Discovering Great Basin, a Hidden Paradise of Ancient Trees, Crystal Lakes, and Starry Skies
If you've never heard of Great Basin National Park or know nearly nothing about it, you aren't alone. This is one of the least visited parks in the USA. So imagine how much this unassuming national park took us by surprise! This property is not only home to the oldest trees in the world, but there are also clear glacier-fed lakes, magical caves, Great Basin hiking, and an amazing night sky ranger-led experience. J
How to Get There: Just arriving at Great Basin takes some planning. You can fly into either Salt Lake City or Las Vegas. We chose Salt Lake because Cheryl had never been to this fantastic city and wanted to spend some time getting to know it. You'll need to rent a car to drive to Great Basin, but the drive is through beautiful country and the 3.5 hours from Salt Lake or 4 hours from Las Vegas will feel short because of all of the beauty around you. Y
You'll enter the main road into the park through the small, one-stop sign town of Baker, Nevada, where the first of two visitor centers is located.
Do You Need Tickets? If you wish to visit Lehman Cave, you'll need a reservation. These sell out MONTHS in advance, so book early. The ranger-led night sky experience is free and requires no reservation. However, there is limited seating and during busy times we could see this easily filling, so arrive early.
Our Experience: Hiking Bristlecone Trail (Day #1)
On our first day, we were in a rush because we'd secured our timed ticket entry for the Lehman Cave tour, so we skipped both the visitor's center in Baker and the second center at the cave entrance (which is also home to the ranger-led night sky experience and other ranger-led talks. After climbing the main road from the visitor center to the Cave parking lot, you take a right just before the cave-area visitor center and drive up an amazingly gorgeous scenic 12-mile Wheeler Peak drive. This drive ends in a parking lot, which leads to several hikes, including the Bristlecone Pines hike. The drive takes you above 10,000 feet, so be prepared for lots of ear-popping!
We arrived early (8:30 AM), so the parking area wasn't busy. But on our two days of Great Basin hiking, this undersized lot was very crowded, and people were parking up the road. We'd advise getting there early. Our hike started on the accessible pathway, which would be easy for nearly anyone to navigate a quick loop trail through some beautiful woods. We turned off this trail onto the Bristlecone hike and enjoyed our first bubbling brook that led us to wildflower groves, pine tree forests, and finally our target, the Bristlecone pine.
Parking and Finding the Trailhead
The Bristlecone is a unique tree. Some of these knarled wonders are more than 4000 years old! The main grove features interpretive signs that explain both the growth patterns and history of these amazing trees. Beyond the grove, you can hike further to either a viewpoint of the only glacier in Nevada, or to actually walk on it.
Five distinct hikes emanate from the parking area for Bristlecone: the trail to the grove, the continuing trail to the glacier, the accessible trail, and a loop trail to some high-mountain lakes. Because we still had some time before our cave tour, we decided to take in the two beautiful crystal-clear Alpine lakes of Stella and Teresa. These beauties were cool, clear, and refreshing, with bubbling brooks leading to both right along the trail. Some hikers stopped for a dip in the waters (I can't imagine these lakes ever being warm, so come prepared!), but because the clock was ticking, we continued back to the parking lot to make our cave tour.
Our Experience: LEHMAN CAVES (Day #1)
Lehman Caves, according to one website, is the reason many people come to the park. They tour the cave and leave, maybe driving the scenic road up to Wheeler Peak or not. Personally, we think this is a big mistake. These caves, although interesting, were the least exciting part of the park. Perhaps we're jaded because we've toured the more beautiful Carlsbad Caverns and the much larger Mammoth Caves, but all-in-all, after hearing how many people thought this was the centerpiece of their park experience, we found it to be a bit of a letdown.
Maybe a large part of our underwhelming experience was our guide. A good guide always makes the tour more fascinating, and a decent guide can at least let the cave do the heavy “wow” lifting, but our guide, although sweet, was awkward and needed a little more training. She was clearly new and trying to remember her script.
Unexpected Treasures at the Visitor Center
On the plus side, the visitor center associated with the caves is a delight. We'd highly recommend a true gem: the store/restaurant attached to the center. Joe is an avid board game player, so imagine our surprise when we opened the cafe door and discovered a large variety of great board games! The hospitable staff served delicious food and even ice cream cones.
Tickets for the cave tours sell out and it is important to buy them ahead of time. Head to the National Park Service website to buy tickets. Tickets are released 30 days in advance.
Take nothing but pictures,
Leave nothing but footprints,
Kill nothing but time.
(Cave Motto)
Our lodging experience: Having completed our daily hike and toured the cave, we headed to our cabin. Cheryl had rented this place on Airbnb, which, in the middle of Great Basin-nowhere, can be a crap shoot. There are very few lodgings available near Great Basin, so book early if you plan to stay close by.
This cabin was on the main road, roughly ten miles from the park entrance in Baker. Other hikers we spoke with had taken lodgings in Baker and while it was closer, they weren't as impressed with the accommodations as we were with the cabin. We were definitely pleasantly surprised. This modern little cabin for two was hidden in a copse of pine trees near the Sacramento Pass, featured a small kitchen with a bar and sofa, and in the back room had another sitting area and a comfortable bed. There was enough room on the table to play a board game after a morning of hiking.
Our Experience: Visiting Ely, Nevada (Day #2)
On day two, we drove to check out the local “large” town of Ely, Nevada. If you are in need of supplies you can find them here. Unfortunately, there isn't much else to do or see (unless you're excited by gambling). We had to laugh at the middle school moniker. Only a block down from the legal bordello, the entrance proudly proclaimed this is “Home of the Cougars.”
One highlight in town was a terrific train museum and experience, the Nevada Northern Railway. It features a working rail yard that you're allowed to explore. We saw many antique trains and watched repairs and restoration of this railroad. Workers stopped and shared with us what they were doing. If we had planned ahead, we could have spent the afternoon on one of the themed train rides! On one ride, “robbers” attack the train!
Our Local Restaurant Recommendation in Baker
We couldn't find much to do in Ely. So, we decided to head back to Baker for dinner at the only full-service restaurant, the Sugar Salt and Malt Restaurant. This coffee shop and restaurant served really good food and had great service. It's small, so if you're here during busy times, it may pay dividends to make a reservation. Luckily, one table was still available, so we were able to be seated right away.
Our Experience: DARK SKY PARK (Day #2)
After a delicious meal, it was nearly dark. We headed back to the park for what turned out to be one of our favorite parts of the visit: the night sky park program. The evening begins with a ranger-led talk. On the night we visited, it was all about mountain lions. Where the cave guide seemed like part of the “B” team, Great Basin NP brought out the “A” squad for the evening talk. These rangers were humorous and informative. After the mountain lion lesson, the rangers turned the show over to the featured speaker, who held a PhD in Astronomy. She walked us through the celestial world. The team had set up three high powered telescopes, and visitors waited in lines to witness the Hercules Nebula.
A tip on timing your trip to Great Basin NP
If you hope to see the Milky Way, choose a time when there is not a full moon! We did not do our homework in this area, so we saw a beautiful but very bright moonrise over the mountains. While this was an amazing event, the brightness inhibited our view of what many have described as the most beautiful sky they've ever seen.
For those of us who wanted a second look at the sky, once the moon rose, the rangers refocused the telescopes on the moon so we could check out the craters. The program featured tips to help us all see more of our sky at home. They inspired us to change the night lighting around our house to make it eye- and night-sky-viewing friendly with amber lights.
Our Experience: HIKING WHEELER PEAK (Day #3)
The next morning we awoke early for the biggest challenge of our trip: hiking Wheeler Peak. This mountain towers over Great Basin NP, and is the highest peak in Nevada. Two months earlier, we'd hiked to a high-elevation viewing area of Annapurna, the tenth-highest mountain in the world. The elevation we'd achieved in the Himalayas of Nepal was over a thousand feet higher than this hike. Obviously, we were thinking, “We've got this!”
Holy cow! As mom says, Wheeler Peak was “a doozy!!”
Our Tips to Successfully Climb Wheeler Peak
As with any hike, Great Basin hiking shouldn't be experienced without bringing plenty of water, but because this one also gets windy and cold, bring a hat that is going to stay on your head, and layer some warm clothing, even on hot days. We didn't have hiking sticks, but we'd both recommend them because of the rockiness of the trail.
The trail isn't technical, though the elevation gain and footing can sometimes be tricky. It starts easily enough from a separate parking area from the lake and Bristlecone trails and doesn't fill up as quickly. Still, we recommend going early because inclement weather can suddenly hit the peak in the afternoon.
What You'll Experience Climbing Wheeler Peak
The beginning miles of the trail are lovely as you wander through Aspen trees, a pretty meadow, and then into an Alpine forest overlooking the aforementioned lakes. As you reach elevations above the tree line, the wind picks up. At one point, Cheryl lost her footing, and the wind pushed her over!
The ground becomes very rocky as you climb higher, at times crossing swaths of snow and ice. The trail gains 3,000 feet over the roughly nine-mile round trip. Almost one-half of this gain is in the last mile to the summit, making this portion of the hike strenuous.
Reaching the top at 13,063 feet is a real accomplishment, but the views make the hardship worthwhile. They're truly awe-inspiring! We would love to write that the hike back from the summit was easy, but the rocks and snow are slippery. By the time we finished the adventure, we were ready for a good lunch. Unfortunately, this is when we received news that Joe's dad had taken a turn for the worse, and we needed to head home early, cutting our visit short. Our Great Basin hiking experience was closing too soon.
AN UNFORTUNATE EARLY END TO OUR VISIT
We quickly headed back to our cabin, packed, and made phone calls. To the credit of American Airlines, they were extremely flexible and got us on the first flight out very early the next morning. The Four Points Airport changed our room at no fee and even upgraded to the quieter side so we could grab a few winks of sleep. Joe took advantage of the sleep. I worked to get my lost ring from under the passenger-side seat, but this is another post you can read here.
Our Overall Thoughts? Great Basin is one hundred percent worth the planning and drive. If you go, plan on leaving your car and experiencing this natural wonderland because Great Basin hiking was fantastic! We may head back someday to do some backcountry hiking, check out the cave drawings, and spend more time in our romantic cabin.
Even more photos (including our whirlwind day in Salt Lake City)
