Path along the Truckee River – Part 1

Posted on October 15, 2013 by G. Winkler — Leave a comment

This batch of photos has resulted in so many images that I have decided to divide the posting into several.

I selected this particular path along the Truckee River because when I had a normal 8 to 5 job back in the mid 1990’s I used to come here at lunchtime to eat lunch and walk. That particular job has bitter sweet memories for me. When I started the job, I absolutely loved it. I was a geological draftsman. I loved seeing the projects that the geologists were working on and to see the progress of their adventures out in the field. The field was where they looked for precious minerals.

Facing west towards the GSR, which was originally the MGM Hotel

Facing westwards towards the GSR, which was originally the MGM Hotel

I worked for INMET Mining at an office in Sparks that used to be called Minnova. It seems like a lifetime ago. The job was part time and allowed me to work on my Masters degree in English. I used to drive to work in the morning thinking about what project I would work on first and which ones were the best or worst to work on. Then they changed my work schedule to full time. Everything changed and getting time away from the office became essential for my sanity, so going to this little park not far away from the office gave me a chance to center myself. I was no longer able to pursue my Masters degree, which looking back now was a great mistake. I really needed that additional formal education. And the sad thing was that these extra hours were just so one geologist could simply change his mind ever two minutes about how he wanted the maps to be drawn. After the hour changes to my schedule, my drives to work had become fantasies that someone would hit my car so that I did not have to go anymore.

That’s pretty bad. So this place along the river was where I could take some time away from the annoying situation that was now my work. I still have very bitter hurt feelings about how I was treated towards the end, but that is a topic for another blog.

I would walk along this path regardless of the weather. Wind. Sun. Rain. Snow. Hot or Cold. And this place was also very well known for attracting the homeless. I had to be mindful of my surroundings because not all of the homeless were in their right minds. And I can see why the homeless would find such a place to be a refuge away from the cold, frightened, judgmental working population.

Facing eastwards down the river

Boulders added to the river’s edge

Perfect walking stick

The first part of the walk starts near a park setting where people can park their cars, have a picnic, use the bathroom facilities. Then the path snakes off along the river in both directions. I generally walked eastward away from the city areas. The river has changed a great deal since the many years ago that I used to walk here. And isn’t that the nature of a river? Even a small one like the Truckee that I have seen so low that I could almost walk across it without getting wet. In these pictures the river looks to be at a healthy flow despite the fact that this is the Fall. It comes from the cool clear waters of Lake Tahoe and flows toward the more mysterious Pyramid Lake and along the way brings water to fields and cities.

The river isn’t that deep but the current can be strong depending on where you go.

Great camera can catch interesting moments of water flow

Geese across the Truckee

Glad to have zoom

On this photo shoot we walked towards the east approximately starting at 2:30pm and within the time period to walk a small way, one can see how the weather changed from mostly clear to cloudy and windy. The mood and the lighting dramatically shift through a time period that is probably about 2 hours.