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 Onion Reservoir Vacation with Brent (son) and Tyson (grandson), 2008

Good day folks!  This summer's vacation Rick (that's me) decided to take his son (Brent) and his grandson (Tyson) on an ATV and hiking adventure.  The place chosen wasn't too far from Winnemucca, Nevada - Onion and Blue Lakes.  It's actually less than 100 miles away.  However, out of the four hours of total travel time, it takes 2.5 hours to make the last 18.4 miles of the trek. Let's see, that would be 7.34 MPH for the last 18.4 miles.  A person can almost walk that fast.  But we traveled with a fully loaded cab-over camper and an ATV trailer in tow.  The road was treacherous to say the least. Rock-to-rock low-range 4-wheel drive and steep climbs left canned food strewn about the floor of the camper. In the end it was worth it.  Onion Reservoir (which was lower than usual this year) is shown here with a beautiful meadow climbing out of the water front. 
The next morning we set out for an all-day ATV ride.  First, we traveled above Onion Reservoir to Upper Onion Lake.   I had never seen this lake before and it was an amazing view.
This is a zoomed picture of Upper Onion Lake.  The reflection off the lake was added to the already-spectacular view. 
"Let's go Grandpa; can I drive," Tyson asked?  
The road beyond Upper Onion Lake continued for another 4 miles or so.  If you zoom in on this picture you can see just barely see Brent about 400 yards away.  This rugged rocky area is where cougars might hang out, so we decided to ride closer together after I explained the cougar thing.
There were many aspen groves along the way and the little two-track road cut through the middle of some of them. 
I wonder if any of these valleys are for sale?  I mean, a person could put up a fence, graze some cattle, build a log cabin; or, we can more simply travel to the valleys and take in the views.  Beautiful views shouldn't include too much hard work anyway. 
This little stream is one of the many that flow into Upper Onion Lake and Tyson was performing more of his rock-to-rock travel techniques in this picture. 
This is another picture of the stream in the above photo.  
Brent was the wood hauler for this trip.  I think I heard him say, "there's no more room", or, "where will I sit?"
Back at camp again, where we had quite the view of Onion Reservoir.  The reflection of the mountains off the water is really cool looking.  We also rode down to Knott Creek Reservoir this day, which tallied up about 28 miles on the ATV's. 
The next morning we left for Blue Lake.  The hike into Blue Lake isn't far.  I've heard it is about 1/3 mile, but it feels more like 3/4 mile by the time you get to the lake front.
Blue Lake isn't completely full, but I have seen it much lower.  There were oodles of small trout in the 2-3" range.  I caught a couple 3" trout and released them without hurting them.  I caught them on a white rooster-tail.  Brent and Tyson didn't catch anything and I think they got bored quickly.   
So, we decided to walk around the lake.  I would encourage anyone who is able to take the hike around the lake.  Blue Lake is really clear and we didn't have much wind so the reflection off the water was neat. 
Ah, yes!  Lunch time.  We had kipper snacks, rice-crispy treats, jerky, and water. 
The following pictures are taken from our hike around the lake. 
Good reflection here.
This trout would probably measure about 14".  We saw about a dozen of these monsters swimming around the lake looking for food off the surface. 
Break time.  The shade was nice and there was plenty of it. 

This completed our Blue Lake trip.  We went back to camp and goofed around on the roads on the ATV's. 

The next day we decided to take the Knott Creek road and go all the way through to the main road south of Knott Creek.  Then we headed north on the main road in the valley and came back the west entrance to Onion Reservoir.
There were some wild burro's just north of Knott Creek Ranch.  We stopped for a picture and some water. 
The trip through Knott Creek Reservoir and around on the main road to the west entrance to Onion Reservoir was 38 miles.  We were a little worn down by the time we got back to camp. 
Tyson is carving something out of a stick here. 
And, Brent is also carving something. 
Obi-Wan Canobie is no match for Darth Vader.  Un-guard! 

We were gone for 5 days and we had a blast.  Maybe we can do this again next year???