Hiking Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park in Early Summer

 Yesterday my husband and I hit the trail for a training hike. We're celebrating our tenth anniversary this year, and we decided we should do something big for it. We decided to take that "big" literally and are going to climb Mt. Rainier in September (it was either that or the beaches of Mexico, something we may reconsider as we get further along in training!).

Our first training hike was Crystal Peak. For our second training hike, we decided on an early summer summit of Wheeler Peak so we could simulate more of the snowy conditions of Rainier. We're fortunate to have Wheeler Peak, at 13,063 ft, so close to us. We started off with ideal weather conditions for the 8-mile round trip, with a 3,000 foot elevation gain.

I kept stopping to take photos of flowers. I figured that should be part of the acclimatization plan! As we ascended, I kept track of the birds: mountain chickadees, common ravens, ruby-crowned kinglets, dark-eyed juncos. Then a flock of birds went by, and I got excited. Could it be? Why, yes, red crossbills! Crossbills are easy to identify if you can see their bills, because the bills overlap, the better to get seeds out of pinecones. They live in much of the West year round, and one really cool thing about them is that they breed year round, not just in the summer like most birds.

As we approached tree line, we saw more snow patches, but overall there was a lot less snow for June 1 than I was anticipating. We are a bit below normal for snow pack this year.

We got an early enough start that we could walk right over the top of the snow on the way up. My husband is carrying his grandmother's ice axe. She got married on top of Mount Rainier, to her husband who was a guide.

Although we were quite warm in softshell pants and a lightweight wool shirt, we did find patches of ice that had frozen during the night from the previous day's snow melt. I particularly liked this patch, with a flower stuck in the middle.

The flower below is Ross' avens (Geum rossii), a member of the rose family. Other flowers starting to bloom at and above treeline included cushion phlox (Phlox pulvinata) and Snow cinquefoil (Potentilla nivea) and more. I was surprised by how many flowers were blooming.

Another surprise was this golden-mantled ground squirrel that popped out of the rocks. He was quite cooperative letting me take photos!

We took a little break on the shoulder, a traditional stopping place with wind breaks scattered along the relatively flat spot.

Then it was time to summon energy for the final push to the top.

I was really hoping to see rosy-finches, as they like to eat insects in the snow, but alas, I didn't see any. However, I did see quite a few insects in the snow. I guess they get blown there and stuck.

Ladybug

Moth

Hemiptera (true bug)

Beetle

I saw lots of spiders on the rocks and one in the snow.

We reached the summit in just under three hours. I know people who have made it much faster and much slower. A seventy-two year old gentleman who shared the top with us had hiked slightly faster than us--nice job. We were just glad to make it! We were rewarded with spectacular views. 

To the northwest, with the Schell Creek Range in the distance.

To the West, across Spring Valley and the pivot irrigation to the chainings in the pinyon/juniper on the lower slopes of the Schell Creeks, and then to the Egan Range, and hazy Currant Range.

To the north, with Stella, Teresa, and Brown Lakes in the middle, Bald and Buck mountains behind the Scenic Drive, and the North Snake Range in the distance.

Here I am checking the view to the south. It was amazingly calm at the top, and we didn't even need to put on extra layers.

We checked the summit log out of the mailbox. The part I found most interesting was that someone had climbed the peak November 8, 2013. The next entry wasn't until January, and after that until April. Those folks had to work hard for their summit, as the Scenic Drive was closed and they had to start their hike much lower (about 8,000 ft).

The benchmark at the top:

I couldn't go to the top without a look down at the Wheeler Cirque Rock Glacier. So I went to the edge of the ridge and found a good spot.

Jeff Davis Peak was also looking impressive.

It took less than two hours to hike down, although we were moving at a fairly good clip (and I didn't take hardly any photos). 

Looking south from Wheeler Peak at the North Fork of Baker cirque, Baker Peak, Pyramid Peak, Mt. Washington, and the rest of the South Snake Range

Here are photos and a description of a trip up the peak in August, when it has many different flowers.

And for more history and information about climbing Wheeler Peak, check out my book, Great Basin National Park: A Guide to the Park and Surrounding Area.

Thanks!

Destination: Angel Lake near Wells, Nevada

 One of Nevada's many mountain ranges is the East Humboldt Range, a 30-mile long range in the northeastern part of the state near Wells, Nevada. We decided to make it part of our July trip, largely because the 12-mile Angel Lake Scenic Byway (Nevada Highway 231, seasonally open) goes right up to Angel Lake in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

 The stormy weather didn't deter us as we climbed several thousand feet from the valley to the 8,379-foot elevation lake. Before the road gets really steep and windy is the Angel Creek Campground, which would be a good destination for those with bigger vehicles (like RVs). The Angel Lake Campground awaits those with smaller vehicles at the end of the road. There's a $5 parking fee at the end of the road for those who want to get out of their vehicles and check out the lake and/or picnic.

Lake Dimensions. The road takes you to within fifty feet of Angel Lake, named for Warren M. Angel of nearby Clover Valley. The lake covers 13 acres with a maximum depth of about 35 feet. A dam was added to the lake by early settlers to increase its capacity for irrigation.

Fish. The lake contains brook trout, rainbow trout, tiger trout, and speckled dace. According to the Nevada Department of Wildlife website about Angel Lake, about 4,800 rainbow trout are stocked during the summer. Creel surveys show anglers catch about 1 to 2 trout per hour, with a limit of five per day. Fish size is generally 8.5 to 11 inches.

My husband and kids decided to try their luck fishing, which is one of the most popular activities at the lake. I was ready to stretch my legs after the long car ride and set out for a hike around the lake.

Glaciology. Angel Lake is a tarn, otherwise known as a mountain lake formed in a cirque. A glacier once stood hundreds of feet high here, flowing down towards the valley below. (On the day we visited, the sky was hazy and the storms made it gray, so it was hard to see down to the desert below.)

One of the coolest things about visiting Angel Lake was thinking about the glaciers. The last glaciation in the Great Basin was called the Angel Lake glaciation, with the type locality being right where we were standing. Researchers Ben Laabs, Jeff Munroe, and others have conducted cosmogenic ¹⁰Be surface-exposure dating of boulders in the area. By studying the dates of how long boulders in moraines have been exposed, they've concluded that the end of the Angel Lake glaciation was 19,300 years ago, give or take 1,000 years. This was the same time that the Laurentide Ice Sheet was retreating. This was also before glaciers in the Sierra Nevada and Wasatch mountains retreated, and before the huge pleistocene Lakes Bonneville and Lahontan had reached their zenith. What does this timing mean? The researchers say that more research is needed.

Wildflowers. What comes after the glaciers leave? Pioneering plants like the bright fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium),  one of my favorite flowers. Fireweed likes to grow in areas that have been disturbed by  fires, avalanches, glacial retreats, and more. It likes lots of sun and can grow quickly.

Many other wildflowers were in abundance. The flora in the East Humboldts and nearby Ruby Mountains are similar to that in the Wasatch Mountains in Utah.

 And with plants come animals, like this beautiful blue butterfly.

 Wildlife. A couple rock wrens hung out with me as I took photos.

Probably the best-known birds on the mountain range are introduced Himalayan Snowcocks. They apparently are most-often found around Hole-in-the-Mountain peak, the highest peak of the range at 11,306 ft. The range also has bighorn sheep (with 20 reintroduced in February 2013), introduced mountain goats, mountain lions, mule deer, bobcat, coyote, and more.

Lakes and Hiking. Although Angel Lake is the most easily accessed lake in the East Humboldts, it's not the only lake. I was a bit surprised to find that the range has many more lakes, including Smith Lake, Greys Lake, Winchell Lake, Boulder Lakes, Lizzie's Basin, and Steele Lake. You can access some of them on the two main hiking trails: a four-mile hike to Winchell Lake that begins at a trailhead below Angel Lake on the paved road; and a 25-mile hike that begins at Angel Lake, goes around the north end of the range to Greys Lake 5 miles away on the west side, and then continues along the west side to Ackler Creek (11 miles) and Boulder Lake (18 miles).

To find out more about hiking to some of the other lakes, check out the details on this informative website about hiking in East Humboldts (and Rubies).

As often happens in the mountains, the storms passed and the sun came out, brightening the carpet of wildflowers. I was particularly impressed by the display of wildflowers, even though we were just at 8300 feet. The latitude and higher precipitation allows for a lower timberline and overall lower elevation for wildflowers that I expected to see at higher elevations.

Wilderness.  A quick note on wilderness: although you can drive to Angel Lake, most of the rest of the East Humboldt Range is accessible only by foot or horseback. In 1989, 36,000 acres were designated as the East Humboldt Wilderness.

Geology. The mountains rising above Angel Lake look beautiful, with Greys Peak at the top of the photo above at 10, 674 ft. The East Humboldt Range is a metamorphic core complex, meaning that the older rocks have been pushed up and are exposed instead of being overlain by younger rock layers. This allows you to look up from Angel Lake and see some of the oldest rocks in Nevada: 2.5 billion year old gneiss. How cool is that to see rocks so old from a lake that is not so old (at least geologically speaking!).

Lake core. The sun also beckoned an angler to go out in his float tube. That would be a really fun way to visit the lake! Researchers have taken a raft out on the lake to retrieve a sample of the bottom (a sediment core) to study the past climate of the area over the last 7,000 years. They were able to see ash from the Mount Mazama explosion (the one that created Crater Lake in Oregon). They also learned quite a bit more, which you can read about here.

 When I got back to the dam (probably a leisurely 45-60 minutes after I had set out around the lake), I found the angling success wasn't so good for my family.

 But the kids sure did have fun getting in the chilly water!

I'd like to go back to Angel Lake and the East Humboldts and check out more of the beautiful scenery.

 And if we time it right, we may make it again for the drag races in Wells.

Ah, you've got to love the desert!

I couldn't find much information about Angel Lake when we set out to go there. Hopefully this compilation will help those who desire to know more. And if you know of other websites about Angel Lake, please leave a comment! Thanks!

Great Basin Quarter Ceremony

 I went to the ceremony of the launch of the Great Basin Quarter this last week. The US Mint is launching five quarters each year celebrating National Park Service areas. The parking lot was full, a rare occurrence, with people from all over. Many numismatists (coin collectors) came to the event, along with a good local turnout.

 Several people gave short talks, including Delaine from the Western Shoshone tribe, which has a long history in the area. Great Basin National Park Superintendent Steve Mietz explained the significance of the bristlecone pine, which is featured on the quarter. It is a long-lived species, with some growing over 5,000 years old. They only way they can grow that old is to live in harsh places with a lot of adversity. Bristlecone pines will grow in areas that aren't so extreme (like the parking lot of the Lehman Caves Visitor Center in Great Basin National Park), but they don't live as long.

 Ron Harrigal from the U.S. Mint presented Great Basin National Park superintendent Steve Mietz with a special plaque.

 Then they did the ceremonial pouring of the quarters. The ceremony concluded with more beautiful music and an opportunity to exchange bills for rolls of Great Basin quarters.

The First National Bank of Ely set up a temporary teller stand, and thousands of Great Basin quarters were exchanged. I followed some of the coin collectors and went to the post office for a special stamp. If we can manage not to spend the quarters, maybe they'll be worth a little more than twenty-five cents someday.

It was a nice ceremony, and the reporter from the Ely Times was there, so there is likely to be a story in this week's newspaper (out on Friday).