Day 3 - Big Country - Small Towns

This is Wheeler Peak in Big Basin National Forrest. We arrived at the Lehman Cave Visitor Center just as the 11 AM tour was leaving. We had to wait until 1 PM for the next tour. It was a big chunk of day, and we lost an hour to the time change in Utah, but it was worth it!
Since we had some extra time, we drove up the mountain. We were unable to go all the way to the top, where there are alpine lakes and a small glacier, due to road closure. We expect there was still snow on the road beyond the gate. Wheeler Peak is the pinnacle of the Snake Range. It reaches 13,063 feet. Most of the passes we'd been through were around 8,000. Our ears popped several times going up and down this mountain. The views were spectacular.

There is only so much you can see from the car. When we got out to walk, we discovered so much life. These small purple cacti were right on the road side.
A short walk brought me to this patch of little yellow flowers. I think they are cream cups, based on a display at the visitor center.

I saw this snow doughnut on the road side. It was about a foot in diameter. What a thrill for a flat-land city girl! In addition to this sight, today I saw an antelope, a golden eagle, many ravens, a little ground squirrel, a coyote, a deer and some elk. I wasn't able to get photos of any of these.
There are a couple of campgrounds near the caves. This one had a small creek and a beautiful stand of aspen.
The caves were well worth waiting for. In a way, I feel like this was a chance in a life time, as I don't know that we'll ever return to this remote place. Great Basin is the least visited of all the national parks due to its remote location.
We were lucky to be here when the caves were alive with water. Per our tour guide, the water comes through the cave in spring and they will be dry by June. It is the water flowing through the rock that creates the formations.
Here is a good view of the water dripping down. It can take hours or days for the drops to form. Getting dripped on is called a cave kiss and confers a wish. I was just happy to be kissed by the cave. I would have kissed it back, but no touching! People impact the caves a lot and they try to keep our impact to a minimum. We were shown one area where they are picking lint off with tweezers piece by piece. People bring light and lint and both harm the cave.

We stopped in Salina Utah for dinner at Mom's Cafe. I had read about it on yelp. Friendly people and excellent diner food.
Dwayne was ready to relax and enjoy a nice meal. He had pork chops.
I had trout. The gravy was like the sausage gravy we have with biscuits, but with tiny pieces of ham instead. Delicious! The trout was hot and juicy and tasted a lot like salmon. The bread you see in the upper left corner is one of Mom's famous scones. They are what we call Indian Fry Bread and they are served with a syrup called Honey Butter. I think there might be crack in it. Anyway, I couldn't stop eating it.

As we headed out of Salina, the scenery changed. I can't tell you how beautiful this part of Utah is. We could barely go a mile without one of us saying, "Holy Cow!" "Look at that!" "OMG!"
We passed by so much beauty, and these are not even the National Parks!
The landscape is like nothing I've seen before. It seems like the place where they would film Sci-Fi movies set on Mars. Today I was not drowsy as my brain was busy trying to take all this in.
We arrived in Green River about 9 PM. The only non-smoking room was a triple queen! Yesterday, in Ely, we could barely walk around our bed the room was so small. Today, we could have a slumber party with a dance floor in the middle.

I've lost the business end of our computer charger, so this may be my last post for a few days. There is no computer store in Green River, and we have miles to go before another big town. Tomorrow we will go to Moab and Arches National Park. I'm hoping I can get a replacement in Moab. Until then, good night!