Hey - when I said you could have some twizzlers, I didn’t mean the whole bag!
The first segment of our day involved driving about 3.5 hours to get up to the Great Basin National Park in Nevada. We climbed a couple summits and mostly wide open land which were designated as open range territory. This meant watch out for cows because they might decide to cross the two lane road as you are doing 65 miles per hour - and there is no fence to stop them. We also saw similar signs for horses - which led us to wonder if there might be some wild horses on the range. We did spot pronghorn antelope and almost hit some voles scurrying across the highway.
The range has a beauty of its own. While lacking trees, the semi arid landscape has a variety of sage brush and wild flowers. Also, we were always within sight of mountains though they may be some distance away. The road was so straight that with cruise control there wasn’t much to driving the car! We enjoyed being in the wide open spaces of the great American West.
We began our visit to Great Basin at the Visitors Center. We learned that the Great Basin Region encompases all of Nevada, and portions of Utah, California, and Arizona. We began our exploration by driving the Wheeler Mountain Scenic Drive. This was a steady climb to a trailhead over 10,000 feet in elevation. We saw some incredible vistas during this drive. It was snowing in the parking lot at the end of the drive. At 13,063 feet, Wheeler Peek is the highest point in the park. We stopped at the Mather Overlook. We did spot a golden eagle that seemed to just hang in air as the thermals provided the lift he needed to stay aloft.
After our drive up the mountain, we drove three miles down a dirt road to the Baker Creek Trail. This 3 plus mile hike was a strenuous climb given the trail head was already at 8000 feet. We esimated our distance at 1.5 miles in 52 minutes on the way up. This came with plenty of stops to drink water and breathe… We passed a rock field, crossed Baker Creek a couple times, and saw more beautiful mountain wild flowers.
Our final stop in Great Basin was a ranger-led tour through the Lehman Caves. The caves were lit enough so that it was safe to walk, however, you did have to be careful to watch your head on stalagtites which came down from the ceiling while trying to watch where you were stepping. There were times when you had to turn sideways or duck down to get through the openings. We learned how caves are formed and how the various formations are naturally created. This was a unique way to cap off our visit to Great Basin National Park.
We drove the 52 miles to Ely and the first thing we did was find a place to eat. Low and behold we run into Chris, a young man we met at the Mather Overlook at Great Basin… We spent several minutes visiting, then found our hotel and called it a day. Welcome to Nevada!
I admit it was me. I love twizzlers. Really enjoying reading about the adventure you and Teare are taking. The pictures are beautiful.
ReplyDelete