Four Lovely Days

If you include the days of travel, our family vacation lasted six days. Out of those, the middle four were quite wonderful! We had a few problems, but I think that's to be expected when you take four kids camping 300 miles from home.

We left Las Vegas at 9 AM on Tuesday morning, headed for Great Basin National Park. We anticipated six hours of driving on a long, lonely road into a desolate part of Nevada. Before we'd reached the halfway mark, we had two calamities: the passenger-side window in our van broke while in the down position and the baby got carsick. We changed his clothes and taped plastic over the window in the little town of Caliente. We got a few miles outside of Caliente and realized that we might not have enough gas to make it all the way to our destination, so we turned around and went back. That set us back a few minutes and then not long after that, the rain started, which further slowed us down. I did see a badger on the side of the road, which was a first for me, but the heavy rain prohibited us from seeing the mountains as we approached the park. Then the baby got sick again on the park access road.

We reached Wheeler Peak Campground before dark and set up in the rain. Spruce and fir trees towered over our campsite, so we couldn't really see Wheeler Peak, but I had the sense it was hiding back there. We had a cold dinner, scrambled around to get everything ready and then hunkered down in our chilly, damp tents for the night. My oldest had her own tent, and spent the night shivering.

Wednesday, we didn't leave the campground at all. We organized blankets differently and found all our warm clothes. The kids explored, crossed Lehman Creek, jumped in the mud and shook their sillies out. I burned dinner on the campfire, but at least it was warm. The baby's tummy was still upset and we went through a lot of diapers. We got a glimpse of the mountain, which reaches 13,061 feet and has a permanent snow field.

Thursday, we went into the town of Baker to do a load of laundry (see above). We wandered around looking for a phone book and pay phone, as we needed to attempt to get the van window fixed. We had a picnic in the parking lot of the public laundry and kids got snacks at the local market. We bought some firewood and more ice. It wasn't a very exciting day and we chewed up most of it driving around in circles. The highlight of the day was the tour of Lehman Caves. The two little girls were concerned about the dark, but they got used to it and seemed to enjoy the 60-minute tour. They behaved very well, were quiet when the park ranger talked and didn't shine their flashlights in people's eyes. After the tour, we picked free apricots from the Lehman Orchard in front of the visitors center. Some of the trees are over a century old. The apricots were very mild and everyone tried them. The weather was still cool and rainy.

Friday morning was very chilly and it rained off and on. Mr. Q drove to the nearest big town, Ely (80 miles from the campground), to get the window fixed. I kept a fire going all morning while we watched a 10-point buck eat his breakfast and the girls worked on their junior ranger booklets. I tried making grilled cheese on the camp stove, but burned most of the sandwiches. Amazingly, the kids ate them without complaining. Mr. Q came back with a fixed window just as we started to see some blue skies above the mountains. We took the girls to the visitors center to get their junior ranger badges and then walked the short, handicapped-accessible Island Forest Nature Trail. The little ones were disappointed that it wasn't a "real" hike, but it was still enjoyable. Despite the teenager's protests, we made the decision to stay an extra day so that we could hike and relax a bit after using two days taking care of the van.

That evening, I slipped away and walked a few hundred yards on the Lehman Creek Trail. As I walked through a stand of aspens, I saw five mule deer, including a set of twins. The sky was incredible, with the moon sitting above Wheeler Peak. Later that night, Ray and I walked to the meadow to look at the stars and Jupiter. I saw a couple of Perseids. It was the best Friday night that I have had in a long time!

Saturday morning, we set off with the three little ones to hike the Alpine Lakes Loop Trail. The teenager stayed at the camp site to enjoy some peace and quiet. We intended to hike half of the loop trail, but the kids were in good spirits, so we decided to attempt the entire 3-mile loop. It felt great to be in the wilderness, in the shadow of Nevada's second highest mountain. Hiking above 10,000 feet was a bit challenging, but both Mr. Q and I were rejuvenated by the experience. The baby slept in the backpack and the little girls hiked the entire trail! I made a yummy dinner of chicken sausage, peppers and tomatoes that evening and we started packing up.

Sunday was another gorgeous day and I was sad to have to leave the campground. Breaking camp is always a daunting task, but it went smoothly. We snapped a few family photos and were headed down the mountain by 11 AM. Thankfully, the trip home passed without problems. We stopped once for gas and once to eat and arrived home before 6 PM. After being in the wilderness, I almost cried at the ugliness of Las Vegas.