Great Basin: A Real Glacier in Nevada Desert
Great Basin National Park Guide
Use our realist Great Basin Guide to plan your next adventure in this national park. Great Basin National Park is a true oasis in the desert. We visited Great Basin National Park during our large trip of the Rocky Mountains region.
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Getting to Great Basin
Great Basin National Park is located in Eastern Nevada close to the state line with Utah, roughly halfway between Las Vegas, NV and Salt Lake City, UT. The park has a scenic drive, multiple trails, and caves. Since the park is located in Nevada, it is Pacific Time Zone rather than Mountain Time Zone like Utah. It is important to keep that in mind when reserving cave tour tickets.
Where to Stay
Accommodation selection is not particularly versatile in this part of the country. In fact, the town of Ely, NV might be one of the few locations with several properties to chose from within a reasonable driving distance of Great Basin National Park. If you do not mind a longer drive, Wendover, UT, Wells, NV, and St George, UT area offer plenty of accommodation options to choose from.
Entrance Requirements & Passes
Great Basin National Park does not charge entrance fees. If you would like to drive on the scenic drive and hike its marvelous trails, you can do this for free. However, the park charges a per-person fee for the cave tours. Unfortunately, an ordinary America the Beautiful National Parks annual pass does not provide you any discounts on the cave tour fee.
Sights & Places of Interest
There is a stark contrast between Great Basin’s scenery and surrounding areas of Nevada and Utah. The park’s glacier and high snowcapped peaks created several lakes and creeks that bring vital moisture downstream. As a result, Great Basin features a dense forest and diverse wildlife.
Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive
We started our exploration of the park with the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive.
The drive gains over 3,000 ft (almost 1,000 m) within 12 miles (19 km).
Wheeler Peak Overlook
The Wheeler Peak Overlook was the first viewpoint that provided an unobstructed view of the Wheeler and Jeff Davis Peaks. The Wheeler Peak is the highest peak in the park at 13,063 ft (3,982 m) and the Jeff Davis Peak is the second highest at 12,771 ft (3,893 m).
Bald Mountain
In addition to green meadows and forests, the Wheeler Peak Overlook provides nice views of the Bald Mountain.
This overlook is surrounded with bushes and trees. It is very easy to forget that the park is located in Nevada. In fact the landscape reminded us most of Rocky Mountain or Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Parks in Colorado.
Wheeler Peak Trailhead
The Wheeler Peak Parking and Campground is located at 10,000 ft (3,049 m). From there, the visitors can take one of trails leading to the Wheeler Peak, Rock Glacier, Lehman Creek, or one of the lakes. Be extra careful during the last few miles of the Scenic Drive as deer encounters are very common.
Island Forest & Lehman Creek
The majority of the hiking trails from this trailhead are multi-mile hikes with additional elevation gain. Since we purchased tour tickets for the Lehman Caves, we only had a limited amount of time at the Wheeler Peak Trailhead. Therefore, we hiked a short 0.4-mile Island Forest trail that brought us to the Lehman Creek and started our drive back to the Lehman Caves Visitor Center.
Mather Overlook
The Mather Overlook was our final stop before embarking on the cave tour.
Lehman Caves
The park offers two ranger-led cave tours, the Grand Palace and Lodge Room Tours. The Grand Palace Tour is longer (90 minutes vs. 60 minutes) and covers more chambers than the Lodge Room Tour. The price difference between two tours is $3 per adult ticket. Both tours are limited to 20 visitors and available for a reservation 30 days in advance. We decided to take the longer and slightly more expensive Grand Palace Tour.
Grand Palace Cave Tour
The cave is very well lit and allows visitors to explore astonishing beauty of its formations.
The cave features multiple stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and mushroom formations.
The mushrooms and shields are true signature formations of the Lehman Caves.
Keep in mind that the tour’s content is geared towards kids, a lot more than cave tours in other national parks and monuments we visited.
Takeaways: Great Basin
Great Basin National Park is a true oasis in Nevada’s desert landscape. Its scenic drive and trails allow visitors to explore this unique ecosystem. The park has well maintained caves with plentiful cave formations. The park’s remote location far from major cities is the only downside for a visit. If you are planning to explore other national parks and monuments in Southwestern and Western Utah, Great Basin National Park should definitely be added to your itinerary.
Take a look at our Great Basin Video Guide and visit our YouTube channel for the latest videos.
Frequently Asked Questions
Great Basin is an area of Western United States known for its unique drainage and ecosystem.
You can drive the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive, hike one of the park’s trail, or take a guided cave tour in Great Basin National Park.
Great Basin National Park protects the only glacier in the state of Nevada.
An ordinary annual pass does not provide any discount on cave tours in Great Basin National Park. Senior and Access Passes provide discounts to the card holder but not their companions.
Safe realist travels!
