Great Basin National Park 2019

I told folks that we would meet at the Mt Wheeler Mine on the Friday before Labor Day, so that we could get an early start on the Mt Washington [sic] trail. My memory of the road turned out to be a little dated (say, 25 years or so); it could use a good blading. Michelle was able to get up the road with her lightweight teardrop trailer behind her Subaru, but Jen's more substantial trailer wasn't going to make it. She ended up spending the night in the heat down in Spring Valley, while Michelle, Stanley, Dave and I stayed at the mine.

The twilight was lovely, and the night was spectacularly star-filled. Friday was the new moon, and the Milky Way was the big show. We saw plenty of bats fly out of the mine tunnel. There was a substantial stream of water coming out of the mine, but bugs were minimal.

go to the Mt Wheeler Mine gallery

In the morning, I drove down to Jen's camp and picked her up. We then all piled into my 4Runner and I drove it up the steep narrow switchbacks to the first saddle on the Mt Washington road. It was an “exciting” drive, and I was happy to park just past the saddle.

We hiked up the rocky old road, admiring the view over the huge limestone cliffs to the west. This section is full of tall, healthy bristlecone pines; the only gnarled ones are perched at the cliff edge. When we reached the point where the road bent eastward to the St Lawrence Mine, crossing a burned area, we decided to go cross-country up the slope directly toward the peak. We picked up the road again as it neared treeline and got steeper.

The summit is broad and bare. We could look over the northwest and northeast cliffs, and across to Mt Lincoln (due south) and imposing Wheeler Peak (due north). Stanley and I identified the enormous “Chinese Wall” feature in the north fork of Big Wash, which we had seen from below 10 years ago.

We followed the road down to the St Lawrence Mine. It's in a pretty forest on the east side of the burned area. We found an adit and a collapsed log building. There may be more buildings down toward the southwest cliffs, but we decided to head back to the 4Runner instead of checking them out. The ride back down to the Mt Wheeler Mine was even more “exciting” than the ride up, and I had to back up on a number of hairpin turns because the way that vehicle slid downhill.

I dropped off the other folks, then took Jen back to her trailer. We made sure that her truck started, and I headed back to the mine. When I got there, I realized that I still had Jen's pack in the back (!). Fortunately she drove up shortly to retrieve it.

As she was driving away, I realized that the 4Runner had a flat tire. Yikes — we were very lucky that the tire had survived until that point. I wondered why I had gotten a flat; that mystery was soon solved as we all began finding rusty nails all over the parking area. Evidently campers had been burning boards torn out of the mine buildings, and cars had subsequently driven through the fire rings and distributed the nails around the parking area. I weighed my treasure when I got home — 2 lbs 10 oz of nasty iron fragments.

go to the Mt Washington gallery

Stanley made the persuasive argument that I should stay near pavement after mounting my spare tire, so that AAA would actually send a tow if I got another flat. Stanley and Michelle had also never been to Wheeler Peak. It was a fine reason to rearrange my schedule, so we drove to the Wheeler Peak trailhead.

The parking lot was jammed. We decided to check out the campground. That turned out to be a great idea, because we managed to score three sites as people left early for home on Sunday morning. We walked from the campground to the Wheeler Peak trailhead and started up through the forest.

The Wheeler Peak trail doesn't have any of the famous bristlecone pines, but it does have a great view of the cirques around the peak. The wind was blowing ferociously at 12,000 ft, enough to discourage Michelle, but Dave and Stanley and I plowed onward. Oddly, there was just a light breeze at the summit. The trail is much improved from the last time I was there many years ago — while it's still steep and rocky, there are actual switchbacks now, and a consistent tread to follow.

go to the Wheeler Peak gallery

For our last day, we decided to do the classic 90-minute Lehman Caves tour. We arrived at the caves' visitor center just after they opened, but most of the tour slots were booked already (!). We managed to slip in on the 10 AM tour. One slot opened up on the earliest tour, and Stanley seized it, so that he could get home a little earlier.

The caves are even more amazing than I had remembered. My digital camera actually was able to take available-light photos in the the caves using the recessed illumination, with help from flashlights. The amount of “decoration” in Lehman Caves is totally insane; we all had a great time there.

go to the Lehman Caves gallery