June 23rd, 2022: Dropped a bike, bivy kit & food/water at Finish/Souther Wilderness Boundary. Drove dirt roads to camp 1/2 mile from starting point at North side of park boundary.
June 24th, 2022: 5:41am start, Started tracking at the park boundary gate & old wooden Great Basin NP Sign. Stayed on the sagebrush/Mt Mahogany hill side north of the 1st drainage to stay out of the trees and what seemed like easier navigation and x-country travel to gain North Ridge of Bald Mt. Rattlesnake around 8,500ft woke my brain up and made me concentrate on each foot placement a bit more.
Hit the summits of Bald Mt & Wheeler Pk at about the splits I had estimated. From Wheeler to Baker Pk & Pk12,306 very loose unstable talus. Didn't allow for much actual running. Comically slow miles but beautiful terrain looking into the Wheeler/Baker Cirque, looks like it would be very interesting skiing in winter.
Filled 2liter drom bag with snow after summiting Pyramid. Gaia shows a "Baker Creek Trail" from here to John's Wash, but do not expect a trail, 100% x-country. Again, loose talus from Pyramid to the Bristlecone grove before climb to Mt Washington. Very hot at this point.
Dirt road heads down near (south side) the summit of Mt Washington, didnt follow this but stayed higher on the ridge. Turns out road leads to the same saddle my path ended up at between Washington and Lincoln Pk. Steep hillside buried in trees leads to the ridge to the rocky summit of Lincoln Pk.
Highland Ridge is a magical spot and the terrain turns mostly runable from here to the very end. Spotted 4 Elk on the ridge.
Got a bit bushwacky to get off the ridgeline down to the start of Johns Wash.
8 cruiser running miles to the finish. A Wilderness boundary sign is about 50ft North of the road.
Ended up really going slower than anticipated (by a few hours) but enjoyed the experience of a very aesthetic line through a rad Great Basin mountain range.
Slept at the finish and the next morning rode the bike back 49 miles to grab the truck and hit hotsprings on my way back home to Tahoe.