Great Basin National Park

Day 2--time to explore the park! Our first stop is always the visitor's center where we can pick up a map and ask for suggestions on hikes. The ranger pointed out a couple hikes that we could combine for a total of 5 miles. Only part that scared me is that the trail STARTED at 10,000 feet elevation! I've had some bad experience with high elevation hiking, but we decided we'd drive up the mountain and see how it went.

The views along the way were beautiful. It changes pretty quickly from high elevation desert to alpine forests and meadows.

We stopped at a couple lookouts to see what was in store for us.

So lovely. Much to Bug's dismay, we were not planning to summit Mt. Wheeler which is there in the distance. The peak is over 13,000 feet, and while he may have been able to do it, I was pretty sure Peanut and I could not.

Instead, we took the Alpine Lakes Loop Trail which started by this little creek.

It was perfect hiking weather with patchy clouds and quite a few trees for shade, and the trail was so beautiful.

First animal sighting--a turkey! We see a lot of these around Livermore, but it was fun to see something we recognized out here.

And then we found a couple mule deer.

And the cutest little chipmunk.

The trail passed two different alpine lakes--Stella

and Teresa.

The altitude definitely made hiking more difficult, and someone who will not be named didn't eat enough breakfast and doesn't like snacks, so was pretty cranky for a lot of the hike. But we took it slow and stopped a lot to work on the Jr. Ranger booklet and do nature journaling. I love how much we learn from the Jr. Ranger programs at the various parks. I feel like it's a great way to get the gist of what is at the park, even if we don't actually finish the booklet, which we didn't here.

Toughing it out. This kid held in there, mainly because he had no choice, but he still did it. We got sprinkled on around the lakes, and had more uphill than we were expecting, but we did it!

More creek. It's hard to see but there were flowers along the edges in patches.

I was surprised at how many wildflowers we found. It was so pretty.

After the lakes, we took a side trail to the Bristlecone Pine grove. It was amazing seeing these trees that are 1000s of years old. Even the dead ones, which may have died 1000 years ago, were so impressive. 

Here's one that is alive. There were signs in the grove telling about some of the individual trees and how they determine their age. There were multiple trees that have been alive since the BCs.

(Beautiful beetle we found.)

We took our time at the trees because it was a good excuse to rest before hiking back down.

Another nature journal stop.

Bug wanted to sketch something from each park we visited on this trip.

There was a glacier about a mile up the mountain that Bug really wanted to visit, but I felt like we really needed to get back to the car and our lunch before someone lost it. So we stuck with our original plan and turned back after the bristlecones.

But we did do another short hike after lunch. There was a nature trail right by the parking lot, so once we had refueled and everyone was happy, we took another walk.

The creek running through this area is so pretty. We listened to it for awhile, and tried to track down some of the birds we could hear and looked for frogs, but no luck.

I love seeing these two boys together. They don't always get along, but in general, their relationship is pretty sweet. Bug is a good older brother.

After we came back down the mountain, we explored the area around the visitor's center a little (there is a huge cave system here, but you have to get tickets for the tour, so we saved that for next time when the whole family can come.) We made our ramen at one of the picnic areas and then played Gubs while waiting for the astronomy program. It was looking cloudy again and I was starting to lose hope of seeing the amazing skies this park is known for. But as the ranger talked about night sky and protecting this area from light pollution, the clouds moved and by the time it was dark, we had a pretty amazing view. They had three huge telescopes set up and even with all the people that were there, we still were able to have several turns in the next couple hours--looking at a really young star cluster, a really old star, Saturn, a spiral galaxy, and finally, at the very end, the craters of the moon (which was so bright, it pretty much ruins your night vision for awhile.) While we waited for our turn, a ranger pointed out constellations and we were able to see the Milky Way so clearly! It was amazing.

We had a long, incredible day and can't wait to bring Daddy-o and Bean someday. 

Summer Road Trip 2021

Road Trip 2021 started off with our longest driving day. The boys and I drove to the eastern edge of Nevada just outside Great Basin National Park, and there we realized that Nevada has been hiding this treasure all these years. When we drive across I-80, we don't see anything like this!

I had done a lot of research for this leg of our trip because when I started looking into visiting this park for a night or two, I found all the campgrounds and limited motels in the area completely booked. BUT, everything kept pointing us toward dispersed camping on some of the BLM land that surrounds the park. It's free for the taking, with a few rules and considerations, and not a bad way to camp if you come prepared. This is new for us, and a completely new area, so I was a little nervous that we were going to drive for 9 hours and not be able to find a place to put up a tent. But the first area I had bookmarked ended up having room. We pulled into a sort-of campground right behind an RV, and quickly realized that the official spots were all taken, but along the road between the two circles of campsites, there was a spot to pull off with a fire ring. Someone had camped there before, and so we claimed it!

At this point, I was appreciating how much easier traveling with my kids has become. When I had little kids, a long drive could be pretty rough, and I wouldn't have wanted to set up camp on my own, but the boys were very helpful and we got our minimalist campsite set up quickly.

We spent two nights camping here--kept everything super simple with backpacking meals and ramen.

And check out this view! The clouds that first evening blocked most of the stars, which was a little disappointing because this NP is a designated Dark Skies park, but we knew we had one more night.

 

There were some cliffs right behind us that the boys had to climb, of course. 

Peanut didn't go quite as high, but he's gotten pretty brave and determined to climb things with Bug. He's always had a little fear of heights so it's fun to see him take on these new challenges, even if it makes me queasy to see my kids on the edge of anything.

A Week of Winter

After lots of debating, we decided to brave the chance of snow and make a trip to Utah. Daddy-o was able to go up with us, which made the trip SO much faster. And then he got to spend 24 hours seeing his brother, and my whole family. We had Sunday dinner,

the kids got to see their cousins,

and Daddy-o got to meet the newest niece, who took to him instantly. He loves babies, and this baby loved him right back.

And then, Daddy-o had to fly home, just in time for all the snow to start, and left me to experience winter.

So the next week was spent playing games,

watching the snow,

sledding with the other cousins,

and playing with them every chance they got.

The kids built snow forts

and had a big snowball fight.

The below freezing weather didn't phase the older two. Peanut, on the other hand, only made it outside for a little while. The first day, I think he lasted 10 minutes, and that was when I decided there was no way I could take him skiing with us.

So, while Peanut hung out with Rara and Unkie, Bean and Bug and I went up to Brighton with my sister-in-law and her two oldest.

And while none of us were thrilled with the high of 18 degrees that day, we did manage to bundle up enough to have fun. Hand warmers are an amazing thing.

Bean and Bug took a lesson in the morning, and got the basics down so they were ready to take on the mountain after lunch time.

We did several runs together and they were amazing.

It's so fun being with them up there, where I learned to snowboard 23 years ago. (And I am so glad that while my muscles may not be as strong as they once were, snow boarding is like riding a bike and I can still remember how to do it.)

The skiers!

It was a cold, cold week, but it was kind of fun to have a little bit of a real winter.

And it all would have been fun, if winter had been satisfied to stay at Grandma's house.

The view as we drove out of my mom's house. It was snowing softly, and quickly increased to a real snow storm. What should have taken 2 hours to get to the Nevada border took 4, and involved a lot of white knuckle driving as semi-trucks threw freezing slush on my already fogged-up windshield. It was pretty scary for a little bit and we finally pulled over at a rest stop to get the situation under control. And, of course, a few miles after we got back on the road, the snow finally stopped.

We can't go on a trip without squeezing some sort of science or history. On the way home, we stopped at the CA Trail Interpretive Center in Nevada.

We only had a couple hours, but we will have to stop again--so many hands on, fun exhibits. The kids loved it, and I loved getting a break from driving.