Camping at Great Basin National Park

I left Lake Tahoe bright and early Thursday morning. I had to drive east all the way across Nevada. I felt like I was running away from the smoke coming from California fires. Even 150 miles east of Carson City there was smoke in the air! I arrived at Great Basin National Park around 5 PM and drove up to the Wheeler Peak campground, which sits at 10,000 feet. I set up camp near the entrance in a small spot near a creak. Unfortunately, I was next to a group of 20 or so teenagers with a few adults, all of which assumed the opposite of "quite time" was "loud time". Luckily, they were only loud during dinner time.

I work up at 6 AM the next morning and proceeded to get ready for the big hike. This was my third attempt to hike Wheeler Peak. The first time, in 1995, the snow level was down to the trailhead, so I didn't get very far. Last year I got sick and never even made it to the park. This year I made it! It took me 3 1/2 hours to hike from 9800 feet to 13063 feet. It was a very hard hike. I felt like I was out of shape and had to stop frequently to rest. I may have been slightly sick, plus the high altitude and my sore leg from the fall down the stairs in Tahoe didn't help.

The hike begin in the shady pine trees, but soon the trail was above the tree line and the trail consisted of ankle-twisting rocks. The trail got steeper near the top, as you can see by this photo. You follow the ridge all the way up. At the top, I didn't realize where the peak was and kept on walking to the end, where the mountain drops off. Then I went back to the summit, had one of the "loud" boys take my photo, and signed the registry. The view from the top was not all that impressive, at least compared to Mt. Whitney. The view was of the surrounding desert and it was quite hazy.

It took me 2:15 to hike back down. On the way up, I encountered about five people who peaked ahead of me. At the top the group of people camping next to me began to arrive, and yell loudly. On the way down there were a few more people headed up. I noticed a small, white "puffy" cloud forming above the mountain. The cloud got bigger and darker, however, it never rained. Closer to my camp site, I ran into this deer who was not it a hurry to run away. I snapped this photo with the zoom, but he/she was still quite close.

After the hike, I ate lunch and relaxed. I didn't feel like taking the cave tour, which I did in 1995. So I killed time by driving around and walking on a short walk around the camp site. I was in bed by 8 PM.