Wheeler Peak hike in Great Basin National Park

Wheeler Peak
Great Basin National Park
October 5-6, 2005

I began my journey to hike Wheeler Peak by first flying into Las Vegas. As usual I rented a Jeep
Cherokee from Dollar Car Rental. I have found Dollar to consistently be the cheapest car rental in
Vegas and most other cities. I have two recommendations for them. The first thing you should do is to
sign up for their Dollar Express program. This will enable you to bypass many lines and you also won’t
have to deal with them asking you about the insurance or pre-paying gas (both bad ideas) each time
you rent a car. The second recommendation is after you make your reservation on line is that you
check back every couple of weeks before you go. The rates in Vegas can vary widely depending on
business conditions. I have always saved money on my car rentals this way. If you find the rate is lower
simply cancel your existing reservation and make a new one at the new price. In any case, on this trip I
picked up the shuttle outside of baggage claim and was at the rental facility in about five minutes.
About five minutes after that using Dollar Express I was at the lot exit and soon on my way to the Great
Basin National Park.

There is a reason you may not be that familiar with Great Basin National Park. It is pretty far from just
about any place. The nearest cities are Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Reno. They are 290 miles, 257
miles and 380 miles away respectively. Even at desert speeds (80-85 mph) it took me 4 ½ hours to
get to the visitor’s center at the park. Along the way you pass some very lonely, but beautiful country. It’
s beautiful to me but then, I love the deserts and the mountains. If you are taking this little trek then I am
going to assume you have the same attitude that I do about the country you are traveling through.

I arrived at the visitor’s center about 4 PM and after talking to the ranger about conditions found that the
highest campground (Wheeler Peak Campground, 9,886 ft.) was now closed for the season due to a
snowstorm that week. The next highest, Upper Lehman Creek (7,852 ft.) was open. The ranger told
me that normally it was $12 per night but that it was dropped to $6 per night because the water had
been shut off due to the cold. It had a self service kiosk to get your permit. I left the visitor’s center and
drove up to the campground about 10 miles away. Unlike every other national park I have ever visited
there is no entrance fee for Great Basin National Park. The campground itself is 3 miles up the 13
mile long Wheeler Peak scenic road. The campground was very nice with fire pits, picnic tables,
paved pullout for your car and vault toilets. I was somewhat surprised to see 3 or 4 other campers in
the campground since this was the middle of the week (Wednesday) in late fall. I set up my tent and
sleeping bag and pad in about 20 minutes and headed to an unremarkable restaurant called the
Border Inn on the Nevada, Utah border about 15 minutes from the campground. I returned around 7
PM and had my usual restless night until waking the next morning for the final time at 5 AM. The
temperature dropped during the night to about 25 but I was very comfortable in my sleeping bag until I
had to get out to attend to some other needs.

During this nocturnal journey I happened to look up and wow….. I saw more stars that night than I
have even seen before. It was almost as they were surrounding you. I can’t describe in
words how beautiful it was. It made you feel part of the universe as well as a tiny insignificant
part of it. I would fly 2,500 and drive 300 miles just to see this again. My digital camera doesn’t
have an adjustable exposure so I couldn’t take a picture of it. But the next time I will be
prepared.

In the morning I was packed up and ready to go at the trailhead at about 6:15 AM. It was dark and I had
my headlamp that came in handy while I was packing up but I found that once I shut it off I didn’t need it
after my eyes adjusted to the coming dawn light. I don’t want to bore you with a step by step account of
my hike but just say that it was hard but not the hardest hike I have ever done. I think that anyone of
reasonable fitness if they took their time and were properly prepared (trekking poles, boots, and proper
clothes) could do this hike. The weather was ideal. No wind at all to speak of with temperatures at the
start of the hike of around 30 degrees and once the sun came out it was comfortable enough for me to
take one of my layers off and remove my glove liners. The only real difficulty I had was for the last ½
mile before the summit that was quite steep and covered in about 6 inches of snow that had fallen two
days before. It was a bit hard getting up but worse coming down. On the way down I slipped and fell on
my backside once. When they tell you it hurts to fall on your tailbone they aren’t kidding.

I met two other groups of hikers on my way down. One of them were a father (40 something) and son
(twenty something) who I met about 1,700 feet below the summit and were quite dismayed when I told
them how far they had to go. They had been in the park for a couple of days and had tried to hike
Wheeler Peak on Monday but a storm was in the area and the summit was covered in clouds. You
have to respect the mountain. As sunny and pleasant as it was today it very well could have been
windy, snowy and quite dangerous a couple of days earlier. I met another couple at the trailhead. They
looked like they were in their late 50’s and quite fit. They had been in the park for a week and they both
commented on how great the weather was. They were leaving around 12:30 PM and would be pushing
it to be all the way back down before dark but they certainly looked like this wasn’t their first hike.

On my way down the scenic highway I pulled off one of the overlooks. There was a man sitting there
eating his lunch with binoculars to watch for birds. We talked for awhile about the southwest and how
much we loved it. As I was taking some pictures he commented, “You know, you try to capture it
but you just can’t. You have to experience it to truly feel it.”

In conclusion, Wheeler Peak in a great, moderately strenuous hike in a fabulous, relatively little visited
National Park. It takes awhile to get there but you won’t be disappointed. I know I will be back again.