Outdoors

First, let me say Happy New Year. This is the first part of January and this is also a good time for all of us (including me) to make some personal resolutions for the year 2013.
Most importantly, remember that if you do make any resolutions, be sure to follow through with what you resolve to do in this new year.
Resolutions are easy to make, but sometimes hard to accomplish.
I have a number of things I would like to accomplish this year, so without any further ado, here are my 2013 resolutions:

I RESOLVE TO:
Finally catch a fish larger than Elaine's:

It’s turning out to be one of those winters that isn’t very mountain bike friendly. Freezing temperatures are keeping the roads icy in town, and there is bicycle-stopping deep snow in the nearby mountains. Thankfully there is another way to enjoy our local trails if you’re willing to let go of the handlebars and grab some poles.

In what has become a family tradition of many years, the entire Quilici family is planning to spend part of the Christmas holiday at their cabin, which is located at an elevation of 6,000 feet on a steep mountainside between the City of Portola and Davis Lake in Northern California.

What makes this location so special at this time of the year is that Plumas County does not plow the gravel road to the cabin when it snows.

When the countryside is covered with a layer of deep snow, we have to hike in on our snowshoes while towing a sled full of “goodies.”

This is my annual pre-Christmas reminder that Topaz Lake, located along U.S. 395 at the Nevada-California state line, will open its 2013 fishing season, one half hour before sunrise, on Tuesday, January 1.
If the weather is decent, if you don't have a massive hang-over, if you like to fish and if you don't have anything else planned, this could be a fun way to start the New Year.

Are you interested?

If you are planning to fish in the State of California in 2013, be aware that you will need a new license as of Jan. 1. You can purchase that license and any applicable stamp at a number of local outlets or on the Internet.
If you need to buy a license and stamps, here is some info:

When temperatures drop, it doesn't take long to start affecting the body. Which is why it's necessary to be prepared when you're outdoors.
This is the time of year when thousands of people are visiting Lake Tahoe as well as our parks. But park rangers say the problem is, most people aren't prepared.

As I look forward to the year of 2013 with high expectations, hopes and dreams, this is a good time to reflect back on some selected personal memories from the rapidly ending year of 2012.
Here are my top memories of this year:

With all of the crazy “Black Friday” shopping madness now safely behind us, we can begin, once again, to think rationally about ideas for Christmas gifts for that special person(s) in our lives.
So, if you were not part of that frenzied mob scene on the day after Thanksgiving, or if you are still scratching your head about what to get for that person, here are some “Don Q” suggestions for Christmas gifts:

Last Thursday, Elaine and I spent an enjoyable morning (as usual) fishing for Mackinaw (Lake) Trout at Lake Tahoe with our longtime friend and sport fishing guide, Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters at South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

"Gino" has fished Tahoe for some 30 years and is one of the top, if not the top, fishing guides at that lake.
Sigh, and as usual on that day, Man's Favorite Sport belonged to Elaine for the fourth straight year!

A traditional Lake Tahoe holiday stay at Granlibakken resort means skiing, snowplay, zipline, board games by the fireplace, spa treatments and relaxing. It’s also a sumptuous feast prepared by resort staff, a rollicking atmosphere of good cheer amid an authentic lodge setting with roaring fire and best of all, no dirty dishes or clean up, rather a take home box for any leftovers.

Paul Verebely of Carson City, passed away after a battle with cancer. Paul was born in Phoenix, Ariz. to Bill and Nell Siglin. Paul grew up in southern Calif. and loved the outdoors. He join the...

November 18 is a very significant date in the lives of several thousand hardy Alaskans. Those folks live in a unique location known as Barrow, Alaska, which is the northernmost community in the United States.
It is located in the Far North, on the edge of the Arctic Ocean, about 320 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
On November 18, the sun sets below the horizon at Barrow and it will not peek back up over the horizon until January 23 (weather permitting).
That’s more than two months without sunshine. Wow!

This my annual reminder that many California waters will close to fishing on Thursday, November 15.
That’s only a few days from now, so if you want to fish any of them, you better hustle because you are rapidly running out of time.
Those waters will not re-open until the last Saturday in April next year (April 27, 2013), and that is a long, long time to wait to wet your line.
Here is a partial list of some of the nearby waters that will be closing on November 15:

Alpine County:

By way of background, the “Quilici Cabin” is located in a rural area of Plumas County at an elevation of exactly 6,000 feet on a steep hillside between Portola and Davis Lake in Northern California; and it is jointly owned by Jim, Kathi, Don and Elaine Quilici, all of Carson City.

That two-story cabin was built back in 2003, and from our deck, you have a spectacular, world-class view of the surrounding groves of pine trees and quaking aspen trees plus the nearby and the faraway mountains.

As an "Old Timer" who was born and raised in Carson City, the Nevada Day celebration has always been something special in my life.
Through many years of living in Carson City, I have enjoyed many of the activities associated with the celebration of our state's admission to the Union, way back on October 31, 1864.

The third annual Celebrity Chef Harvest Dinner to benefit The Greenhouse Project will take place November 12 from 5:30 PM - 9 pm at Café at Adele’s in Carson City. The event features a six course pairing of fine wine and food as prepared by Charlie Abowd, Adele's chef and owner, and guest chef Mark Estee of Campo, recently named one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America.

If you are a newcomer to that area or if you have never been there, the fall season is a great time of the year to visit Apple Hill.
And, if you are a newcomer to our area, you are probably wondering, “What and where in the heck is Apple Hill?”
Well, the correct answer is: “Apple Hill is not a specific hill or a specific location; on the contrary, it is a large geographic area in California.”

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Wednesday announced the designation of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad McKeen Motor Car #70 based in Carson City as one of 27 national historic landmarks.
Calling the McKeen Motor Car #70, Virginia & Truckee Railway Motor Car #22, "the best surviving example of the first commercially viable application of internal combustion power in a self-propelled railroad car" the designation possess exceptional value and quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States, Salazar said.

It's that time of the year for my reminder to enjoy the spectacular color of the leaves on Quaking aspen trees (Quakies) in Alpine County, Calif.
And, based on our photography trip on Monday, Oct. 8, you had better enjoy that display, as soon as possible, because four of us (Mary Bottoms, Mary Morris, Elaine and I) found the following color conditions:

Elaine and I just returned from a fabulous, four-day, three-night visit to the Sierra Nevada, just west of Bishop, Calif. I highly recommend that each and every one of you duplicate our fun-filled trip and be sure to do it as soon as you can within the next two weeks.
The purpose of our visit to the mountains was two-fold:
1. To photograph the fall colors of the Quaking Aspen trees and bushes.
2. To fish for trout in some of the waters in that area.
We succeeded beyond our wildest imagination on both purposes.

The Carson City Greenhouse will offer tours of its premises on Saturday, October 6, 2012 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. At 10:30 a.m., Greenhouse manager Ray Saliga will present a workshop on propagating herbs from cuttings. The Greenhouse is located on the Carson High School campus, 1111 North Saliman Road. To reach it, turn into the high school property from Saliman Road at Robinson Street. The public is invited to attend.

Pyramid Lake, located about 30 miles north of Sparks, will open on Monday, Oct. 1, to fishing for Lahontan cutthroat trout.
That large, desert lake (roughly the same surface size as Lake Tahoe) has a three-month trout closure, each year, from July 1 to Sept. 30.
Here are all kinds of interesting information about that lake:

Pre-historic Lake Lahontan:

This is an annual reminder that a number of nearby fishing waters will be closing for the year at sunset on September 30. Those waters include the following:

This is the last in a three-part series about my recent (August 16-23) fly-in, trout fishing trip to remote Mitchell Lake, located in Cariboo Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada.
The first in the series told you about our trip from Dayton, Nevada to Mitchell Lake via a single engine aircraft (piloted by my cousin’s husband, Bob Scholes) from Carson City and Dayton to Auburn, Washington to Abbotsford, British Columbia to Williams Lake, B.C. Then, at Williams Lake, we switched over to a helicopter to fly to our final destination of Mitchell Lake.

This is the second in a series of three weekly articles about an unforgettable, trout fishing trip taken on August 16-23 to Mitchell Lake in Cariboo Provincial Park in British Columbia.
The first article last week described our travel in a single engine aircraft from Dayton, Nevada to Auburn, Washington; then to Abbotsford, British Columbia; from there to Williams Lake, B.C.; and then the last leg of our journey in a helicopter to Mitchell Lake.
This week, you will read about the people in our trout fishing party, the comfortable accommodations and the tasty meals.

Yesterday was my last official day in charge of Carson Now. Today I am heading off to Silicon Valley and the adventure of being a Knight Fellow at Stanford University.

I'm happy to report that I'm leaving Carson Now in good hands. Actually, two sets of hands, which will mean more news and better service for the people of Carson City.

A free fishing day sponsored by Carson City Host Lions Club and supported by several other organizations for local youngsters will be held at Baily Pond, Fuji Park. Saturday September 15 from 08:00 A.M. to 01:00 P.M. Free food and cold drinks, teeshirts, and raffle prizes will be available. There will be a fish cleaning station and an archery range. Local dignitaries will open the Tom Brooks Memorial Fishing Day at 08:00. Let's get the kids into the outdoors and teach them to fish. Children twelve years and older will need an NDOW fishing license.

This is the first in a three-part series of articles about my second, fly-in, trout fishing trip to Mitchell Lake, which is located in the Cariboo Mountains Provincial Park in British Columbia.
This three-part series will consist of:
Series No. 1: The flight from Dayton, Nevada to Mitchell Lake, B.C.,
Series No. 2: The people, accommodations and meals at the lake,
Series No. 3: The trout fishing.

How the trip originated:
It began about three weeks ago, when my first-cousin’s husband (Bob Scholes of Dayton) asked if I was interested in returning to Mitchell Lake.

This is a reminder that a special trout fishing season will open on the Friday before Labor Day.
August 31, 2012 is the Opening Day of the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout fishing season at Heenan Lake in nearby Alpine County, Calif.
Each year, that season opens the Friday before Labor Day and closes the last Sunday in October (October 28 this year). If you’re interested and if you would like to enjoy a totally different fishing experience, plan to spend August 31 at that easy-to-get-to location.

With the big Labor Day weekend, the last outdoor trips of the summer, the start of many different big game and bird hunting seasons, the beginning of a new school year, etc., all coming up around the corner, here are some suggestions that just might save your life, if you are planning to venture into the Great Outdoors, all alone, on a photographing, hiking, biking, horseback riding, backpacking, camping, fishing, hunting, climbing, trip: