I finally took some vacation time so I could go hike this rather ominous summit. Wheeler Peak resides in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, not far from the border with the west desert of Utah
This summit rises to over 13,000 feet in the middle of the desert. Snow is usually recorded in every month of the year. It is home to Bristlecone pine trees, and even has a glacier. Great Basin NP also has the Lehman Caves, which I didn't go to on this trip but have been before and is highly recommended. It appears that this place has been discovered because it was busy and the campgrounds were almost full on a Thursday night
Some wild turkeys outside my tent
On with the hike
The elevation gain to the summit is 2,900 ft. Round trip distance is 8.6 miles. I made the round trip in 7 1/2 hours, of that 45 min was spent on the summit top
There were many deer to be seen on the trail like this 4 point
I took most of the photos on this trip with Hedge Cam 2, a new app I recently uploaded. Sometimes I like to take pics directly at the sun to see what happens. I used the negative light option for this one
Well, the terrain looks wild but the sun looks like a penetrated corn hole 😂 I won't be using that feature much 😀
Once you get past the trees, the real work begins. The rest of the trail is dirt and rock. At only half way up, the views are amazing
The last mile up was grueling for me. My legs felt like they were being held on by rubber bands. But somehow I made it and it was so worth it
