Great Basin NP

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.

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.

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.

Dani walking into the clouds.

Summit Pic

We have to come back here and do a traverse.

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.

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.

LCC Beatout

Last Saturday we (Matt, Dani, and I) did some light hiking in Little Cottonwood Canyon.  The goal was to do the Pfeifferhorn and continue west along the ridge to explore either Lone Peak or Thunder Ridge, which is home to the famous Hypodermic Needle.  I would also like to mention Joe, who gave us a wonderfully detailed description of Wasatch geology on our way up.  

Matt looking down on White Pine Lake.

Looking WNW from the Pfeifferhorn summit.

Scramblin' Dani

Me with Box Elder to the south.

Once we got to the southern portion of the Thunder Ridge, we decided to drop down into Thunder Bowl and hike out of Bell Canyon.  Unfortunately, this would involve hours of boulder hopping and me loosing my Garmin bike computer, but we did get to see mountain goats and wild flowers.  

Have to look close, they're kind of hard to see.

Dani in some flowers.

Deseret Peak Twin Couloirs

As the ski season was winding down, I decided the Twin Couloirs (at least one of them) needed to checked off the list.  So, on Memorial Day weekend me and Andy Melber, a fellow grad student, drove out to the Stansburys and skied the southern chute.  We started hiking around 8 am in our sneakers and returned to the truck around 1 pm, very straightforward considering the past attempts.

Looking northeast towards the lake.

View from the top.

Our tracks.