June 8 - 9, 2024 - Lafe and Faith's Odyssey

Boulders and Basins

The hike up to Wheeler Peak was a bit over four miles and about 3,000 feet of ascent. I wanted to get up there early so we had time to get back down before the snow melted too much or afternoon thunderstorms made an appearance. So, we awoke at 4 AM and drove to the trailhead with only one wrong turn along the way. We geared up and hit the trail about 5:15 AM. The trail leads you through a beautiful array of biomes, from pine and aspen forests to alpine meadows to tundra and boulder fields at the peak. Along with those distinct sections comes another way to divide the trail:

Miles 0 – 1.5: Very gentle slope
Miles 1.5 – 3: Harder slope across snow fields
Miles 3 – 4: “<expletive> you!”

I was under the impression that it would be a roughly even grade the whole way up… boy was I wrong. We made short work of the first 2.5ish miles, but the last 1.5 took us several hours due to the need for repeated breaks to catch our breath and figure out a way through the steep, jumbled mass of rocks that claimed to be a trail. In spite of the challenges, we made it to the top about 9:15 and were probably the fourth person on the peak that day. One person passed us on the way up, and we watched another paraglide down the mountain from the peak, no careful stepping down the mountain for him. Faith and I were both jealous and wanted to do it, so don’t be too surprised if you find us doing that in the future. The view from the top was worth the struggle: you could see across many ranges and basins nearby and had a great view of Rock Glacier, the only glacier in Nevada, which looks more like a bunch of rocks than a glacier as the name implies. We began a slow descent back down the boulders and across the snow fields, which were well on their way to becoming slushy messes under the sun’s heat. Since we were one of the first people returning from the peak, almost everyone we saw asked us about the trail conditions ahead. It was pretty fun getting to tell everyone what was going on up there. The trail to the peak goes by a small alpine lake, Stella Lake, which we took a rather frigid dip in to cool, cleanse, and refresh ourselves before heading back to the van.

One of the primary attractions at Great Basin NP is Lehman Caves, a limestone cave system with all sorts of interesting formations. When we had decided a few days prior to go to Great Basin, I had looked into getting tour tickets and missed the last two in a bout of indecision. So, we weren’t expecting to get a tour of the caves, but we went to the visitor center at the caves nonetheless. As we walked up the stairs to the visitor center, a lady burst out of the doors and said “I have two tickets to the 2:30 tour, anybody want them?”. We immediately replied “Yes” and she gave them to us at no charge, even when we asked if we owed her anything. God was good to us and gave us an opportunity to see the caves for free! While waiting for the tour’s appointed hour, we poked around the shop, got some postcards, and ate some ice cream. The tour was excellent. Unlike many caves in the U.S., the bats in Lehman Caves do not have white-nose syndrome, a fungus that causes bats to awake from their hibernation early then starve to death as there are no bugs out in January. The formations in the cave were extremely interesting and very different from any of the formations we had seen in Jewel and Wind caves, the last caves we had visited. After the tour, we jetted down to the other visitor center, took it in, then headed to our next destination as we had had our fill of Great Basin NP for the moment.

We drove U.S. Highway 50 across Nevada, widely known as the “loneliest road in the U.S.”. Whomever gave it that moniker was not wrong, as over the course of the next three-or-so hours of driving, we came across about as many towns. However, the land did not feel lonely: the basin and range topography made for an ever-changing view that kept us interested in what was over the next range. We were headed towards Reno, NV but knew that we wouldn’t make it before dark and thus were looking for a place to stay. We found an excellent spot at a free (!!!!) BLM campground somewhere between Nowhere and Nothing. There were many like-minded people as the campground was almost full. There were also a lot of like-minded bugs, as the amount of Mormon Crickets on the roads near and in the campground was absolutely astounding. Fortunately, their jumping abilities are quite pathetic, so we didn’t have to fear them getting into our home. We went to bed early and were rocked to sleep by the sounds of wind and sporadic showers against the van.

The next morning the sky was clear and the sun was blazing. We got up and made some cranberry-walnut-dark chocolate-protein pancakes that we had gotten the fixings for at the start of vanlife. This was the first time we had made them and consequently we accidentally burnt most of them. They were still fabulous and gave us energy to get all the way to Reno without stopping. As any cultured person would, we made our first stop at the casino. Specifically, we went to the Atlantis Casino to celebrate Faith’s birthday early with some all-you-can-eat sushi. We both thoroughly enjoy sushi and have gone to all-you-can-eat sushi places before, but this was a step above all the rest in terms of quality, flavor, and ambiance. Filled to the brim, we went into the casino to people watch and try our hand at the slots. It was certainly Faith’s lucky day, as she turned $1 into $4.50 in a matter of seconds, something any investor would dream of. I then tried my hand and turned that $4.50 into $0.04 in just as much time, something any investor would have nightmares about.

So, out of money to gamble with, we wandered around the casino, watched people lose copious amounts of money, then meandered our way into the adjacent event center. It was all set up for an event the next day (Monday) for Connect by Grassroots, an outdoor gear event where (as far as we could tell) companies could show off what they are up to. The event was invitation-only, so only other company reps were allowed in. So, our obvious next decision was to sneak in the next morning. As night fell, we found a lovely spot in a Kohl’s parking lot with a few other vanlifers and slumbered, waking only for the morning sun.