The leaves are finally waking up to the fact that in another three months they’ll be starting over so had best leave their trees and seek solace elsewhere…

 

…as will we, fortunate to have a dry day to load.

…and a grey day to leave;

780 to 680 to 80 as the “best of car talk” cackles away, up the hill with other NPR Saturday hilarity until signals fade, traffic surprisingly un-bad and almost nothing on 89 after Truckee …

Snow starts around lunch,

I follow 49 from Sierraville to its ending in Vinton, the CHP sloshing by on CA 70 westbound in slight slush not shown.

…east to 70’s ending at 395, gas and north; flurries, greyness…another Saturday miles and years north of Bridgeport;

Doyle Creek.

The road from Doyle terminates as always in Washoe CR 33 sixty miles north of Reno;

Sand Pass, the burnt remains of Bonham Ranch, the Jolly Roger Ranch [whatever THAT is], none shown save Sand Pass and one anonymous stop to pee down the desert…

Smoke Creek Creek, then Espil’s and, halfway to Wall, the “Windy Place” where B. and I used to camp…[also not shown]

Reached the Wall Spring gate at 3:40 just ahead of L., who’d gone around the other way…unloading, snow flakes, golden light and day’s end dark…

Next day, first day, Sunday, came on sunny, windy, warm [forty degrees!] and bright for the morning tour;

[…major cattail cuttings again revealing the sculptures thanks to Twisto…]

The morn, however, soon turned to storms; snow even before afternoon went into major efforts and rearrangements in the Repository;

All ended with a most wintry walk to the gate as the wind, swinging in from the north, promised some truly cold weather for the night ahead…

We came for winter…and we found it.  Or it’s found us…

M