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On The Highway Formerly Known As "The Loneliest Road In America."
It was late Friday afternoon. The wildfire smoke has been awful across the West, but particularly bad in California. A quick look at the weather satellite image showed that Nevada was looking much better than California. Should we head out?
We had just got off the phone with one of our best friends, also our optometrist, and scheduled eye exams next week for both of us. We decided to head to Nevada and return for our appointments. We packed the truck Saturday morning and left around one in the afternoon. Traffic usually diminishes rapidly after leaving Fallon. Not anymore and Highway 50 across Nevada is no longer the "Loneliest Road in America." Gone are the long stretches with no other vehicles in view. Gone are the near empty camping areas along the route. We did not even look at Bob Scott Campground just east of Austin to camp for the night.
We drove to a familiar spot at the top of a steep dirt two track with a tiny usable flat spot amongst the cow pies - cattle grazing country. The Lady calls it "Cow Patty Camp" and I'll not give a clue to its whereabouts. It's a great place for a quick overnight with incredible vistas. We were serenaded to sleep by coyotes while I contemplated the question, "How many cow pies does it take to make a hamburger?"
Our idea that Nevada was better smoke wise was correct. It was better than at home but still significant as the Sunday morning's sunrise foretold.
We knew Great Basin National Park would be busy as we found most places in the West this year. With the premier Wheeler Peak Campground closed for renovations, we knew campsites in the Park would be even harder to come by so we put our plan into action. Arriving before noon Sunday morning worked like a charm. Baker Creek Campground was half full. We found our favorite campsite empty and settled in.
Note - the campground filled by 4 pm and people driving through hoping for a site kept up until well after dark. We stayed for three nights and it filled every day by late afternoon. All campsites in Great Basin National Park are first come.
We wandered on foot the remainder of the day. The Baker Creek trailhead is a half mile up the road. The nicest remaining aspen color was in this area.
We left the trailhead the next morning around 9 am for Monday's adventure. The Lady loves to sign in at the register and check out other hikers' plans.
Monday's hike was a loop up the Timber Creek Trail to the Snake Divide and return via the South Fork Baker Creek Trail. It would be an easy day of around 10 miles. From our campsite it is about 2500 feet vertical gain to Snake Divide.
Skies at this elevation were blue to the West. South, East, and North were not near as good. We enjoy ascending the Timber Creek Trail because it goes right to work with 10 or so long switchbacks as it completes the steep climb to the upper meadows. The high country aspens were past their peak of fall colors but were still quite wondrous and delightful.
Most of the expansive aspen forests above 9500 feet were stripped of leaves and, as we like to call them, "Ghost Groves."
Here is a view to the West near the upper meadows of South Baker Creek. Smoke is beginning to add haze to the panoramas.
Pyramid Peak is the prominent summit on the left. We were last to the top in August 2019.
We continued the climb up to Snake Divide through more ghost groves.
The view from the divide down into the Snake Creek drainage was awful with smoke.
The view from the divide of the aspens along Snake Creek convinced us to make this area our destination for Wednesday. We turned around and dropped back into the head of South Baker Creek.
In the photo above the view is to the north. To orient you, the return to Timber Creek is over the saddle to the Lady's right. South Fork Baker Creek is to the left. We love the large meadows at the top of Baker Creek and spent a couple of hours here exploring, snacking, and even enjoying a bit of a nap. Although the majority of the Snake Range is limestone, this area is an intrusion of granite as shown by the large boulders.
The area is beautiful, even with most the aspen leaves already gone.
After our snacks and naps, the Lady spotted something with her see mores across the meadow that she wanted to investigate.
After discovering a possible wonderful backpacking campsite and lots of elk sign, we started our descent of South Baker Creek.
We met back up with the hiking trail.
The aspens in this steep canyon grow tall in order to reach sunlight. They are tall, stately, and magnificent.
The Lady stopped at every wonderful display.
A small meadow is in the lower reaches of South Baker Creek canyon. Because of an interesting incident we had here one evening a few years back, we call this place "Turkey Bear Meadow." Today the meadow was in its fall glory.
From the meadow, it is a steep drop back to the trailhead to complete our loop for the day. The most diverse aspen colors were along the trail connecting the trailhead to the campground. Therefore it took us awhile to return to our cozy campsite.
We saw only two other couples hiking, both at the trailhead. We were alone all day. There is hardly anything better than that.
Cleaning up, fresh clothes, dinner, a long walk in the night, and we were ready to turn in. We had a longer hike planned for Tuesday.
Our adventure is continued in next post. Please click here for Part Two.
Thank you for your review of your Great Basin adventures. I was in the Lundy Lake area a few days ago, and the aspen were spectacular . Thanks for all you do to educate the public to the beauty of west.
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome and thanks for the kind comment!
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