Great Basin National Park
Great Basin National Park is among the least visited national parks despite the beautiful vistas, an interesting cavern and ancient bristlecone pines.
Nevada
2013
About The Park
Great Basin National Park is located in a remote corner of Nevada. Last year it received about 168,000 visitors which put it in 49th place out of the 60 National Parks. It is located in northeastern Nevada, just a few miles from the Utah border outside of the tiny town of Baker, Nevada. And I do mean tiny. Baker’s main street is Nevada highway 497 and runs all of about two blocks. Baker’s population was 68 in the 2010 census.
Baker is about 66 miles east of Ely, Nevada. Ely is the Eastern end of US Highway 50 known as the ‘loneliest road in America’. It crosses northern Nevada for about 400 miles and, having driven it, I can attest that it earns its nickname. They have ‘passports’ that you can get stamped at the few service stations along the way and, when you send it to the Nevada Department of Tourism, they send you an ‘I Survived Hwy 50’ certificate and lapel pin. There’s a picture of the loneliest road highway 50 sign on my Americana-
Great Basin National Park has two main features and both are certainly worth seeing. The main park road travels 12 miles up Wheeler Peak, the highest peak in the eastern Great Basin, and ends at an elevation of 9,886 feet (3013 m). The second feature is the Lehman Caves which is one of those limestone caves filled with stalactites, stalagmites and other formations.
Great Basin National Park is known for its exceptionally dark skies and great stargazing. The park service has night programs to take advantage of the clear, dark skies found here.
The road up Wheeler Peak has parking areas and lookouts along the way giving you a great view the surrounding mountains in the Utah desert to the East.
Great Basin National Park gets it name from the fact that almost all of Nevada is in an area of the U.S. known as the Great Basin. It is an area that has no connection to an ocean. No river that extends out of it connects with a river that empties into an ocean. All precipitation evaporates, sinks into the soil or into lakes. Thus it is a great basin.
Lehman Caves
This is a system of caves that extends about a quarter of a mile into limestone and marble. It began forming 550 million years ago. It’s an interesting tour past some very beautiful formations. There’s a particular formation known as a parachute that I think they said was unique to Lehman caves. I managed to get some good pictures of it in the photo gallery. I’ve been to a number of caverns and this one has some really great stuff packed into a relatively small cavern tour. There are several different tours that run 1 to 1.5 hours long. Reservations are recommended.
Wildlife
Cougars, bobcats, marmots, elk, mountain sheep, jackrabbits, pygmy rabbits, mountain cottontails, ground squirrels, chipmunks, pronghorns, coyotes, kit foxes, and badgers.
Lodging
Given the size of the town it should be no surprise that lodging is limited in the area. The Stargazer Inn is in town and the Border Inn is about 10 miles away at the Utah-
Hidden Canyon Ranch
We stayed at the Hidden Canyon Ranch, a bed and breakfast nestled in a canyon about 15 miles south of Baker. The last 5 miles were down a dirt road into the canyon. It was a gorgeous house set in a beautiful venue with deer and turkeys everywhere. The night sky was filled with stars and the band of the Milky Way dominated the celestial dome.
Hiking
Bristlecone Grove/Glacier Trail
The parking area at the end of the Wheeler Peak road has several nice hiking trails. One goes to the top of Wheeler Peak 13,063 feet (3,982 m). We chose to take the Bristlecone Grove/Glacier trail which is a 4.3 mile out and back hike that ends at a lake at the base of Rock Glacier. What’s really great about this hike is that it passes through a grove of bristlecone pines that are 2000 to more than 3000 years old. The Park service has put up some signs with information about the age and some other details about what you’re seeing. These trees are really beautiful and the most interesting among them, in my eyes, where the dead ones. You can see why in the photo gallery accompanying this page. The trail ends at a beautiful lake at the base of Rock Glacier at an elevation of about 11,000 feet. It’s a scenic spot to relax, have a bite to eat, take some pictures, and enjoy nature’s glory.
For both of these hikes you are starting out at the 10,000 foot level so altitude is a factor that inexperienced hikers need to be aware of.
Bristlecone Pines - A sad tale
There was a bristlecone pine on Wheeler Peak that was at least 4862 years old and possibly 5000 years old. It was cut down in 1964, possibly with permission from the U.S. Forest Service, for ‘research purposes’. It may have been the oldest living (non-
A few years back I read of another bristlecone pine in California that was estimated to be over 5000 years old and was cut down with a chainsaw by a person or persons unknown. One can’t even speculate what goes through the twisted mind of an individual who would do such a thing. The tree was in a remote area up on a mountain that was not stopping anybody from logging, mining, drilling, riding off-
Regarding the Wheeler Peak bristlecone that was cut down for ‘research purposes’. A Wikipedia article gives the basic details of the conflicting stories and the article’s notes section points to additional articles about the cutting of this tree which had been known to Forest Service people, prior to its being cut, as Prometheus. It’s a sad tale that is a monument to human stupidity. If you want to you can read about it here.
Great Basin National Park Photo Gallery
Other Resources
Great Basin National Park on the National Parks Service website -
Other National Parks and National Monuments Within a Day’s Drive
Bryce Canyon National Park You can see hoodoos and the awesome Bryce Amphiteater about 200 miles away and about a 4 hour drive to the southeast.
Zion Canyon National Park Tour a half mile wide canyon with 2000 foot walls about 200 miles away and around a 4 hour drive to the southeast.
Zion Canyon National Park -
Craters of the Moon National Monument Where you can see a stark landscape indicative of Idaho’s volcanic past 430 miles to the north and about a 7 hour drive.
Cathedral Gorge State Park This Nevada state park is on the way to Great Basin if you are coming from Las Vegas and worth a stop. It is 145 miles south of Great Basin and about a 3 hour drive.
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Updated 02/11/23 7:04 PM
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