September 13-14 Dani and I headed to Great Basin NP for the weekend, after being turned away by torrential rains in early September. The park showed the signs of the torrential rains that had been falling for most of the past month, and we were treated to some afternoon thunderstorms the first day that flooded our tent.
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| So we moved to this camp site where it was a little drier. |
We arrived on a Saturday and did the "Lodgepole Room" cave tour. Highly recommend the cave tour. It was not Guatemala cave tour, but the formations were incredible.
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| Stella lake looking south @ Wheeler |
On Sunday we planned to hike Wheeler Peak. The highest point in Nevada? @ just over 13k. I had never been over 13k in my life. Fortunately the rains cleared as expected and we had beautiful conditions.
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| Dani walking into the clouds. |
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| Summit Pic |
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| We have to come back here and do a traverse. |
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| We were in the clouds and there was no wind. |
Great Basin is a "Dark Sky" NP, meaning they have very little light pollution. We attended a nightly astronomy show, but unfortunately it was a full moon weekend.
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| We were just up there. |
Overall a great trip. One of the best NPs in my opinion and very under the radar. The parks landscape is representative of Utah's desert mountain ranges, and its nice to see that recognized by NP designation. The park reminded me a lot of the Stansbury's but larger and more expansive alpine terrain.
