Five day backpacking trip in Great Basin National Park near Baker, Nevada. The Baker Lake Trail and Johnson Lake Trail were combined into a loop and included a side hike to the summit of Pyramid Peak at 11,900 feet.
I sure enjoyed this video. Great Basin National Park is one of my favorite parks in the whole system. Back in the late 90's I did this hike and absolutely loved it! Such a great place.This was one of the first hiking/backpacking videos I came across on RU-vid. You and a few others inspired me to start filming my own hiking adventures and post them on RU-vid. Thanks for that and thanks for sharing your adventures! ~ Mike
Thanks for the comment Mike! The Great Basin hike will always be one of my favorites. I checked out your channel and was impressed. Great variety of destinations including many I have never heard of. And the time lapse stuff is really cool! Wish I had a catchy name for my channel like you have. Funny...we have almost an identical number of subscribers with you beating me out by 3! And you did it in a fraction of the time it took me. Keep up the great work. Thanks again for watching. Safe travels! - Mark
Thanks Martin. It's a beautiful place indeed. The fact that it is one of the least visited national parks provides plenty of opportunity for solitude. Hope the restrictions will ease before you get there. Safe travels!
It's a great hike for sure. Counterclockwise route makes steep terrain near Johnson Lake a descent instead of a difficult climb on loose rock. Cheese spread is made by a company called Packit Gourmet in Austin TX. It's called Cheddar Jack Cheese Spread. Takes awhile to rehydrate so I usually add water an hour ahead of time. Challenge is to keep crackers from breaking in my backpack. :) Thanks for commenting. Safe travels!
Very enjoyable video! It looks like you got some serious winds and some thunderstorms. I would be nervous up at Baker Lake with lightning. It also looks like you had the whole place to yourself. Was anyone else camping on the lakes? Did you see anyone else on the trail? Thanks for sharing your journey.
@Big Apple Backpacking Thanks for the comment! You are right. The thunderstorm at Baker Lake was a bit nerve racking. I was in a hammock and was not sure if the tarp was going to hold up during some of the strong gusts. There were a few others camping at Baker but I really couldn't see them except when they were fishing at the other end of the lake. For the three days I was there in early August, I saw 10 or 12 other hikers/backpackers. Great Basin is known for having a very low visitor count. Its a great place to find solitude. Really appreciate your feedback and thanks for watching! Mark PS: I need a channel name like yours!
Beautiful spot. There are some more campsites at the west end of lake that seem to be popular but I didn't take time to see what they are like. Get there early to get best spot. Hopefully you won't have much competition for the limited number of sites. GBNP gets very few visitors. No campfires allowed above 10000 ft. Have a great hike and climb Pyramid Peak if you have the time.
Agree! The thought of not publicizing this beautiful place did cross my mind. So few places offer that much solitude combined with epic scenery during the busy summer months. Thanks for watching! Mark
Thank you! It's easy to go unnoticed in the giant RU-vid universe. Have to work on promoting I suppose. New video on hike in Montana out very soon. Stay tuned!
I love Great Basin NP. I've probably done the loop in your video 5 or 6 times, but always as a long dayhike, about 11 miles. I'll never forget the first time. I was going in the opposite direction to your video. I came upon Johnson Lake after the steep hike up the abandoned mining road and all I saw was the massive rock wall in front of me. I couldn't believe a trail went up it. It seemed at first glance absolutely vertical. Another time, going in your direction, I was right at the high point of the pass between Baker Lake and Johnson, about 11K feet, considering whether I wanted to head up Pyramid Peak, when I heard thunder from behind me and turned to look towards Wheeler Peak to see lightning followed by more thunder. It was moving in my direction! You can believe I scampered, or rather half slid half ran, down the steep trail to Johnson Lake. Then rain came down in torrents, with thunder and lightning. It never let up until I got back to the trailhead, cold and soaking wet. Something you might consider is contacting some of the backpackers who have large subscription bases and trying to get them to share a few trips with you. That might get your name out there.
@@ff-us6vy The closest I came to hiking with another backpacking You Tuber was on my hike in the Absaroka Wilderness in July 2017. I have a video for that one. On our way back to the trailhead we ran into Joey Coconato who has a channel called, "My Own Frontier." Fabulous channel with thousands of subscribers. He mentioned us in his video but I didn't get the plug. After that I decided to make some business cards with channel information so I can hand them out to those I meet in the backcountry. Work in progress.
I like the videos where the wilderness is more important than the people. When I check out a new entry from an unknown hiker I skim thru it to see if most of the video is people or wilderness. I really hate the ones with the loud rock n roll trekking music and the intrusive talking heads. The most awful ones of all are those that seem more like a party than a hike.I wait impatiently for Joey's videos. I never miss them. For what it's worth, I think Jamal Green and Catherine Gregory do excellent videos (tho Cat spends too much time talking about what she's eating for lunch and dinner :) ). Your videos, of which there are far too few, are in no way inferior to any of the above.I thought it might be a try to contact one of those, or someone else, to see if you could join them on a trip.
@@ff-us6vy Thanks for the comment. I also prefer scenery to talking heads. I try to model my videos after Joey's and also wait impatiently for them to go public. Seems like its been a while since the last one. Thanks for letting me know about Jamal's site. Good stuff there, thanks!
Great video, was thinking of doing this hike in April/May. not sure the exact month yet (early planning stage). How the water source along the trail? Beside turkeys, any other wildlife one might encounter? Any tips?
Thanks for comment. Plenty of water along the trail when I went. I would imagine April/May would have more water if they had any springtime snow-melt. As far as wildlife, I don't think there are any bears. Bats come out at night and will chase bugs illuminated by a headlamp shined up into the night sky near Baker Lake. Also saw deer on my way up Pyramid peak. (Photos in video toward end). Did not see any snakes. Lots of ants - careful leaving food on ground! No mosquitoes. As far as tips, I would suggest going counterclockwise on the loop like I did. The descent down to Johnson Lake is easier than a climb going the other way. I slid part of the way because the rock was loose. Make time to climb to top of Pyramid Peak. Great views. Get to Baker Lake early to get best choice of campsites. Stars/Milky Way at night are awesome. I wish I had practiced with camera ahead of time to get a good time exposure or time lapse. If you fish, there are some small trout in Baker but I did not do any fishing myself. Saw others catch a few but they were small. From what I hear, the species of trout are rare. Ely is only major town for stocking up on supplies, lodging, gas, etc. Towns are few and far between in that area. Be prepared with gas, food, & water. Lastly, pay attention to trial head signs at parking lot. There are two. I started down the wrong trail and didn't notice for a few hundred yards. Have a safe trip. Take lots of camera memory. You'll need it!
