Great Basin National Park Trip Report

“This trip report is long overdue but I finally found a free photo site I like and have some down time here at work to do it. In addition, I needed a break from all that has been going on lately and I think others on this site do too. So here is my trip report to Baker Lake and Johnson Lake in Great Basin National Park.

Friday 5:00pm, I?m like Fred Flintstone running down the dinosaur?s back. I?m out the door of work and into my truck to make a speedy trip home to pack up the truck and get out of hell as soon as possible. Tourists might not agree, but the similarities between hell and Las Vegas are easy to point out by any local. It?s really hot, it?s dirty, it?s crowded, it has way too many lawyers, and it attracts a lot of bad people wanting to do bad things. Anyway, we pack up the truck, stop at the grocery store for some missing food items, and it?s off to Port of Subs for our traditional Friday night getting out of Vegas dinner on the road. After a rest stop in Alamo, we head north into the cattle grazing lands of NV with dark nasty clouds looming overhead. Soon the rain starts to fall and the aroma of sage and creosote bush fill the truck. We are both smiling ear to ear with joy. It?s been several months since we?ve seen rain and this storm is looking like a bigge. We get to Caliente and stop for gas and to cram my backpack into the cab of the truck to prevent it from getting anymore wet. Then the rain really starts to fall. As we continue north, I?m forced to drive at about 40mph on a 70mph road that I usually travel at 85mph. The joy of the rain soon turns into a white knuckled ride in the darkness.

The rain lets up once we cross to the east side of the mountain range that makes up Great Basin National Park. We pull into the campsite at 1am and luckily snag the last remaining campsite. It?s not the greatest but it?s not raining, it has running water, and a flat spot to put the tent. We woke up early, got some breakfast and drove to the trailhead that was at 8000?. At the trailhead, we meet another backpacker who is also headed to Baker Lake but he is soon on the trail and the next time we see him he is sprawled out asleep in his tent next to the lake.
We soon hit the trail and were energized by the sound of rushing water, the cool breeze, and the hundreds of butterflies feasting on the spring wildflowers. The trail makes a series of switchbacks, starting next to the stream in the cool shade of the aspens it loops out onto the southeast-facing slope that has more of a high desert landscape with cacti, sagebrush, and the warm sun beating down. It was not too hot and the butterflies were a great distraction from the continuously climbing trail. About a mile in, we stopped to take some pictures next to the stream and adjust our packs See picture 1. After about another 2.5 miles we came to a meadow that had a spring feeding it from the far end and the spring joined the main stream at the lower end in a pool. The scene was quite beautiful, but what really made it unbelievable was the swarms of butterflies of all different colors feeding on the blanket of wildflowers. We dropped our packs and dug out our cameras. My goal was to get a better picture of the waterfalls where the two streams met, than I did 2 years ago when I was there and had just started photography. See picture 2. Kara was more intent on chasing the butterflies trying to get a picture of them before they flew off to the next flower. After about 45 min. of snapping photos, we hiked for about a mile more before stopping for lunch. We found a nice place by the stream with lots of flowers and a couple of waterfalls to relax our spirits. See photos 3 and 4. From our lunch spot, we soon hiked out of the aspens and greenery and into a higher alpine zone dominated by huge pine trees and glacier-strewn boulders. At mile 5 we reached an old cabin that had it?s roof caved in long ago probably from heavy snow. We were soon visited by another backpacker who was also headed to Baker Lake for the night. So much for solitude. Another grueling mile up to 10,600? and we had reached Baker Lake by late afternoon.

What a beautiful sight. We found a good campsite near the lake and then did a little exploring and a lot of picture taking. See pictures 5-9. With less than 2 hours of sunlight remaining, we set up camp and made dinner. We then watched the fish rising to the surface to feed as we ate our dinner. In the morning, we had a wake up call from a doe browsing near our tent. A little sore but well rested we packed up and got ready to tackle the ridgeline that separated the Baker Lake and Johnson Lake drainages.

We dropped 400? in elevation from 10,600? and then proceeded to climb to the top of the 11,300? ridge. It was truly an awe-inspiring climb. We started out in a lush green meadow with yellow and purple wildflowers and followed a spring up over waterfalls into the huge bowl shaped valley. Due to the elevation, we were forced to stop and catch our breath every 100 feet but we soon made it to the top and were rewarded with wonderful views. See pictures 10 and 11. We took a few photographs and were surprised with the great cell reception that we had. I personally would have left them in the car but Kara?s brother and his wife were expecting a baby at any moment so we took them along just in case we got reception anywhere. While Kara was finding out from her brother that she wasn?t an aunt yet, I was watching the disintegrating weather. We watched a huge storm front race into the valley just north of us. When the front started to be forced up and out of the valley, the thunder and lighting started. We quickly grabbed our packs and headed down the other side as fast as we could. Unfortunealty it was a near vertical drop of over 500 feet to the lake below so our progress was very slow. Once at the lake we took a short break to snap some photos and stalk the trout at the edge of the lake.

From the lake we followed the old mining road past the abandoned mining village and down out of the valley. After a brief lunch on a shoulder overlooking the Snake Creek drainage, we switched onto the connector trail that took us around Pyramid Peak and back into the Baker Creek Drainage system. From the alpine meadows of the Timber creek and S. Baker creek springs, we started to make our way down the S. Baker Creek trail. About three miles from the trailhead, we were rudely interrupted by a loud series of thunder breaking behind us and to the north of us. At first, we wondered if we shouldn?t wait for it to pass and then continue on, but something was telling me that it would be a bad idea if we hung out there too long. I made the decision that we should keep going and when we came to clearings that we should cross them as quickly as possible. We soon left the alpine forests of aspens and greenery behind and were back into the high desert oaks, cacti, and sage. As we were crossing a huge field of sage and grasses, a loud thunder crash came booming from behind us. Have you ever tried to sprint with a 40-pound backpack on? It?s not easy or fun. We made it to the trees on the side of the field and then made our way around in the trees back to where the trail entered the forest again. We made it to the trailhead without any further problems and rewarded ourselves to a good foot soak in the freezing mountain stream. No sooner had we pulled out of the parking lot than it started to rain had. We looked back up the valley we had just come down and the sky was dark and rainy.

Wow, I didn't realize it was such a long post! Sorry!
Here's the pictures.
Great Basin National Park Photos”

“sorry I have to fix the link.”

“Let's see if this works!?!
Great Basin National Park Photos”

“Yup, the link works. Excellent adventure Reptiles.”

“Really nice pics. Thanks for the report. I can hardly wait to hit the trail, this weekend!”

“cool REPTILES”

“Nice report and nice shots Kurt!! You surely did take to photography in a short time! What are you shooting with and what tripod are you carrying? My only advice is to take the lake shots early morning or late afternoon for nicer colors on the mountains. Yeah, I know, that's not always available,especially on a trip that's about a lot more than photography! hehhe

Sounds like a fun time, minus the storm. Then again, it sure makes it memorable. How long does it take to get to that park from Vegas?

Thanks for sharing!!! :-)”

“Thanks everyone!
lizs - N60, Tamron 28-300, polarizer, enhansing filter, and el cheapo Slik 2000 tripod. It's really short and very light weight, so it makes it great for backpacking but it's not the most stable tripod out there. I also shoot with Kodak elite chrome 100 speed slide film now.
It's a really hard lake to shoot because it's tucked into the back of a box canyon with very high and steep walls. The sun was setting to the northwest behind the cliffs so I had the problem of the foreground being lost in the shade by the time the light really started to soften.
If you're willing to push the speedometer a little above the speed limit you can get there in about 4 hrs. Be careful in all the small towns along the way though, because the cops just love to sit right next to the reduced speed limit signs.
I'm looking to upgrade my camera to an N80 and get a 17-35 lense, but I need new tires for my truck first.”

“Thanks REPTILES, beautiful pictures.

I've been wanting to visit GBNP since the park was established, you've just turned the "gotta go" knob up a few more notches.”

“Oh my god! Somebody actually did a trip! Way cool!”

“This is a quick update of our return trip from Great Basin National Park. I had forgotten about our stop at the Pahranagat Wildlife refuge to watch the sunset until I got my slides back. It was a very magical sunset and the glassy smooth water reflected the sunset beautifully.
Enjoy!

Great Basin National Park”

“Stupid hotmail!
I guess I'll try cut and paste.

http://64.4.32.251/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=a594fa388710427bcaab931fa79ab440&lat=1002207311&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2edotphoto%2ecom%2fGo%2easp%3fl%3dKurt%26P%3d%26AID%3d80158%26GID%3d71373%26T%3d1”

“nice pics, thanks for sharing

btw what is the name of the pink flowered plant in the forground of Lunch 1 and 2 pics?”

“I don't know. It was always found within a few feet of running water and was only found at about 9000' or above in elevation.”