alpine lakes and bristlecones and glaciers

We were up at 6 a.m. (local time) on Saturday, too early for breakfast at Kerouac's or coffee at the town coffee cart (Baker has a coffee cart?!!) or even the Great Basin National Park's visitors' centers to be open.

Ranching exhibit just outside the park

 So we just drove into the park - there is currently no entry fee for the park - to do some reconnoitering.  We checked out the lower campgrounds, saw lots of mule deer, wild turkeys and marmots, then headed up the scenic drive to Wheeler Peak Campground, elevation 9,980 feet.

GBNP rises out of the valley

We got to the Bristlecone trailhead around 8:30, and after a quick breakfast of PB&J, started out on the trail to the Alpine Lakes.  This is a moderate trail with only slight elevation gain, although since it starts around 10,000 feet, people may notice the elevation.  There were only a few people out there with us as we stopped first at Stella Lake and then Teresa, but we did see lots more deer, none of whom were very concerned with us.

Entrance sign.  Pretty chill.

After the lakes, we connected with the interpretive trail through the ancient bristlecone pine grove.  When I say "ancient," I mean it: some of these tough, gnarled trees were more than 3,000 years old - and still alive.  These amazing trees are among the oldest living things on the planet and they are stunning.

Stella!

We continued on past the bristlecones, following the trail out to Nevada's last remaining glacier.  When the trail ended at the "rock glacier," the moraine left behind as the ice glacier retreated, we scrambled up for another 45 minutes or so to reach the actual snow field.  It's pretty small now and people believe that it will have entirely melted within twenty years.  But it's still there now, underneath the soaring rock cliffs.

This tree was born between 3,100 and 3,300 years ago.  Still alive

The weather changed as we headed back out, thunder rolling and echoing around the cirque but just a few drops of rain making it down to us.  Back at the parking lot, we put together some lunch, then met Maisie, a border collie from Park City, and her human parents, and spent some time chatting with them.

That tree: 3,200 years old.  Still alive.

We drove out of the park and back to Baker, where we were able to buy a propane canister in the town's tiny grocery store/bar/restaurant-that-isn't-Kerouac's - in my haste to pack the car, I had forgotten the propane for the camp stove.  Once resupplied, we cleaned up and had beers on the motel courtyard, talking with other guests (one of whom was one of the founders of Ski Utah!), watching the baby swallows in their nest above the door to our room and laughing as the motel's hairless cats explored our room.

The glacier, up under the cliffs

Dinner was again at Kerouac's, which was less busy than it had been the night before.  We talked with the owners and some of the other patrons.  This time we each had pizzas (mine had eggplant, roasted garlic and zucchini; H's had fennel, rosemary and olives) and I had a nice glass of rose.  Bedtime came early: we had to hunt down a campsite on the morrow.

H on the glacier

Hike stats:  hike time 2:58 hours (4:13 total time with lots of stopping and taking photos); 6.93 miles; 2.3 m.p.h moving average; 1,650 feet of elevation.