" which is a plant that's a candidate for the endangered species list. There's only two locations it grows.

Last view of the springs on a sunny day.....

There are so many more places to explore here. We would love to come back someday. What a great experience. Jess and Patrick used to work at the Black Rock Desert and know a lot about this area. It was great to come together on this trip and have the inside "scoop" from them.

Fall Break: Pyramid Lake, NV

Road Trip! Fall Break arrived before we knew it and we were taking advantage of the kids being out of school for a few days. We planned to meet our friends at the Black Rock Desert. But, first we were going to do our own thing and camp along the way at Pyramid Lake. It was a 7 hour drive to another remote part of Nevada. I've never spent much time there and I was excited for yet another Hamilton adventure! We were packed to the max with the kids, gear, and Zeek! Haha

We made a few stops along the way; but finally got to Pyramid Lake (which is on a Paiute American Indian Reservation). It was the end of October and it was getting dark early. We quickly set up camp to avoid pitching a tent in the dark. We had the whole beach to ourselves, it's not as popular to camp this time of year as the summer months! Haha  

What a relaxing view!

Bryan got the campfire going and we watched the sun go down and had a bite to eat. Just like that, the night sky was draped over us......

I've been having a lot of fun experimenting with night sky photography.....

Another dark sky in Nevada, there was a little light pollution from Reno......

When the sun shined across the lake the following morning we were ready to tackle the day. Well, maybe after a cup of coffee around the campfire in the early morning light. The kids wanted another s'more. Why not? We are on vacation :)

Ava showed us her perfect s'more, mmmmmm

We hauled the kid's bikes on this trip. They had fun riding on the beach on some of the harder surfaces.

We will have to come back in warmer weather sometime when the kids can swim. They would love it.

Ava wrote out the alphabet for Willow. She was pleased :)

We packed up camp and drove to another part of the lake.....

Can you see Pyramid Peak? That's what the lake is named after. That section was closed due to people vandalizing it. It will remain closed.

Family shot!

Isaac and I hiked up a small peak for a better look (his idea!)....

We stopped at the visitor center. What a beautiful building! 

The kids did the activity book and earned a coloring book. That would be handy for our travels.
Our next destination was the Black Rock Desert (via Gerlach). We were looking forward to pitching a tent near hot springs at Soldier Meadow with our friends....