We just crossed state lines between Nevada and Utah and are now in the Mountain Time Zone – whatever that is. We don’t exactly follow the clock anymore!
Leaving Dayton on Memorial Day weekend was a gamble that paid off. We found room in two free campsites along Highway 50.
The first was at Hickey Petroglyph Recreation Area. It was off the road, but not a bad campground and there were still a couple of empty sites after we arrived around dusk. We gathered up some firewood (gathering dead tree wood is allowed in Nevada) and enjoyed a very nice campfire. After the last few nights being kept inside because of bugs, it was a real treat to be outdoors. The quarter moon set early so we stayed up late (11 pm!) to star gaze in the very dark skies. Being in the middle of nowhere has its perks! The next morning we had a very nice hike to see the petroglyphs – whatever they were. Here are pics – old and new carvings there.
I had a great time photographing all of the flowers we found on the trail!
The next free campsite was Sacramento Pass Recreation Area, not far from Great Basin National Park. We felt lucky to get the last spot in the nine site campground (Sunday Night of a long weekend). The campsite was really nice and listed several things to do in the area, so we decided to stay a couple of nights there.
That gave us a full day to explore the park, so right after we set up we went to the park’s visitor center to get the lowdown on what we’d do. Lucky for us they were having a Black Skies Event that night, so we headed back to the RV for dinner and to bundle up.
But first we did some Jeeping and explored the old mining sites.
That night the park rangers gave a very nice presentation on light pollution and the importance of dark skies. then we all got to look through telescopes at Jupiter, and some other star groups. Kinda cool. I learned how to locate the North Star. It was fun.
The next day we had a great time hiking around in the snow (near the summit) and along the creeks. You can see videos of our hikes in the park here and here.
I was amazed by the beautiful Aspen groves. Those trees are so interesting – some times it looks like they have eyes!
Unfortunately the trail I really wanted to go on to see the famous 3000 year old Bristlecone Pine Trees was snowed under. But we were able to walk to the trailhead and I attempted my first snow angel, getting my fair weather clothes pretty wet. But we found another trail about 3000 feet lower and had a nice (much hotter) hike. The rest of the day we drove around the park. It’s quite large with lots of trails and we’d really like to go back when the roads are all open.
This morning we were able to get tickets to the Lehman Caves tour in the park. The longer tour was sold out, but we did the shorter tour and it was still awesome. This cavern is noted for its many calcite disc formations. Tom had low expectations of this cave tour, but was pleasantly surprised.
After that we packed up and got on our way. Destination: as yet unknown!
Happy Travels!
Peace & Love, Joy