Mt. Washington is located in the Great Basin National Park and our plan was to hike it on Saturday. However, getting to the Great Basin from our home is a half day trip. So, we decided to meet Tom, along with John & Mary, at Pole Canyon where we made a base camp on Friday afternoon. Arriving early, and with still plenty of daylight left, we set out to inspect the road to the trailhead that we would be using the next day. Along the way we took a spur road to the St. Lawrence Mine and had fun exploring the Bristlecone pine cabins that dot the area.
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Mt. Washington
Our base camp is located on the western side (in the sage flats) of this very blocky limestone mountain
Believe it or not there is a steep 4WD road that goes all the way to the top! |
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| The turnoff for Pole Canyon (the road that will take us to the top) is opposite the Pickering Ranch |
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| After setting up camp, Tom took us up Pole Canyon Road to the St. Lawrence Mine located at 10,200 ft |
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| We found John and Mary exploring the mine remnants |
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| Built in 1881 from Bristlecone pines, some of the cabins are still in great shape |
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| Notched and stacked without nails |
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The miners weren't very good at recycling!
They must have traveled a long way for food and supplies |
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| This beautiful Bristlecone was still alive! |
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The Acropolis can be seen off to the south
(To read Tom's trip report of when he climbed this peak, in 2020, click here) |
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After exploring the mine, we continued on to the end of the road (11,400 ft)
This is the parking area for Mt. Washington, which we will hike tomorrow
(Looks like we're standing on top of the world, doesn't it!) |
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| Looking down the eastern side of the Snake Range |
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On the way back down, Tom stopped at this viewpoint to fly his drone
(To view his video, that capsulizes our trip, click here)
These are some rugged limestone cliffs and easily drop a thousand feet below our feet |
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| The arrow points to our camp site back on the sage flats |
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Kent was a little nervous standing here . . .
He has a fear of heights . . . especially those you can't see the bottom of! |
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The setting sun brings an end to a great day . . .
We are excited for tomorrow . . . the Annular Eclipse of the sun is going to occur before our hike! |
What a great day! We weren't planning to get all of this in today, but we're so glad we did. It will allow us to "sleep in" and enjoy the eclipse before we head out to
Mt. Washington to try and find the Great Basin Bristlecone pine that appears in the Parks' pamphlet and on the 2013 Great Basin quarter . . . looking forward to tomorrow!
