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Backpacker Magazine – August 2012
Rip & Go: Pyramid Peak Loop, Great Basin National Park, NV
Climb out of the desert heat to breezy alpine solitude.
Photo by Eli Boschetto
No mirage: Great Basin’s peaks rise more than a mile above the sagebrush plains, offering a summer escape to lakes and meadows with staggering desert views. This 12.7-mile overnight loop hits the best of the park.
2. (Mile 1.5) Continue west.
3. (1.9) Views of towering Pyramid, Baker, and Wheeler Peaks.
4. (2.7) Turn right.
5. (5.3) Turn right to Baker Lake, nestled near treeline in an amphitheater of sheer, glacier-carved stone beneath 12,298-foot Baker Peak.
6. (5.5) Camp on the northwest side of Baker Lake, with views southeast toward Pyramid Peak.
7. (5.7) The next day, head south on a use trail, following large cairns through wide meadows and up a drainage lined with monkeyflower in late July.
8. (7.0) The 100-mile panorama includes basin-and-range country sprawling to the east.
Option: Scramble up 600 feet in .4 mile to bag 11,926-foot Pyramid Peak (start early to avoid afternoon storms).
9. (8.8) Veer uphill on the faint Snake-Baker Pass Trail. Climb steadily through groves of aspen into meadows of purple lupine and penstemon.10. (9.4) Bask in 9,871-foot Snake Pass’s ridgetop flower meadows.
11. (9.9) Emerge into a rolling meadow with views of Pyramid Peak’s barren east slope.
12. (11.4) Follow South Fork Baker Creek.
13. (12.6) Turn left.
Trip Planner
Get there From Ely, take US 50 E for 56 miles, then turn right on NV 487. In 4.9 miles, turn right on NV 488 for five miles. Turn left on Baker Creek Rd. and park at road’s end in 3.4 miles.
Gear up Sportsworld, 1500 Aultman St., Ely, NV; (775) 289-8886; sportsworld-ely.com
Season Summer and early fall
Permits Not needed, but sign in at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center
Contact (775) 234-7331; nps.gov/grba
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READERS COMMENTS
My wife and I spent 2 nights at Baker Lake in late July 2012. Spectacular scenery. We did Johnson Pass as a day hike. Were there on Wednesday and Thursday nights and saw no one from Wednesday AM until Friday AM when we returned. Pure blissful solitude. Unlike the Sierras this time of year, there were no mosquitoes or flies at all. At times in the evening when the wind died off there was no ambient noise at all. An occasional trout jumping in the lake or a stone falling off the cliffs. It was so quiet my brain started make up for it, afflicting me with Music Ear Syndrome. It was as if the mountains were playing a symphony of repeating deep bass tones.
The hike up was tough given I was carrying about 35 pounds and had done Wheeler Peak the day before. But it was definitely worthwhile and I would do it again in a second if I lived anywhere nearby. (unfortunately I live on the East Coast).
My boyfriend and I were there in February. It was spectacular.
Great trails, amazing views, and we only seen one other couple while we were up there.
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