Great Basin National Park

After my roommate's half marathon, Roomie, Sister, and I packed up and made the 4 hour trek to Baker, NV. Baker is the closest "town" to Great Basin National Park. I say "town" because it is an extremely small place with only two places to stay, two restaurants, and a convenience store (with not at all convenient hours).

Our experience in Baker was not good, unfortunately. I love little towns, so I was excited to see what this scrub-brush pitstop had to offer. Apparently, not much, except for bad food and a generally constant uncomfortable feeling. The hotel was really bad - you'll just have to trust me on this one.

But the park was GREAT! Pictures:

Sister and Roomie, killing time before
our Lehman Caves tour.

Wheeler Peak, on the right.

So, my camera didn't like the caves so much. But here are a few photos from others of Lehman Caves.

Underground Lake
Photo Credit

"Cave Bacon"
Photo Credit

Lehman Caves
Photo Credit

Lunch Break

Chesler Park: Part 2

In celebration of Roomie's graduation, we took off to the desert to hike the entire Chesler Park trail (see Chesler Park Part 1) in the Needles District in Canyonlands National Park.

This little guy was hiding under my tent the first night camping.

We set out on the trail a little later than planned. This meant for a hot afternoon, but it was totally worth it. The scenery was spectacular!

Heading up the trail, about 3 miles in.

We were pretty focused on getting through the trail, so we didn't end up with a ton of shots of the general scenery, which is completely amazing. Once you hike the main out-and-back trail, it opens up into Chesler Park about 3.5 miles from the trailhead. The area opens up into huge spaces and the loop begins. We decided to start looping to the east. On the farthest end of the circle, the trail ducks down into an impressive slot canyon.

 

The slot continues down into an open room, covered in cairns. Once you climb through the rest of the room, the trail opens back up into the rest of the park.

Up until this point we had only seen one other person. After we left the slot canyon, we began to see quite a few more, most with only minimal water. We were on the far end of the loop and still had a good 5 miles to go with the heat of the day upon us. I was starting to worry for these people without adequate water supplies, when we stumbled on a parking lot, picnic tables under trees, and even a restroom. Apparently, part of the loop trail joins up with a 4x4 road. Who knew?

After we left the road, we hopped back on the trail which goes into Devil's Garden. It is aptly named as it is beautiful and mysterious, but also blazing hot and the trail rolls around the scenery, never ending. Best to get up earlier and avoid this part of the trail in the heat of the day.

Despite the heat and blisters (Make sure you wear the best shoes you've ever owned! Roomie lost 2 toenails and it took me a couple of months to heal from all of my blisters.) this is a fantastic trail! It is especially breathtaking and definitely one I would recommend for those looking for a great way to see some deeper country and picturesque scenery!

January Sandstone

Over New Year's weekend earlier this year, my roomie, two other close friends, and I headed to Moab, UT, for the holiday weekend. We knew it would be cold, but the single-digit highs with wind chill froze us to the bone. The days were filled with lots of layering and warming up in the car and/or hotel room in between hikes.

It was a beautiful trip. There is nothing like the red rock peeking through the snow. We went on several hikes in the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park as well as Arches National Park.

After checking into the hotel, we headed straight to Arches National Park for a sunset hike to Delicate Arch.

The following morning we waited for the sun to warm things up a little bit and headed to Canyonlands to check out Mesa Arch as well as Grand View Point Trail.

 

After exploring Canyonlands, we headed back to Arches to walk around the Windows area of the park. The sun was going down quickly, and it got cold fast, but it made for a beautiful evening.

 

 

Chesler Park: Part I

In March of 2010, a friend of mine and I drove from Bluff, UT, to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, located in Southern Utah. The total hike is about 11 miles long, but we had limited time and the weather was looking threatening. The last place I wanted to be was stuck on a muddy road in the middle of nowhere in my little, non-high clearance, non-four-wheel-drive, car, so we decided to only do the first major part.

The first half of the trail to Chesler Park is extraordinarily scenic and exemplifies the reason this area was named the Needles District. Almost in a cliche kind of way.

Once you get to the top of the ridge, the trail opens up into a beautiful sagebrush meadow with red rocks all around. I wanted to keep exploring in this vast space, but the foreboding clouds were telling us to head back.

There was a river going down the main road to the trail head, so we had to park about a mile away and walk down the road before starting the hike. By the time we got back, my feet were killing me. Time for new shoes.

 

The rain started coming down, just as we were leaving. An excellent day that I will always remember!

All photographs taken by Mallory Platt