#Optoutside

Bryan and Ava went on a "herp" camping trip. They try to make a special trip annually.  Bryan had a surprise when Cliven Bundy himself waved at him while he was checking out the "Bundy Ranch" sign. Hahaha
They found some cool critters on their trip. They had to come back home to take a break from the fierce wind and extreme drop in temperatures. Then, then went back out again.

Meanwhile, our friend Meg, Isaac, Willow and I decided to exercise our stagnant lungs at high elevation. We also wanted to hike Great Basin National Park before the tourists started to pour in.
It's been a "snakey" season. Here is a Gopher snake we passed at the Osceola Ditch Trailhead above 8,000 ft. We helped it move its cold body across the road before it became another roadkill statistic.
I think I heard it say Thanksssssss. Ha!

Teresa Lake: 

Making our way up to the Bristlecone Pines, the snow patches were more frequent.

Isaac's hair matched the surroundings. It was like a GQ photo shoot at the grove....

Bristlecone Pine:

We decided to continue further up the trail, gaining more elevation. The snowy patches were so deep, the trail was lost. We had to find our own way to get to the glacier cirque...

Glacier Cirque: 

We had some fun on the way down. Meg had us use her raincoat as a sled, which worked quite well!

It's been great to get outside and inhale the low desert and high desert air.