Brief stop near Dog Valley

Coming back from Reno overnighter, got off I-80 at East Verdi, followed the "main drag" (3rd Street) west a couple miles, then turned right up Bridge St. Drove up through a very nice neighborhood - and with the trees turning brilliant yellow and dusty red, and the narrow bridge over the creek and all, it was a *dramatic* neigborhood, too! Anyway, then we turned on to Dog Valley Rd and followed it up hill ... past pavement end, and we kept going up this fire road (I think it becomes Henness Rd) ... very noisy and bumpy, like big cobblestones. A couple miles up we stopped where the road branched and there was an open gate to the right. We didn't drive throuh, the road was wide enough to park on so we did.

Good thing, that branch turned pretty much jeep-trail! But it was a **very** nice walk up to the ridge and around. Sadly, there was litter from peolple up there doing target shooting and not cleaning up - shot-up cans, lots of .22 and .45 brass, plastic bottles. But, it's not like it was unspoilt wilderness, I guess - it's been logged and burned.

The we continued the drive up to the top, which becomes a big open area. There were some jeeps and pickups with big trailers up there (ATV folks?) ... from on top we looked down into what I suspect is the actual Dog Valley - a clear-bottom valley with forests along the hillsides. Not dramatic, but some day we'll go on down and take a closer look. In the meantime, the Google Map view is here.