Off to Harrison Pass

In my final day of exploration before the big job began, I decided to drive past Jiggs and towards Harrison Pass, in the locally acclaimed Ruby Mountains. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect, just the right temperature. I was excited to see all sorts of fun granite formations, and I decided to hike / bike up the closest hill. What I didn't anticipate was the effect of the elevation at ~7000 ft. Yeah, the hiking / pushing the bike took a lot out of me! But the view, and the fun rocks, at the top were well worth it.

The only thing that concerned me were some massive black beetles along the path - they looked kinda scary. I tried to get a picture but wasn't able to get one that did it justice :)

After I picnicked on the hill and rode my bike down, I drove to the other side of the pass on a road built of grus (highly weathered granite rock for the non-geologists). On the other side was only a T intersection, with a ranch to the left and a wildlife preserve to the right. I drove to the wildlife preserve, which ended up being an extensive marsh, and circled on the "wildlife view loop", watching a huge variety of birds, before turning back around and heading home so I could get to bed early before an early morning and busy week of training.