I touched a living thing that has been growing in the same spot for over 3,500 years. The tree was 1,200 years old when Christ was being brought to safety in Egypt. The tree is alive and I was allowed to touch it. The tree was on that hillside for all of recorded European history. It’s a plain tree, gnarled and weathered, with beautiful wood and soft, green closely packed needles. It’s appearance is essentially unchanged since before both my grandfathers were born. It’s appearance should essentially be the same when and if my great grandchildren choose to visit the tree. Our time here is measured in years, a brief flash in history. The tree I touched has been here for millennia. It takes thought, time and effort to understand the concept of something being in a place and in addition living for that length of time, and I’m still trying to get my mind wrapped around the concept. It might take a while. Continue reading
Category Archives: Great Basin NP
Lehman Cave in Great Basin NP
I decided sometime during the drive down to Provo that I knew that I had to get into a less driven mode. Yesterday, I needed to get to Provo because there was a good campground with water, electricity and nearby stores and it positioned me for a short relaxing drive to the Great Basin National Park, where we had never been before. They do close a gate on the Utah Lake Campground, sometime in the evening. I wasn’t completely concerned about finding a place to stay that night, as I had checked online and there were spots for the evening, but we have been without a place to stay before, and it didn’t turn out well. As a result there was more of an imperative nature to the ride from Jackson Hole to Provo. I didn’t like it. I knew the rest of the drives to places on our list after Great Basin were short, and there will be the opportunity to let serendipity rule the hours on the rest of our travels, but there was a push in that drive to Provo. I’m going to work on a what will be will be attitude, which will be difficult for me. Continue reading
Off to Great Basin National Park
We’re off to the Great Basin National Park. There are no phones, no cell service, possibly no water, and very few people. In an entire year, the park has 100,000 visitors. In comparison, Yosemite National Park has 3 million visitors a year. We go to the middle of nowhere, and then got as far from there as we can.
When we get back to the civilized worlds with the things we take for granted, we’ll provide an update with what we’ve been doing