Bristlecone Pine Trail
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We came into Nevada on Highway 50, the Loneliest Road in America. It really earns the name. Long stretches of nothing but open valleys, a few mountain passes, some lonely towns, and not much else.
Highway 50 in Nevada
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As we arrived in Great Basin National Park, we headed toward Baker Creek Campground. Wildlife greeted us on the way in. A badger on the side of the road ducked into the rabbit brush before I could snap a good picture. Turkeys were out in the grass, a mule deer stared through the trees, and a black-tailed jackrabbit with enormous ears looked our way before darting off.
The next morning we drove up to the end of the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive, climbing to about 10,000 feet at the trailhead. From there we pieced together the Bristlecone Pine Trail, Glacier Trail, and Alpine Lakes Loop, a six to seven mile hike.
Twisted, gnarled, and weather-beaten, the high elevation Bristlecone trees are the oldest living things on Earth. The very oldest are in California’s White Mountains at five thousand years old, but the trees here top three thousand years. Even after they die, the wood is so tough and resinous it can stand for additional thousands of years. It’s humbling to stand next to something that’s been alive since before the Roman Empire.
From there we climbed higher to see the rock glacier, a huge pile of boulders that hides glacier ice underneath. It slowly creeps downhill over time armored and insulated in stone.
After that, we looped around past Stella and Teresa Lakes. Late in the season they were more like ponds than alpine lakes, but the meadows around them were alive with birds. We spotted kinglets darting through the willows, Clark’s nutcrackers calling overhead, a brown creeper working its way up a tree trunk, and juncos flitting along the trail. A turkey with her youngster crossed our path. Along the way we caught a few pops of fall color in the aspens, a hint of the season starting to turn.
It made for a full and amazing day on the mountain.
The next morning we drove up to the end of the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive, climbing to about 10,000 feet at the trailhead. From there we pieced together the Bristlecone Pine Trail, Glacier Trail, and Alpine Lakes Loop, a six to seven mile hike.
Twisted, gnarled, and weather-beaten, the high elevation Bristlecone trees are the oldest living things on Earth. The very oldest are in California’s White Mountains at five thousand years old, but the trees here top three thousand years. Even after they die, the wood is so tough and resinous it can stand for additional thousands of years. It’s humbling to stand next to something that’s been alive since before the Roman Empire.
From there we climbed higher to see the rock glacier, a huge pile of boulders that hides glacier ice underneath. It slowly creeps downhill over time armored and insulated in stone.
After that, we looped around past Stella and Teresa Lakes. Late in the season they were more like ponds than alpine lakes, but the meadows around them were alive with birds. We spotted kinglets darting through the willows, Clark’s nutcrackers calling overhead, a brown creeper working its way up a tree trunk, and juncos flitting along the trail. A turkey with her youngster crossed our path. Along the way we caught a few pops of fall color in the aspens, a hint of the season starting to turn.
It made for a full and amazing day on the mountain.