Awesome 3.5-Mile Loop in Great Basin National Park: South Fork Baker

 I wanted to do a short hike in Great Basin National Park, so I headed up to the Baker Creek trailhead. My plan was to go 1.6 miles up that trail, then take the cutoff to South Fork Baker and come down that. Altogether, it's about 3.5 miles with some elevation gain (like just about every trail in the park!).

The trail starts through low vegetation, with distant views of mountaintops.

Since it was early August, the flowers were very different from those blooming in June. Here's sulphur buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum), so bright yellow that it really stands out.

And this little white flower with the long bladder behind it is Douglas' Catchfly (Silene douglasii). I don't see it often, so I was pretty excited.

This buckwheat looks so different from most of the others, and it's found in many places in the park in the 8,000-9,000 foot range. It's Redroot Buckwheat (Eriogonum racemosum). It grows up to one or two feet high, and the pretty pink flowers grow along the stems.

As the trail goes higher, you leave the switchbacks through the sagebrush steppe and enter the riparian area. Aspens line the trail. 

And at 1.6 miles, you come to a sign and a bench. The sign points the way to the South Fork Baker loop. The bench is a new addition this year.

Nestled among the conifer needles on the forest floor is Longstalk Starwort (Stellaria longipes).

Then it was time to cross Baker Creek on the footbridge. The creek has gone down a lot from its peak flow in June.

 It's a steep uphill from the bridge up to some ponderosa pines on the ridge. Then it's a gentle descent into one of the most beautiful places in the park, the big South Fork Baker meadow. The trail runs along the edge of it, dancing into the aspens.

The Timothy (Phleum pratense) looked really cool backlit.


I also noticed this big, blooming bush. I didn't know what it was, but when I uploaded the photo to iNaturalist, it suggested Shrubby Cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa), which I think fits. 

South Fork Baker Creek is such a pretty creek. For a short stretch, the creek is right next to the trail. Then it starts cascading down a steep section.

I spotted a glimpse of red, and it turned out to be Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa).

Somewhere along this next section of trail, I heard a "Hello," looked behind me, and found a trail runner. I stepped to the side so he could pass. He was the only other person I saw on the loop.

This bush was another surprise for me, but fortunately iNaturalist helped me out here, too. This is Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor).

This Fritillary butterfly was hanging out on the sulphur buckwheat.

Near the trailhead I found some Seep Monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata)--apparently there's been a genus name change. Generally scientific names stay the same and common names can vary. But once in awhile, someone takes a closer look at a group of flowers and finds out that they are in a different genus. DNA analysis has been changing things extra fast over the past 20 years. 

And I'll end with a favorite: Columbia Monkshood (Aconitum columbianum).

This is a very fun trail with lots of variety, and differing wildflowers all summer, so it's worth doing more than once.

If you're interested in using iNaturalist, there's a Great Basin National Park page set up. And I've been impressed with how you can upload a photo of a plant, animal, or insect, and it will give you some best guesses.

Return to the Black Hills of South Dakota

 In late June, I put the kids on a plane to Massachusetts to spend two weeks with cousins. Then I headed to a different plane and went to Rapid City, South Dakota, to spend a week in the Black Hills. The occasion was the 200th mile Reunion for Jewel Cave.

Jewel Cave was my first National Park Service job, after my sophomore year of college. It changed my life, making me want to continue a career with the NPS and continue caving.

I got to the cave in time for a special tour led by Rene Ohms, one of the explorers who has discovered an incredible amount of cave.

During the tour, I was reminded how beautiful a cave it is. It had been 23 years since I had last been in--way too long!


I also admired the in-cave telephones--something we'd like to get for Lehman Caves.

The next day I went to Custer High School, where there a bunch of activities. In one room was the map of Jewel Cave. It's huge! There were also some stats on the wall, and I saw that I had been through a tiny passage called the Miseries three times. I had only remembered two, so I guess it's true I really do forget the parts of caves that are not so pretty.

Speaking of tiny passages, the Pahasapa Grotto had a squeeze box for anyone who wanted to see just how tiny a passage they wanted to squeeze through. This brought back memories of my bruised sternum for doing such a thing in Texas in February. Wow, we cavers sure know how to have a good time, ha!

The talks were great. I didn't get any photos of talks on Saturday, but on Sunday morning I did get a photo of Five Jewel Cave greats who were up on stage: Rene Ohms, Mike Wiles, Dwight Deal,  Jan Conn, and Art Palmer.

The reunion ended at noon, and afterwards I joined some folks for rock climbing. I got on the rock briefly, but then a huge thunderstorm rolled in.

After a delicious group-cooked homemade meal, we looked through some old papers. I loved the scale and north arrow on one of the Conn's maps.

I had a few extra days to spend--the kids were happy with cousins, my husband was taking care of the animals, and my plane ticket was the same cost no matter how long I stayed. So I went on a 20-mile run through the Black Elk Wilderness.

Near the end I went up Harney (Black Elk) Peak. I had been up it several times during the two seasons I worked at Jewel Cave.

On my last full day, I wanted to see some old sights. I took a quick peek at Wall Drug with the awesome Jackalope.

And then I went to Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.  This is right off the Interstate and commemorates the 1,000+ missile silos located across the Great Plains ready to be launched during the Cold War. Several hundred still exist. Oh, my. I started my trip at Delta 09, and luckily arrived when a volunteer was doing a program and so got to ask lots of questions.

They've taken the nuclear warhead off, but the missile still stands in the silo. 

Next I went to Delta-01, but I hadn't reserved a ticket weeks in advance to look at the Launch Control Facility. Tours are limited to just six people at a time. A reason to return!

Finally I went to the Visitor Center (all three sites are at different Interstate exits). It was quite crowded. The exhibits were fascinating. There were also some tongue-in-cheek, which I appreciated. 

I needed time to digest some of that content, so I headed south, through a tiny part of Badlands, then through the National Grasslands. Everywhere I was seeing fields of yellow, which turned out to be sweet yellow clover, a non-native.

I did a quick stop at Wind Cave, but the elevators were broken so I couldn't go in. But I could see the prairie dogs.

That night a new acquaintance was playing at the Custer Beacon. Before he went on, a ukulele band played. 

My last day I went on the Little Devil's Tower hike in Custer State Park. It was great!

I also went on the Needles Highway and watched while this full-size tour bus took over half an hour to go through this narrow tunnel. The people waiting on both sides were not happy.

It was great reconnecting with old friends, making new ones, and revisiting sites that I had faded memories of. I hope to be back again soon, to help with some cave exploration and also in 2022 for the NSS Convention. Woohoo--the kids will get to go on that trip too, and I look forward to showing them this amazing place. 

Baker Lake and Dead Lake, Great Basin National Park

My longest run to train for the Tushars Marathon took place three weeks before the marathon and was due to be a 20-22-mile long run. I wanted to be as high elevation as possible, but faced a lot of snow at upper elevations. Where could I go? I decided to start out on the Baker Lake trail, a bit over 5 miles long.

The lower elevations (about 8,000 to 9,000 feet) were totally snow-free, with pretty flowers blooming.

The trail was wet, with many stream crossings.

Baker Creek itself was quite impressive. I liked all the cascades.

I made a little detour to the third snow survey site . When I had been there the end of March, we had measured the snow at over six feet deep. This snow marker sign had not seemed so tall! I stood next to it and was about a foot shorter than the joint.

I continued higher and started running into snow.

And more snow! Beyond mile 4, it was pretty much all snow, but of varying heights. I did more hiking than running at this point. 

And finally I was there! The lake was still mostly frozen over. It was quite impressive.

 And that's when my phone died, without warning, I think because it was so cold. I had an external battery so plugged it in and wandered around a bit, wanting to get a few more photos.

I also ate some snacks and rehydrated. I am trying not to eat much sugar, so I haven't been doing any gels, so each run I've been trying different solid foods to see how my stomach handles them. So far, everything has been good. Trail mix is a big favorite. My phone got enough power to take a few more photos, then it was time to move on. I had several possibilities: 1. Do the Baker-Johnson Lake loop. This is a terrific loop, about 13-miles long. But with all the snow, it was too dangerous, especially descending from the ridge to Johnson Lake, a very steep section and one that I could see was entirely snow-covered. 2. Go up to the ridge above Johnson Lake, then continue along the ridge to the Snake Divide Ridge trail through the bristlecones. I did this last fall, and it was a gorgeous run. But it seemed very snowy, and since I was already on an external battery for my phone, I didn't want to be there without decent communications. 3. Go back down the Baker Lake trail and hook up with other trails.

 I chose #3. It might not be the most adventurous, but it would probably provide the best running surfaces, and that was what I was after. Plus, it would be safer to stick to marked trails. So I ran down to the junction with the South Fork Baker trail, took that past some tents (!), and to the beautiful meadow.

The last time I had seen the trail junction sign, it had been surrounded by snow! Now the snow was gone and it was good running uphill to the next big beautiful meadow.

Then I continued up to the ridge between Baker Creek and Snake Creek, where I found this sign : Snake Creek Divide (not to be confused with the Snake Creek Divide between Snake Creek and North Fork Big Wash), Elevation 9,871 feet. Johnson Lake 2.0 miles. Soon after I came across a group of backpackers who had gone up to Johnson Lake, and they warned that the snow was really deep past the Johnson Mill Site.

 The views from this connector trail, called the Shoshone Trail, are terrific. Here's looking southeast into the Snake drainage.

I met up with the Johnson Lake trail and headed uphill until I got to this trail junction to Dead Lake, 0.6 miles ahead. This is a new trail, and I wanted to check out Dead Lake.

I knew Dead Lake would be more than the puddle it is most of the time, but I wasn't prepared for just how much water would be there!

The trail skirts one edge, but I decided to walk around the lake so I could see it from all angles.

I could have swam in it! (I considered that.)

It was a super fun sight.

I couldn't resist a selfie!

Then it was back running to the Johnson Lake trail and the Shoshone trail. Along the way I saw this flower I had missed previously. I still don't know what it is!

Here's the view coming back into the big meadow and to the South Fork Baker-Timber Creek junction. I took a right and headed over into Timber Creek. There was just one big snow drift at the top of Timber Creek.

Then it was pretty quick heading down the trail.

And finally across Baker Creek and back to the vehicle!

I don't know the exact mileage, as my Garmin watch ran out of battery, my phone ran out of battery, and I had to just run without electronics! (A good thing to do!) It was a very pleasant run, and I was glad to have an excuse to get out on the trails. I certainly have a different view of trail mileage after all these trail runs, it's a wee bit faster than the many hikes I've done with kids over the past 10 years!