Day 20:
October 16, 2015
 |
| David's hike up Wheeler Peak in Great Basin NP |
We departed at 5:30 am (dark) and
did a slow crawl up the mountain to keep the transmission from overheating (and
issue that David has plans to remedy with a transmission cooler when we return). This also prevented a line of cranky drivers
behind us (we will probably find them behind us on the way down…brakes
overheating become and issue so we go in low and pull off the road as needed).
The altitude isn’t giving me
enough oxygen for an 8.2 mile hike with 2900 feet of elevation gain so David is
hiking Wheeler peak by himself. Sometimes
I am winded just existing, no kidding.
David’s hike afforded him
excellent views. A large portion of it
was above tree line.
Some of the directional signage
was not the best; he didn’t have a map.
The hike took him about 7.5 hours but he spent time on the summit
oogling the views. The ride down from
10,000 feet to the valley floor was uneventful.
We went slow and pulled off for cars behind us. We drove by our campsite only to find a newer
class A motorhome squeezed in there!
They had to have gotten some dings procuring that site!
After
dumping our tanks and taking on fresh water we were off aiming for Illipah
Reservoir for a free overnight. We
arrived after dark and neither of us was happy about driving in the dark. With signs on route 50 warning of big things
(like free ranging cattle/no fences and Elk) that might cross the dark roads
and do serious damage to us and them, we were counting the miles until we
arrived at the reservoir. There appears to be only two other campers here
out of potentially 14 sites and its Friday night.
 |
| Leaving Great Basin we saw this windmill farm...need to have more of this! |
No comments:
Post a Comment