Great Basin Nation Park Campout

The Annual Marshall/Thorsted Campout was at Great Basin National Park this year and the Watkins family joined us again.  It was a bit of a drive, a little over 3 hours, and in the middle of nowhere.  It is rumored to have the best night sky in all of North American (probably because it is in the middle of nowhere).  Unfortunately, we had practically a full moon the whole time we were there, so it was hard to fully appreciate the night sky.  I did go to the bathroom at 2 am one night and then did get to see what everyone is talking about.

We stayed at Gray Cliff’s campground because it was the only one you could reserve, and it ended up being a really fun quiet campground for the kids to explore.  There was a little creek that they loved walking up with the bigger kids.

Annie and I drove down earlier than the husbands and little kids with Jens, David (their Chinese exchange student), and Ander.  We set up camp and then went on a hike up to a Bristlecone Pine Grove.  I had no idea how cool this was going to be.  These Bristlecone pines are literally the   Some of them dated back as far as 3200 BC they are literally the oldest trees known on earth.  They have a little loop you can walk around with plaques in front of each tree stating how old it is.  

Then, we returned to camp.  By then, everyone else had arrived and that night we had tin foil dinners made by the Thorsteds.  Annie made them with Pot Roast meat and gravy from Costco and they were so good. 

The next morning, we toured the Lehmann Caves which were super cool.  

Then, we all drove up the mountain to do the Alpine Lakes Hike.  It was a little loop trail that went past two gorgeous clear blue alpine lakes.  

The two little girls latched themselves onto Annie for the whole hike.  

I did walking tacos for dinner that night and Derek made peach cobbler.  We attempted to go to the ranger guided night sky visualization, but most everyone lost interest before we even got to the part where they let us look through their fancy telescopes.  We played lots of fun games around the camp fire each night.  One of the favorites was a name game where everyone picks a name for themselves and people have to try to guess everyone’s name.

The next morning, we packed up camp, had a little Sunday Come Follow Me devotional, all the kids finished their Jr, Ranger books, and then headed back for home stopping at the visitors center to be sworn in as Jr. Rangers and they had a cool telescope there that you could look at the sun through.  

Short and sweet just the way we love campouts.  We decided while a cool park, we are not sure it’s worth visiting again.

Carter pretty much attached himself to Jens the whole campout.  

And cute David, the Chinese exchange, student was super sweet with the kids and they learned to adore him and totally smother him just like all their favorite older boys in the neighborhood.