We went to Great Basin National Park. We had not heard of this one before. It is in eastern Nevada. It is a mountain island in the middle of the high desert.
Wheeler peak in the park. It is the highest mountain in Nevada at 13,063 feet. It rises 7,700 feet above the valley floor. Even has a glacier on top. A trail in a lovely aspen grove near the top.
There are a few groves of rare species of bristlecone trees in the park. They are bigger and longer lived than any other in the world. They are up to 40 feet high and thousands of years old. This photo is from the trail head to the grove on the peak. It is a 3 hour round trip hike, so we passed on it this time through. The view for about half way down of the desert below.
We did see the big mountain mahogany trees. I am used to seeing them as bushes in Colorado, these are full on trees. The Lehman Caves-really only one cave- are inside the park too. We took a 60 minute tour of the cave.
Very pretty cave. Many of the features were covered in ‘cave popcorn’, the bumpy stuff on these stalactites. I was photographing them and look who popped into the photo!
The cave is famous for its shield formations. They are the round rocks with the stalactites hanging all around like a jelly fish. You can see a couple in the middle of the first photo here.
The hind end of a jackrabbit, a cactus flower, purple flower, stone crop and red gila flowers, purple asters and a close up of the cave popcorn. The popcorn is formed from mineral laden water splashing on the cave floor onto the formations.
After the caves we headed into Utah. View from the road. If you look real close behind the chili you can see the crack in the windshield of my new car. Boo.
More roadside views, a dry lake bed and another shoe tree. They must be popular in this part of the country.
Beautiful downtown Delta, Utah. It is only July 2, but they have chairs out all along the road saving their places for the 4th of July parade already.
Golden fields outside of Salina, Utah. Entering Salina for the evening.
This Indian statue is outside our hotel. On the side of the bathtub we were greeted by this cute rubber duck. Made we want to jump in the tub and take a bath.
Sunset over Salina.
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