Great Basin

From Wikipedia – Based around Nevada’s second tallest mountain, Wheeler Peak, Great Basin National Park contains 5,000-year-old bristlecone pines, a rock glacier, and the limestone Lehman Caves. Due to its remote location, the park has some of the country’s darkest night skies. Wildlife includes the Townsend’s big-eared bat, pronghorn, and Bonneville cutthroat trout.

• Established: 10/27/1986
• Annual Visitors: 153,094
• Size: 77,180 acres

Elizabeth

Elizabeth

Great Basin September 21, 2020

We left Cedar City, UT heading for a very small town, Baker, NV, just across the border. UT Route 21 was another straight long road with a high point of 6,700 ft. Crazy but fun going through nothing for at least 85 miles. At one point we were going downhill gradually and Gary said he hadn’t touched the gas pedal for miles! We saw maybe 8 vehicles coming our way and no one behind us or in front of us the whole way! Tomorrow is the day we travel from NV back through UT on US Route 50, dubbed “The Loneliest Road in America” but today was a close second! It’s another hazy day in the distance. But the pictures still give you the main idea of how desolate these south west Utah roads are!

We went through Milford, UT, established in 1873, in the middle of nowhere. But a stream runs through it, there’s a Union Pacific railroad station, some original paintings on sides of buildings (“Mercantile”) and a feel of half the town is the way it was built in the 1800’s but abandoned, and some is renovated or newly build but has the feel of history long ago. In 2007 was the largest wildfire in Utah’s history which raged around Milford and 283,000 acres burned.

Great Basin NP visitors center is in Baker, just past the sign to enter the park at 5,700 ft. All caves, sadly, are closed due to COVID. But there’s wonderful videos of inside some of the caves on their website.

We met a woman from Scottsdale, AZ at the visitor center who said she and friend call their many NP visits in a short time “National Park sampler trips”. We can relate! We have done 10 parks in 15 days covering 2000 miles of driving! And yes, we are still as excited and glad we are doing this as we were when we headed out!

We drove up to Wheeler Peak. Rangeley was overjoyed to see Lehman Creek had water to play in at 10,000 ft. at the Bristlecone Grove and Alpine Lakes trailheads. Dogs are not permitted on any trails in the park so we could not go to either of the fore mentioned hikes. But the views, stream, autumn colors and low 60’s temperature up there was awesome! The campground at the top was closed for renovations but the two others on Wheeler Peak were full.

On the way back down Wheeler Peak’s Scenic Drive (roughly 35 mile round trip), we stopped at Lehman Caves Visitor Center for lunch at The Great Basin Café. We were very surprised and grateful that the food was amazing. Big menu, nice employees and the cook deserves many kudos for my BLT with avocado, spicy mustard on grilled artisan bread. Gary had a pulled pork sandwich with handmade curly fries. I highly recommend the stop.

We checked into Whispering Elm Motel and Campground across from the entrance road to the park and walking distance to “town” and the visitor center. I place quotes around town because Baker, NV has 68 people living here so says a 2010 census. It has a gas station, a few lodging options, campgrounds, tent sites, a coffee food truck with a wonderful espresso maker, and a well-attended restaurant called Kerouac’s that opened in 2017. We had a beer there, outside, and loved the vibe (see pics).

We drove just a mile or two from our motel after dinner to the Baker Archeological Site. There is very little to see but standing there knowing a little of the history of the research done by BYU archeology department of this excavated, then covered, 1200 AD Fremont Indian civilization was very interesting. Plus, Rangeley could run and play as it is on public BLM land!

Tomorrow we have a ‘drive day’ to Evanston, WY for some grocery shopping and an oil change. Then the following day we drive to Jackson, WY to do many dog friendly hikes! Next park, Grand Teton!