40th Birthday Adventure Day 3: Hiking Wheeler Peak at Great Basin National Park

October 13, 2023

Let’s go climb a mountain!!

I cannot resist a good mountain summit, especially of a super pretty mountain… anddddd it would be the last mountain of my 30s!

Wheeler Peak rises to 13,063 feet in the Snake Range of the Great Basin. The peak boasts all sorts of accolades:

• Great Basin National Park high point
• White Pine County high point
• East Central Great Basin Ranges high point
• Snake Range high point

…along with being one of the most prominent peaks in the Lower 48 (7,573 feet in fact – my photos from day 1 of this trip show that, as we could see Wheeler Peak for a very long time in the distance). For fun, let’s also throw the fact on top that water from Wheeler Peak does not end up draining out into an ocean since the Great Basin does not drain anywhere.

Where the fun comes in is the whole “highest point in Nevada” debate. Wheeler Peak gets dragged into this debate, at no fault of its own. Boundary Peak, which sits on the California-Nevada border, is considered the highest point in Nevada at 13,146 feet. Fair enough, and nobody is debating the elevation. The debate comes when people say Boundary Peak is the highest mountain in Nevada. With only 253 feet of clean prominence from Montgomery Peak (which is in California), Boundary Peak is not considered an independent mountain as it does not meet the 300 feet of clean prominence rule. Boundary Peak is simply not a full, ranked mountain. Wheeler Peak is. Fun debate, and funny to see how many people get ultra defensive of Boundary Peak. I’m in the camp that Boundary Peak is of course the highest point, as many state high points aren’t very prominent (Nebraska’s and Kansas’ is merely a bump in a field on the Wyoming and Colorado borders, for example). But, much like Mount Cameron is not a ranked 14er in Colorado… I do not think Boundary Peak is a ranked mountain.

I’m just happy to be out climbing tall things, and do like nabbing national park high points, and this isn’t a debate for Great Basin National Park so… let’s go climb!

After an early wakeup and horrifying Eric by eating the guts out of a muffin encrusted with nuts (I have an anaphylactic allergy to nuts… I survived just fine!), we set out on our way up Wheeler Peak Scenic Road. There are two trailheads that access the lovely, well-maintained trail up to the summit – the Summit Trailhead (standard) and the Bristlecone, Alpine Lake, and Sky Island Forest Trailhead (that’s a mouth full). We opted for the standard Summit Trailhead, and arrived to a handful of cars in the parking lot on this early Friday morning. Thankfully with it being mid-October, weather allowed us a later start than summertime, and no dark, pre-dawn alpine start was necessary.

I must start out by saying the Wheeler Peak Summit Trail is a wonderfully built and maintained trail, from trailhead to summit. Being one of the most popular hikes in Great Basin National Park, it is a delight to see the work that went into trail building, especially above tree line to ensure a trail that stays stable and fun to hike. Overall, this mountain is merely a walk-up, though in shoulder and winter seasons other gear might be necessary to contend with ice and snow.

We cruised quickly through the aspens in the first mile, happy for a gentle warmup (but also feeling the dread knowing the last couple miles to the summit become a steep uphill slog). At one mile in there is a junction with the trail that leads from the other trailhead, and with the spur that goes to Stella Lake, one of the alpine lakes in this park. Everything was well signed, and it was easy to stay on the Wheeler Peak Summit Trail.

After the world’s longest, perhaps unnecessary, switchback (if you do this hike you’ll understand), we neared tree line, and saw two groups of hikers in the distance in front of us. We kept a steady pace, breaking out of the trees, and gaining expansive views to both the east and west. A chilly wind picked up, and I eventually added my fleece layer and some gloves.

The trail begins to turn rockier as it ascends to a flat-ish saddle area. There are a few constructed rock windbreaks along these portions (Wheeler Peak is notorious for being very windy, but we lucked out with the weather and wind for sure). By now we had caught and passed the parties in front of us, and therefore tried to just keep moving to ensure we wouldn’t end up in that we-just-passed-you-now-you-pass-us game with those behind us.

And the fun began… the last mile to the summit gains over 1000 feet in elevation and seems to go straight up. The snow and ice cover began, but I found on the way up I did not need my microspikes since my mountaineering boots have good tread. All mountain climbs eventually become Type 2 fun, right?

After a little over three hours, we arrived on the summit of Wheeler Peak! There is a large windbreak with a mailbox that contains a summit register and other items. Because perspective on summits is odd, we made our way to the east end to confirm we had really reached the high point of the summit at the first bump (yep, it is truly by the geodetic marker and mailbox).

With sub-freezing windchill we bundled up and enjoyed about thirty minutes on the summit, eating snacks and learning pickled pineapple is awful. Just as we were putting on packs to head down did more people arrive, so we got a summit to ourselves! We opted for microspikes for the first mile coming off the summit, which was great as things had gotten icier, and that whole gravity thing.

I am not use to crowds on 13,000 foot peaks, and there were a lot of people heading up Wheeler Peak as we descended. Considering the last one I did (Mount Alice in Colorado) I did not see anyone for seven and a half hours, it seems a bit bizarre! Most were not heading to the summit, but others did have some hopes and dreams of getting up there (though maybe not entirely prepared for the temperatures and hike itself).

The hike down went quickly, though the world’s longest switchback did seem to drag on. We arrived back to a completely full trailhead, with several cars parked along the road as well! Overall, the hike came in at 9.24 miles with 2,966 feet of elevation gain. It took us six hours total, including our thirty minutes on the summit and other breaks for snacks and to chat with other hikers.

On the way down from the trailhead we stopped at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center to turn in our junior ranger books. The ranger swore us in with a decent crowd watching, which was fun and awkward all at the same time. Another ranger (who had gave us the books the day prior) gave us the Eclipse Explorer junior ranger badges on the promise we would turn in our eclipse observations the next day, which we greatly appreciated as we had not planned on entering the park the next day.

There is a restaurant attached to the Lehman Caves Visitor Center, so we ordered up chicken tenders, fries, and nachos to refuel after a big day of hiking. Then it was back to camp to relax and enjoy our final night outside of Great Basin National Park!