Photoblog : Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park

This is one of my favorite photos. This photo at least to me defines what this part of Nevada is all about…massive valleys surrounded by towering mountain ranges. 

Here we have Wheeler Peak, all 13,000 foot of it, rising abruptly off the valley floor. In this case, the valley is the Spring Valley which is located on the west side of Wheeler Peak and Great Basin National Park. Most activity in the park itself occurs on the eastern side, which is where the town of Baker is as well as the official park entrance. To give you a sense of scale, Wheeler Peak has an elevation of just over 13,000 feet. The bottom of the Spring Valley has a elevation of 4,000 feet.

This photo was taken in late May. When viewed from the west, I was surprised by how little snow remained on Wheeler Peak and its nearby mountains. However, that is when viewed from the west. On the eastern and in particular the northern slopes of the mountain, there was tons of snow still lingering around. So much snow, in fact, that I couldn’t hike up in Great Basin National Park as planned…all the trails were buried under six feet of snow.

This photo was taken on a back road I found as I scrambled around desperately to find a good place to take a photo during this beautiful sunset. I really got lucky here. If I had been just a few minutes late, the vivid purple and pink in this photo would have disappeared…replaced by a dusk of a Nevada evening.

Related Information about Great Basin National Park on This Site

• Great Basin National Park Photo Gallery : West Side
• Great Basin National Park Photo Gallery : East Side
• Great Basin National Park Photos : Fence Post Art

Camera Information

• model Canon EOS 20D
• exposureTime 0.125 s (1/8) (1/8)
• fnumber f/14.0
• exposure aperture priority (semi-auto)
• isoEquiv 100
• DateTime 2006:05:29 21:00:19
• aperture 14.00002781214
• meteringMode Reserved
• focalLength 100.00 (100/1)
• exposureMode Auto Exposure

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