GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK

FROM THE BEAUTIFUL BRISTLECONE PINE TREE

They call it the Great Basin, this vast region of sagebrush covered valleys and narrow mountain ranges named for its lack of drainage. Its streams and rivers mostly find no outlet to the sea and water collects in shallow salt lakes, marshes and mud flats to evaporate in dry desert air. It’s not just one but many basins, separated by mountain ranges roughly parallel, north to south, basin and range alternating from California’s Sierra Nevada to Utah's Wasatch Mountains. The National Park protects the South Snake Range near Utah's border, a superb example of a desert mountain island. From sagebrush at its base to Wheeler Peak's 13,063 – foot summit, the park streams, lakes, wildlife, varied forest (even groves of ancient bristle cone pines), alpine plants and many limestone caverns including the beautiful Lehman Caves.

They say on a clear moonless night in Great Basin National Park, thousands of stars, five of our solar system's eight planets, star clusters, meteors, man made satellites, the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way can be seen with the naked eye.

So that's the book version! Ours to follow!