Mt. Charleston trip - quaking aspen and bristlecones :)

Not backpacking, but camped and dayhiked among golden quaking aspen, ancient bristlecone pines, and towering walls of limestone near Mt. Charleston, NV this last weekend.  We've never been here before and it's just a short drive from Vegas, which is about three hours from where we live.  This is part of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, which is the largest NF in the Lower 48. The mountains here rise steeply from the desert all the way up to almost 12,000'. It was the perfect destination in the fall. The weather was lovely - sunny and cool. We found a campsite at Hilltop Campground which is located in a thick juniper and Pinyon pine forest with amazing views, especially at sunset and sunrise. We took three hikes, on Saturday we hiked the Bristlecone Pine Trail, which was the longest and highest trail topping off around 9,200'. Here we saw many old bristlecones, along with some large quaking aspen and a wild horse near the trailhead. On Sunday we hiked the Mary Jane Falls Trail, which was reportedly ablaze with quaking aspen and we were not disappointed! We never made it to the falls but spent our time wandering off trail and exploring the fall colors. On Monday we hiked to Robber's Roost which is a short but very steep trail up to limestone cliffs and caves. My 3 1/2 year old son did great on all the hikes. He seems to love the small things that we see the most - old fallen logs and rocks covered in moss captured his attention more than the sweeping views. Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos! 














































More pics here

www.tarol.com/charleston.html