Leave town, go high, walk on snow, see wildflowers and catch trout

Yipes! With our temperatures at or in triple digits, it is unbearably hot - hot - hot!

Fortunately, in this part of the country, we can temporarily escape that God Awful, sweltering heat by finding coolness at the higher elevations of our nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Last Thursday, Elaine and I did exactly that: We left town, drove to a high altitude location, walked on snowdrifts (in mid-July!), saw gorgeous high-mountain scenery and colorful wildflowers, and as a bonus, caught some rainbow trout.

If you would like to do the same, here's how:

Pack a picnic lunch and drinks, and don't forget to take sunglasses, sun screen, hat, light jacket, mosquito repellent, camera, and your fishing gear.

Then, drive south from Carson City for about 40 miles on a combination of U.S. 395, Nevada S.R. 88 and California S.R. 88 to the top of Kit Carson Pass.

At the pass, unless you have a U.S.F.S. passport, you will have to pay a $3 parking fee to park in their paved parking lot.

Then, you'll be hiking on a well defined trail that will lead you toward Winnemucca Lake.

You'll be walking at high altitude (8,500-9,000 feet), so remember to take it slow and easy, with lots of rest stops.

Taking numerous photos of the spectacular mountain scenery is a great excuse for those multiple stops.

Winnemucca Lake is about a two-mile hike from the parking area, and that large, deep, cold lake is located at the base of Round Top Mountain (10,000+ feet), the highest point in the Mokelumne Wilderness Area.

After hiking on the trail for about a mile, you will see aptly-named Elephant Back Mountain directly in front of you and little Frog Lake on your left.

If you're a fisherman, this lake is very deceptive-looking, as it contains rainbow trout, up to about 18 inches.

Last Thursday, Elaine and I caught and released 11 trout (14-18 inches) on small red-white lures. The best fishing is on the far side of the lake, from the trail, where the trees come down to the water.

When you continue hiking toward Winnemucca Lake, you will come to a junction: The left-hand fork goes to Ebbett's Pass (22 miles - Don't go that way!) and the right-hand fork goes to Winnemucca Lake (1 mile).

While you are at this junction, you will have great views of Elephant Back on your left, Round Top Mountain directly in front of you, and Caples Lake, far below on the right.

Continue hiking to reach the wildflowers. They are located in a large, mountain meadow area that slopes down from Elephant Back, about 400 yards before reaching the lake.

That meadow contains one of the Sierra Nevada Mountains most spectacular displays of wildflowers and is widely noted for that display.

Last Thursday, those flowers were still not at full bloom, but the variety and color were certainly worth the time and effort needed to reach them.

You can't miss them: They will be in an area of bright colors: Green, white, red, yellow, blue, violet, etc. You'll see many types of flowers including Mule Ear, Indian Paint Brush, Lupine, Buttercup, etc.

Last week, the trail between Frog Lake and the meadow, was covered at a number of locations with snowdrifts, remaining from the winter. You can bet that not too many people in the U.S. can go to high altitude to escape summer heat and walk on snow in mid-to-late July like we did on Thursday.

And as a special bonus, while hiking on the trail, we had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Ray and Virginia Leone and Mike and Dot Doyle, all of Carson City, who had also come there to see the flowers.

Nice folks at a nice location!

Then, when you are done admiring the wildflowers, take the short hike to reach the shores of Winnemucca Lake.

That lake contains good populations of Eastern brook and Kamloop trout. The "brookies" run up to a respectful 13-14 inches and the Kamloops measure up to 18 inches.

Finally, if you have the opportunity during the next several weeks, be sure to go see the gorgeous wildflowers on the Winnemucca Lake trail.

If you go, be advised that area is jam-packed with hordes of wildflower lovers on Saturdays and Sundays. Heck, last Thursday, we counted 80+ hikers!

-- Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you the best place to fish at Winnemucca Lake.

If he grins and says, "You'll have the best success if you fish behind the islands on the far side of the lake," he has fished there, before.

-- Don Quilici is the Outdoors editor for the Nevada Appeal.