Destination: Great Basin National Park

Great Basin National Park, located near Baker, NV was established in 1986 and at the time of this publication there is currently no entrance fee.  This relatively new park offers a little of everything for outdoor enthusiasts including children.  Rising out of the surrounding desert sagebrush and salt flats, Great Basin NP is a wonderful example of a desert mountain island.  Great Basin, once an inland sea, has been drained and uplifted by tectonic movement thousands of years ago.  This movement of land created ranges and flat plains surrounded by vast ranges.  Water contained in the Great Basin has no outlet to the sea and all water, whether by rain, evaporation/condensation or snow, eventually drains to the lowest point in the basin.  The movement of the draining water created cave systems, the most famous of which is Lehman Caves located in Great Basin NP.

View of the glacier

People first moved into the area in prehistoric times to live on the shores of Lake Bonneville.  Part of the Fremont culture, they irrigated the land for crops and hunted.  The Paiutes and Shoshone people moved through hunting and gathering, but the mainstay of their diet was the pinyon nuts.  The harvest of the pinyon nuts dictated their movement through the valley.  In the late 1800’s, gold was discovered in Osceola Ditch.  Many claims where staked in the area but with limited water, large scale mining was rendered impossible.  Even after diverting water to the area, mining was still limited until operations were forced to move on.  With the mining operations, ranchers and other businessmen moved into the area including one enterprising man who sold supplies to the ranchers and miners.  Absalom Lehman, former miner, made his living selling much needed items before discovering a large cave on his property, and soon became the cave’s first tour guide.

A bristlecone pine

Snake Range and the Great Basin offer up a large diversity of living conditions.  The basin itself is a sea of sage brush but like an ocean, much of its life is hidden underneath the ground and sage.  As elevation increases, the climate changes offering different habitats to various plant and animal life.  The cooling conditions offer more diversity of life while the elevation and short growing season creates a harsh growing environment for plants.  Growing above tree line are the hearty bristlecone pines, one of most resilient trees.  The trees are gnarled and weathered into wondrous structures, each tree capable of living for thousands of years.  The wood is very resinous which resists rot, even when wind, sand and snow blast at the wood.  Many trees have a single strip of living bark while the rest of the tree is dead.  It could be said that rather than being long lived, they simply take a long time to die.  Much has been learned from both the living and dead trees, even when dead, the trees resist rotting and can remain standing for hundreds of years.  A great way to see the Great Basin Bristlecone pines and learn more about them is along the self-guided Bristlecone Pine trail, this family friendly hike leaves from the Wheeler Peak campground.  Other bristlecone pine groves can be found in the rugged backcountry of the park.

The desert is home to a few reptiles as well as birds.  Moving up into the Snake Range, more birds, mammals and reptiles make this place their home.  The kangaroo mouse also lives in the area, one of the few mammals in the area that can survive on only plants for its water needs.  Larger animals such as antelope, deer, bighorn sheep and mountain lion live further up in the cooler forests and grassy fields.  Skunks, foxes, and rabbits are seldom seen unlike the chipmunks and ground squirrels which make their presence more known.  Ravens are commonly seen soaring on the thermal winds, while robins, sparrows and meadowlarks are more common down in the forests.

Lehman Caves is a great and easily accessible way to get an introduction to caves and is a great way for kids to get firsthand experience in geological cave structures.  Lehman Caves is filled with many fine examples of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, draperies, flowstones, soda straws, cave popcorn and shields.  The cave is very rich in formations including shields, so much so, that there is hardly a wall free of cave formations in the entire cave.  Shields are extremely rare in most caves but Lehman caves offers a plethora of shields, there are more shields in Lehman caves than in any of the caves in the known world.  The tour is ranger led with geology and history sprinkled with jokes to lighten up the tour.


Wheeler Peak which sits at 13,063 ft, is the second tallest peak in Nevada and the highest mountain wholly within the state.  For its height, it is a non-technical climb and the summit fairly easily attainable with appropriate clothing and water.  With much of the trail at high elevations above tree line, weather conditions can deteriorate rapidly, and extra precautions are warranted.  The trail is easily followed and moves up through various groves of trees before pushing out onto the rocks above tree line.  The Wheeler Peak Trail is accessible from either the Alpine Lakes Loop or its own designated trailhead.  The mountain has a large headwall on one side forming one wall of the glacial cirque below.  The glacial moraine below contains an active glacier as well as an active rock glacier.  It is possible to hike right up to the foot of the rock glacier and see the glacier nested at the base of the headwall.  The glacier is accessible by a trail which snakes through stands of bristlecone pines.

Lodging near Great Basin National Park can be found in the nearby town of Baker NV.  Within the park itself are many camping options including campgrounds along Wheeler Scenic drive, primitive sites accessible by dirt road and backpacking options in the backcountry.  There are many unique things to see out in the backcountry including old mining ruins, wood structures (such as old cabins), additional bristlecone pine groves, alpine lakes ·such as Baker and Johnson lakes) or summiting other peaks (such as Mount Washington, Bald Mountain, Pyramid Peak and other unnamed peaks).  Many of the trails in the backcountry are unmaintained routes, sometimes marked with cairns, and can be difficult to follow at times.  Map reading skills are an important skill to have and one should always bring a compass and map.  Due to the parks isolation to major cities, there is very little light pollution in the area, the night sky is a wonder to behold from any location in the park.   In the evening, campfire programs are available at the campgrounds for everyone to learn about certain aspects of the range, or history of the area.

Shield formations in Lehman's cave

Spelunking is allowed in eight of the 40 wild caves found in the park (by permit only), the remaining 32 are closed to the public.  While the other caves are not as big or have as many formations as Lehman Caves, they are each beautiful in their own way.  Climbing opportunities abound in the park with alpine routes possible.  Special guidelines must be followed in order to climb, please visit the ranger station or NPS website for the regulations.  Fishing, while not really feasible in the alpine lakes (due to lack of fish), is possible in may of the rivers that drain out of the park, permits required.

The Island Forest Trail, which leaves from the Wheeler Peak campgrounds, is a very short wheelchair accessible trail with information stations set up along the trail.  The Island Forest Trail is a great way for everyone in the park regardless of age or mobility to learn more about Great Basin National Park as an island forest.  While longer, the Alpine Lakes Trail showcases two beautiful lakes as well as views of Wheeler Peak and surrounding country.  This trail also starts at the campground but is also accessible from the Wheeler Peak trailhead parking area.  The length of this trail is variable depending on how far and how much one wishes to see.

Except for Wheeler Scenic Drive, all the remaining roads in the park are dirt roads.  Some of the roads require high clearance vehicles to reach other, more secluded sections of the park.  Mountain biking is possible on all the dirt roads as well as horseback riding.  In the southern part of the park, accessible along a dirt road by high clearance vehicle or lengthy mountain bike ride, is Lexington Arch Trail.  The trail itself is about 1.7 mi (2.7 km) to the arch which is a unique formation sculpted by wind and water.  The arch itself, made of limestone, is unique compared to the traditional sandstone arches of the desert southwest.

Great Basin National Park is an island of life nestled among the sage brush of the desert.  The park abounds with life and is rich in sights from glaciers to caves, bristlecone pines to wildflowers, bighorn sheep to chipmunks.  The history of the park is long and varied while the actual park itself is still young.  This makes for an enriching experience while visiting this hidden gem of the national park system.

Where	38°59′0″N 114°18′0″W, Near Baker, NV
Entrance Fee	None at the time of publication
Contact	(775) 234-7331 http://www.nps.gov/grba/  (Official park page) http://www.great.basin.national-park.com/  (more information)
Closest Services	Baker, NV (some services) Ely, NV and Delta, UT (full services)
What to do	Backpacking, hiking, caving, horseback riding, climbing, fishing, biking
Extras	Camp sites and primative campsites available.

This story was originally posted August 19, 2010.