- This time on "Wild Nevada," join me as I explore how recreation is preserving history in the Carson City area.

- [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.

This program is brought to you in part by the Konner Kent Robison Giving Fund.

100 years of living in 28 years of life.

To give is life's real gift.

- [Announcer 2] And by Millie Hopper and Millard Reed, Kristine Perry, Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, Margaret Burback, in memory of Sue McDowell, Mark and Susan Herron, and by individual members.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - If you know me, you might know that I love a new piece of trail.

And that's what's got me up in the foothills outside of the state capital of Carson City, a new trail project called the Capital to Tahoe Trail.

And to get to this new trail, I've gotta take a well known historic piece of trail just off of the Ash Canyon Road.

The Capital to Tahoe outside of Carson City, Nevada can be accessed from the Ash to Kings Trail System, Spooner Lake State Park, or the Tahoe Rim Trail.

Today, I chose to access it through the Ash to Kings, which was established by the Carson City-based organization, Muscle Powered in 2015.

(light upbeat music) It's a journey just to get to my starting point today.

It's about 2 miles from Ash Canyon to Ash to Kings, and then approximately another 3 miles up to the Capital to Tahoe Trail.

Once I finally make it up, I meet Chelsea Kincheloe and Peter Doenges of Muscle Powered at a spot that is not exactly a trail head.

Where's the trail head?

- Yeah, no, it's a great question.

- That's a great question.

- Because there's not really a trail head, right?

So this connector was always meant to tie into the Ash to Kings Trail and then tie in up to Laxalt.

But Laxalt is a also a very difficult access point.

You really have to like be ready, be prepared to get out and like be just in these very like remote areas for pretty much most of the day.

- Yeah, there's an inherent challenge to users to be here.

It's a fundamental link between Carson City and Lake Tahoe and then onward to PCT, Canada, Mexico.

- This is like the first connector that really ties, like non-motorized users, to the Tahoe Basin area.

- It brings us to the world.

- Yeah.

- There actually was a vision of using three trails in succession to get up to Lake Tahoe.

Ash to King was a part of that.

It provided a connection between the key canyons.

This trail was built off the top of Ash to King to take you to the top.

So we'd exploited existing user trails in places for sustainability.

- So how many miles is Cap to Tahoe?

And how many miles is the whole trail system to get from Carson up to the Tahoe Rim trail?

- Well, the Capital to Tahoe Trail is 9.7 miles.

The segment of Ash to King required to get, you know, up to the base of this thing is about 2.6 miles and Lincoln Bypass about 4.2.

And if you add all those bits together, it's in the 16 plus, I don't know where - [Chris] If a person's gonna come and explore Capital to Tahoe for the first time, what should they prepare for?

- To be in a very remote area of this network?

Bringing enough water, bringing emergency supplies.

So making sure you have like your inReaches, your Garmins.

Ways to communicate, first aid, emergency shelters.

I know all of that seems like extreme, but you know, because you are so high up here, should anything happen, it's hard to access.

- [Chris] I know that today I'm not gonna get to Canada, but I'm really excited to get at least a sample of what's out here.

- [Pete] This trail was started in 2020 on Muscle Powered funds with volunteers and professionals mingling.

And from that year forward, we've always had somebody up here every year to do nominal maintenance just because there's so much tree fall, and occasional stumps rolling onto the trail and other things just happening in nature.

This trail effort really inspired a lot of people in Carson City, from government and the private and nonprofit sectors.

- [Chelsea] When you have community behind something It really takes on a whole different... - [Chris] Whole different... - [Chelsea] Spirit.

- [Pete] We Are so critically reliant on a mob of people down in the city- - [Chelsea] We are- - [Pete] Who help make this work.

There's also a cool aspect of well-executed trails, do you notice this thing called rolling contour?

You know, it's up and down.

- Oh yeah- - [Pete] It's and out the terrain.

- [Chris] I was just gonna say, you can really see why it would be nice on a bike, because it does have that nice rolling.

- It's fun for riders, but also localizes water drainage so you don't get long ruts.

So there's always sustainability and... - [Chelsea] At the forefront, yeah.

- [Pete] And saving the trail in the background.

Well Chris, this incredible vista that we're walking up on here is across private land and shows the entire Eagle View Valley.

- [Chris] Wow.

- [Chelsea] Yeah, you can see all... - [Chris] Oh, yeah.

- Prison Hill, the backside of C-Hill and the beginning of the Lincoln Bypass Trail, way down below, this trail was a 25 year dream of a guy we consider the father of trails, with Muscle Powered back in the late 1990s.

And he and other enthusiasts had been walking this hillside for probably a couple of decades.

- [Chris] And they were daydreaming about a trail just like this- - Daydreaming about this whole thing.

And then they were at computer terminals tinkering around with contour lines, and control points, and grades, and well, well maybe here, maybe not there.

That takes years.

And it's just a, a bunch of dreamers just out walking and and planning.

They make an overture to users of the community.

Do you want it?

After that, you have to get the land managers on board, and get their permission.

Much of it is government, and they're under NEPA rules, National Environmental Protection Act and all of the cultural and environmental surveys and inventories to protect the land in the planning of the trail.

And that process of just getting permission and getting inventories and getting opinions from land managers that says, "Go, shovel ready," can take five to 10 years.

- And it's also helpful that Muscle Powered carries like a weighted name within our community, because we have been working with these land managers for so long.

Like when we come to them with this like crazy idea of like, let's connect Ash to Kings up to the Sierras, you know, they're like, "Yeah, okay, we're behind you on this."

- [Chris] The view of the Carson Valley is beautiful up here.

- [Chelsea] Exactly.

- [Pete] Yeah, we're only about a mile and a half up from where this begins on the top of Ash to Kings, but it's a sprawling panorama here.

- There's so many people in the community that can take pride in knowing that you're having that experience.

- Yeah.

- We've got the, the whole Nevada State Park staff who run the RTP program.

We've got Visit Carson City who's promoting rec tourism.

We've got archeologists and naturalists, you know, worrying about the surveys.

We've got map makers, icon builders, you know, and it just goes on and on.

- [Chris] So if you're an enthusiast of this trail and you wanna get involved, there's still a role for you?

- [Peter] Oh, yes - [Chelsea] Oh, absolutely.

- As someone who has some ownership on the trail, what would you tell the person that's coming out just for the day experience?

Stay on the trail (chuckles).

- Be mindful.

- Be mindful, slow down for others.

Connect with what's there, don't just fly by like it's a freeway.

Sit down occasionally, reflect, this trail is a place of massive peace.

Every trail has its mystique or its its signature.

And there's, you know, for those of us that are invested in this thing, it's magical.

- As we continue up the Capitol to Tahoe Trail, we get to sample more of the breathtaking views and scenery.

It is truly magical how this trail provides access to a beautiful and remote part of the Carson area.

- There's so much personality written over all this terrain and these views, the history that whispers behind us.

- We really don't get to see Carson like this from down there.

And just getting up here is like this amazing bird's eye view.

- [Chris] It's amazing to be able to open up this landscape for people to visit.

- [Pete] Yeah.

- Mm-hmm.

We have 25 to 50 year maintenance agreements with our partners, with the land managers.

And so now, it's on us to make sure that their brush is not encroaching on the trail.

- [Pete] That's right.

- [Chelsea] That there's no down trees.

And so this is where our volunteer groups really come into play is because we're always looking for people to come up and help us- - [Peter] Yeah.

- [Chelsea] With the maintenance on these trails, - Not far from the Capitol to Tahoe Trail, and accessed by the Ash Canyon Road is Hobart Reservoir, located at an elevation of over 7,600 feet, the reservoir is often only accessible in the late spring and summer due to snow.

There are a couple of ways to get to the reservoir, Ash Canyon Road is a single lane dirt road that is only accessible depending on winter conditions.

But instead of off-roading, I chose to hike the Lakeview Hobart Loop Trail, which is a maintained but challenging route that offers amazing views of Washoe Lake and the Washoe and Carson Valleys below.

(tranquil music) Hobart Reservoir was created by a dam that was completed in 1877, which was then rebuilt in 1956 following a washout.

The reservoir was originally built to support the milling and logging in the area.

Now, the reservoir supports the water system in Carson City, and stays well stocked with trout by the Nevada Department of Wildlife, making it a favorite fishing spot for many in the area.

(tranquil music) I meet Jan Nemec of the Nevada Department of Wildlife to learn more about the reservoir and the fishing it offers today.

What kind of fish are we going for today?

- Primarily, this is gonna be brook trout.

They're the trout that are self populating, but we also have tiger trout as well as rainbow trout.

Fishing season opens in the spring, and it does close down in the fall.

We don't allow motorized vehicles, because it is a water source.

So there are limitations to what you can bring up here and use up here.

Plus the water company keeps tabs on the water quality.

We encourage boats, and a lot of times the fishing can be more productive from a boat.

So whether it's a float tube or kayak, a lot of those anglers are bringing boats down from the Ash Canyon access.

So whatever you can haul down here (laughs).

- Or hike up here (laughs).

- Hike up, yes.

- [Chris] So do you think I'm gonna have any luck today?

- I think so, absolutely.

- You wanna show me how to do it?

- I would love to.

- (laughs) Let's go.

Luckily for me, Jan is not only the Nevada Department of Wildlife Angler Education Coordinator, but an experienced fly fishing guide, published fly fishing guide author, and a trademarked fly tyer.

With a teacher like that giving me advice, how can I not catch something today?

- The fish are definitely eating subsurface.

We want to fish where the fish are eating.

So we have a wet fly, or fly that sinks.

- Okay.

- We're gonna watch for it to kind of dive, or twitch, or do anything out of the ordinary.

When you see that, the end of your line twitch, do anything funny at all, because of how small and how sharp the hook is, it really only takes lifting the rod real quick.

(tranquil music) With the traditional spinning rod, when you make one turn of the reel, one turn actually wraps about six times around.

So with the spinning rod, it comes in really, really quick.

With the fly rod, you're one-to-one.

So it can be really hard, especially if the fish is swimming at you to keep up with them with the flywheel.

So what you'll do is you'll reach behind here.

- Okay.

- And you're just gonna bring the line in as quick as you can.

- Oh, like this?

- Yep, exactly.

- Okay.

And that's called stripping the line.

When you're fishing with a spinning rod, typically the rod is up a little bit, I call it fishing position.

You always want your rod tip almost down on the water.

Okay, so now the casting lesson.

- [Chris] Okay.

- And then we'll be ready to put 'em together.

Our cast is going to be a roll cast, bringing the rod almost up to, it's not completely vertical, it's just off your body a little bit.

- [Chris] Okay.

- So it keeps the line kind of away from you, and then we're just going to flip it out.

That's it.

So our roll cast, again, we just come up to about a vertical position, and then flip it out.

And all I'm doing is watching that, the end of the line, manipulating the fly a little bit by bringing it in from behind your hand.

Yep, you got it.

You walk up to the water like this, you'll peel the line off that you're gonna be using.

So I've got kind of a good wad here in the water, and you have to somehow pull that line from your wad out to the rod tip.

The best way I've got to do that is I just drop a little bit of line on the water and then I'm gonna sweep the rod back and forth, and I let go of the line.

So it's gonna go just like that - And it leads it out.

- Yep, it'll pull it out, and then we can come up, vertical rod, and do that roll cast forward.

- Okay.

- We'll bring it in, and then once you get to about here, we'll just do the same thing over again.

Sweep back and forth, and make that roll cast.

(tranquil music) - [Chris] That seems like a lot to remember, but Jan makes it seem doable.

So let's see how I do with the fly rod in hand.

- The perfect roll cast would be just like if you had a potato on the end of a fork.

So you stick the potato in the fork, and to throw that potato out to where that fish is rising, you don't do a solid motion, because the potato would end up landing at your feet.

You're actually going to- - Project it - Flip, yep.

So there's a stop, and it's that stop that actually pushes the line out.

Flip it forward.

That's it, bingo.

- [Chris] I did it!

- So rod tip down, so do the sweep.

- [Chris] The sweep is fun.

- [Jan] The sweep is definitely fun.

- [Chris] There is a real science and art to fly fishing, and I'm not sure that I have it all down yet, but with great coaching and a setting as pretty as Hobart Reservoir, it's easy to catch Jan's enthusiasm for the sport.

- [Jan] Pause, pause, pause, pause, pause.

Oh, nice.

(tranquil music) Oh, yeah!

- Yes!

Oh, I got him, I got him.

Oh, come on, come on, buddy, come on buddy.

- Oh, my gosh, - Woo hoo hoo, look at him.

- Oh, my god, oh, my God.

If you were gonna catch one fish in this lake, this was the one.

(Chris laughing) Big tiger trout.

- Woo hoo.

♪ I caught a fish.

I caught a fish ♪ I'm so proud of myself, tell him.

- Nicely done.

- So... - Okay... - How big is he, do you think?

- It, anywhere to 16 inches.

- [Chris] Nice.

- So I'm just gonna pick him up, and give one of those.

- Look at that.

- You can drop him in the water.

- Okay, buddy, swim for me.

Oh, he's waking up.

- All right, there we go.

- Oh, there he goes.

- There we go.

- Bye buddy.

- And he is off.

- I think I'm addicted.

I think this is a lot of fun.

- I have done my job.

- Still giddy for my great catch.

It's time for me to head from the blue waters and skies of Hobart Reservoir to another recreation destination in the area.

This one is affectionately known to many as just The Sky.

Sky Tavern is just a few miles up State Route 431 on Mount Rose.

And after 75 years, is a multi-generational tradition, providing exceptional outdoor opportunities in both the winter and the summer.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) As the snow is still melting off the slopes and the trails are getting clear, I meet with Michael Oehlert at Sky Tavern to learn more.

What is the magic of Sky Tavern?

- We tout ourselves as the largest non-profit ski area in the country.

We really try to focus on families.

Several people like to say, skiing's one of the sports you can do as a family for your whole life.

You can see out here, we'll have three or four generations even, skiing, from little four-year olds with their parents, grandparents, even occasionally great grandparents, all enjoying the slopes.

Our big flagship programs is Junior Ski, which is teaching the kids to ski in the winter.

So we have lessons from starting at four years old all the way up to adult.

Gets you enjoying the beautiful Nevada Mountains.

Part of our goal is to use the property all year long.

All summer, we'll have lessons of introductory biking, intermediate biking.

We have a couple of Black Diamond trails for us that are fun, challenging, you know, jumps all in through the mountains.

Starting it up at the summit, coming all the way down.

We have an adaptive flow trail.

People who need more assistance, or people on trikes, a little bit wider trail and the flow allows you to be safe, but yet have a fun mountain biking experience.

- [Chris] Not only is skiing for all ages, but mountain biking for all levels?

- [Michael] That is correct, that's our whole goal.

- [Chris] Sky Tavern isn't just a non-profit run resort.

It's the oldest non-profit ski and snowboard training facility in America.

And with 150 acres and 900 vertical feet of alpine forest, there's a lot of Sky Tavern to explore.

Today, Mike shows me just a sampling as we head across the meadow at the base of the mountain - Sky Tavern was one of the first ski areas in Nevada that was open to the public back in the 1930s.

The original ski area operated from the 30s to the 60s.

After World War II, there was a big explosion in skiing in the Sierras.

In the early 60s, mid 60s, City of Reno purchased the ski area, and they started operating as a rec program, baseball, or swimming, or any other rec programs you see in the city.

Well, in the 90s, the city decided didn't wanna run a ski area anymore, and they put it out, and a non-profit took over running it.

So I work for the non-profit here, and we've been operating the ski area since the early 90s.

I'm a Nevada native, and I learned to ski here, and have been part of the program ever since.

- [Chris] What if I'm a boarder?

What if I wanna learn how to snowboard?

- [Michael] Oh, totally, right there with the skiers, we have a freestyle team that competes in boarding, terrain park jumps, plus free carving out in the powder and the trees.

- You encourage the families to be involved in the program, and really involved in the kids learning, don't you?

- Correct, our big program, the Junior Ski Program.

So when you're four to six years old, you swap parents.

We teach the parents how to be instructors, and so they then take out someone else's little kid, teach them how to ski.

It's one-on-one instruction with a parent.

We found it really good for instruction ski-wise, you don't teach your own child, or board-wise either way.

It's all about volunteers.

So our ski instructors are all volunteers.

People park you in the parking lot, people cooking your lunch, people monitoring the lodge.

So we're a very small staff here, compared to the rest of the ski areas around.

And we're very unique in that way.

- [Chris] Sky Tavern has become more than just a winter destination in recent years.

With miles and miles of world-class mountain biking trails running throughout the resort and the adjacent wilderness area, Sky Tavern has become a favorite mountain biking destination.

Mike and I take a ride up from the lodge to check out some of the trails.

- We're in the upper area of our beginner terrain, and this is one of the sections where we have three bike trails come together to start into the meadow.

So over here to my right, it's kinda have a upper beginner trail.

You see, it's nice gentle rolling bumps, getting you introduced, but still fun terrain.

Behind me is this dropdown right here coming off the mountain, that's more advanced terrain, - [Chris] Something for everybody, right?

- It is.

Biking takes a huge amount of volunteers.

We just had guys up this last weekend, shoveling snow off the trail for our opening weekend.

And then in winter too, we have volunteers come up, help winterize the trails and get ready for the trails to go dormant.

We're looking to put another lift in from somewhere down below us to right here where we're standing, to utilize this terrain more.

Same thing with biking, we're looking to expand biking.

We're also always looking to expand.

What's another program that will fit well here at the ski area?

- While the ski season is over during my visit, I can't resist the chance to enjoy at least one ride up on the chairlift.

From here, it's a great way to appreciate the beauty and the views that Sky Tavern offers to visitors, whether on skis, or on wheels.

(tranquil music) Not far from Sky Tavern, at Davis Creek Regional Park, I find myself following the sounds of horns among the pine trees.

(upbeat alphorn music) (Chris clapping hands) Nicely done.

As the players take a break, I meet Brandi and Lindsay Jones of the Sierra Alphorn Society.

I followed my ears, and I found you guys.

So what are you doing on the trail head playing horns?

- Well, back in 2019, we went to the North American Alphorn Retreat, it's an annual event.

We actually have a brass shop in Carson City, and we restore vintage instruments, primarily French horns, because before Alphorn, that was my love.

So I was on vacation, we went out to the alphorn retreat with a couple of other French horn players.

We fell in love with the horns, so we bought some horns, came back and started a local group.

And this is pretty much our only outlet for playing.

- I'm really curious how that conversation must have gone.

Like, "Do you wanna buy a horn?"

"Do you want, how big a horn should we buy?"

(Brandi and Lindsey laughing) - Do I need a semi-truck to transport this thing?

- Were you musicians to begin with?

- Yes, we were both already musicians.

We actually met in high school marching band.

She was a clarinet player and I was a trombone player.

The history of the horns is, well, we don't exactly know because it hasn't been well documented, but there are writings mostly of people on vacation all the way back into the Roman days.

Talking about just shepherds up in the Dolomites, the Alps, other mountains in that region, just with horns.

And it seems that the horns were used to help herd the cattle.

In this country, Swiss people came over when all of the ski resorts in this country started setting up their chairlifts and their gondolas.

So the Swiss had expertise in that.

So they brought in Swiss experts who then often would stay and become ski instructors.

And so in this country, it's gotten really tied in with skiing and ski culture.

And then more recently, with October Fest culture.

- So we have a couple of horns here with us today that we built from trees and branches we collected in the mountains up behind our shop in Carson City.

So they're both made from incense cedar.

- Our passion is really getting the horns out into nature, and playing just for fun.

Not so much playing at gigs, we just wanna get more people to play the horn mainly.

I mean, there are so outlets for us as adults to learn a musical instrument, 'cause it's hard, and because so many community bands and things, they expect a certain level of competence before you can even join.

We don't have any expectations that way, you can join our group having never played a musical instrument before.

- I qualify for that.

- [Lindsy] Oh, yeah, yeah.

- Because I have never successfully played a musical instrument.

(Brandi, Lindsey, and Chris laugh) Well, I'm excited to join the rehearsal.

- Yeah.

- All right, should we go?

- Yeah, let's go.

- Let's go.

- These are mouthpieces that we've made, and these are kind of to the extremes of the different sizes, but let's just give you one of each, and see what you can produce a buzz on.

(Chris laughs) So what you do is you put your lips together and you go, (blows and sputters) can you do that?

Not on the mouthpiece first... (Chris blows and sputters) Like that.

Now you put the mouthpiece up.

(Lindsey blows) (Chris blows) There we go.

Now you put it into a horn and you see what note comes out the other end of the horn.

- [Chris] Okay.

(horn blowing) - [Lindsey] There, yeah, there we go.

(Chris laughs) Starting on the high notes.

- [Chris] Okay, one more time.

(horn blowing) - Those three notes you just played are the beginning to one of the most famous Alphorn songs in Switzerland.

- [Chris] Hey!

- [Lindsey] It's called "Hoch Auf Dem Berg".

(horn blowing) - [Brandi] That's excellent, genuinely.

(musicians clapping) (upbeat alphorn music) - That's all I have time for, for this trip.

But it's been so much fun getting to learn some new and historic recreational opportunities in the area.

And when you have an adventure that has a soundtrack like this, you know it was epic.

To learn more about this episode or any of the "Wild Nevada" shows, visit our website at pbsreno.org, or stream us with the PBS app.

Until my next wild Nevada adventure, I hope you have some Nevada adventures of your own - [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.

This program is brought to you in part by the Konner Kent Robison Giving Fund.

100 years of living in 28 years of life.

To give is life's real gift.

- [Announcer 2] And by Millie Hopper and Millard Reed, Kristine Perry, Thelma B and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, Margaret Burback.

in memory of Sue McDowell.

Mark and Susan Herron.

And by individual members.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues)