Serviceberry Loop Trail

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.

A morman cricket also out for a stroll.

Right or left? I picked right and started off counter-clockwise for this one. I think it worked out to have the easier slopes on the climb, but it probably really doesn't matter much.

A few of the curlleaf mountain mahogany seed plumes waiting for the wind to carry them far off, but mostly landing very nearby.

The end of the season serviceberries (close up) are a little more end of season than the aspens (below).

As before, I found a few surprises of the floral kind.

Tiny sheltered daisies continue to bloom.

And even get serviced by tiny carpenter bees.

The view out east with a bit of climbing trail below.

The trail reaches a forest of mountain mahogany. They were making a good job of obscuring the trail with a layer of seed plumes in spite of the recent raking. They also offered the first real shade, which was an offer I happily accepted.

A small forest of mountain mahogany.

But they weren't the last offer of shade! After a bit of slow descent into a tributary valley, there were firs and then a collection of aspens all offering their shade. The aspens perhaps not doing quite as well as they were a month before.

More forests ahead.

One mighty aspen, perhaps the oldest remaining stem, still stood full of orange and yellow.

A little more climbing brought me to the high point of the trail and on to an encounter with other trail users who had chosen left. They were also enjoying the late season colors.

Another look out to the east, below, from the high point.

A mahogany frame for the aspens while passing back into the main canyon.

Yellow aspens along Johnson Creek.

One of a few very late lupines.

Johnson Creek actually does have water next to the trail, but it's very near the start/finish anyway.

And so I came back around to the start again. I took a rest in the shade beside the parking before deciding to go on to one more short hike.

*photo album*




©2023 Valerie Norton
Written 18 Nov 2023