RETIREMENT TRIP #6

     REMOTE WILDERNESS WONDERLAND    

     September 2015    

“I wouldn’t expect graffiti way out here,” said Andy, as we drove west on Route #21 toward Nevada.  We were miles from anything and one jagged rock outcropping was painted all over in the middle with names.  “Why would people do that in the middle of nowhere?”

We had our answer a mile later when we saw the sign for the County Fair Grounds.  It had to be drunken fair goers.

Few people live in the Wah Wah Mountains, but the
scenery is beautiful.

Milford, Utah, established in 1873, is a railroad maintenance area for the Union Pacific.  Train cars lined Main Street, and the highway bridged the tracks.  There wasn’t much activity on Sunday morning, but then again it was only 9:30 a.m.  Just outside of town, a sign read, “Next Service--83 miles.”  Milford is a long way from anything.

The pass through the Wah Wah Mountains near Garrison along Route #21 reached 6,460 feet.  We stopped for a couple pictures.  The peaks nearer the road probably rose to 8,000 feet, but only a few lone ranchers lived in the valleys.  We saw only a couple cars, a couple cows and a couple longhorn antelopes.

Our first glimpses of Wheeler Peak bring
back memories of climbing long ago.

Each successive valley seemed drier.  After the third one, the “cattle” picture signs disappeared, and we saw “running horse” signs instead.  There must be wild herds in this area.

From the next rise we got our first glimpse of Wheeler Peak.  “See that top jagged point?” asked Andy.  “That’s where we climbed when the kids were little.  That’s the highest we’ve ever hiked. It’s more than 13,000 feet.”

Changing leaves accent the stark peak.

We took another picture closer up.  “No snow up there yet,” said Andy, but the mountain looked hazy in the morning shot.  We wondered if there were fires causing the haze.

Four mule deer tried to cross the road.  Andy slowed down, and they quickly turned to bound the other way.  A few hundred feet later we passed a deer crossing sign.  “Their mother never taught them to cross the street,” I told Andy.

Rugged terrain of the Alpine Trail climbs
to two glacial lakes.

It was only 11 a.m. when we pulled into Baker, Nevada—too early to check into the motel and certainly nothing to do in the tiny town.  So we headed into Great Basin National Park for the scenic drive around Wheeler Peak.

After several pullout stops to record the aspen, colorfully quaking in the stiff breeze, we parked at Upper Lehman Campgrounds, 12 miles from the park entrance. Wheeler Peak creates its own weather at 13,063 feet.  Andy chose Alpine Trail (2.4 miles) and Glacier Trail by way of the Bristlecone Pine Grove (3.7 miles).  “Both of them?” I thought to myself, but I only suggested he make sure those weren’t one-way mileages.

Stella Lake shrinks as
glacial ice disappears.

We set out with plenty of water and four cookies, climbing 600 feet to Stella Lake (about 10,500-foot elevation).  Clear and greenish, this glacial-fed lake has shrunk.  We watched a hiker fill his canteen right from Stella Lake.  He must be a trusting soul!  But I guess it attests to the purity of the area—or else his stupidity!

Smaller than Stella Lake, shallow Teresa Lake
is clear to the bottom.

                               We stepped carefully over jagged rocks along the trail, picking our way through pine woods and across open meadows.  Temperatures in the low 60’s were perfect for hiking.  Teresa Lake at 10,320 feet was much smaller.  We could see the bottom, and the trail was mainly downhill, a refreshing change from the first hour.

The second part of the Alpine Trail was all downhill through pine woodlands.

Everywhere we look  aspen trees add splashes of
brilliant color to the mountain landscape.

At the junction Andy agreed tomorrow would be soon enough to climb back up along the Glacier Trail.  Instead of heading toward Bristlecone Pines, we went back down to the Nature Trail, .3 miles of boardwalk and rubber mats through the woods.  One stop even showed how an aspen grove had replaced the pine forest after a lightning strike.

The Visitor Center gift shop sold ice cream cones.  As we enjoyed the treat, we waited for the final tour of the day into Lehman Caves.  We booked the 90-minute Grand Palace Tour that covers .54 miles and all the rooms that are open to the public.

Our guide, Ranger Diane, led the group of about 30 for the 90 minutes through one of the most highly decorated caves in the country.  “Take all the flash pictures you want,” she encouraged.  “Just be courteous so you don’t blind each other.”

Stalactites hang from the ceiling and stalagmites rise from
the floor at every turn in Lehman Cave. 

I shot formations until the camera battery died.

Ranger Diane explained that the cave had been discovered in 1885. We heard most of the explanation, but by being in charge of the “trail flashlight,” Andy brought up the rear of the group.  I stayed nearby.

Later in the Visitor Center Ranger Judy explained that the cave had been discovered by Absalom Lehman when his horse stepped in a hole.  When Lehman reached down, he felt air coming out of the earth.

The actual cave is a single cavern extending a quarter-mile into the limestone and marble that flank the base of the Snake Range.

The Lehman Cave contains formations
known as shields, highly unusual flat plates of rock.

Ranger Diane told us that the cave is at a constant 50 degrees with 90% humidity.

In the early 1900’s, it was used as a party spot and dance hall.  One formation even served as a musical instrument.  The performer banged on the draperies with rubber mallets.  That was before people knew anything about caring for the environment and preserving nature.

Park service employees found hundreds of liquor bottles left from the 1920’s, when people came in the natural entrance and crawled all over through the passages.  In the 1930’s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) came in to lay a floor and put in lighting.  Before that people used candles in tin coffee cans.  That accounts for soot graffiti on the ceiling in the Inscription Room.  I saw one set of initials dated 1912.  The CCC also built a passageway into the Palace Room, using just stalactites. Ranger Diane shook her head.  “They didn’t need to shore anything up there, and I don’t know where they got all the pieces, but I have to hope they were already broken chunks.”

Lehman cave is one of the most highly decorated
caves in the world.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, the cave was used by the government to store food supplies in case of a nuclear attack.  Since then, all the food has been removed.

We also learned about cave residents: a colony of snub-nosed bats, a blind pseudo-scorpion, spiders and a rare white millipede that lives nowhere else in the world.  We didn’t see any.

Huge columns like this one dominate
the Palace Room of the cave.

Ranger Diane said that to her knowledge no one had ever died in the cave. She turned out the lights to illustrate total darkness.  But she did explain that bones of Fremont people, an extinct race, had been found near the entrance and dated about 1200 A.D.  That’s around the time the Fremont people left the area and disappeared.  The bones were interred with respect nearby.

After dinner and motel check-in, we drove back toward Great Basin to see the Baker Village Archaeological Site.  Here in the middle of the valley scientists excavated an entire Fremont pueblo from the 1200’s with the main occupation between 1220 and 1295 A.D.  Archaeologists found figurine fragments, projectile points, turquoise and shell beads and pottery shards.  The excavations revealed foundations of eight adobe structures and the floors of several pit houses.  We read about village life and walked the trail to see the excavation.

Later in the evening we drove out a couple miles into the desert to see the Milky Way.  This is one of the darkest spots in the country, an ideal place to stargaze.  But tonight the moon was just too much for good viewing.