The Summit! With some amount of spontaneity we decided to take advantage of the 4th of July weekend by taking a couple of extra days off and going to visit Great Basin National Park.  The packing and preparation for the trip didn't start until 10pm the night before, so it was a late night.  But it was so worth it. 

The morning of my birthday we finished the prep, Lee showered me with presents and then we hit the road.  The drive to Great Basin is a long one.   We didn't pull into our campsite until nearly 10pm.  Lehman Caves That made for a very late dinner.   The following morning we awoke to be pleasantly surprised by how much we liked our campsite.  It was quiet and shaded with easy access to water.  Great Basin isn't really on the road to anywhere - and we loved that as a result there weren't any crowds - anywhere. 

 That first morning we had reservations for a 90 minute tour of Bristlecone Trees Lehman Caves.   We haven't been in many caves so we don't have much to compare it to - but we were impressed.  The caves and the formations were really quite cool and we got to wander into several tunnels and rooms.  It spurred in us the desire to get to Carlsbad Caverns and Mammoth Cave National Parks.   After the caves we drove the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive.  Teresa Lake It's a 10 mile road that gains 3,000 feet in elevation with several look out points of the mountains and Wheeler Peak.  We stopped for lunch at the top and then decided to do a shorter (less than 5 miles) hike to visit the Bristlecone Pine Trees and complete the Alpine Lakes Loop.   The Bristlecone trees were impressive.  We saw trees that are over 3,000 years old and still living!  It was a little hard to comprehend.  The Lakes Loop held some surprise little gems.  Flowing into Teresa Lake was a beautiful little stream lined with blooming wildflowers.  The source of that stream was a natural spring that just popped out of the base of the nearby mountain.  We tried to capture its beauty in pictures but couldn't do it justice.  We think it's the most picturesque and beautiful stream we have ever seen.

Birthday Brownies After our hike we headed back to camp where we napped, made a delicious dinner (and baked birthday brownies in our awesome camp oven), played games and watched the stars come out while hanging in the hammock.  After the moon set around 11:30pm we drove up to one of the lookout points for stargazing.    Great Basin National Park is supposedly one of the best Milky Way places to see stars in the country.  It's in the middle of nowhere!  They say that half the park is seeing the park at night.  It was incredible.  There were so many stars it was almost difficult to make out the different constellations.  And the Milky Way truly was milky and breathtaking.  One of the highlights of the park for sure.

 When we didn't get to bed until 2am we had to rethink the plans for the next day.  We had originally thought we would car camp the first two nights and then keep our campsite but hike to the trailhead for an overnight trip.  But after our late night and how much we were enjoying our campsite, we found ourselves open to other ideas.  Views of the summit We awoke on the 4th of July to incredibly clear and sunny skies.  The park rangers recommended that on days like that, to summit Wheeler Peak is pretty amazing.  So after brunch of bacon and eggs at 11am, we headed back up the mountain to the trailhead.  The trail started around 10,000 feet (my sea level living REALLY made things difficult) and ended at 13,063.  Wheeler Peak is the second tallest mountain in Nevada, second only to Boundary Peak by 77 feet.  The first 2.5 miles were pretty easy going.  But that last 1.5 - 2 miles was brutal.  Pretty much straight up the ridge.  The views from the top were worth it though.  You could see for miles.  The trip down was almost as rough as the way up and we were happy to get back to the car.    We returned to our campsite, relaxed in the hammock and ate before turning into bed at a reasonable hour. 

Meadow along Baker Creek Trail Saturday we decided to hike part of the route we would have backpacked had we done the over-nighter.  We started on the South Fork of the Baker Creek Trail and finished the loop by way of the Timber Creek Trail.  There were some steep parts here too, but having to climb only 2,000 feet topping out at 9,800 felt like a breeze after Wheeler Peak.  The meadows were beautiful and as the summer storm clouds blew in with some thunder and rain, we were especially grateful for our perfectly clear and sunny conditions the day before. 

Once our hike ended, we soaked up some final hammock time before packing up and heading out.  Although we could have stayed Saturday night, we opted to minimize the amount of time we spent in the car by getting as far as Reno that night.  It made our return to the Bay Area on the Sunday of the 4th of July weekend tolerable. 

We really enjoyed Great Basin National Park and are so glad that we went.  I'm sure we will feel behind for awhile, but we decided it was worth it.  20 parks down.  49  more to go!  Photos are here.