Great Basin national park was one of the most surprisingly beautiful parks that I have visited in a long time. I was expecting Great Basin to be a beautiful patch of alpine range but I was impressed with the beauty of the peaks and the diversity of this alpine environment.

 Driving up from Las Vegas at night can be a bit of a lost highway feeling but after 5 hours of driving, we made it to the park and found a place to sleep for the night.

 The following morning we woke up to a beautiful range with some snow in the chutes and ridges surrounded by aspen pines and clear 45 degree temperatures. The campground is at around 10,500ft above sea level so be prepared for the weather change and the altitude adjustment.

The main campground for Wheeler peak holds 37 campsites but the campgrounds were full so we parked at the summit trail head.

We got a blue hour start into the Birch tree forest and soon after broke into some prairie fields and beautiful flowers and aspen pine trees.

The view of wheeler peak and the nearby peaks was in view for most of the hike and set the stage for a beautiful background with the lakes and pines.

We stopped by the nearby Stella lake for a beautiful morning view of this alpine lake and soon after started up the trail to Wheeler Peak.

We passed by a few prairies and headed up a steady slope to a point where the trees started to show signs of stunted growth and become sparse.

Soon after the tree line left us and we were in a rocky prairie with small patches of flowers the a a few patches of mossy green growth.

The winds began to increase and the the temps dropped a bit more yet that was assumed since we were ascending the top of the peak.

We passed by a few sections of consolidated snow patches but they were easy to avoid.

I did bring an Ice Axe just in case we needed it but it was not needed.

There are sections where it could be icy in the morning so you want to check the conditions with the park before attempting to summit the peak.

The final approach was a bit steep but nothing that was too difficult to traverse.

At the time that we went, the trail was a bit covered with snow so we followed the ridge directly to avoid the slush and scrambled over some rocks to gain the trail once again for the last bit.

We could see a clearing and soon after, we made it to the summit.

The sun and the sky was beautiful and fantastic temperatures at the top.   The winds were not whipping over the peak as they must have been pushed around the ridges below.

The snow was consolidated at the top which was nice and easy to walk around. 

There are also a couple of rock shelters to snuggle into if you are trying to get away from the winds but on this day, there was nothing to hide from, especially from the beautiful views below. 

We could see the house range to the east and a 60 to 80 mile range of Utah Desert.  To the west of us, we could see multiple ranges, Ely, and the many ranges of Nevada.

We started our descent and we were surprised to see multiple groups of people heading up to the summit.  It got a lot warmer as we got back down to Stella lake.  We decided to add the alpine lake  loop and the bristlecone forest hike to our day which added a total of 13-14 miles of hiking in our day.

The hike to Wheeler peak was around 3000ft of ascent and around 8 miles from car to car. We were amazing by the beauty of the Great Basin and I can see why this place has now become a major attraction in the central Nevada region.