- This time on "Wild Nevada," we're gonna be exploring a little bit of new trail and looking back at some special moments.

(upbeat music) (gate creaking) - We're gonna share some of our favorite experiences from the past season, and that's coming up right now on "Wild Nevada."

(music continues) - [Announcer] Support for PBS Reno and "Wild Nevada" comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Announcer] Travel Nevada helps provide travel inspiration and experiences for those interested in creating their own "Wild Nevada" adventures.

(music continues) For more information, visit travelnevada.com.

And by Millie Hopper and Millard Reed, (music continues) Charles and Margaret Burback, Sande Family Foundation, Kristine Perry, Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, June S. Wisham Trust, the Hall Family, Dillard and Meg Meyers, Sara and Leonard Lafrance, in Memory of Sue McDowell, and by individual members.

(upbeat music) - We're at Hidden Valley Regional Park, which is just on the east side of Reno, and it's just a little bit outside of town, but it has a great trail system where you can really choose your own adventure, and do as many miles into the foothills as you really feel you want to.

- Yeah, it's really nice.

As we're doing this, we're gonna be looking back at some of our favorite moments from the past episodes of this season, and there have been quite a variety.

(music continues) - As hosts of "Wild Nevada," we get to have some great experiences, and this season, we got to have an experience which was one of my bucket list items, and I got to check off climbing Wheeler Peak, which is the highest point in Great Basin National Park, the second highest mountain in the state, and I got to enjoy some 13,000 foot views.

We've been waiting in a long time to try to get to the top of it.

- Well, it's a great hike.

It sort of starts off with a mild uphill, and then it gets a little steeper, and it's a little steeper, (Chris laughing) but it's well worth it, because you know, you will wanna stop along the way and take in the view, because it's just an incredible view all the way along.

- I think we're gonna take probably a few breaks.

- Yeah, maybe so.

- Because we're starting what, right around 10,000 already.

- 10,000, yeah, yeah.

Those oxygen molecules are sparse, (Chris laughing) you know?

(bright music) - So we are going up that?

- [Kenji] Up to that, yup, (Chris and Kenji laughing) 13,000 something feet.

- Oh my gosh, this view is just phenomenal.

(music continues) - [Kenji] When we're up at top, we'll get to see the moraines and the marks that the glacier left when it kind of was carving the rock, and that's what created that bowl.

Theoretically, it's the southernmost glacier in North America, so.

- [Chris] I didn't realize that.

- [Kenji] Yeah, but a lot of people dispute whether it's a real glacier or not at this point.

(chuckles) (music continues) - [Chris] It's so interesting how many different ecosystems Great Basin encompasses.

- [Kenji] Yeah, you start at the desert base with the sagebrush, and then you kind of get up to the seven, 8,000 feet with the pinyon, juniper, and then you sort of start seeing some aspen.

(music continues) It says 3.1 miles.

- [Chris] All right, let's do it.

- [Kenji] This is the aerobics component of your day.

- [Chris] Testing our lungs and testing our thighs.

(both chuckling) - [Kenji] That's right.

(bright music) - [Chris] This view is amazing.

- [Kenji] Isn't it, yeah, you know, there's stories that the bristle cones went all the way down to the base of the valleys here at one time.

- [Chris] You know as you climb you're gonna get a different perspective.

- [Kenji] Yeah, yeah.

- [Chris] But it is amazing.

Until you really see it, you don't appreciate how different.

It's so interesting to think that it's still evolving.

- [Kenji] Oh yeah.

(music continues) - [Chris] So is it pretty much rocky from here on?

- Yeah, very little vegetation to make soil.

- [Chris] Definitely a change of terrain.

- [Kenji] Yeah, we're getting to see the other side, which is where the bristle cone pines are.

- [Chris] It's amazing to think the longevity that they have.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

Yeah, I believe they are the oldest trees in the world.

(music continues) - [Chris] We're definitely climbing now.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

These are beautiful little bonsai terraces.

It's a tiny little world.

- [Chris] They really are.

They're like a little biosphere of their own.

- Yeah.

(music continues) Nice little view of the Saddle, right?

You kinda see the whole valley here.

(Chris laughs) Right, we're on the Snake Range.

There's Snake Valley, and you can see all the lakes we came up along - [Chris] And you can see just the change in the vegetation from the Saddle.

- I love those moraines that we see down there.

Glaciers kind of carved it and pushed it, you know, 15,000 years ago, and that's spectacular to just see the fingerprints of that still.

- Yeah.

- To this day, you know?

- [Chris] Another example of how water has shaped this landscape.

- [Kenji] Water and ice.

(bright music) - I think the air's getting awful as thin.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

(both laughing) - [Chris] I'm panting more than I was.

- [Kenji] Yeah, I'm feeling it a little bit.

(music continues) - [Chris] Oh my gosh, we're so close.

- [Kenji] We're almost there.

(music continues) (both laughing) - [Chris] Oh.

(music continues) Wow.

(laughing) We reached our goal.

(both laughing) - You know, I'm not a big high five person, but this deserves a high five.

- [Kenji] Right.

- It is really beautiful in every possible direction.

Thank you for bringing me up here.

- [Kenji] My pleasure.

- Just to have the landscape all around you open up, I don't think getting on top of the world can get much better than that.

(laughs) - [Kenji] No, and here, you really appreciate what the elevation does.

You know, the elevation captures the moisture.

You get the trees.

- [Chris] Changes the terrain.

- [Kenji] Here we are.

- Feels absolutely great to get up here and have earned this view.

- We did have to work for it.

- Yeah.

I have a lot of appreciation for what they mean when they say this is not a casual hike.

- No.

- [Chris] You're not gonna get this view any other way.

Thank you for bringing me up here.

- You're most welcome, my favorite place in the world.

Here we are, the Earth is never gonna be the same, but here we are at this point in time, you know?

- I'm not worrying about anything other than absorbing this moment right now.

- Well, that's what these trees have been doing sitting here.

(both chuckle) - [Chris] And what these mountains have been doing, right?

They've just been enjoying their moment in time.

- [Kenji] Yeah, and those bristle cone pines for 3,000 years.

(bright music) - That was an amazing experience, and one that I intend to repeat definitely again.

- I'm not surprised.

- [Chris] So we're just a little less than a mile into our hike today, and yet, you know, it's absolutely beautiful scenery up here in the foothills, and you can look down over the neighborhood and over the town.

It's really a nice day.

- Every holiday season, they have an elaborate decoration contest in this neighborhood, which makes me remember a place that we went to that used to be called Christmas Tree Path, at least that's how I knew it, and now I'm a little bit embarrassed about that because of the education I received when we revisited that place, which is now known officially as Avi Kwa Ame National Monument.

We arrive at Spirit Mountain to meet Nora McDowell and Paul Jackson of the Fort Mojave Tribe, and Taylor Patterson of the Bishop Paiute Tribe.

For tribes in this region, this location has profound meaning.

- This is one of the most sacred places for us.

Well, this is the home of Mastamho.

He's the son of our creator, and he built this and he was supposed to have lived up there on top, and he would call people up there sometimes, and when they would hear him calling 'em, instruct them what they're gonna be doing in life.

- Six different other distinct tribes, you know, besides ourselves were created also from this mountain.

They're creation story comes from here.

(peaceful music) To us, this is our church.

We don't have a physical structure, 'cause we've never had that, this is it.

- Our elders, they would only bring us up here so far, 'cause we weren't allowed to come this close not that long ago, because that's how sacred it is, but now we have to get closer in order to protect it.

- How do you get people to understand and appreciate?

- A lot of the public schools now right here in the valley invite us over to do presentations in the libraries and the museums, and it's by invitation.

We don't ask, they just ask us, so that's- - Well, it's encouraging that there's that effort being made to reach out.

- It's also a teaching area where I bring kids to learn about the plants and the animals and the insects and the ground and the sky and the clouds.

- And the more that you know about it and become educated about it, the more you're gonna be able to respect another culture and another people, you know, that have been here, you know, since time immemorial.

- You know, the land stewardship that they are teaching their young folks is so powerful and amazing, and that education piece, those young folks are gonna go out and tell more people about their traditions and how to treat the land and how to respect the land.

- To us, and with a lot of Native American tribes, everything's alive, everything has a spirit.

You know, we believe if you sit and listen, the mountains will talk to you, the wind will talk to you, the river will talk to you.

They're all alive, you just gotta sit and listen.

- And the wind is speaking to us today.

- Yeah.

(laughing) - Very loudly.

- The whole entire landscape is a cultural resource for the people of this land.

From the indigenous perspective, this is a cyclical thing for us.

We need to be a part of the land as much as the land needs us to be a part of it, and we are all feeding into that process and that cycle.

And so Paul being out here and passing on his knowledge and Nora passing on her knowledge is what utilizing and saving the land is about.

It's really exciting that this place has a possibility of being protected for generations and generations of people.

- We've been working to try to do that for a long time, and thankful, you know, to our good friend Alan O'Neill, who used to work for the park service, and he worked with our elders way back when, when he was superintendent.

We have always had that stewardship of the land that we have to carry and hold, and so the national monument would provide that once and for all for all of the land that, you know, was our ancestral homelands, and hopefully, once and for all protect the whole area so that people and our children and others that come here can enjoy, you know, what's remaining of it.

- So when people come and visit, what is the best way for them to not only experience the beauty, but also respect what it means?

- Come here, but respect it.

You know, what you bring in, take out.

- Take a drive through the desert, respectfully stay on the right path, stay respectful of the land, but just get a sense of really what is in the desert, the juniper tree and the greasewood, and all of these things that I find so special, and so I really hope that all this education about Avi Kwa Ame and all this education about the potential national monument just drives people to look at what they've been overlooking for so long.

- What does it mean for you on a personal level?

What do you see when you come to this landscape?

- [Paul] Home, spirit world.

They're like our golden gates into heaven.

- When I come here, and where I need that release, you know, from everything, when I come here, you know, the mountain is me, I am it, and it just brings such a relief to me, and yet it also restores me in my heart, mind, and soul, and so to me, it means everything as a Mojave.

- You made me feel it today.

- Yeah.

- It's now a different place to me.

Hopefully, people come away with a greater understanding, and do exactly what you say.

- Yeah.

- [Dave] That's what we would hope for.

- Well, that's my prayer.

(all chuckling) - [Chris] It's a transformational experience to be here and have Nora, Paul, and Taylor share the meaning of Avi Kwa Ame with us.

(peaceful music) - [Dave] At the time we recorded this program, this area's status was undetermined, but now we can report that Avi Kwa Ame has been officially designated a national monument.

How far have we hiked?

- Oh, just about a mile and a half.

- Okay, feels like a little more than that because we're going uphill, and that's okay.

The good thing about going uphill is the scenery opens up, and now we're seeing a whole different world.

- You know, from here, we've got a great view of Mount Rose, which also reminds me of another favorite moment from the season, and that was getting to go to the summit of Mount Rose with James Faulds.

Nothing tells you about a mountain like climbing it with a geologist.

To summit Mount Rose, Jim and I have a 10.7 mile hike ahead of us, and as we get started, it's not long before Jim is teaching me about some of the fascinating geology that makes up not only Mount Rose, but the surrounding mountains.

- So one thing to mention in here is, well, there's a lot of granite here, and this is this 100 million year old granite, and it's like big, old magma chambers that were at the roots of huge volcanoes about 100 million years ago.

What we have exposed today are the magma chambers.

Everything on top has been worn away, eroded away.

- So this has really kind of like been weathered into this sandy aspect then, and that's where this decomposed kind of sandy soil comes in?

- [James] That's right.

The glaciers and the, you know, rain and the snow, et cetera, have eaten away at the granite and created all this.

Granite sort of erodes down into a nice sandy material.

- And that gets into your socks.

- It sure does, (both laughing) yeah.

(upbeat music) - [James] A classic exposure of the granite is El Capitan at Yosemite.

- [Chris] Oh, okay.

- [James] So the walls of Yosemite are formed out of the same kind of granite that we have here, in fact, it's about the same age.

(music continues) (water flowing) - So what are we looking at?

- This little cliff here is an old andesite flow, and by old, not particularly old geologically speaking, probably around seven to 10 million years old, and it's really cool when you look at the andesite flow.

It's usually sort of a gray color, not real dark gray, but just sort of a grayish color, and it's got all of these little white speckles in it, and those are little crystals that solidified when this lava flow cooled when it came out onto the surface, and so the different kinds of crystals in the rock can also tell you a lot about its composition and origin.

And so we can look at this rock and look at those crystals, and understand sort of where it came from, what kind of environment, and actually, this is how we date the rock too, understand its age, and there's radiometric dating we can do of those crystals and understand quite precisely what the age of this is.

- You know, it's really interesting because again, it's just layers of story, so the mountain has a story, each part of the mountain has a story, so then in some ways, each rock does.

- It sure does, yep, and each volcano has a story.

So we're looking at the side of an old volcano here on Mount Rose, and it had an evolution through time, maybe lasted a few hundred thousand years, maybe a million years, and you have all of these lava flows and whatnot stacked up on one another that tells you about how that particular volcano evolved through time.

- [Chris] So I feel like we've come into a different area.

So what are we looking at here, Jim?

- [James] Yeah, we sure have, we sort of have transitioned from the east side of Mount Rose where you have lava flows right on top of that old 100 million year old granite.

But as we move west, we cross some faults.

The faults are down to the west, and so we have some slightly younger strata, slightly younger volcanic flows.

But the more important thing as we transition to the west, we're getting into what is the center of an old stratovolcano.

- [Chris] A series of switchbacks leads us to a final push above the tree line and to initial views of Lake Tahoe below us.

Loose rocks and scree mark the last portion of the hike, but there's a pretty stable trail through it, and we're able to reach our destination, the summit.

(peaceful music) I think we made it.

- We did, we're on top of the world here.

(Chris laughs) - And the view definitely makes you feel like you're on top of the world.

- [James] Yeah, it is fantastic.

You can see down into the Truckee Meadows on one side, Lake Tahoe on the other side.

- [Chris] You know, I always think of Mount Rose as bookending the Truckee Meadows, but it really bookends all kinds of landscapes.

- [James] Another really interesting thing that we can see from the top of Mount Rose here, 'cause as we look off toward to the east toward the mountain ranges toward, let's say, Fernley or Fallon, Nevada, is we're looking out toward a system of faults, and it's kind of like a mini San Andreas fault, so and that system of faults accommodates about 25% of the motion between the Pacific and North American Plates, and that adds up to about one centimeter per year.

So it's kind of cool to look off to the east and realize that Fallon is moving one centimeter to the southeast relative to us.

- Thank you for bringing me up here.

I have learned so much about a mountain I've looked at all the time, and yet I looked at a whole different way today.

- Oh, it's been a pleasure, and it's always fun to just talk about the amazing geology.

Nevada is one of the best places on Earth for geology in so many different ways, and it's been a lot of fun for me as well.

- That's a climb I'm gonna do again and again.

- That, I believe wholeheartedly.

You know, thinking about that Mount Rose Trail and being on this trail makes me appreciative of the trail builders.

And that's another special moment for me was being able to go out and see how the trail builders do what they do and watch 'em get it done.

We have a couple of trail miles ahead of us, and the trail is very pleasant, but that's not our purpose today, so we try to make quick work of it.

(upbeat music) It's only after we get down the trail a bit that we meet up with one of Kristine's trail crews doing repair work.

- [Kristine] They're making a retaining wall to help hold the tread in, 'cause this is really sandy soil, so it erodes pretty quickly, and it's also on a steep side slope, so we're bringing some big rocks in here to help hold the tread back.

- [Dave] This crew is made up almost entirely of volunteers who work extremely hard to keep the trail in shape.

- I was a civil engineer for 25 years of my life and I designed highways, so this is fun, 'cause there, I designed, this, we get to build it.

- I was an administrator for all my life, so I was inside, and I always wanted to be outside.

At least this part of my life, I can be out here working.

- Instead of just being a user on trails, we'll help make those trails happen so that others derive that enjoyment.

- Without maintenance, you don't have the trail.

Just like on your house, your car, anything else, you have to routinely go out there, as it gets used, just go out there and maintain it, so you know, essentially, that's what we're doing.

- We had people go by and say, "Thank you.

This is great improvement to the trail.

We really appreciate what you do," and it's like, well wait a minute, I should be thanking you because if you weren't here hiking, I wouldn't be out here having something to do, and a lot of volunteers feel the same way.

- A lot of people pay for Pilates, and you get it right here for free.

I'm probably in better shape than I was when I was working.

- It's a great way to stay in shape, it's a great way to be outside, and you're taking care of something that's pretty special.

- [Dave] Today, the trail crew is teaming up to do a big job moving large rocks downhill to the trail and positioning them to support areas that are breaking down.

Jim Crompton has been doing this all morning, so he's the perfect guy to teach me how to do it.

- Legs apart, try to keep a low center of gravity, and you know, keep the rock in front of you, and then kind ease it down.

- It's all I can do to ease it down.

This thing is heavy.

(bright music) Sometime later, this is a real workout.

This isn't just rolling rocks down the hill.

(music continues) It's slow going and exhausting.

Eventually, I do manage to get the rock to the bottom.

(music continues) You guys work your butts off.

- [Jim] Good, man.

- One rock, and I'm like, "Where's lunch?"

No lunch yet.

Now we meet crew leader Michelle Edmondson.

She is taking those big rocks and putting them in just the right place.

- Through this section, the rock wall that was originally put in has sloughed off over time, so we're putting in bigger rocks and putting in crush to help stabilize them, and hopefully, they will last 100 years and we won't have to come back and maintain this trail in my lifetime.

- So you can teach me how to help move this rock in?

- Yes.

So this is gonna go right here.

- Got it.

- Slowly kind of rock it forward like this, inch it closer and closer, and as the rock gets closer, sometimes it pushes dirt into the hole- - And we have to stop?

- So we end up, yep, moving it.

(music continues) Okay.

- I'm feeling suspense right now.

(all laughing) - And just watch your hands.

- Yep.

- No fingers.

- Gotcha.

Is this it?

- [Michelle] Yes.

- Over the top?

- [Michelle] Watch your fingers.

- Okay, it's hitting right here.

- [Michelle] Yep, yep, that's where we want it to be hitting.

(music continues) - Is that it?

- Beautiful, yep.

- Is that good?

- Yeah, - It's really good.

- Nice.

- Woo, we did it.

- I did something helpful.

(Michelle laughing) (music continues) Next step is to fill in the gaps with crush, which you make by crushing rocks into smaller rocks.

(tool tapping) - There we go, see, you just smashed a rock.

How fun is that?

- Did you just see that?

I broke a rock.

(bright music) Finally, cover everything with dirt.

- Just really nice and it'll compact really nicely.

See, as you hammer it down, it kind of flattens out?

- [Dave] Yeah.

- Awesome.

- So now when people walk here, they will just see dirt, and the rock will disappear.

- [Dave] That is really cool.

- But the trail won't, because the rock is supporting the trail.

- And you don't even know what you're walking on.

It's all this work that people have done that nobody realizes.

(music continues) You people are amazing, even though I'm for the moment.

(Michelle and Kristine laughing) I say thank you for being out here.

That was rewarding and tough.

Now I'm ready for lunch.

There are a lot of places we've been that we could mention as favorites, including one of mine, which we didn't get to see today, which was the Tripoint Monument Hike outside Cedarville, - You know, and one of my favorite adventures was an amazing journey out at the Toiyabe Crest Trail, and I had a great day at the Center for Adaptive Riding that I'll never forget.

- Unfortunately, we just don't have enough time to show all of these, but that does tell you that it's been a good season.

- You know, we've had a great day today up here exploring the trails outside of Hidden Valley Regional Park.

Truly, pick your own adventure, go as far as you want on the trails, but it's gonna be a great day whenever you get out.

- I enjoyed my introduction today.

Now, for more on this or any of our "Wild Nevadas," you can go to our website at pbsreno.org or watch on the PBS app.

- Until the next "Wild Nevada," we hope that you get to have some Nevada adventures of your own.

See you next time.

- [Dave] So the secret to the beautiful videography of the "Wild Nevada" episode.

- [Cameraman] Yeah, this is how you film.

- [Dave] Okay, stop right there.

You're getting close to the edge.

- [Cameraman] Is there an edge?

- Let me just take your- - Oh my God, look at this.

- [Dave] Hey.

(Chris laughing) - There's a whole world out there.

- [Dave] Who is this guy?

- There's a whole world out there.

(Dave laughing) (bright music) It's a little camera face off.

- Yeah.

(music continues) (both laughing) - [Announcer] Support for PBS Reno and "Wild Nevada" comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Announcer] Travel Nevada helps provide travel inspiration and experiences for those interested in creating their own "Wild Nevada" adventures.

(upbeat music) For more information, visit travelnevada.com.

And by Millie Hopper and Millard Reed, (music continues) Charles and Margaret Burback, Sande Family Foundation, Kristine Perry, Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, June S. Wisham Trust, the Hall Family, Dillard and Meg Myers, Sara and Leonard Lafrance, in memory of Sue McDowell, and by individual members.

(music continues)