Moments in Dirt and Ink

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest (blue line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Prior to wandering out to the sky islands of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in 2017, I procured a bunch of maps from the USGS store, mostly covering the Ely District. This resulted in owning maps I have never hiked. That's not right! I was despairing of the idea of fixing this for the Mount Moriah Wilderness map due to the roughness of the access roads around the wilderness when my neighbors at Eagle Peak Campsites expressed the opinion that surely I could get to Hendrys Creek since the mine was up and running again and, well, that's how roads get maintained in Nevada. It'll be good all the way there. This is almost true. There's generally a bit of "the last mile" which goes to the trailhead instead of the mine that remains in a poor state. In the case of Hendrys Creek it literally is just a mile and, if one stops short of the trailhead, it's mostly Bureau of Land...

Great Basin National Park ( map link ) Since I didn't have time for it after I climbed Wheeler Peak , I had to come back to make my way around the Alpine Lakes Loop and see the rock glacier. What's a rock glacier? Well, I would find out. It would be later than expected. I wanted to go there first for the better light, but the trail was closed for an indeterminant amount of time in the morning due to unforeseeable circumstances. I decided to reverse my plans and made it take extra long by trying out a map editor (Vespucci) on the handheld. Since I had no signal and hadn't tried it at all before, the best I could do was take notes for things that weren't on my OpenAndroMap. I started with the ADA accessible Island Forest Trail, which has a number of interpretive signs and benches and needed some route corrections. I got the first two all marked although the last part was complicating things. The Island Forest Trail, an ADA trail of rubbery mesh mats and a few boa...

Great Basin National Park (blue-green line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2 I got out of the tent with the reds of dawn just touching the top of the surrounding cliffs of Baker Lake. My puffy pants and jacket were quite welcome, but the second jacket was removed within 5 minutes for being too hot. It would have been a very welcome addition at the 7,700 foot camp, but not so much at the 10,600 foot camp. The sun lightly touches the rocks above Baker Lake. Sunrise at Baker Lake. Breakfast was made, but it takes quite a while to eat it when pondering the way the light and water and rocks play together. I wandered about the lake with breakfast in hand, finding that there's a large camping area among the trees a bit west of where I was. The bit of lake beside it, separated by the low water level, was half frozen.

Great Basin National Park (redder lines, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2   I certainly needed a rest day after my short, but hard, trip up Eagle Peak. Since none of my backpacking food was sorted out, it was good to have that time to pre-make some breakfast mixes of couscous and spice and fruit and cheese for breakfast and discover that only one of my dried beans packets was in the car. Turns out not seeing it in the room doesn't mean it's in the car already. I decided to experiment with wasabi peas as a dehydrated legume. Then I had the time to weigh it all and decide that if it's 20 pounds, camera and all, I could certainly toss in a second coat. (Eagle Peak Campsites must be a cold spot because it didn't turn out to be any colder at Baker Lake, but one does expect a higher place to be colder generally.) I even had some time to write even if it wouldn't get posted until I stopped by the county library in Ely. Then I headed back up the rough and narrow, but st...

Great Basin National Park ( map link ) After my sprint up to Dead Lake a little too late in the day, I kind of wanted a rest day. Unfortunately, I started poking around the map. From the Eagle Peak Campsites, Eagle Peak is only 1.75 miles off! It is a rather striking peak with a cliff of limestone on the south side visible from the camp. The Great Basin National Park brochure map indicates the top is occupied by ancient bristlecone pines. Oh, and I kind of wanted a brief moment of signal for one little bit of research I still wanted to do before heading off on a backpacking trip from the end of the road and there would likely be a little signal at the top. The brilliantly white cliff on the south face of Eagle Peak. Of course I wouldn't be going up it the direct way. There is no way I would get up that cliff. I wanted to head up the edge along the left and then down along the edge on the right. It is also worth noting that the elevation difference is just over 3000 feet ...

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...