After finishing my John Muir Trail thru-hike atop Mt Whitney, I had to hitchhike from the Mt Whitney Portal to Lone Pine, CA, take a bus from Lone Pine to Reno, NV, ride a train from Reno to Sacramento, CA, and finally catch a flight from Sacramento back to Greenville, South Carolina. It was a lot of public transportation and I’m 100% sure I wouldn’t do it that way again.
Apparently, such transportation only runs before lunch out west. Every town I visited along the way required at least one night’s stay in a hotel before I could take the next step on my journey. I was fortunate enough to run into a Reno native while at Red’s Meadow on day 2 of my hike. He recommended some restaurants and other activities while I was in the area.
I took him up on several of his suggestions and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Reno. He told me that if I had time to kill, I’d get a better sense of the city culture by grabbing some food and drinks at several places along the downtown Riverwalk rather than in the outdated casinos. He was right.
The Reno Riverwalk was absolutely gorgeous. I was impressed by the cleanliness and the social nature of the attraction. Too many cities feature elements like this, but maintain a look-but-don’t-touch stance. Not Reno. Locals and visitors alike are welcome to wade, swim, and boat in the shallow river. There’s even a free life jacket kiosk at one end of the park.
If I’d had another day in the area, I would have looked into tubing the river.
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