Hiking the New Serviceberry Trail, Great Basin National Park

The weather forecast was perfect--warm and clear, and Jenny and I hadn't been on the Serviceberry Trail up Snake Creek in Great Basin National Park. We decided it was time! We were joined by some friends to make a big group hike after school one day. It was a warm day, in the 80s.

The trail was just finished last year, although the designer is quick to point out that it's not totally finished, some of the trail needs work to make it more level (a lot of it is sloped and off camber, which can make difficult footing for some, but the trail itself is easy to follow). It's either 3.2 or 3.6 miles long, depending on which sign you believe.

Little Willow was so ready to go hiking!

Hiking with a bunch of kids is lots of fun, as they entertain each other. And it's nice to get some adult talk in, too.

Desert Boy also brought along a book. My little bookworm.

We also brought some walkie-talkies and the kids took turns using them (or fought about if it was their turn).

The kids wanted frequent breaks, and we taught them to stop in the shade. At one stop, Desert Girl pulled out her notebook and started sketching. It totally took me by surprise!

Finally we finished going up the sunny, steep switchbacks and made it to the other side of the ridge. There we found an awesome granite boulder for the kids to climb.

This part of the trail was full of surprises, like this beautiful aspen stand.

Desert Girl took lots of photos. Like over 150! I still haven't downloaded those.

We saw some flowers still blooming, like these lupine.

I really enjoyed the aspen grove and the granite boulders.

The aspens were turning colors and were so beautiful. It was getting late, as we started the hike after school and the sun was now going down behind the mountains.

Some of the kids were getting a little tired (especially Desert Boy), but they kept hiking; they didn't have much other choice.

Desert Girl kept taking photos.

Here's Jenny coming up the trail.

Then we popped back over the ridge and saw some gorgeous aspen colors up towards Pyramid Peak. The buckwheat was another flower still blooming strong.

The trail went further to the west than I expected, allowing for some really nice views of riparian aspen and sagebrush-covered hills. There's mountain mahogany in the foreground and white fir in the background.

More fall colors

I got distracted taking photos and some of the group got ahead of me. Can you see them in the photo below?

Little Lily was getting tired. Jess got extra exercise carrying her almost the whole way.

The last part of the trail went through the riparian area next to Snake Creek.

It was time for a run once we spotted the vehicles!

At the finish, the kids were rewarded with popcorn.

It was a really fun hike, with friends through a variety of habitats. We had been told it was an easy, rolling trail, but I would classify it as moderate. There's more elevation gain than I expected (650+ feet), with some steep switchbacks on one side. It took us about three hours to hike the 3+ miles with kids and lots of stops. Thanks to everyone who came with!

Scenic Drive Fall Colors, Great Basin National Park

I spent ten days away (post coming soon!) and when I got back, I saw the colors were really changing high up on the mountain. Jenny and I decided to head up to take advantage of the fall colors. I decided just to use a 100mm lens to challenge my photography skills and look for some different angles on the fall colors.

I especially love the red leaves, which contrast with everything.

But I have to admit, the yellow leaves looked a little like candles.

The sunlight made some of the leaves glow, especially when they were backlit. I never realized that there was a white fringe around the edge of an aspen leaf.

Jenny and I weren't the only photographers, Desert Girl joined us too.

She was also happy to pose for photos.

And hang out with her friends.

Meanwhile, Desert Boy climbed a tree and blended in well.

The patterns of shadows and leaves was mesmerizing. I am hoping I can find some time to just sit and absorb it all.

There wasn't time for sitting on this trip, the kids were climbing on all sorts of things, including this tree stump.

And then running through the meadow.

And playing a little hide'n seek.

As we headed back to our vehicles, this tree caught my eye. It really seemed to be glowing. Sometimes I think of the colorful aspens as little candles on the mountain, lighting it up.

The kids may have not yet quite mastered walking in a straight line--facing the same direction!

Our next stop was the amphitheater. I don't think the park held any programs there this summer, so the kids filled in with their own. They thought it was great fun to talk and do a little program.

Whoever was wearing the hat was the park ranger.

Meanwhile the audience was on the benches.

Next Jenny suggested we hike up to the Scenic Drive to find some more red aspens. Willow got a ride and was happy about it.

The kids and I hung out in the colorful leaves while Jenny snapped our photo.

The colors really took my breath away. We have a big storm coming tonight with high winds, so it will be interesting how many leaves stay on the trees. Snow on the mountain will highlight those leaves that remain and make it even more dramatic!

On the way down the Scenic Drive, even in the shade the colors were amazing.

What does fall look like for you?

Checking on Four GLORIA Peaks

Buck Mountain

I had most of this post written, and then, poof, it disappeared! So I'll try again!

One of my tasks this summer has been to check on dataloggers on the GLORIA peaks in Great Basin National Park. GLORIA is a world-wide program looking at how vegetation is changing on mountain tops. The basic idea is that the higher up you go, the cooler it gets. So plants that need cooler temperatures are found up high. If it gets too warm and they can't get any higher, than poof, they just disappear (like my previous text!--except not so easy to replace). GLORIA plots were installed in 2008 on Buck, Bald, Wheeler and Pyramid Peaks in the park. In 2013, they were re-read, and already changes were seen, with new plants moving in. Dataloggers were also installed, four on each peak, in each cardinal direction. The 2008 dataloggers only lasted about five years, so I was worried about the 2013 ones. Since 2016 is three years later, I figured it would be a good idea to go check on them and bring some replacements.

The first peaks tackled were Buck (about a 45-minute hike up from the Glacier overlook on the Scenic Drive) and Bald. Buck has some trees on the summit, so it makes it interesting. It also has outstanding views (see above). We found 3 of the 4 dataloggers, downloaded them all, installed new ones, and then headed across the saddle (new terrain for me!) to Bald Mountain.

Bald Mountain is our botanically most diverse mountain top, I think because it's so flat, so there is lots of nice habitat. You can see me below with Jeff Davis and Wheeler in the background.

Some of the flowers include Silene acualis (the pink one) and phlox.

Here's another alpine garden, with yellow Geum rossii and white Erigeron leiomerus and a few other things mixed in (e.g., Phlox, Astraguls kentrophyta, Poa secunda?).

Another day we tackled Wheeler Peak, the highest peak in our summit areas, at 13,063 ft. It was a warm day.

We saw lots of pollinators on flowers. I think this is a bee mimic on some Geum rossii.

At the top there were butterflies and bumblees on the phlox.

I advise everyone summiting Wheeler to walk the ridge towards Jeff Davis. The views are amazing.

I don't do selfies often, but I couldn't resist here!


I noticed some spots on the rock glacier. Turns out they are thermokarst ponds, or basically the rock glacier melting. Boo, it's getting smaller!

The amazing Parry's primrose (Primula parryi) cheered me up. For some reason it grows on this mountain, even though it's usually a riparian plant.

And a closer view.

Finding these dataloggers can be tricky, as we had no UTMs for them (we do now!). We used directions and photos to relocate them, and in some cases were trying to find matching lichen patterns.

We still had one peak left, Pyramid Peak in the middle of the park. We started at the Shoshone trailhead up Snake Creek. Because I hadn't done it for a couple whiles, we took the Dead Lake route, which is supposed to become a trail to connect into the Johnson Lake trail. It's super nice, but a lot of the flagging has blown away. The trailhead sign says the trail exists, but be prepared to do routefinding if you go for it. Dead Lake had more water in it than I expected. It's a lake in a moraine, and it can dry up to just a puddle about five feet across.

Up near Johnson Lake we ran into the Historicorps crew, who along with a park archeologist are working on rebuilding the historic cabins that miners built when they mined tungsten up by Johnson Lake. We puzzled over the extremely small door with them. Maybe some of the miners where short? In the background you can see some of the original tree stumps--the miners must have cut these in winter, as they are over ten feet tall!

We went by the lake, up the deteriorating trail to the ridge, and then were on the final approach to Pyramid Peak.

The view is exquisite looking south, with Johnson Lake and more of the South Snake Range.

The view looking north is also fabulous, with the backside of Baker and Wheeler peaks. In the foreground is Holmgrem's buckwheat (Eriogonum holmgrenii), a plant that is endemic to the South Snake Range. I always enjoy seeing it. The good news was that all the dataloggers we found downloaded just fine. They generally showed that flatter areas are more buffered from cold temperatures in the winter (probably from a snow layer), while the steeper sides of the peaks got very cold. We couldn't find all the dataloggers, but we installed new ones so we'll at least have some data.

Thanks so much to the volunteers, Hallie and Andrew, who went along on these hikes. 

It won't be long until this high country looks very different!