How do you do, Lincoln

Who'd a thunk I'd be up Lincoln Peak a week and one day after deciding it was the last goal for my Great Basin National Park summer 2012 season?  Not me.  After permission seeking, permission granting, vehicle finding, using winning smile to acquire use of vehicle, and hiking buddy establishing, I was ready.  Things didn't fall into place until about 5:30pm the evening before, and nothing was confirmed until even later that night.  Kate was doing cartwheels in the visitor center; really I was.  It was closed.  I closed it.

 

Friday dawned, the weather looked perfect, and except for some thick forest fire haze, the day couldn't have been more perfect.  I picked up the vehicle, a huge, monstrous thing that made me feel very small, hiking buddy got in passenger seat, and we were off to the west side.  Below is a map of our route.  The blue is the part we drove.  See that squiggle in the middle, those are the Sketchy Switchbacks of Scariness!  I'm not exaggerating them either.  I called in the back-up driver to handle these, although he protested, saying it would be amusing watching me attempt to navigate said SSoS.

We made it safely to the 'route' head, parked, prepared, and were off.  The day was lovely.  We only took two detours, but they were worth it.  Hooray for exploring new places, exciting adventures, and enjoying this beautiful place.

Following fairly close to the ridge line, the below was taken from the last saddle before heading up Lincoln.  If it looks rocky and craggy, it is.  If it looks like limestone that's easily eroded and therefore nice and loose, it is.  If Kate said she scampered up fast as a big horn sheep with no fear, she'd be lying.

Whoop!  On the top!  Took me a bit to decide what I wanted to do on the top of this peak.

We ate lunch on top and enjoyed the amazing view.  What a beautiful view of the Snake Range, looking north.  That's Wheeler in the smokey, hazy background. 

 

During lunch, hiking buddy became intrigued with the design inside his carrot stick.  He took seven pictures of said carrot guts with my camera.  Funny guy.

As always, the traditional contemplating the Snake Range.  The back of my t-shirt says "NPS" in big, white, block letters.  I am so proud to wear that uniform and love being a park ranger, can you tell?

The Snake Range.  From the south looking north, it's easy to see just how much taller Wheeler is than the surrounding peaks. 

The hiking buddy, route finder, willing photographer, pinch driver, and fellow adventurer, Mr. J.

Glorious day + great hike + new type of adventure + new peak + good company = very content park ranger.