Through the desert

We haven’t had much Internet access, so I have not been able to post much on this blog. After taking a break in Las Vegas for shopping, eating, reading, and resting we were back on the highway heading north on Friday, September 30.

            We have never spent much time in this part of the desert, so the trip has been a real eye opener for me. The first few days of our trip were in the Mohave Desert. This desert is mostly in California, but lies between the other two great deserts, the Great Basin Desert and the Colorado or Sonoran Desert. On our trip to Texas last year we were in the Colorado Desert. Since leaving Las Vegas we have been traveling in the Great Basin Desert which extends from Oregon and covers most of Nevada and a little into neighboring states.

            The Great Basin Desert is the most northern of the North American deserts and the highest, being mostly over 4000 ft. It has the coldest winters and mostly shrubby vegetation. The Great Basin Sagebrush is the dominant plant.

            We traveled north on Highway 93 through a fairly flat area dotted with plants – especially a beautiful yellow shrub which grew along the road. It was also a very desolate area with few cattle ranches and evidence of former mining operations.

We found a place to camp in a BLM camp ground at Patterson Pass. It was such a beautiful spot, very quiet, and the stars are spectacular.

            On Saturday we drove to Great Basin National Park. The park was established in 1986 to preserve this part of the desert which has a great diversity of plants and animals. The park lies at the foot of Mt. Wheeler which is known as an island in the desert (any mountain within a desert is called an island because it has such a different type of vegetation and animal population as the desert area). We found a campground in the park and will spend some time exploring it before we move on.