Great Basin National Park

Visited: March 2014

Nearby town: Ely, NV

The Great Basin is a large region in western US that extends from the Sierra Nevada in California all the way to the Wasatch Front in Utah. In between these two mountain ranges are a number of smaller mountain ranges and valleys (or basins) where all the rivers do not flow into the ocean. This makes nearly the entire state of Nevada a very arid place where water runs into shallow lakes that eventually evaporate in the heat of the long summer. This park covers one of these small mountain ranges in the high desert on the east-central edge of the state.

Great Basin is an isolated park and thus, does not get very many visitors. If you want a beautiful national park that is low on crowds, Great Basin is the destination for you. Ely is the closest major town, a little over an hour to the west. Right at the park boundary is the much smaller town of Baker. I don't recall any hotels or restaurants in town, but there is a gas station! Baker is home to the main Visitor Center, which is open from April to October. We we're a little too early, but you can head up to the mountain to the Lehman Caves Visitor Center, which is open year round.

There are two main sections of the Park. The first is Lehman Cave. Lehman Cave offers a number of tours, and is a must-see. It would be a good idea to reserve tickets for the tours in advance. The second area is Nevada's second tallest mountain, Wheeler Peak. You can drive pretty close to the summit along the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive, but it is only open from May to November. From the parking lot at the end of the Scenic Drive you can (1) hike to some alpine lakes; (2) 8.6 mile roundtrip hike to the tip top of Wheeler Peak at 13,063 ft (3) hike a mile and half to a grove of Bristlecone pine, Earth's oldest living life-form (these trees are over 5,000 years old!) or (4) continue on the trail another couple of miles past the grove to the only glacier in Nevada. Outside of those two areas, there are a few scattered campgrounds and sites in the southern section of the park, the most popular is the natural Lexington Arch, which can only be accessed by a very rough road (requires 4WD) and then a four mile hike.

Needless to say, we visited in the wrong month. Don't make our mistake, I really regret not being able to drive up to Wheeler Peak and explore the old trees and alpine sites. We couldn't even see the majesty of Wheeler Peak due to obstruction by the clouds. So make sure to visit in the summer. Actually the end of September might be the best time to visit, so you can go to the annual Great Basin Astronomy Festival and see some of the best night skies in the country. This year it will be Sept 21-Sept 23, 2017. Check out this site for more info: https://travelnevada.com/discover/31373/great-basin-astronomy-festival

Wheeler Peak and Stella Lake. Wow!

Although we went at the wrong time of the year, we did take the tour of Lehman Caves, which made the stop worth it. First up, at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center you get a great view of the large basin. Another bonus to this park: no entrance fee!

The basin makes Wheeler Peak very prominent on the horizon. This view is looking east towards Utah. Talk about open spaces.

The park offers two different cave tours. The Lodge Room Tour (60 minutes, $8) and the Grand Palace Tour (90 minutes, $10). We took the Grand Palace Tour and I highly recommend it. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we got to see lots of great cave formations. The cave has a very "classic" look to it. When you picture a cave in your mind, that picture looks a lot like Lehman Cave.

Absalom Lehman, a miner turned rancher, discovered the cave in the 1880s. He built a ranch house near the entrance and started to give tours of the cave. The Park preserves the ranch house.

The Grand Palace Tour is only a little over a half-mile. It lasts 90 minutes, so you have plenty of time to take in the views of the flowstones and formations.

There was only one spot that was kind of a tight fit. I'm a really big guy, so you should be fine 😊

The highlight of the tour is a unique formation known as the Parachute Shield.

I loved this formation too. Very spooky.

This stalagmite and stalactite have grown VERY close together. Once it does, it becomes a column

After the cave tour, we went on a short nature trail by the Visitor Center.

the natural entrance. It's closed off obviously

mmmm....Mormon Tea

Just outside the park saw this abandoned old car. Some rancher had a sense of humor.

Although it was a short stay, we loved the Lehman Cave. We definitely want to go back, perhaps during the Astronomy Festival, to experience all that the park truly has to offer. For more info check out https://www.nps.gov/grba/index.htm