Teri Vance: Get outside — unless there’s a tarantula

Working for a client, I did a tour of the Hobart water system this week. I had a rudimentary knowledge of how the reservoir provides water to much of Carson City and Virginia City through a pipeline engineered to use gravity to transport about a million gallons of water a day.

It’s impressive.

Equally impressive to me, though, was the beauty we found all along the way, from Hobart Reservoir to Marlette Lake and the flume trails that connect it all.

And being up that high, it was clear fall is on its way. We made our way through tunnels of green and golden leaves from the aspens. Occasionally, we would see a stand that glowed red and orange, backlit by the early afternoon sun.

While I love the long summer days, there’s something invigorating about the crispness and brightness of autumn.

It’s the perfect time to get outside and to take advantage of the Carson City Visitors Bureau’s Ride Carson City campaign.

It encourages people to ride bikes, motorcycles, trains, kayaks or canoes, skateboards or scooters — anything to get you outside and exploring the world around you. They want you to take pictures of what you’re doing then post them on Instagram with the hashtag #ridecarsoncity.

There are so many places to take a bike ride and check out the beauty of our region. One of my favorite road bike routes is the loop around Franktown Road in Washoe Valley. You can start in Carson City to make it more difficult with a climb up College Parkway and into Lakeview then drop down into Washoe Valley.

Mountain biking opportunities are abundant in Ash Canyon, but I also like the trails above Centennial Park.

For an easy, flat loop you can even take your dog on, go to Riverview Park at the end of Fifth Street. From there, you can also connect to the Mexican Ditch trail.

A couple of weekends ago, I also tried dirt biking for the first time. My husband and I took trails from Dayton to Silver City and back around again, just exploring out in the desert. Aside from my one crash, it was a blast.

We’re so lucky to live where we do. And it’s not just the outdoors that makes it so cool to live here, we also have a pretty neat community.

Just 27 more days until the 77th Nevada Day celebration. Check out the new Nevada Day website for all the events planned — and it will also be the perfect debut for the improvements to downtown Carson Street.

There’s really only one downside I can see to the approach of fall and that is the dying creatures, like the fat, lethargic — almost sticky — houseflies.

Also, my sister who lives in Dayton, told me she had a dying tarantula in her driveway. We’re prone to exaggeration, so I assumed it was a pretty big spider. Then she sent me a picture. It’s a legitimate tarantula. Eeek.

So, that’s the one exception — if there’s a tarantula in your driveway, just stay inside. Otherwise, get outside and experience this beautiful fall weather. It’s not time to hibernate yet.

Teri Vance is a journalist, freelance writer and native Nevadan. Contact her with column ideas at terivance@rocketmail.com.