Now, I don't want you to get the wrong impression about Jim. He may not like Ohio much, but he sure is a friendly and interesting guy. We talked quite a bit that night in Baker to the point where his son was visibly frustrated. He mentioned that if I was still around in the morning, he would drive me up to Lehman caves so we could all go on a tour. That sounded like a great idea especially because it would save me a 6 mile climb.
In the morning, we had breakfast and got in his car around 8:45AM to see the 9AM tour. For a pilot from Colorado, he knew a lot about the geography of Nevada. As we were driving up to the visitor's center, he was telling me why Nevada is so mountainous. Typically, when mountains are formed, two plates are pushing against each other, one eventually goes down and the other goes up, creating the mountain. In Nevada, this is not the case. The plates in Nevada are actually moving apart. When the plates move apart, one side of the plate will eventually go down and the other side will go up. This creates the multiple mountain ranges with the desert valleys in between.
We arrived at the visitor center and the 9AM tour of the caves was sold out. Bummer. Jim decided we should take the road that goes up to just below the peak of 13,000 foot Mt. Wheeler. The road was 10 miles of 8% grade. I certainly wouldn't have gone this way without a car.
On the ride up, Jim continued to talk about the land. He mentioned how out east, there are plenty of rivers and water for everyone. Out west, especially in Nevada, that is not the case. Currently, in Baker, there is an issue going on with Las Vegas. Up on Mt. Wheeler, there is a lake and a stream and plenty of life. Las Vegas wants to run a pipe and grab the water from up there. This would most certainly kill everything up there. Not to mention that they are currently in an 11-12 year drought. Here's what's at stake.
I'm going to come back here and walk up Mt. Wheeler. It's only a 3 mile hike from the parking lot. I just want to say I threw a snowball in the desert in mid-July.
Stella Lake
TJ with an appropriately shaped rock.
That deer was not too concerned with me.
What's more interesting is that these mountains are literally desert islands. That deer will never walk down the mountain, then 30 or 40 miles across a barren desert, and up to another mountain range. The life that exists on these mountains in the desert are completely isolated from each other, despite being just tens of miles apart. Also, up on these mountains at very high elevation is a tree called the Bristlecone Pine. They are the oldest living plants in the world with some more than 5,000 years old. It would be a shame to lose any of this.
On the way back down, Jim told me the most interesting story of how a great natural treasure was lost. If you remember my stay at Lake Powell, it was certainly beautiful. However, the lake was formed from one dam placed on the Colorado River and it is what lies beneath the waters of Lake Powell that was even more beautiful. A brief history of why the dam was built can be read here.
Jim also recommended a book to me. Desert Solitaire by Ed Abbey. He read me some quotes and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy. Jim even invited me to Durango some time. It was a great morning but, it was now noon and I had not even began riding yet. It was going to be a hot ride to Ely.
This one makes me laugh pretty hard...
Not happy about that late start.
The late start meant a late finish. I arrived in Ely as the sun was going down and the last hour of the ride was extremely pleasant.
I camped in Ely and got a 6:30 start the following morning to head to Eureka.
It was up and down mountains once again to Eureka. Just cruising along highway 50.
life=good
