Hiking to North America's Southernmost Glacier {Great Basin NP}

Daddy has been talking about Great Basin National Park pretty much since the day I met him! It's home to North America's southernmost glacier, and only five hours from Las Vegas. Weird, right?! We camped at the Border Inn, which is not surprisingly straddles the border of Nevada and Utah. I found it a good sign when I spotted Horned Larks from the RV!

Our morning drive into the park. 

Lots of flat terrain and then all of us sudden you're winding and climbing up the mountains.

SNOW! 

We drove the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive to the trailhead of the Bristlecone Pine Glacier trail.

This 4 mile trail took us thru an area with ancient bristlecone pines. 

We crossed a patch of snow and LOTS of large rocks to get close to the glacier. This is not a trail for those with stability issues or weak ankles!

This alpine rock glacier has been melting quickly. Daddy was shocked to see how much it had receded since his last visit, maybe 20 years ago. The rangers said they expect it will be gone by 2030. 

On our way back Asher slid down a snow bank!

Teresa Lake is a short jaunt from the Bristlecone trail, and worth checking out no matter how tired you are.

We arranged for a tour of Lehman Caves. This place was used by Native Americans long before it was found by Absalom Lehman in 1885. He began charging people to explore it and even let them take what they wanted. Fortunately there's still plenty of cave formations to admire- stalactites, stalagmites, popcorn and draperies. 

As our guide, Sam, introduced herself, she seemed vaguely familiar, and then it hit me. She was work camping at Bahia Honda State Park in the Keys last winter when we were there. She is actually the one who turned Journey's conch shell into a horn! Small world!

When we mentioned Great Basin, our friend, Susan, said we MUST attend their Night Sky program. Lucky for us, it was happening this day, so we went home for a short nap and returned before sunset. At this outdoor amphitheater a film explained Great Basin was a certified International Dark Sky Place. This area has some of the darkest skies in the US plus it's combination of low humidity, and high elevation give people the opportunity to see amazing views of thousands of stars, galaxies and the milky way.  After the film, three very large telescopes were aimed at a nebula, and a few other cool features, however I forget what they were called. We also saw the International Space Station and the Russian Space Station, shooting stars and the Milky Way.