Get outdoors! Hiking the Mexican Ditch Trail

To find this little gem of a park take Carson River Road south from Fifth Street. Just before you cross Lloyds Bridge over Carson River you will see the entrance to the park on the right.

There are a couple of little known amenities in this park. You'll find a ramp for launching canoes, kayaks, and rafts. If you follow the path from the parking lot along the river you will also find a couple of picnic tables.

By following the larger walk/bike way, you will shortly come upon a large concrete abutment with railing for fishing in the river.

There are regulations regarding fishing, and there is some concern regarding mercury and other pollutants in the river. So before you drop that line, go to the Nevada Department of Wildlife Web site, www.ndow.org, to get all the information that you need.

Continuing on along the walk/bike path you will encounter two gates. These are what we used to call "leg grabbers" when we were kids.

They are barbed wire with tree branches woven in. The end branch is set in a wire loop attached to the fence with another wire loop that fits over the top of the end branch.

The easiest way to deal with these is to disconnect the top of the end branch, lift the bottom out of the loop and lay the gate on the ground. Do be sure to close the gate each time that you go through it. These are functional and purposeful gates.

You will eventually connect up with the Mexican Ditch Trail that comes down from the Silver Saddle and the rest of your walk will follow that. If I haven't mentioned it before, there is one area where you have to make a decision, the official Mexican Ditch Trail will dip down to the level of the river and cross over a side ditch that spills water from the Mexican Ditch back into the river. This portion can get a bit wet at times.

The other option means crossing over the side spillway on a couple of boards. Either option will get you where you're going, to the dam.

Overall, this path offers more shade then coming down from Silver Saddle Ranch, so you might find it a bit more inviting on a hot summer day. One word of warning though, the last two times I was there the mosquitoes were pretty vicious, so remember the bug spray along with the sunscreen.

If you are interested in joining some of our walks please feel free to contact me.

• Donna Inversin is walk leader for Muscle-Powered, www.musclepowered.wordpress.com, and co-chairwoman for special events for We Can. She can be reached at (775) 315-6763