Elevation, Smoke, and Rocks

Here in Baker, NV, cell coverage is 3G only, and as usual, campground wifi is weak. So timely blog posts are difficult.

 On Thursday, we headed west to Great Basin National Park in Baker, NV, one of the lesser visited parks in the lower 48 states. There is a reason for that. It's located literally in the middle of nowhere. From Capitol Reef west for 238 miles, the landscape transitions from red and white rock walls and formations to desert. Towns along the way are few. For one stretch of 100 miles, there are no towns, no trees, no roads. See for yourself here. 

 Great Basin sits a few miles from the Nevada-Utah border, and when you cross the state line, it

transitions from Mountain to Pacific time. Our RV park for our stay of 4 nights, is in Baker, a short walk to the Great Basin Visitor Center. Surprisingly, it's quite nice. We had no idea what to expect in a town whose population is 68. The site are shaded by what are presumably elm trees (the park's name is Whispering Elms). 

 Our first day here, Friday, we set out for Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive. As scenic drives go, it was just OK, with really not much to see from the road. At the top of the road, at 10,000 feet, we took a trail that climbed to 2 lakes. Well, it really was one lake and another wet spot. The trail was moderately steep, and extremely rocky. The path in many places was a rock field. I did find myself short of breath,

This is what most of the trail looked like

and had to take many rest stops. I consider myself in pretty good shape, but the 11000 foot+ elevation and heavy smoke from the west coast wild fires took their effect. Many hikers we saw on the trail were wearing masks. But we suspected that it wasn't because of Covid, but just the darn smoke. My eyes were continually watering, and my sinuses clogged. Not my favorite hike ever.

 We then drove up to the Wheeler Peak "Overlook". I use quotation marks on the word overlook, because there were trees that blocked much of the view, with a "peep hole" for the peak. A bit of judicious tree-cutting would have provided an expansive view of the mountains. 

We next headed over to the Baker Archeological Site, a place where, in the 12th century, Native Americans had built a community. Nothing is left but some reconstructed walls. What a god-forsaken place. Maybe the climate was different then. 

Unfortunately, even though this is a dark sky area where star-viewing is usually exceptional, both the smoke and passing clouds obscured the display that night. This was an inauspicious day 1 for this National Park.

Pictures of the hike and overlook here.