Above Fieldcreek This Fall: What Changes on the Thomas Creek and Whites Creek Trails After October 31

Between August 10 and January 1, Nevada's mule deer calendar for the North Carson Range has exactly one gap. It runs from October 5 through November 4, and we're in it now. The Carson Ranger District's Stage 1 fire restrictions are set to expire inside that same gap, on October 31. Five days later, rifle season opens on the slopes behind southwest Reno. By the end of November, Whites Creek Trailhead reaches the end of its listed season of use, and Thomas Creek Trailhead stays open as the year-round way into these foothills.

Three different agencies set those dates, each on its own schedule.

Three calendars on one stretch of foothills

The Thomas Creek, Whites Creek and Dry Pond trails cross both Forest Service and Washoe County land. Washoe County Parks lists the Whites Creek and Thomas Creek trailheads off Timberline Drive and says it manages them under a memorandum of understanding with the Forest Service. The Nevada Department of Wildlife sets the hunting seasons on top of that. Here's how the dates fall this fall:

These rows overlap. The fire order ends during the hunting gap, the rifle season starts while Whites Creek is still in its listed season, and archery picks up the day after rifle season closes.

October 31: the fire order runs out

Stage 1 fire restrictions have covered the Carson Ranger District since June 29, 2026, under Forest Service order 04-17-01-26-04, and the alert lists October 31, 2026 as its end date. On National Forest System land in the district, the order has prohibited fires, campfires and stove fires, explosives, smoking outside an enclosed vehicle or building, open-flame welding or torches, and running chainsaws or other engine-powered equipment between 1 p.m. and 1 a.m. It also lists exemptions. Portable stoves that burn gas, jellied petroleum or pressurized liquid fuel are allowed, and so are campfires in the fire pits or grills provided at developed recreation sites. Smoking is allowed while stopped in a spot at least three feet across that's clear of anything flammable.

The Humboldt-Toiyabe alerts page lists the orders currently in effect, so it's the place to check the morning of a hike.

The other closure ending October 31 isn't on these trails. The Hawk Fire area closure covers National Forest land in the Peavine area. It took effect August 22 at 7 p.m. and is set to run until 12:01 p.m. on October 31 unless the Forest Service lifts it sooner. Washoe County's August 23 daily update on the Hawk Fire placed its origin off Hawk Meadow Trail, about a mile north of Cold Creek Trail in the Somersett area, northwest of Reno. The trails behind southwest Reno are far from that closure.

November 5: rifle season comes back to Unit 194

NDOW calls Unit 194 the North Carson Range. Its hunt unit information sheet describes access to the Mount Rose Wilderness and Mount Rose Highway and places deer along the range's eastern flank above the Truckee Meadows. On NDOW's hunt unit map, Unit 194 is the part of Washoe County, Douglas County and Carson City that lies north of U.S. 50, west of U.S. 395 and south of Interstate 80. The Thomas Creek and Whites Creek trailheads fall within those lines.

Laid out in order, the 2026–2027 resident antlered mule deer seasons for Units 194 and 196 explain this month's quiet stretch:

• Early archery: August 10 to September 9
• Muzzleloader: September 10 to October 4
• Any legal weapon: November 5 to November 30
• Late archery: December 1 to January 1

The early seasons run back to back from August 10 through October 4, and late archery starts the day after rifle season ends. The only gap in that span is the 31 days from October 5 through November 4. The schedule covers mule deer specifically, so NDOW's own pages are the place to check other species and the full rules.

Whites Creek winds down while Thomas Creek stays open

The two main trailheads above southwest Reno run on different calendars. The Forest Service lists Thomas Creek Trailhead as open 24 hours and usable January through December. It's reached from Mt. Rose Highway by way of North Timberline Drive and has no fee and a vault toilet, but no potable water. It's also an access point for the Mount Rose Wilderness.

Whites Creek Trailhead is reached from Timberline Drive on Forest Road 41047. Its listed season of use is May through November, and it has a vault toilet and no potable water. Both Forest Service pages were last updated in August 2025, so the listed seasons and amenities could have changed since.

You can walk both drainages without moving the car, because the trails connect:

1. Start at either trailhead off Timberline Drive.
2. Take the Dry Pond Trail, which runs 2.1 miles between the Whites Creek and Thomas Creek trails and makes a loop possible from either end.
3. On the Whites Creek side, the 1.8-mile Whites Creek Trail links to the Jones/Whites Creek Loop as well as to Thomas Creek.

Once Whites Creek's listed season ends after November, the Dry Pond loop still starts from Thomas Creek, the trailhead the Forest Service lists for all 12 months.

The leash rule stays the same all year

Seasons open and close, but one rule at these trailheads doesn't change. At both Thomas Creek and Whites Creek, dogs must be leashed at the trailhead and for the first mile.

The County explains why. In partnership with the Forest Service, Borda Land and Sheep Company donates annual sheep grazing in the Arrowcreek Open Space to cut back fine fuels and weeds, on the Ballardini Ranch, Thomas Creek and Whites Creek trails across both County and Forest Service land. Washoe County Parks asks trail users in the Arrowcreek area to keep dogs leashed so the program can continue. The grazing usually runs April through July, so the sheep are gone by fall. The fuel reduction they do in spring is part of how these slopes get through a fire season like the one ending this month.

South along the Sierra Front

Thomas Creek Trailhead is also the northern end of the County's longer foothill route. Washoe County Regional Parks finished the first segment of the Sierra Front Trail, about 3.5 miles of new trail from Thomas Creek Trailhead to Ballardini Ranch Trailhead, in June 2022. One older County directory entry still calls that connection proposed. The County's project page describes it as built.

The next section would run from Ballardini Ranch to the Michael D. Thompson Trailhead. According to the County's in-progress projects page, planning is complete, and the Forest Service issued a Decision Memo in 2025 for about 13.1 miles of new trail. The County received Recreation Trails Program grant funding for 7.7 of those miles, from the Michael D. Thompson Trailhead to the point where the route crosses Hunter Lake Road. That page lists construction as "anticipated to begin in Summer 2026." The funded section is at the far end of the route from Thomas Creek. For now, the walkable Sierra Front from Thomas Creek Trailhead still ends at Ballardini Ranch.

This post is general information about the posted fire orders and hunting seasons, not legal advice. Before you head out, please confirm the current rules with the Forest Service and NDOW.

If you're thinking about which part of southwest Reno puts you closest to trailheads like Thomas Creek, I'd love to walk through it with you. Let's Connect with Dyan Chapman.