Great Basin National Park, Nevada - 2016

As the window for the annual fall trip with Ben approached we sadly watched the forecast for Wyoming's Wind River Range deteriorate, and instead elected to begin by going back to Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada. In October 2015 we'd been stormed off of the Highland Ridge Traverse on the summit of Mt. Washington.

Waking up last Saturday morning in Baker, NV Ben checked the weather as we packed up and noticed that Sunday had a wind advisory for 50+ mph gusts (in town, which meant probably worse at elevation), prompting a discussion about finishing all the high-elevation portions of our loop on Saturday. Instead of repeating the southern half of the park that we'd done in 2015, we decided to complete the northern section of Highland Ridge starting just north of Mt. Washington and ending over Wheeler Peak (the true high point of Nevada!).

The density of diverse, interesting things to experience in GBNP is truly special and there still are a few things I would like to go back for...

Day 1 map; day 2 just closed the loop

Starting from the Pole Canyon TH, ~6900'

Upper Pole Canyon

Pole Canyon aspens

Pole Canyon aspens

Timber Creek pass

Snake Creek basin (Shoshone trailhead at left)

Looking at the southern half of GBNP we covered in 2015; from Snake Divide 

And this is why they are called Bristlecone Pines

Bristlecone Pine stump

Stump detail

Bristlecone Pine

Ben coming through the lower part of the grove on Snake Divide

On Snake Divide around 10,800'

Dead vs. alive

The largest (circumference-wise) Bristlecone we saw on Snake Divide

Upper grove around 11,100'

One of the most famous/photographed trees on Snake Divide

This log could have been living for thousands of years and then been laying here becoming more and more weathered for thousands more years

Reaching the end of the grove as Snake Divide meets Highland Ridge, just north of Mt. Washington

Looking back on the upper part of the Snake Divide grove

Ben on Highland Ridge, just north of Johnson Peak, looking toward Baker Peak and Wheeler Peak

Me looking at Baker Peak West (rust-colored at left) Wheeler Peak at center and Jeff Davis back right; Ben's photo

Johnson Lake and Pyramid Peak, from Highland Ridge

Ben on upper Baker Peak West

Ben looking at our ascent route up the south ridge of Wheeler Peak

Looking west while ascending the south ridge of Wheeler

Around 12,800' on Wheeler's south ridge, with the rest of the Highland Ridge Traverse behind Ben

On the final slope to the summit of Wheeler Peak, right at sunset

Wheeler Peak Summit, 13,065'

Closing the loop the next morning, hiking down the Lehman Creek trail