Kinda Sorta Headed Home: Salt Lake City to Great Basin National Park

Adventure Travel

Jun 11

Wheeler Peak, the highest point in Great Basin National Park, bathing in sunset shower of warm light. Photo by Dalton Johnson.

Few moments are more dear to me than spending time with Chestnut, especially in the early mornings. Today, we are heading out of Salt Lake City, UT and beginning the journey home. It’s been 11 days on the road so far and few thousand miles, so this hotel was a nice treat. Now, it’s time to pack ourselves back into the van and start bouncing down some secluded roads to our goal destination for the day: Great Basin National Park.

A not totally dry Chestnut acting as a weighted blanket, “cuddling” with me this morning. Photo by Dalton Johnson

I would say my intentions for this trip of posting a daily article was ambitious and maybe a bit stupid. Sure, everyday might have enough happen to warrant writing a few hundred words in a journal format, but, wow, I didn’t realize to make that happen I would need to grind away for a few hours each night to get the edit the images, write the article, proofread with tired eyes, and then hit publish.

Sustainable, I am unsure.

However, Craig Mod writes a daily newsletter and edits his images when he walks around Japan, so I figured I would be able to do the same thing, because I’ll have a van. Turns out, it’s a grind that I didn’t expect. But, hey, I kinda like the process.

Writing while driving, because the grind is real and well the view is… meh. Photo by Dalton Johnson

During our 4+ hour drive along barren desert roads that seemed to blend into the horizon, I was grateful for the van and 20-something gallons of water we carried. My mind couldn’t stop imagining what would happen if we broke down and got stranded out here. There was nothing. When I say nothing, I mean, at times we were 100 miles from a gas station and obviously no water to found anywhere.

That is not comforting for a person who loves to swim daily.

The good news, we didn’t break down and our water supply was topped off at the Great Basin National Park visitor center when we arrived. Can I be honest for a quick second? I heavily questioned the idea and decision to drive to this national park. It is out of the way and didn’t have much of an appeal on when I searched, “things to do in Great Basin National Park”. The list was short and uninteresting:

sight seeing
caves, but you need a reservation months in advance
camping, but you need a reservation months in advance
hiking

And that was pretty much it. Would that be worth a 200 mile detour? I didn’t think so, but Kristin is one of those people that wants to visit every national park, so we went with a dog. Dumb idea? Most would say dogs and national parks don’t mix, I would agree with them, but were are here now.

Proof I’m a bad dog dad by bribing Chestnut with a peanut butter filled Kong before leaving for a trail run. Photo by Dalton Johnson

Worrying for Chestnut’s safety, as the outdoor temperature at the visitor center reads 93F, I know we can’t leave him in the van, yet we want to go walk around the park. Kristin and I go back and forth, but ultimately decide to drive the main road to Wheeler Peak, which is the tallest peak in Nevada (with some subjectivity), and see what we can see from the van.

Chugging up the steep incline, the van is working hard in the heat. The road twists and turns up this stunning road with evergreen trees and there is a ton of wildlife. Birds, foxes, more birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits are all visible while driving the road. In the distance you can see the road we drove to get to Great Basin National Park cutting a straight line, as far as the eye can see, through the desert.

How does this place exist? I ask myself while navigating the bends of the mountain road.

Surely I would not have thought this place would exist in the middle of Nevada.

Looking down at the temperature gauge it reads 85F. We are halfway up the road, so my fingers are crossed the temps will continue dropping enough to leave Chestnut behind and go for a trail run. Also, the sun is about 2 hours from setting, so that should help.

Trail run

Wheeler Peak soaking up the moments of sun before the dark night arrives. Photo by Dalton Johnson

Soaking in the views.

Headed back to the heat well below 10,000 feet. Photo by Dalton Johnson

Unfortunately, we the campsite up here are full and there are no spots to park the van overnight, so we can’t sleep up here in the cool temps. Begrudgingly, we begin twisting our way back down the road to some BLM land nearby we can post up on for the night. Hopefully, it won’t be too hot!