From LV

Day 15.5: Woke up to use the bathroom and took a minute to look up at the starts on the way back. I’m usually sleeping and miss seeing the night sky. I’m rewarded handsomely with a shooting star streaking across the sky. Life doesn’t get much better than this.

Day 15.75: It is very windy and the ground was too rocky to stake my tent down well earlier. I’ve heard the wind howl during a hurricane before, but this is more of a roar. Like a freight train coming down Zion Canyon every 10 seconds. The sound enough could have woken me, but I think it was the wind crashing into the walls of my tent and blowing them inward. I rush out to make to tighten down the rain fly a little more and even place a couple large rocks in corners of my tent, if only there was one for each corner. Nothing left to do but try to fall asleep, and listen to the rushing wind relentlessly pound my tent in a steady rhythm like some form of Chinese Water Torture (the Zion Wind Torture?).

Day 16: It’s still windy. Packing up is going to be a pain. It’s just after 5 and I try to wait the wind out until the sun comes up, but eventually give in and start the laborious process of moving my gear to the car and breaking down the tent without it blowing away. The poles were bending more than I am comfortable with so I remove them to collapse the tent and have to wiggle my stuff out of a tent that’s no longer standing. Nothing blew away, but I do notice my neighbors have several large rocks anchored to their tent which has not budged through the storm. I was working with 5 pounders, theirs look to be 20 each. I’m jealous, but their shade canopy blew over, so I can’t get too mad.

I don’t bother breaking out the stove to boil water for oatmeal, and eat it cold, while using my vehicle as a wind shield. Despite the wind, Zion at sunrise is beautiful, with the first rays of sun reflecting off the red rock creating a color palette that can’t be found anywhere else. I’d endure it again any day if I got to wake up in such a special place,

It feels like I’ve already had a full morning when I get in the car to drive to Great Basin National Park. But I take a call from a former coworker, then talk to my mother, and my buddy James, and 3.5 hours flys by.

I picked out the Lehman Creek Trail while planning the trip, and make it to the trailhead around 9:30 pacific time. I debate whether to make the dive up to the Wheeler Mountain Summit trailhead and tackle that route instead, but I have a 1:30 cave tour booked, and decide I don’t have the time. AllTrails has the Lehman Creek rated as a hard hike that takes an average of 4 hours to complete, so this should be enough of a challenge.

There’s an actual path and trees, which is incredibly simple to follow after a week of desert hikes.

Despite the elevation gain (2,000 feet over 3.5 miles), I move up the mountain quickly. This is the fastest I’ve moved all trip. Maybe I’m starting to gain some hiking fitness.

The trail is mostly in the woods but cuts through a few meadows. It is really cool to see so much green again. I should stop and enjoying it, but realize I could finish the hike in less than two hours of I keep my current pace then pick it up a little on the downhill. Forever trying to impress Strava, I keep pressing and reach the trailhead in about an hour. As happy as I am with the pace, I’m a little annoyed I didn’t opt for the Wheeler Summit hike. The shorter 6.5 mile route was the safer option if I was gonna make the tour, but leaving a summit unconquered and unattempted eats at me.

I lengthen my stride on the descent, and make it back just under the two hour mark. It’s a short drive down to the Visitor Center and I eat a runny peanut better sandwich at one of the picnic tables like a real adult, and don’t spill a drop.

It’s supposed to be in the 50’s in the cave, so like a true Floridian, I dressed in a jacket and sweats. The park ranger is an older gentleman with a dry sense of humor and a slow, steady voice. (“Rule #1 is don’t touch the cave. Rule #2 you may touch the cave if you’re about to fall. Blood is worse for the cave than the oils in your skin.) He’s equipped with at least three flashlight, one on each hip and one in his hand.

The tour begins at the end, quite literally. There is a lighting issue at the entrance, so we enter the cave through the exit tunnel.

The tour went well. We went through a few rooms of the cave, with the most interesting being the Inscription room. So named because over 100 years ago cave visitors used the smoke from candles to mark their initials onto the roof. Once the caves fell under direction of the park service attempts to remove the graffiti were not successful. However, per NPS regulations rule, anything over 50 years old must be preserved. So the Inscription room is not a considered historical and part of the tour.

Afterwards, I drive up to my campsite. It’s just below 10,000 feet with a view of an adjacent mountain. I’m meeting some friends in Vegas tomorrow, and trying to leave early, so I make no attempt to adjust to Pacific time and fall am in bed before 8.

Day 17: First time I’ve used an alarm on the trip. Probably could’ve gotten away without it, but have a nearly 5 hour drive to make and want to have as much time with Curt and Cass as possible. I just missed a text from Curt. He was just getting back to the hotel and wishing me a good morning/night. I responded with that I was up and would see him soon.

I skipped breakfast and got on the road by 4:45. It’s nearly a 5 hour drive, but through the desert, so pretty easy. There are only a couple other cars on the road for the first couple hours, making for a quick drive.

Curt and Cass were planning to go to fan fest for UFC, so I met them at the convention center. They have VIP tickets, so we got to skip the line that was already hundreds of people long and entered through a curiously unguarded door adjacent to the main entrance, then up an escalator, where a new line to get through security had formed. We asked one of the event staff who told us are tickets weren’t actually VIP and we needed to get in the line for security. Realizing our good fortune to have avoided the much longer line outside we happily complied and made it through pretty quickly.

The space for fan fest was huge, but we mostly stayed near the main event stage where there were interviews with past and current fighters, but also took pictures in a ring they had set up.

After that we returned to their hotel and I had was able to showers for the first time since Mesa Verde. It was glorious.

From there we grabbed some lunch at In-n-Out Burger, and they took me through various casinos. The Word Series of Poker was going on, so we strolled through that exhibit hall where the sound of players fiddling with their chips was audible.

I enjoyed seeing Paris and we even got to ride the roller later in New York, thanks to a lucky pick at the roulette table.

My final activity for the evening was riding the monorail up and down the strip. Although it was early, especially by Vegas standards, I have a long drive in the morning and need an early start.