Great Basin National Park – Rest Day
Today I headed into Great Basin National Park to hike Wheeler Peak. It’s the second tallest point in Nevada at 13,064 ft. Gretchen works at the national park as an Ecologist, so I rode with her into the park and then she let me borrow her car to drive up to the trail head. Super nice of her and I was happy to not have to bike the 15 miles and climb the 5000 ft to the trailhead.
I was at the trailhead by 830. The hike started out through an aspen forest.
Eventually the route climbed above the tree line. Wheeler Peak is on the right. The route looked pretty exposed and rocky from here.
I made it to the summit by 11 as some clouds were rolling in. They looked pretty suspicious, but didn’t end up dropping any precipitation except the occasional snowflake. It was pretty cold and windy, but the views were spectacular.
The hike down went pretty quick and I decided to take another trail around a couple of sub-alpine lakes, Stella Lake and Teresa Lake.
After the hike I went back to the house and gathered up a bunch of things to send home. I needed to make some room in my panniers for water, so I sifted through my stuff to shed some of the excessive things I have been carrying. They included a sleeping pad, frisbee, gym shorts, an extra cycling jersey, socks, towel, and a few other small things. The plan is to take Hwy 6 south from Ely, NV and there is a 160 mile stretch to Tonopah where there aren’t any services. From there it’s 75 miles to Boundary Peak, Nevada’s high point, where there aren’t any services either. Needless to say it’s going to be a long couple of days coming up, but I’m excited to knock out some big miles, cross another high point off the list, and finally make it to Yosemite NP!
