Today, we're continuing our travels across Utah heading to Great Basin National Park just over the Nevada border. The mountains are always beautiful and Utah never ceases to amaze us with the magnificent colors, canyons, and rock formations.
We've stopped for a bit of shopping in the area of the San Rafael Swell, along route 70 in Utah. Ally has a bit of change burning a big hole in her pocket and is eyeing the jewelry made by this Piute Nation member and her family.
Ally found several very special pieces for her Mom. She was very excited. With a bit of help she managed to lighten that load in her pocket by quite a bit and this is only our second day on the road!
The wind is picking up and we have a few more hours of driving ahead. One last photo of Ally and her traveling companions and then it's time to hit the road.
We've entered what is known as the Great Basin about half way across Utah. The Great Basin region is bounded by Utah's Wasatch Mountains to the east, the Sierra Nevada to the west, and the Snake River plain to the north. The south rim is less distinct. It includes most of Nevada, half of Utah and just a bit of Idaho, Oregon, and California. It's not really one big basin but is made up of many small basins. As you travel in the area you cross a north-south mountain range followed by a valley or basin and then another north-south mountain range and another valley for miles and miles. Why do they call the valleys basins? It's a hydrographic 200,000 square mile area that drains internally. It's just like our sinks at home. All precipitation in the area evaporates, sinks underground or flows into lakes that are mostly saline, like The Great Salt Lake. There is no outlet for the creeks and streams to head to the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico.
We know we are approaching Great Basin National Park, created in 1986, when we see Wheeler Peak, Nevada's second highest peak at 13,063', in the distance.
We never miss an opportunity to do the tourist thing. We see a national park sign and Ally is out of her ride and ready for the photo op in seconds.
We promised Ally snow on this trip and lots of it. Hmmm, the camp host said they had four inches this morning and there's just a bit of a flurry right now. Do you think it might snow tonight?
These flakes are hard to catch. There's just not enough of them. I think Ally thinks we're pulling her leg when we say we're going to see snow. Great expectations. I hope we produce.
No such luck. No snow last night but it's beautiful here in the park at the base of Wheeler Peak.
We're camped in Lower Lehman Creek campground in the park. We have a beautiful site along Lehman Creek. We're off shortly to explore the Lehman Caves. It's just one cave so why do they call it "Caves"? Ally is anxious to get to work on her Junior Ranger program.
Lehman Caves is beautiful with its well known stalactites(you know, they hang from the ceiling), stalagmites (rise from the floor, remember?), flowstone, popcorn, draperies and soda straws.
It has rare formations like these shields that look like parachutes.
Stalagtites and Stalamites join together to form large columns.
Ally knows how to be a Junior Ranger. She sticks to the side of the Rangers when they are giving tours. She learns a lot by asking questions. The Rangers like that. Ranger Kelly gives her the Junior Ranger pledge after she completes her work for this park. Grandma will have to get that needle and thread ready to sew on her first Junior Ranger patch of 2010. She'll be whining tonight.
The park has tranplanted a bristlecone pine near the visitor center for we non- mountain climbers to see. It's young and is not likely to live long at this elevation. They like to live between 9,500 and 11,000 feet near Wheeler Peak. They are masters of longevity. There are many in the higher elevations of the park that are 3,000 and more years old. The oldest grow at the tree line where it is most difficult to survive. They grow one branch at a time. It's a very slow process. Their needles can live up to 40 years. The needles feel so soft.
Looking behind us as we get ready to leave the park we can see the mountain range we crossed before we hit the basin and Great Basin National Park. That's what we'll see all the way across Nevada as we head west on our journey today, the 26th, ...basin, mountain, basin, mountain, basin, mountain forever on route 50, known as the Lonliest Road in America. Did you know Nevada is our most mountainous state?
My mind's eye thought of this drive on the Lonliest Road in America as one of boring scenery and dull color, and that it would be a chore to complete along the way. Once again my mental image had fooled me. The drive is beautiful as we cross the mountains and basins. We pass ancient salt lakes that shimmer as if in a mirage. We cross mountains and enter the next valley and it goes on and on but it is not boring. It is lonely. There are few cars and virtually nothing but nature at its best the entire way. There's lots of time to think as the road is straight for miles and for the first time since we left home I thought of our home and wondered how it was doing in the summer heat. I asked Ron if he had thought of home and he said, "No." I think RVing usually keeps us in the moment at hand. A road like this allows our minds time to wander.
As we travel we often use the advice of strangers to discover the next best kept secret of a place to camp. I called a state park as we approached Fallon, Nevada and talked with a Ranger there. I told him what we liked and he said we might enjoy Fort Churchill Historic State Park, a few miles down the road. I had not seen it in the camping books we carry. So off we went and what a gem we found.
There are huge sites, beautiful trees and scenery, and the sounds of birds everywhere. We'll share this with our RV friends. It's a great stop if you're scooting around Reno.
We're off again after our night's stay at Fort Churchill. Lassen Volcanic National Park here we come. Got snow?
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