Backpacking Great Basin National Park: Yearning for the outlaw

I unzipped my tent to an early, dim sky.  We agreed to an “alpine start,” waking up right at sunrise. I didn’t sleep too well last night. The winds were terribly loud. You could hear strong gusts ready at the top of Pyramid Peak, then barrel their way down, across the surface of Johnson Lake, and then crash into our t…

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Backpacking Great Basin National Park: Bagging the pyramid

The sound of crashing rockfall woke me up from inside my tent on the northwest shore of Baker Lake.  It was a loud, fast, and trembling rumble. For a split second, I worried if whatever cascading boulders would reach our camp, but I was half-asleep still. Compared to twelve hours prior, I felt much better health-wise…

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Backpacking Great Basin National Park: Nevada's lonely wilderness

Our phones' alarms rang loud far before sunrise and we gathered all of our gear before heading downstairs to the hotel lobby for breakfast.  We had spent the night at a Ramada in Provo, Utah where we slept two to a bed. With less than five hours of sound shut-eye, I was exhausted and devoured as much coffee, pint…

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