Last Friday night I drove from Park City to Great Basin National Park and slept in my car. Next day morning I sent myself up to Wheeler Peak - 13,060' (3962m), around 9 mi (14km).

I was stoked to try my new hiking boots but they were apparently overkill - trail was well groomed that you can just wear sneakers. Elevation still kicked my ass though, especially I didn't have much sleep in the previous night.

The 60 yo couples with trail running shoes spent less one hour less than I did... shame on me...

There was an area that the wind was crazily blowing. The top was actually not too bad.

Tried my new Scarpa hiking boots as the first time - which was a little too stiff for this trail. They proved to be a good pair of shoes later that day.

After hiking back from Wheeler Peak, taking a nap in my car, filling my water bladder at visitor center, I was going to chill at my hammock.

Then I looked at my backpack, sleeping bag and hammock...
hmmm...
"Why not backpacking?" So I did backpacking as my first time, solo, to Baker Lake (11.4 miles round trip). The trail was not too strenuous and luckily there were tons of trees along the way. Hiked in around 4 miles and decided to put on hammock since the sky got dark. That night was hella cold I was cursing in the hammock shivering…”why don't I sleep at home? WHY!!!!" (The wild turkeys must wondered what the hell that trembling cocoon was.) The night was so long..............

Before the sun rose, I tumbled down from the hammock and headed to Baker Lake. Some people from Vegas camped there - they said there was meteor shower last night. Damn it didn’t know that!! (what’s all the suffering about!!)

Anyway, the first backpacking trip was not bad, minus the freezing cold night.