Saturday Day 2: Ely to Great Basin (Saturday)

It rained off and on all the way to Great Basin, which took just over an hour. We stopped at the visitor center to get a map and buy postcards. We drove up to the second visitor center which was at Lehman Caves. The caves are only accessible on a guided tour, either 90 minutes or 60 minutes. Even though we got there around 9:30am, they were all filled up except a 12:30pm 60 minute tour. We also bought a National Parks Pass which lets you into any National Park for free for a year! Turns out we got a free cave ticket when we bought that; I guess they figure if you have the time to visit that many National Parks in a year you’re traveling solo. We had quite a bit of time to kill so we decided to drive up the mountain to see Wheeler Peak. There were quite a few hikes along the way that Mike wanted to see but it was still pouring. There were a few vistas that we stopped out only long enough for Bree to run out with a raincoat and a waterproof camera, to take a picture. We took a short video to show how bad the storm was, you can barely see the peak in the distance! Because we didn’t get to hike or even see the Bristlecones Mike wanted to see we still had time to kill. We drove back to the Lehman caves entrance and ate some sandwiches listening to thunder in the distance. We moseyed back up the visitor center to poke around, Bree got some hot chocolate and we sat and waited for the tour. The tour had about 15 people in it and a funny tour guide. The jokes from a National Park Service Tour Guide are about as bad as the Physics jokes I tell. The original entrance of the cave was a hole in the ground that the original discoverer and guests would rappel down. The original discoverer Absalom Lehmen, discovered the caverns (improperly named caves) with only a candle. Several of the stalactites (they hold tight to the ceiling) and the stalagmites (they might reach the stalactites) were broken. Some were broken when the Parks service took over to create a single path to limit cave exposure; most were taken as souvenirs prior to the Parks service taking it over. Lehman sold the cave to the Rhodes, who had a whole routine for their cave tours, complete with cave man and cave woman outfits, in the 20’s and 30’s. They used to rent out the main cavern for parties and weddings. The smoke from the fires still remains in the cave. The tour guide pointed out several cave features including stalactites and stalagmites but also cave popcorn, drapery and soda straws. There were a few young boys in the group that kept interrupting him to share their childhood insights. They had quite a bit to add to the tour in regards to soda. There are also formations called shields, although no one is quite sure how they’re made because they are super rare. We made it back out of the cave and back out to the car. We stopped for gas in Baker, a small town just outside the park and continued on highway 50 towards Bryce Canyon. We came across an odd sign that read “Test Road, Next 2 Miles” although we could see no difference in the road. Mike asked, “If its not different, why do they need to tell us?” As soon as we hit the Nevada/ Utah border, the asphalt turned a dark red. It only lasted a few miles but it was the strangest thing.

We drove along without incident for awhile, as we were indeed in the “great basin” which is flat as far as the eye can see. There are mountains surrounding it but they are far far away. We heard a lot of thunder but only saw flashes. There was one lightning strike we could see clearly. It was several miles long and seemed to strike where the mountain range hit the road ahead of us. It was a bright flash, purple in color, and very very large! The scenery was nonexistent, we were looking for funny signs out of boredom. We noticed that all highway signs had beehives on them, we don’t know why. The signs warning of cows became normal again and we saw several more cattleguards. They seem to be across the road and continue a fence line. We don’t know what their purpose is, or how they work, we just crossed a lot of them.

The storm seemed to get worse and we saw some odd clouds in the distance. As we pulled up to a hill we could look out on a valley below. At about the same time, we turned to each other and asked, “Is that a sandstorm?!” We decided to climb a small hill to get a better view and barely made it up. We were able to lean into the wind and be held up, Mike estimated the winds to be about 70 mph. It was pouring, and with the wind, it was difficult to walk. We made it to the top to take pictures and take some brief videos. We got back in the car and were trying to decide what to do. Just about then, a large truck coming the opposite direction and flashes its high beams at us to stop. We roll down our window and the guy tells us to stop, not to go ahead, because its not worth it. He said the dust storm was so bad he barely got through it in his big truck, going half a mile an hour. He told us to hole up a while and see if it passes. By this time it was 2:30pm or so and we were worried we would have to go back to Great Basin (a few hours back) and camp there, where we were in danger of being flooded out. So we thanked him and pulled over. Mike wanted to attempt it, Bree was hesitant but Mike was driving. We agreed to drive only as far as we could see and then stop. As we drove down, we could see that the dust storm took over the whole valley. It had stopped raining in the valley but the winds were stronger. We came up behind a Sheriff’s Deputy who came out to tell us we weren’t going in there alone. He had taken over an hour to get there from Milford, only about 20 miles away. He told us to follow him, but to stay close, we were going to travel slowly. It was the most amazing experience! We could barely see the road in front of us, Mike guided the car by the quick glimpses of the white and yellow lines he could see. At times, visibility was zero, we could not see the hood of the car. The Sheriff’s lights would disappear and Mike would creep slowly forward until they could be dimly seen through the dust. Dust piled up on the windshield wipers, rearview mirrors, everything. It got eerily dark outside, Bree kept taking pictures and videos to capture it. Looking out at the landscape, when visibility improved, the whole plain looked like the moon. We passed a few cars trying to go the other way, the Sheriff would stop them and tell them to stay put until he came back for them. It took us about an hour to travel 25 miles across the valley floor until we got into Milford. When we came out of the main dust storm, there were more Sheriff’s blocking traffic going the opposite direction and several emergency crews headed back into it. The entire town was covered in dust, it looked like a thick foggy day but the sun was out, just blocked by the storm. We continued through it and when we got to the other side again, just as we saw sun, it started to rain again. We continued on our way to Bryce, still not believing we made it through. We stopped in Beaver, exchanging one highway for another and started South. There were so many trucks with big boats we figure there must be a recreation area nearby.

We finally made it to Bryce Canyon National Park, stopped at the Visitor Center and rushed down to the campground. We got one of the last spots and set up camp. After we set up our tent, we headed back up to the Visitor Center to see the exhibits and talk to the Rangers. When we talked to the Rangers, we found out that we had made it for a very special annual Astronomy-centered weekend. There were several talks going on that night that we wanted to go to, and it all capped off with 27 HUGE telescopes set up til midnight. We headed back to camp and cooked up some hot dogs on the camp stove. Mike had difficulty with lighting the camp stove because the matches kept blowing out. Somehow, when it did light, he managed to singe his eyelashes, eyebrows and the hair on his forehead. Luckily he doesn’t look too bad, you wouldn’t know it unless you looked closely. We ended up getting to the talk by the astrophotographer too late to go in so we waited around until the telescopes opened. It was cold so Bree waited in the car. Mike had brought the tripod and his camera to try to do some astrophotography of his own. The telescopes opened around 10pm and we all took turns looking through them, wandering to the next one and seeing the different set-ups. Eventually the cold got the best of us and we headed back to the tent. Bree bundled up in pants and a longsleeves and was still cold in the flannel sleeping bag with Mike! Before bed Mike tried to take some shots of the night sky from the campground, we’ll see how they turn out.