Jamie had wanted to leave the church lot by 7am but I figured he had a wicked fever or was suffering from heatstroke. We don’t open eyelids before 8am, but he wanted a Very Early Start and hoped to be in Reno by the end of the day. That was his problem yesterday; he wanted to make serious tracks. I can’t figure out why; why now? Why do we need to push the mileage? Why can’t we continue to enjoy the ride? Anyway, I was hoping we’d spend the night at Great Basin National Park and convinced him to just drive through the campground as they reported a stream running through it. The kids LOVE running water.
I was up before 7 and since I wasn’t going to get a walk in, was craving coffee. As Jamie’s bed is
in the kitchen it isn’t easy to make coffee without waking everyone but I tried. He then decided that we didn’t need to leave by 7 and gifted us with a more reasonable departure of 8am. I don’t know what has gotten into the man.
Somehow, someway (he didn’t even want to give the kids breakfast, but I saw through the folly
of that idea) we exited the parking lot at 8:18am. I’m still incredibly impressed by that exit time; we have never ever ever left camp, let alone gotten out of bed that early. I dropped off
some chokecherry syrup at the caretaker’s house and down highway 50 we headed. The scenery was gorgeous. We stopped in Delta for diesel and email and were overjoyed to find the trailer for Goblet of Fire. The kids watched it over and over, mesmorized by the trailer. We found Great Basin and are loving it. There is a lovely creek right beside our camp and we’re at 7700ft or more. There are caves to explore, a 10k+ peak and a Nevada Native American Full Moon Festival for the next 4 days. Looks like a quick look at the campground will turn into at least 2 nights of camping.
Since we’ve come back to the US and Jamie bought me new shoes, I’ve been able to take a good hike pretty much every day that we don’t travel. When I was hiking in the Cumbres/Chama/Elk Creek area my heartrate did not get over 132. Once we descended a bit, I could easily get my
heartrate to 140 without going into oxygen debt. I would normally hike for 2 hours but never had more than 30 minutes of sustained climbing. I was quite proud of myself that by the time we left Arches I had gotten my Double Arch climb down to 1 hour one way. The 5 mile roundtrip was a 2 hour hike. I think I have lost all the high altitude conditioning I once obtained by hiking in Colorado. We’re only at 7700ft but today, I spent 1 hour climbing without one stretch of flat or simply inclining trail. It was a hard, constant climb. I only went about 1/2 my normal distance but it still took 2 hours. I’m really impressed with Mr. Howser’s 2 mile 1/2 hour walks.
Each and every time I hike in rattlesnake territory, I have to wonder at their intelligence. WHY would snakes like 7000+ feet? Wouldn’t you think they’d prefer the warmth of low desert altitudes? I am constantly wondering if the rustle of a bird or the leaves in the birch trees are a tail warning me to stop. I saw rattlesnakes in Ft. Davis, Texas and in the Espanola area of New Mexico. I haven’t seen them since but have seen signs warning of their presence. I wish they’d just go lower.
