Tour of the West: Wheeler Peak

One of the places we stopped for a couple of nights on our recent trip was Great Basin National Park, just off of I-50 close to where it hits the Nevada-Utah border.  This park contains 13,063-foot Wheeler Peak, the highest peak in Nevada, so naturally we needed to climb it :)

The view of the peak from our campground, close to 10,000 feet.  Sleeping this high helps acclimatization, as long as it doesn't make you sick (I've had problems in the past going straight from sea level to sleeping at 11,000 feet in the Sierras...).  We had camped at about 6000 feet the night before, and no one had any problems.

If you get out from under the trees, you can pretty much see the route up -- just follow the ridge up on the right side of the mountain in this picture:

After getting a weather report, we decided to get an early start to avoid any potential afternoon thunderstorms.  The trail started out quite mellow, working its way up through an aspen grove.

Soon we started to get views of the peak, and the Small One thought her goofy parents were funny.

After a gently climb above a lake, we reached a minor saddle, from which you could pretty much see which way to go up to the top.  All very straightforward.

Kid still cheery.

After this point, we were above the tree line, and began to work our way up the rubble along the ridge.  You can see a few parties ahead of us at this point.

We passed them all.  Nim is in pretty good shape from all the running she has had to do in PE.

The view kept opening up, and we could see how much progress we back down the ridge, 

as well as how much further there was to go.

We kept walking,

stopped for a snack,

and continued to mark our progress up the ridge.

After a while, the hiking turned into a bit of a clamber,

so we needed another snack, this time in the snow.  At this point, we were quite a bit higher than the farm fields in the valley we had driven through the day before.

Occasionally, I needed to be a monster, as the small monster started to slow down.  It couldn't have been all that bad, as this parental behavior was still deemed funny.

Ho!  A rock shelter marking the summit log.

It was a room with a view

with a cute little mailbox to protect the log book.

Nim had a snack.  (Sense a trend here?)

Post snack, she once again started making faces.

We explored the flat (ish) area at the top.  There were views in all directions.

Somehow, ladybugs live here.

 

After a bit, the clouds started to look a bit threatening,

 so we hightailed it down off the summit.

We were somewhat relieved when we got off the steeper part of the rock pile and back onto some semblance of a smooth trail without any weather beyond threatening clouds.

Back down among the trees, Chad looked up and said "I'm putting my coat on."   We followed suit. Not a minute later, a clap of thunder boomed and it started to pour.  Wise dad.

The rain only lasted about five minutes, and by the time we made it back to the campsite, all was clear and sunny again.  

Notice Nim had yet another snack!  A fine day's hike.

Tour of the West: Free Campsites

One thing that is nice about getting a bit off the beaten path is that you can still find campsites that don't requite planning and reservations made months in advance.  Some of them are free :) Cases in point:


BLM camping at the Hickison Petroglyph area off of route 50 in Nevada.  The petroglyphs were sadly defaced by modern morons, but we found a nice campsite with a jolly little shade structure and good views of the sunset across the basin and range province.

  How can you not like waffles for breakfast?

Not a campsite, but another cute shade structure appeared just in time for lunch.

Lots of free camping in Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument.  Given that it was about 95 degrees out at that point, we picked a site in the shade in Harris wash, with views of red rocks and sunflowers.

Despite the heat there, Nimue amused herself by drawing a sand turtle in the dust on the road.

Tour of the West: Preview

Every kid needs to be subjected to a long road trip with their parents at some point.  We chose this year, and explored parts of the southwest.  Here are the general themes; more pictures and stories will trickle out as I get to them.

Peaks

Petroglyphs

Dinosaur fossils

Cliff Dwellings and Other Ruins

And my personal favorite, Slot Canyons

 Stay tuned for more!

Busy

It's been the busy end-of-school-year time, compounded by the fact that Chad and I are fitting as much riding in as we can so we will be ready for RAMROD later in the summer.  Here are a few highlights (at least those that left photographic evidence on my phone...)

Dangerous feeding of coffee to the kid

 Various garage projects.  I no longer remember what Chad was grinding, but the sparks were impressive.

 I replaced all the rotted-out termite-infested boards along the back beds with new redwood.  You wouldn't think it would be that hard to take out the old boards and drop new ones in....

 Mountain biking mud.  It actually rained a bit, finally.

 Goofy kid at band concert(s) last week.

 Example of the main distraction lately -- this is a 100+ mile loop to the coast that Chad and I did over the weekend.  Quite deceptively, the hardest part of this ride was in the flat section, as it was into a pretty stiff headwind.  The hills were friendly by comparison, despite the 10,000 feet of climbing :)

Expect continued distraction and pathetic communication over the next couple of months.

Nimue's masterpiece

We are having Todd and Sarah and their kids over tonight for a belated birthday and Easter celebration (late, since first they were on Spring Break, and then we were, along with all the other normal scheduling difficulties).  Nimue decided she needed to create a cake masterpiece.

One fears that letting the book "Cake My Day" into the house was a dangerous thing...

Spring Break Torture

We had a pretty low-key week while Nim was on Spring Break last week due to the need to conserve Chad's vacation days for later in the year, but I did drag everyone out for a quick trip out to do some backpacking at Henry Coe park.  No advance reservations required, for once -- the place is big enough that you just show up and register at headquarters before going in.  We were planning to camp in the zones closest to the entrance, so we had to let them know exactly which site we were aiming for, but going in on a Thursday, there was no competition for the good spots.  (Quite a contrast to the stupid "reserve your site online at 9am six months before you go" routine that has become the norm for developed campgrounds around here...clearly backpacking needs to become our new norm.)

The first day was about five miles down, down, down into the Coyote Creek drainage.  The twelve-year-old was grumpy about being  forcibly dragged away from her computer.  Parents were deemed to be excessively cheerful.

Things started looking up after we found a nature guide for one section of trail, and got even better when we made it down to our campsite by the swimming hole in the creek.

Naps were had.

I stalked fish and bugs in the creek with my camera.

(Find the water strider, and his shadow!)

Little fishies (big ones kept swiming away from me)

Chad taught Nim about filtering water.

The next day, we hiked a short way on a lovely trail along the creek, trying to dodge poison oak, until we got to the site of the old Madrone Soda Springs resort.  There is not much there any more (old buildings have had all useful things removed and have since been washed away downstream by flood waters), but back in the 1880's there were apparently four stagecoach trips a day back into the springs here, with several buildings, a dance hall, entertainment, and the whole nine yards.

Now there is an overgrown rock stairway.

And a lovely spot to camp.  Nim and I read for a while,

and played hangman.

Always bring the stuffed tiger. (note the paw sticking out of Nim's pack)

I stalked bugs instead of fish at this campsite.

one of a veritable cloud of ladybugs 

variable checkerspot

I find it amusing that Chad and I independently took pictures of the same dead snag,

from entirely different viewpoints! (yes, the monster mouth one is mine...)

Chad got the superior shot of the lichen-covered oak at the edge of the site.  It was really just a lovely spot to hang out and relax.

Despite the minor complaining on the way in the first day, by the time we got to the steep climb to get back out on the last day, the kid was clearly enjoying herself.

smiling partway up the first mile out, with 800 feet climbed in said mile

Nim's thought at the end: "This is really fun, but sort of pointless and painful."  I take that to mean that she liked the trip!

Band for you

Chad had open house duties last week since I was gone at rehearsal, and actually made a video of the band, so you can *see* Nim play her piccolo.  Enjoy.

Murphy's Law Meets Planning Ahead

Planning ahead is supposed to be good.

There is an organized bike ride called RAMROD (Ride Around Mt. Rainier in One Day) that I've been wanting to do for a while.  Circumnavigate a volcano in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest with food/beverage support -- how cool is that?  The volcano that I associate with hiking and outdoor adventures of my youth, at that.   At the end of July, which it should be gorgeous, too.

Never mind that it historically has been 150+ miles, with about 10,000 feet of climbing; the exact route varies somewhat from year to year due to winter road damage, construction, and the like.

The RAMROD organizers can only allow something like 800 people due to road safety considerations imposed by the park service, so there is a lottery every year to allocate the spots.  For a long time, you couldn't enter the lottery as a group, which pretty much ruled us out, as we wouldn't plan to do it unless we could both get in.  However, they started allowing small group lottery entries last year, which pulled the ride into the realm of possibility.

This summer was already looking pretty full, and our riding so far this year, while regular, has not especially been planned out as training for a big event.  I entered us into the lottery anyway, figuring that some of the 800 spots would go to last year's volunteers, and the odds of actually for this year being picked were not high.  You see, their lottery is weighted to favor people who have entered and failed to be drawn in previous years.  My thinking was "We want to do this next year, or the year after, so I'll essentially just be getting in line by entering this year."

Yeah, right.  Of course our names got drawn.  (You saw this coming.)

Now we're committed.  They haven't announced the exact 2015 route yet, but there is hope that it will be the "traditional" ~150 mile route.  It has a giant climb up Cayuse Pass about 100 miles in to the day.  Chad has had minor panic about setting up and following a training plan; I merely looked back at my old ride spreadsheet and decided that because I've been riding at least as much as the year before the STP (longer, but flat) and the year we did the Death Ride (a little shorter, but hillier), that we are in pretty good shape as long as we keep to our normal habits.

[Insert denial about the two and a half weeks in June that we will be in Utah hiking rather than riding, and the fact that I don't have as much opportunity to ride once Nim is out of school.]

It'll all be all OK -- we can do it.  Without too much suffering.  I think...