Ely and the Great Basin National Park

Drove from Elko to Ely on October 8th. Spent the 9th at Lehman Caves/Great Basin National Park. I had last visited Lehman Caves in 1980 - before it became a national park in 1986. The long tour of the caves was full, so I took the shorter tour. It is very tight in some places and necessary to suck in some parts that needed sucking in. The goal was to not touch either side, but it wasn't as easy as that.

However, the stalactites, stalagmites, drapery, popcorn, bacon and shields were all incredible. At one point the ranger turned off the lights and lit a candle (which is how the first explorers of the cave saw everything). In case you hadn't guessed, it was VERY dark.

After the tour, I started the drive up to the top of Wheeler Peak (at 13,000 feet). Didn't make it much beyond 9,000. The road was paved, but there weren't any guard rails. And the drop off was awesome (in a somewhat horrifying, what-if-I-drive-off sort of feeling).

Just a little ways away from the Lehman Caves area was a "ranching exhibit". Someone had decided to put an "art installation" near it, and it was truly strange. A cow skull inside a rusted out car with no axles. How I feel at times!

I was able to get more pictures of aspens near Wheeler.

Another interesting note. On the way to the park from Ely, I went over a hill and down into a valley. I saw the road heading off to the hills on the other side of the valley (over six miles away, BTW) and thought OMG, I'll never get the trailer over that.

Turns out the road actually goes left and follows the hills (doesn't go over until a few miles later). The uphill isn't as bad as I expected when I saw this view out my windshield.

That made me think about traveling in a car versus my current setup. I have driven I-80 from Pacheco to Salt Lake City, Hwy 55 from Winnemucca to Boise and Hwy 50 from Fallon, NV to Ely and beyond. While driving in my van, I didn't notice any hills, or at least they appeared to be minor ups and downs in the roadway, especially with cruise control.

Whole different matter pulling a trailer. What seemed like minor hills turned out to be huge mountains with the truck shifting down to a much lower gear, or slowing down to 35 or 40 mph at a more reasonable rpm. Its a good thing I'm not in much of a hurry!