Great Basin NP

This place is really in the middle of nowhere. That makes for excellent viewing of the night sky. There are actually so many stars it's hard to see the normal constellations I see at home. It's on the eastern border of Nevada.

We started into the Lehman caves to spot JSL, but my claustrophobia kicked in and we had to cancel. I don't know if you have any phobias, but once the panic starts, it can get bad quick. I've been in caves before with no problem, so I'm not sure what went wrong, but it wasn't pretty. Never did see JSL.

We did go for a hike into the Bristlecone Pines grove. Way cool. Here's a picture of a tree that died 2000 years ago. It was around 5000 years old when it passed.

Bristlecones live at high elevation. I'm not sure what elevation we were at here, but after we went downhill a ways, we ended up here.

It was a great hike, but we both had breathing issues. We had about 3 minutes of acclimation before we started hiking. It was not that cold though.

Funny thing about this National Park- there was no entrance station. Thus, no fee required to get in.  After we left here, we drove on Highway 50 through Nevada to my Dad's house. The state road signs all made the same claim- The loneliest highway in America! They weren't kidding either. No traffic problems though.

We'll be home before you know it-

ds