Black Rock Rendezvous, May 22-25, 2015

I met Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Friends of the Black Rock/High Rock and the Sierra Club at the 2015 Black Rock Rendezvous north of Gerlach, NV.  The theme to this event, if it didn't already have one, should have been RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. The BLM pulled out of the event at the last minute, citing the weather, so that changed the event schedule a little, but we all had a blast anyway.

Luckily, the rain only fell on the first two days and it came in waves, giving us all a chance to dodge, duck and plan around it.  We had originally planned to camp on the playa, but if any of you have ever tried to even walk on the playa when it's wet, you know why the camp was re-located to the Cassidy Mine location, which is about 17 miles north of Gerlach.  Cassidy Mine gave us a beautiful, sweeping view of the playa itself, Old Razorback Mountain, Black Rock Point and other features, of which I'm still trying to learn the names.

The photos below will give you an idea of the weather.

They were all taken on Friday afternoon...

Old Razorback can't decide if it wants to be in the rain or under the rainbow...

Old Razorback a glow in the afternoon sun.

Some of the storms looked like atom bombs on the horizon.

I finally settled on this, relatively level site.

Although I didn't see any "Wander the Westers" at the event, I did become

part of a little pop-up camper "village" with two FWCs and one Hallmark.  

The Hallmark belonged to a nice retired couple, with whom I've hot
springed with in the past.  It was nice to see them at this event.

The white Toyota/FWC belonged to a retired teacher and the green Tundra/FWC
belonged to a photographer Mindful Images who had a beautiful
portfolio of landscapes. 

One thing this event was not short of was FOOD.  We had a Dutch oven cook-off and 

pot luck on Saturday night and a burrito-themed pot luck on Sunday night.

A lot of prep work went in to each meal--thanks Friends of Nevada Wilderness staff.

The Dutch oven cook-off judges doing their thing...

Here was my Dutch oven entry of New Mexican Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas and it must have been good because
I TOOK FIRST PLACE!

And the feed begins...

Dexter kept everyone in the right line by being a canine turnstile...

Everyone managed to find a dry place to sit and eat.


Did someone say margaritas?

Will Roger and Crimson Rose (Burning Man organizers) not only made a big
vat of good, strong margaritas for everyone, but they also donated two tickets to
Burning Man for the Rendezvous raffle, which brought in a lot of money for
Friends of Nevada Wilderness

It didn't take long for the first "customer" to come forth...

While hiking around the area, I came upon many of these formations 

which appear to be tuffa that's attached itself to a rock.  

Does anyone know what they are?

On Saturday we enjoyed numerous presentations for a good part of the day.

We heard presentations on the event itself, Leave No Trace, the amateur 

rocketry club, Burning Man, etc.  Sadly, the planned rocket launches

from the playa were canceled due to weather.

Both Saturday and Sunday, there were also excursions to an opal mine, 

Planet X Pottery, day hikes and a service project at a cabin near the 

Soldier Meadows hot spring--good times!

Sunday night burrito fest and raffle...

Almost everyone who bought raffle tickets won something.  I even won twice!


I don't know why, but I thought this photo kind of
wrapped up the event's spirit...

I'm already looking forward to next year's Rendezvous.  Hopefully the weather will 

be more cooperative and we can all get out to more of the excursions, outings and

service projects that are, after all, what this whole thing is about.

Here's a Flickr link to the Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Black Rock Rendezvous photo album:
BRR Photo Album

Friends of Nevada Wilderness has a number of projects and outings throughout the

year and many will be multi-nighters in some of the most beautiful and 

vulnerable areas of Nevada, so take a look and see if a project stands out

to you.

Pacific Equestrian Center Dressage Show

This was just a quick one-nighter to see my beautiful daughter (Erin) compete in the Pacific Equestrian Center's dressage competition in Wilton, CA.  It barely fits the definition of a camping trip, but I'm including it all the same.  The drive was, for the most part, uneventful, as we were right smack dab in the middle of two storms.

I stopped at a little roadside stand along the way and bought some really sweet cherries.

Dexter and I finally arrived and met up with Erin, who had ridden to the show with other riders in her barn.  I found a nice, somewhat level parking place and “bloomed” the Bobcat (yes, I'm borrowing the term "bloomed" from the Ski3pins, which is now what I always call it).  The horse trailer to my right is actually a four-horse trailer in the rear and a really nice RV in front.

All set up...

Dexter and I did our own thing as the girls were busy preparing for tomorrow's riding.  I threw a very nice little New York steak on the grill, tossed a salad and poured a couple of glasses of red wine and watched "No Country for Old Men" on the DVD player until midnight.

My beautiful daughter Erin and her horse "Pumori"

Dressage...

Erin took a 2nd Place in her first Pacific Show (I'm so proud...)

It was really hot and muggy at the horse show, but as soon as we hit Auburn (and stopped at Akeda’s), the temp. mellowed out.  By the time we stopped at the Donner Summit rest area, it was cold and just starting to snow.  Dexter, ever the fool, got chest deep in a little pond alongside the rest area, so I had to smell “wet dog” all the way home.  Oh well, if that’s the worst thing I can say about the kid, then we’re doing alright. 

Got home to a cool, cloudy day, unpacked most of the gear and put a few cups of beans in the pressure cooker (who doesn’t like beans on a cold day?).  Now, I’ll get ready for next week’s camp trip to the Black Rock Rendezvous.