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Snake Overlook and Dead Lake

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Great Basin National Park ( map link ) My goal for this short hike was really only to follow the Snake Overlook Loop Trail (1.5 miles total, 370 feet of gain) while the trail up to Dead Lake (1.9 miles to the lake, one way, and ~1300 feet of gain, the listed 1561 feet of gain is to its intersection with the Johnson Lake Trail) would make a good start of a short backpacking trip. Still, there are actually two trails that could be used for that start. The signs at either end of the parking lot describing those trails seemed to indicate there would be more interesting mining history along Johnson Creek. I was starting to question my plan already at the start. All of the trails follow old mining road and the signs warn that this is sometimes rather steep for a more strenuous hike than one might expect. They also warn that water is unpredictable and you should carry all you need. I expect it means if you are backpacking too. More manicured trail past more late fall color. I start
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Serviceberry Loop Trail

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Great Basin National Park ( map link ) The well signed Serviceberry Trail is a short loop of 3.2 miles with 657 feet of gain on the hot side of the canyon, but it was really only warm. The sign warns that there is no reliable water in the backcountry so you better bring all you need on your own. But of course. Serviceberry Trailhead below Eagle Peak. The road, passing some more end of season fall colors, has gotten quite a bit narrower and rougher by this time. The trail was so well groomed that it had even been recently raked. There are those fall leaves falling as well as mountain mahogany seeds collecting below the trees. They might make it less than the simplest possible thing to follow this trail.
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location: NF-448, Baker, NV 89311, USA
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Snake Creek vignettes

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Bristlecone Field Office BLM Great Basin National Park ( map link ) I started the day on a patch of vast BLM lands that happens to have a corral, which was a surprisingly quite place to sleep but confusingly labeled "Snake Creek Campgrounds" on my offline OpenStreetMap. It made for a stunning sunrise and an easy start for a day exploring the area of the actual Snake Creek Campsites that Great Basin National Park maintains as free camping for visitors along this unpaved road. Looking across a dilapidated corral toward the Mount Moriah Wilderness and the sunrise colored clouds over it. not a cave The road is very nicely maintained as far as the state fish hatchery and some private property just before the park boundary. At this point it gets rougher and narrower, but still suitable for my go-cart of a small car. While I had some thoughts to playing with some new-to-me mapping software to try to improve the map, my main goals were fall colors and a stop by a miner&
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location: NF-448, Baker, NV 89311, USA
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Wheeler Peak

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Great Basin National Park ( map link ) I managed to get the spot weather for Sacramento Pass while I was there and discovered there were some hot days coming up. I chose the hottest, with a high of 76°F at 7000 feet, for going high. Wheeler Peak is Nevada's 2nd highest peak, but the most impressive. Unfortunately for Boundary Peak, that highest peak is a short walk from a higher peak just over the state line in California. The park goes with the judgement free phrase "highest peak completely in Nevada". Incidentally, every day is fee free day at Great Basin National Park. There is no entrance fee. There are even some free camping options, although not around Wheeler Peak. It is a day use only area with a nearby paid campground that was closed for the season. The dedicated trailhead parking and sign for the trail up Wheeler Peak. There are actually two trailheads near the end of the road that could be used. The one at the very end serves a loop past a pair of al
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location: Wheeler Peak Scenic Dr, Baker, NV 89311, USA
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Sacromento Pass

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Bristlecone Field Office BLM ( map link ) I decided to stop by Sacramento Pass Recreation Area to see what is there. Free camping in a lower area around a pond or an upper area with a corral. Each area has a bathroom, but there's no water besides the pond. Provided you have your license, you might try fishing in it. There's also looping trails that connect to both camping areas aimed at mountain bikers. I decided to give them a try, starting with the Sacramento Pass Loop to Lucky Boy Loop to Mine Shaft Loop. There would only be a little segment of these trails I'd not hiked when I was done. Then I could try the Weaver Creek Trail! (Okay, there was no time in the bit of afternoon left to go on that.) That's a 2 mile loop and a 4 mile loop connected by a half mile loop, but with a little of the 2 mile left out. So about 6 miles. It turned out a little longer according to the GPS. Looking back after starting. The trailhead is behind one of the campsites and hidden
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location: Sacramento Pass BLM Campground, White Pine County Rd 35, Baker, NV 89311, USA
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Annular Eclipse at Black Horse

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Bristlecone Field Office BLM ( map link ) Eclipse Day! I was up with the sun. Being on a good road a short way from an east-west highway, I could get moving either direction if the clouds seemed to suggest it. Here comes the sun. They sort of did suggest moving west. However, since the report had said they'd clear quickly this morning, I persevered. Rather silly when the report I was using was already 2 days old and cloud predictions are particularly changeable. Still, they did clear as that old prediction suggested. The sun got higher and the sky cleared. Well, except where it was most strategic to hide the big event. I decided to head upward on foot because there were some thin clouds sticking right to where the sun would be. The eclipse itself was already starting with a little partial coverage of the sun by the moon. A couple more viewers were arriving from who knows where, but weren't collecting into any particular space. It was not quite so communal as Str
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location: White Pine County Rd 40, Baker, NV 89311, USA
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Black Horse Cemetery and Mining District

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Bristlecone Field Office BLM ( map link ) I was aiming at Sevier Lake in Utah for eclipse viewing, but checked the spot weather predictions for cloud cover (which is often already wrong at the time I download it) and found that Ely, where I was, would be clearer than the lake. Probably. I ultimately did get a ways toward the lake, but turned north at a sign for "Humboldt National Forest access". Actually getting there requires a tough vehicle and a good map because there's only one more sign to point the way and many more junctions. That doesn't matter because the rest of the land, if you don't go too far east, is all Bureau of Land Management. I found space to pull off the good county road as it turns east near the second forest access sign. A flat spot up the hill, well away from the road, was good for my tent. It was not flat in the way of once hosting a town on it, though. The map indicates that's where Black Horse, the place with buildings or at lea
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location: White Pine County Rd 40, Baker, NV 89311, USA
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Cold Springs Ruins

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Mount Lewis Field Office BLM ( map link ) I never want to do a long drive, and this was quite a long drive, without finding a little something along the way. Well, next to a random toilet in the middle of generally Bureau of Land Management lands along the so called Loneliest Highway in America (US-50) are three little pieces of western history all in one clump. Across to the left is an old Overland Stage and Mail stop. Across to the right, a telegraph repeater and maintenance area. On up the hill at a nice little 1.5 miles is a Pony Express stop. So many ways to communicate across the expanse of what was already, in its way, flyover country even before planes. Oh, they also could stop along the way, same as the planes. Just a big dirt and gravel lot for a short trail and two shorter trails to history. I decided first to cross over the highway to the nearby locations. There's a paved lot on that side with a state historical marker and claims to an ADA compliance all the
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location: 51059 US-50, Fallon, NV 89406, USA
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