87 West

Fall was weird this year! Probably because we had my birthday and then something huge to look forward to during Thanksgiving, so it felt like everything we did was just getting geared up for that. It went by so quickly, and I felt like I couldn't keep up! But we did do some normal things. [:

Ryan put his baldie head to good use and was Professor Quirrell for Halloween! Before I left for work on the morning of his company Halloween party I did a little doodle on his head, because of course Quirrell isn't Quirell without He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! We were rather happy with how it turned out, and Ryan won fifty bucks for his creativity. [:

I honestly was so caught off guard that Halloween was even HERE that I didn't even dress up. So boring, right? ): I know. We spent the evening handing out candy at Ryan's parents' house and admiring all the kids' costumes. Our favorite conversation of the night went down like this:

*doorbell rings*

*Ryan and I sprint for the door and open it*

*Darling little girl in pretty much a normal day outfit is standing there looking up at us*

Girl: "Twick or tweeeat!"

Ryan, holding out candy: "Happy Halloween! Who are you supposed to be?"

Girl, smiling hugely: "Gwace."

Us: ??

*Grace takes her candy and walks off purposefully down the sidewalk*

For a week in November I got to attend classes in this gorgeous building! The courthouse in Provo, which I had never been in before, was the location of the lectures I took to prepare me for an exam I needed to take to become a certified water treatment operator in Utah. The exam was HARD (I thought I was done with tests, and advanced MATH for that matter, when I graduated college!?), but I passed. Huzzah that THAT'S over.

Fall at the plant. My rotation for the next two quarters includes running pH, alkalinity on the autotitrator, and turbidity (which is not my friend at all).

I love looking across the valley while I work! The lab has the best view.

Pictured: my favorite salad in the world. Despite now living twenty minutes farther north from our favorite restaurant, we still make the trek to Art City Trolley as often as we can. [:

We went shopping one night and Ryan said my family needed a picture of me in some of my new clothes, particularly one with a fashion blogger pose, so this was my best stab at it.

And to whoever left their rake sitting in the middle of I-15, I thank you. This day was not kind to me. Ha! Though I guess it meant I got to spend a little extra time with Ryan. [:

I've legitimately forgotten how old I am several times since I turned 21. For some reason that was the last age I cared much about, ha! Now life is just life and I've got Ryan and we're just chuggin along and age doesn't really cross my mind ever. Weird.

For my 24th (had to think about that for a sec) birthday this year, we decided to plan a camping trip to one of our favorite national parks, one that's made several appearances on this here journal of mine. Great Basin National Park in Nevada was a discovery we made just a couple months into our marriage, and we were so happily surprised with how wonderful it was. It does get busy on holidays and during the summer, but when you go on the shoulder season, it's dead, and it's so awesome! October was a great time to go.

We haven't been able to get up to the bristlecone pines in our past visits, which is a travesty considering how I worked in dendrochronology for so much of my time at BYU! So that was our main goal with this trip, aside from having some birthday fun in a pretty place. We took off on Friday night after work and while we drove, I opened my birthday cards from my family (blushie smile emoji). Loved them! I have the best family ever. Including my youngest sister whose card was smothered in pictures of babies and a "subtle" message to have some nieces and nephews for her right quick. Ha! Sarah... [:

We got in late at night and found an open site in one of the newly redone loops of Upper Lehman Creek campground, which were super nice! New picnic tables, fire rings, and bathrooms, and really quiet. We woke up on my birthday to crisp, chilly, gorgeous sunshine and started up the backpacking stove for some pancakes.

The itinerary for the day was simple: bristlecone pines, alpine lakes, and later a dinner/dessert combo of beef stroganoff and a Cinnabon. Stellar day in my book!

(We had a great site! We had good sun, good shade, perfect seclusion, and a little family of deer nearby that kept its distance but was always around for us to watch.)

We packed our daypacks with PB&Js, bundled up (it was around 34 degrees!), and headed up to the trailhead.

I love hiking with Ryan!

The trail was a bit treacherous in places because of ice and packed snow. In a couple areas I started getting worried that we'd have to turn back for safety reasons, and it didn't help that we passed several parties coming our direction who didn't make it to the bristlecones because it was too icy for them! Props to Ryan for keeping me going, worrywart that I am. We took it slow and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery around us, slowly moving from dense fir forest to the telltale talus and more sparse trees that meant bristlecone territory! I was getting a little crazy excited at this point. Ask Ryan.

And then suddenly we were T H E R E!!

These trees. They are just so amazing. They are thousands of years old. Like we're talking germination dates in the before-Christ range! They are evolutionary geniuses, and just plain gorgeous to boot. They were seriously more like sculptures than trees and I wanted to stand by every single one and just look at it, wishing it could tell me its stories!

It was fun to see some signs of increment borers and dendrochronologists at work. Made my heart happysad. Such a fun time of my life. I had cored bristlecones before, but they were barely 100-200 years old. Just babies compared to these!

Wheeler Peak and its surrounding cliffs towering above us were just gorgeous. We wandered the interpretive trail and read the plaques about each tree with jaws dropped.

The rad bottlebrush needles of bristlecones. So fluffy looking. Their form is forever burned into my brain after spending a whole weekend scrambling up and down red canyon walls in Utah lookin for these guys. [: And these needles themselves can be up to FORTY years old before they fall off! Incredible.

^^^ This guy has been around for over three thousand years! His first growth ring? 1,230 years before Christ. Think about what he's lived through. The first Olympic Games, the Roman Empire, Confucius, Alexander the Great, the Vikings... Can you imagine?!

And then there was this guy. HE WAS AMAZING. And there wasn't any sort of plaque or anything to tell us about him! Honestly, I thought maybe they didn't want to draw attention to him and risk any damage or sneaky business... He had every telltale sign of insane age, which often doesn't include size, though this one sure had it! Windworn skin, incredible twists and turns, a crazy root system that had obviously been effected by erosion, signs of fire, lots of different leader branches from over time. He was a sight to behold.

We hung out with him for awhile and we're good friends now. [: Seeing him seriously made my day.

So, so pretty. The air was so clean and cold, and the sunshine was lovely. It was perfect weather.

I love my hiking partner.

I take pictures of him while he's talking to me. Teehee. He's the cutest.

Had to hug one. ^^

We eventually spotted the perfect lunch spot in the sun, but it was already occupied by some other hikers, so we sat a little further down the trail and legitimately waited just for the purpose of nabbing that lunch spot once they were done. ;] #worthit

We spent a couple hours just wandering around, and it was heaven. It was everything I dreamed and wanted it to be!! I've officially been in the midst of some of the oldest trees in the world. The pilgrimage is complete. [: Then we (mostly I) sadly waved goodbye to the bristecones and we headed back toward the main trail to continue on to the alpine lakes.

First Theresa Lake, which was beautiful but tiny this time of year. It was more like a pond, but of course a super pretty one. [:

I heard pecking above us and eventually spotted this pretty guy! A Clark's nutcracker finding some lunch in a dead tree. We just stood and watched him for awhile. It was great. [:

Then on to Stella Lake!

Wow. So stunning.

Ryan working his runway walk.

A few miles later we completed the loop, practically RAN for the trailhead bathrooms ;) and then headed back to our campsite. Perfect birthday hike.

Thanks, Wheeler Peak! Thanks, bristlecones!

Driving back we spotted a little group of wild turkeys. We'd seen several on the trip, and previous trips as well. They're so fun to watch! We'd hear them randomly gobbling to one another off in the distance, especially in the area of our campsite. It always made us giggle, and usually call back to them with our best turkey gobbles.

And the colors! Holy cow. They were toward their tail end for the year, but there were some gorgeous patches of aspen scattered throughout the park that were just on fire.

Back at the campsite, we took a fantastic nap (Tent naps are the best kind of naps! A cozy sleeping bag, birds singing, sun shining, bugs buzzing - it's heaven), and then woke in time for a quick snack and a fabulous star-gazing program at the visitor center. Through the giant telescopes we saw a couple star clusters, examined the gorgeous moon, and learned about our incredible universe! Let me tell you - we've been so impressed with GB's star parties. They've got stargazing down. Glow in the dark paint and red lights everywhere to help you keep your night vision while you navigate the parking lot and stuff... They know their stuff!) With it being the shoulder season, there was probably only about thirty people there, a stark contrast to the almost 100 people we were with during our last summer visit! It was awesome. Hardly any line to wait in at the telescopes.

It was pretty freezing once the sun was down, so once we got "home," Ryan built a fabulous fire, I started up the backpacking stove, and soon we were sitting in our camp chairs, soaking in the warmth and eating one of my favorite meals in the world - beef stroganoff from Mountain House. Haha. Don't judge me for deeming dehydrated backpacking food as some of the best in the world. I blame my upbringing. [: It was the best birthday dinner!

And of course, cake! We toted a Cinnabon along with us for my birthday cake. Best substitute ever. As long as we don't think too hard about the calories. ;)

The next night was probably on of the coldest nights I've ever camped through! We didn't sleep so well, with how many times we decided to get up and put more layers on, but we were able to sleep in in the morning to make up for it. Oh sleeping in is so lovely.

The next morning was so still and quiet. It's one of my favorite things about camping. So serene. We walked around a little, made breakfast, and then started packing up.