Great Basin National Park is a relatively small portion of the Great Basin as a whole. There is no National Park entrance fee required to visit. Per Google: "The Great Basin is a large, arid region in the western United States, defined by its geography and centered on Nevada. It is situated between the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges to the west and the Rocky Mountains to the east. The region includes most of Nevada, about half of Utah, and parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, and California." While planning our visit, I looked on the nps.gov website, I saw that there are cave tours. I signed up for the Lehman Cave Parachute Shield Tour. The tickets are purchased from recreation.gov website. We started off with a visit to the Great Basin Visitor Center where we looked at exhibits and got a general feel for the area. We bought a few small souvenirs and were on our way! I must say that the park was super beautiful with the changing of the leaves! Parts of the mountains were lit up with red & gold foliage! We drove the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive all the way to the Wheeler Peak Overlook. Go slow-ish and enjoy the views! We stopped by: Osceola Ditch Trail - was a man-made waterway used for mining Wheeler Peak Summit Trail Summit Trailhead Bristlecone-Alpine Lakes Trailhead Mather Overlook Wheeler Peak Overlook - end of the scenic drive and has an awesome view of [yes!] Wheeler Peak Wheeler Peak Overlook is the final destination of the scenic drive. There are stops along the drive. Since we weren't hiking, we stopped at most of the pull-outs and parking lots. Wheeler Peak stands at 13,063 feet and is the second tallest point in Nevada! There are viewing scopes you can use to get a closer look! We made a quick stop at Mather Overlook. You can see Wheeler Peak from here as well. This overlook is named for Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service (NPS). There's a cool bronze relief map of the Wheeler cirque. Then we drove back down to the Lehman Caves Visitor Center for our tour. The tour was very informative and was roughly an hour long. We stayed in Ely, NV which suited our needs. Baker, NV seemed pretty desolate from what I saw driving on the NV-487. Great Basin National Park is fairly remote compared to other National Parks, but definitely worth coming out to visit at least once! read more

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This review is for Baker Creek Loop which was a ~3.5 miles round trip that took ~2 hours to complete. With the unexpected closure of the last 10 miles of Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive, we had no choice but to do a different hike in the area. Baker Creek Loop was a scenic forest trail with a meadow halfway through. Starting the trail clockwise; trail was an incline up the mountain and a decline back down to the aspen forest. Fall colored aspens were prominent at the start and end of the trail! Wooden bridges were slippery with ice. Decent sized parking area at the trailhead. Restroom available at the parking lot. Required to drive on gravel road for ~3 miles. Short video of the hike for those interested! https://youtu.be/gmfUHF9BAc0 read more

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This is such a great national park. It's really out there, with other points of interests quite far. Due to that, it's really quiet, and I had no trouble finding parking. I first went to the Visitor Center to get some info and to get some souvenirs. There's also restrooms and internet, so it's a place to make a stop. We went hiking on the Bristlecone-Alpine Lakes Trailhead. It's 2.7 miles and it took us 2.5 hours to complete with a few breaks (we're amateurs and usually don't do hikes). We started on the right side to get to Stella Lake. The elevation was high, so I was out of breath at the beginning, and took an hour to get there. Continuing on to Teresa Lake was about forty minutes and was easier. The elevation did get lower. The views on this trail is simply breathtaking! And there are red markers/flags on the trees so you'll know if you're still on the right path. After the hike, we continued on to attend the Lehman Caves tour. The tours were sold out so I couldn't even change the time! It was definitely more traffic here than on the other side of the park for the hike. Our tour guide talked in a very monotone voice. However, the caves had very nice formations to look at. Overall, I highly recommend this national park! read more

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This is not my favorite park I have ever been to and there's no tollbooth here. To Pay you have to go to the visitor center and pay. I have a national Park pass so I didn't go in. I don't know if you're supposed to. I don't know how that works when you have a national Park pass. It seems like there's not many scenic drives in this park and maybe I'm missing a whole bunch of them. I don't know, but I only saw one and it was very windy. I believe it was up to Wheeler point. . Or Wheeler peak or maybe it was called Wheeler Road.... Anyway, I drove up a very windy scenic road and there's no side rails and there isn't even like a little concrete lip. I was white knuckle driving and when I was on the outer edge, I couldn't even look out at the valley. It was terrifying. I did not think I was scared of heights, but that was an 11,000 foot elevation so you're high up . I thought the drive was terrifying and as long as there wasn't a car coming toward me, I was driving in the middle and going 3 miles an hour. It's the most terrifying drive I've ever been on but the scenic payoff was incredible and well worth it . I went there over Memorial Day weekend . I stayed in Ely. read more

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Great Basin National Park is an absolutely stunning area. The Visitor's Center is extremely nice and filled with lots of information. There is a film to watch and interactive displays. There is also a nice gift shop. Lehman Caves VC was closed due to a recent snow event. Wheeler Peak Scenic drive was also closed. We still enjoyed our time in Baker. We will be back when roads are open. Stunning views! read more

Review # 22 for 2025 Great Basin National Park is the 33rd National Park that I visited. My goal is to visit all 63 National Parks. I finally made it out here as it is pretty remote and in all my travels, I have yet to venture out this way. We went here on a bit of a whim with my husband suddenly developing and obsession with going to Great Basin. Me, being the one who loves to travel looked it up to see if it was doable. We saw that there was an astronomy festival coming up and with a few weeks of planning made it happen. There are some cool things about this park, but as far as comparing it to the many other national parks, this park is is supar. Let's start with the cool things about this park. - It has the ONLY glacier in Nevada. However, I have been to Alaska and seen the glaciers there and even hiked on the glaciers there so this on was far from impressive. The hike to the glacier is 5 miles, halfway there you get to the bristle cone forest, which I thought was pretty cool to see. Those ancient bristlecone on grows in a couple places and they are pretty unique looking trees. They are also thousands of years old. If you go the other direction at the start of the trail, it take you to 2 or 3 lakes. We did not do that trail. We went towards the glacier. - The scenic drive in the fall is beautiful!! The fall colors. The bright reds and oranges of the leaves all along the mountains. You are totally immersed in it. It is just so beautiful. You don's see colors like that in Southern California. - They have a cave!!! The cave is not the largest cave I have been in, but caves are caves and they are super cool!! They have 2 cave tours. One is a more intense cave that if you have kids, they have a be a certain age to do the tour. They also have a family friendly one which we did with our toddler. It cost $12 per adult and $1 for toddlers. The cave tour is 1hr long. - This is a dark sky park. So if you are into star gazing and astronomy stuff. This is probably your place. I mean, they even have an annual astronomy festival!! They are also the first and only nation park to have a research grade observatory. You can only go inside it during the astronomy festival which we did and that was a pretty cool! If you do come here. Camping is first come first serve. This park also has no entrance fee. There is a pretty good, but very small cafe at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center. The town Baker right outside the park only has a handful of lodging and places to eat. We stayed in Ely, NV which I highly recommend. It is about 45 minutes out but there is so much more there! There is a grocery store with a hot deli, plenty of places to eat at, train station, city parks, and even casinos! Would I go to Great Basin National Park again? I would not go out of my way to come here again. It was worth experiencing and now I can say that I have been there. If I was passing by in the area, then I would actually go again if time permits. read more

Underrated park. Amazing caves. Low foot traffic. Small town. Best for stargazing. Lehman caves was an awesome tour, most ppl come for that read more

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I finally took a day trip to Great Basin National Park in Baker, Nevada in early July, and it was absolutely majestic! Highlights from my hike in the park included: two alpine lakes, bristlecone pines, aspen trees, Nevada's only glacier, an epic rock field, majestic mountain springs, wildflowers, mind blowing views of the Great Basin Desert that surrounds the park, multiple wildlife sightings (i.e., deer, wild turkeys, and a woodpecker), and endless picturesque views. I now consider this remote national treasure one of my favorite national parks in the United States. read more

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If you're into remote locations, quiet, and extremes- this place is for you! Hiking over 10K feet, alpine lakes, bristlecone pine trees that are thousands of years old, a rock glacier, and caves are all here. We combined a few trails to see the bristlecones, 2 lakes, and the glacier in 1 day, and it was great! We lucked out on parking- currently there are only 22 spots open to access all the alpine area hikes (!)- for some reason they are doing construction on another lot during the "busy" season. People were parked in all kinds of creative and dangerous ways along the scenic road during Labor Day weekend. Another day, we took a cave tour (reserve online 30 days in advance, and know that the lighting system is currently causing partial cave closure- we booked a 90-minute tour and when we got there, were told it was unavailable and all tours were 60 minutes. Our guide was engaging and knowledgeable. Bring all the food and water you need- we ate dinner at the 1 restaurant in Baker and it was excellent, but brought all other meals. read more

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Doable hikes. Great views! This was an interesting place to visit. Make sure you see the film explaining the park at the visitor center. read more

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This is the first national park i've been to and I had an amazing time! I guess this is a more lowkey park based off what I had read but it does not disappoint. I've heard of nightmare lines at other parks getting in but for this one we just drove right in! They have a handful of campgrounds and they all require reservations ahead of time. Our campground however is usually FCFS but since it's peak season, we were able to reserve ahead. Our campsites were beautiful and right next to Baker Creek making it a soothing sleep for us. After our awesome Lehman Cave tour, we drove up the scenic drive route and stopped to hike to Lake Stella. It was absolutely stunning. An in and out hike during late May with snowing mountain views with a half frozen lake at the end, as a nooby hiker this was 100% worth it. Overall Great Basin National Park was great and a definite recommendation! read more

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I'd never even heard of this national park and it was suggested to me as I was planning my great summer road trip. I must admit, I was getting cold feet as our dates edged closer and I knew I'd be in the Nevada desert in the middle of summer. I am so glad we went!! It was amazing. First off, Wheeler Peak creates its own weather so we got to enjoy rain and lightning in July. (Plan your hiking in the morning or risk getting rained out as we did.) You are up in a totally different environment enjoying the trees and running streams. You can climb 10,000 feet by car in about 20-30 mins. We left heat and sun at the base and watched the temperature drop as we climbed. We saw wild turkeys and plenty of butterflies. The bristle cone pines are extraordinary and you can feel their age. Lehman caves is also here but I'll save that review for it specifically. Absolutely make a date with Great Basin. It's worth the drive and seeing the town of Baker, pop 70, at its feet is its own experience. read more

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Excellent National Park in Northeastern Nevada not far from the Utah border. Its very remote location lends to it being called the least visited National Park in the US. Great hiking trails and cooler weather are part of the allure to Great Basin as are the various campgrounds within the park. The visitor center near the entrance is very nice with helpful staff, a small gift shop area, and a small museum. The Lehman Caves are a must do, reservations suggested, where you will be enamored with a variety of stalagmites, stalactites, shields, and other various formations during a ranger guided tour...small visitor center, gift shop and cafe' are attached to the caves which get very busy, especially in the summer months. Wheeler Peak has several beautiful trails, bristlecone, and is also very picturesque with snow being observed on the ground as late as July. This is the only National Park that I know of that doesn't have a pay booth so it's basically free to visit. Highly recommend a visit to this beautiful park where you can spend the better part of a day or more enjoying the outdoors. read more

Great Basin National Park - Lehman caves - Parks Near Me - Baker, Nevada

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This is such a unique national park, it rises up from the desert below and supports 6 different biomes based on the gained elevation. Some stuff I saw today are alpine lakes, bristlecone pines, Nevada's active glacier, meadowlands with 13,000ft+ Wheeler Peak soaring above, and six miles of hiking bliss. I love this park; the best part is how secluded it is, I felt like I was the only one there. read more

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What a strange, desolate, wonderful island in the desert. What an unexpectedly rugged but manageable park. If you know what to expect, you'll love it. So, what can you expect? Well, for starters, it is not massive. Whereas you enter the majesty of Yosemite Valley, or peer over the incredible edge of the Grand Canyon, this is a different scale. You have to take it into context: there is nothing but lonely desert for miles, and then all of the sudden there's a big mountain, with alpine lakes and a small glacier. It's about the whole ecosystem here, and not any one feature. Your first stop will probably be the visitors center right off the highway in Baker. Note the hours--when we visited, they were only open in the afternoons on certain days, so our morning visit was more of a chance to pick up a map and get into the park. The road takes off from there and winds up to the fork to the park visitor center/cafe/gift shop, and that's more about the HQ for Lehman Caves. We forked to the right instead, and went all the way up the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive and parked at the end. The campground there was closed for maintenance (in all of 2021, I believe) but we found parking, and set off for the Bristlecone Pine trail, to the interpretive trail (very very cool) and eventually around the entirety of the Alpine Lakes Loop. In a drought year, the lakes were not much to see, but still a nice destination and we made our way back to the car. Unfortunately, it was a last-minute trip and Lehman Cave tickets were all sold out. I will need to return to see that part of the park. There are several other hikes to do. We did dip down to the Osceola Ditch hike for a bit of mining history. We drove around Grey Cliffs and Baker Creek. We didn't even get to the other dirt road farther south. It's still plenty large at over 77K acres. The best part was the quiet nature, the views from up above that show just how flat and desolate the surroundings are, and the chance to see something that not a ton of people make time to see. read more

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I had the pleasure of spending a few days in GBNP. It's not top on the list of the 37 National Parks I have visited, but it's certainly no where near the bottom. You enter the park from Baker and can take the road up thousands of feet of elevation to over 10k. The diverse altitude fosters 5 different ecosystems throughout the park at varying levels I hiked Wheeler Peak which is just over 13k elevation. It is so cool to see such a large mountainous area amidst barren plains and desert that spans for miles. I ran into countless Turkeys, dozens of deer, Jack rabbits, Antelope and a Coyote. Also beautiful birds. The Bristlecone pines are majestic and it's fascinating to see such old trees. This place also is the best stargazing spot for the Milky Way in North America. Go when the moon isn't illuminating much and you will be blown away! It's in the middle of nowhere but they have great facilities. Countless spots for free BLM camping outside of the park boundaries. I want to come back to do a cave tour and see Lexington Arch when it's not so hot outside. read more

An amazing place to visit. We visited in mid-September and thoroughly enjoyed all parts of it. We tent camped in upper Lehman campground and it was such a nice clean place. The campsites were nicely spaced and the bathrooms were the cleanest primitive facilities I've ever seen. We had planned to climb Wheeler Peak but the weather had another idea (snow). We did get to hike the alpine lakes loop which was very pretty. The dark skies are legit - we got to enjoy the first night before bad weather moved in. The cave tour was informative and interesting. Be sure to check out the gift shops and the little cafe near the cave entrance. Good coffee and breakfast. read more

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We planed this trip months in advance This was one of our more interesting stops on the way back home we had called them got info been to web site all was good open get tickets at visitors center ok the day we got there than someone Finally informed us that reservation required Not one person said anything about this but did not mater no tours they could even give a time for next day tours it just depends on if workers come to work or not there road sign to walker summit Said closed but it was open we drove all the way up Maybe getting there signs right would help out the tourists just maybe we drove from ely 80 mile On way total of 160 or so miles for nothing So taking for what its worth not a good day And we were not alone on this other people was pissed as well read more

Baker, Nevada. Highlights: Lehman Caves, Stargazing & Wheeler Peak. Parking/Roads: Majority of the driveable portion is paved. Many dirt roads. Handicap: Not an ideal place for handicap & unhealthy. High altitude, high desert temps (super cold & nasty dry heat). Hours: 24/7. Park has no official hours. Cost: Free Distance: Los Angeles, CA @ 600 miles 8-9 hours. Las Vegas, NV @300 miles 4-5 hours. Salt Lake City, UT @ 240 miles 3-4 hours. Boise, ID @ 450 miles 7 hours. As you can pinpoint, Great Basin is quite desolate. Ely, Nevada is the largest town nearby to stock up on food, supplies & gear. Common activities: Hiking, cycling, stargazing, wildlife, ecosystems, and plants. Famous landmarks/sites: -Lehman Caves (Orchards & Aqeduct) is most famous. -Baker Archealogical Site(s) -Wheeler Peak -Johnson Mining Ghost Town. -The Basin. It's called Great Basin cause there is nothing comparable. Adjacent Attractions: Very little. Just desert. Ward Charcoal Ovens @ 60 miles 1 hour (west). Cathedral Gorge State Park @ 130 miles 2 hours (south). Ely, Nevada has several museums, attractions & restaurants. Baker as a town is puny. Doesn't have any. Travel safely my friends. @cigarcpa read more

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This national Park, great basin national Park, is the home to Lehman Cave Tour. I was lucky to have been able to reserve a ticket on recreation.gov for the parachute shield tour. The place is fascinating, and offers a wonderful look at The geological processes of stalactite, stalagmite, and column formation. The interpretive guided tour which was conducted by Ranger Jesse O. Was packed with information and done in a very captivating and charismatic presentation. The national Park service should be proud to be represented by Ranger Jesse O. I highly recommend visiting this out of the way gem of a national Park read more

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We drove up Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive in order to visit the Bristlecone pine grove and do the Alpine Lakes Loop Trail. The hike started at 9, 800 elevation. The bristlecone pines are special because they are the oldest living organisms. Afterwards, we did part of the Glacier Trail to the only glacier in NV, which lies against Wheeler Peak- the second highest peak in NV. As we were coming down, we visited the alpine lakes- Teresa Lake and Stella Lake. The hikes weren't too bad as there was shade. read more

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I really enjoyed my visit to the Great Basin National Park. My first interaction with her ranger at the visitor center helped me know where I should hike. He explained how I would go to get to Lehman Caves and from there to my hike. We also discussed the Prometheus Tree. After the tour of the caves, I came a mile down the road and then turned to head on the 12(?) mile drive to the Summit Trailhead. I parked there and started hiking toward Stella Lake which was my goal. The starting elevation was 10,185 feet and the air was thinner. I stopped several times on this 1.15 mile each way hike to catch my breath. After about a mile, the Summit Trail switchbacks to the right and the trail to Stella Lake is a mere .2 mile. It was so good to see this Alpine lake with a wonderful view of Wheeler Peak and Granite Peak. The lake is at an elevation of 10,424 feet. Note--there is cell phone coverage all the way and you can use an app to track your hiking. After taking some photos, it was time to turn around and retrace my steps to the car. I was so glad the ranger gave me this trail suggestion. It was just what I needed. I had a big smile on my face as I headed back to Ely for my last night. read more

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This is a low key and fee-free (during Covid, through 2020) National Park. All camping is first-come-first-served, and sites in mid-September were all taken by 11am. For 2020 the Wheeler Campground is closed. The Grey Cliffs campgrounds is down a 3-mile rough gravel road. There is paved access to the upper and lower Lehman campgrounds. Sites can be tight in the Lower Lehman. We stayed one night in the upper Lehman, right next to a creek, and deer came by to drink from it. There are hikes everywhere, it's the main activity; we drove to the Wheeler Summit and took the 3 mile (RT) hike to the Bristley Cone Pine Grove (which includes a short interpretive loop), a moderate hike over a decent path, with some sections of scree so be aware of that. We had perfect weather, not too hot or cold and that added to our experience. Friendly rangers. Very clean campgrounds. read more

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Small park but the views and caves are beautiful. It's a good way to enjoy a small weekend getaway. read more

Great Basin National Park - Fall colors heading up to Wheelers Peak. - Parks Near Me - Baker, Nevada

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The park itself isn't all that exciting, but if you come here you MUST do the tour of Lehman Caves. Book online before you come because the tours fill up fast. The caves are breathtaking and exceeding my expectations. read more

Great Basin National Park - Parks Near Me - Baker, Nevada

Yes, Great Basin National Park is very isolated. I flew into Salt Lake City Airport and then navigated by car to get here. Unfortunately, it's about 230 miles from SLC, but....I designed a week long itinerary combining other attractions that I've been meaning to see. I didn't mind the 4 hour drive to get here and I spent 2 nights and 1 full day exploring. After completing Great Basin, I then drove 400 mile Route Highway 50 - "Loneliest Road in America" across the entire state of Nevada! This is something I had been wanting to do, because I am a fan of road trips. This Route 50 road eventually leads into Reno, Nevada. I also visited the western town of Virginia City, beautiful Lake Tahoe and finally an extra 150 mile drive into northern California area and Lassen Volcanic National Park, before ultimately turning around and heading back to SLC airport. In all, I drove just under 2000 miles in 7 full days, but enjoyed my getaway immensely! Back to Great Basin...it's situated right on the border of Utah and Nevada. I spent both of my evenings in Baker, Nevada (home of Great Basin) at Whispering Elms Campground where I rented a little cabin type room for 2 nights at $75 per night. I highly recommend this place as it's located right outside the park and gave me access to the outdoors, hanging out at night and gazing up at the stars in the sky! Great Basin does not have an entry fee! All they charge for is visitation to their Lehman Caves. And Lehman Caves is half of the attractions (in my opinion) of the park. The other half consists of driving 12 mile WHEELER PEAK SCENIC DRIVE! This drive gets higher in elevation the entire 12 miles as you surpass 10,000 feet. You eventually end up at the summit of Wheeler Peak and the Bristlecone Parking Area to do some pleasant hiking. Btw, the Visitors Center sits just outside the entrance to the park in Baker and it opens 8am daily for gifts and souvenirs. Also, Baker and Great Basin NP is located in the Pacific Time Zone. For Lehman Caves, there are 2 choices of tours: The LODGE ROOM TOUR is 60 minutes and runs a half mile and is $9 per person. I chose the GRAND PALACE TOUR. This is 90 minutes and includes all of the sights from the Lodge Room tour and more. This was $11 and is the more preferred tour for visitors. I booked this tour months in advance at nps.gov and then I clicked on recreation.gov. Funny...if anyone has my read my reviews about national parks that have a cave system, they know I'm not a fan of them. BUT...I genuinely enjoyed these Lehman Caves. I found them to be very photogenic! So, yes I give my approval for choosing the Grand Palace Tour here at Great Basin, lol. Here are my recommendations along 12 mile Wheeler Peak Drive.... Skip Osceola Ditch trail. I hiked the 1/3 mile to the ditch and found nothing of interest. You can hike the trail longer but doing my research ahead of time, there were no highlights here. MATHER OVERLOOK - I stopped here for a few photos. It's highly picturesque with views of Wheeler Peak in the background. I liked this overlook. WHEELER PEAK OVERLOOK - eh, just okay. Not nearly as scenic as Mather Overlook, but still justifiable to get out of the car and look around. WHEELER PEAK SUMMIT TRAILHEAD - 8.6 mile round trip strenuous hike. I skipped it, but if you have the time and stamina, this hike is worthwhile. Instead for me, I drove to the end of Wheeler Peak Drive and parked at the BRISTLE PARKING AREA. I ventured here along 2 hikes I recommend.... There's the ALPINE LAKES LOOP TRAIL. I started on this one first. It's a 2.7 mile round trip hike passing STUNNING Stella and Teresa lakes w/ terrific views of Wheeler Peak. These 2 lakes were majestic in a perfect setting! The waters were clear and colorful green. I loved this Alpine Lakes Trail. Awesome ambiance to appreciate nature. Instead of turning around and heading back to the Bristlecone parking lot, if you keep trekking, you can catch in mid route, the other hike I enjoyed, BRISTLECONE PINE TRAIL. Bristlecone Pine Trail will lead you to these distinctive trees that have survived thousands of years in harsh climates especially in this setting above 10,000 feet. There'll be a little circular patch of Bristelcone trees to observe. Ultimately, I took Bristlecone Pine Trail towards GLACIER TRAIL. Glacier Trail was the sort of pinnacle destination at Great Basin. Although I visited last month in July, there was plenty of snow still. But I traversed the rocks, snow and ventured as far as I could towards the peak. Here the scenery was FANTASTIC. It made the hiking and getting here rewarding and sort of capped a great experience of climbing. Soaking up these vistas with the majestic landscape hovering all around me was memorable. Finally, I'm glad I came to Great Basin NP. I'm a fan of this park regardless of how little recognition this place receives. It's still humbling to navigate another park connecting with the living world in a rugged yet glorious environment. read more

Beautiful park. Great views. The hike to bristlecone pines is definitely worth it. Wheeler peak campground is nice (but no water). Rangers are very friendly. Nice junior ranger program. Cave tour is short but guide was knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Not a top tier national park, but definitely worth visiting. read more

Great Basin National Park is an often neglected park for people that live in Utah. I'm from Utah and have been to every park in Utah several times, but hadn't even thought of going to Great Basin National Park until a few months ago. After buying a parks pass at Arches, I decided that this year would be the year (this was before realizing that you don't actual need to pay an entrance fee at GBNP). We set out from Lehi, UT early Friday afternoon. After three and a half hours of driving through small towns I don't remember the names of, we made it to Baker and stopped by the visitors center. We talked to one of the rangers there and they gave us good information on hikes to do as well as campground information. We picked up our collectible park tokens and were on our way. Due to the 1 hour time difference, we arrived around 4:30 pm to the Baker Creek campground. Only 1 campground in the park takes reservations, and the rest are first come first serve. There were a couple of spots open, but they filled up fast. Baker Creek is supposedly the campground that fills up last, and we saw a lot of cars drive by looking for spots later in the evening without any luck. I would make sure you're here by 5, earlier if possible. We did some of the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive, but some of it was closed due to how much snow they still had left. The view of Wheeler Peak was awesome though. The first night we were there we did a little bit of hiking along one of the trails on the drive and the area was beautiful. There is a lot of mining history here, and it's interesting to read up on it as you hike along. The next day we did a couple hikes. One around Baker Creek and another around Pole Canyon. Both were great hikes and the June weather was perfect. We also did the Lehman Cave tour, which is a must do if you're in the park. You can get reservations online, and you should or they might be sold out. We saw a couple people try to get day of reservations and fail. I'd be pretty disappointed to miss the caves. The cave itself was amazing. I've been through several caves, but this one is impressive. Great Basin National Park is a great, low crowd, overlooked park. It's worth a visit. We'll be back later in the summer to do some backpacking! read more

The scenic drive allowed us to see all the beauty this park has to offer. Plan for a day trip because there are limited places to stay in the park and in the surrounding area. Most of the park was closed due to snow still being on the mountain which is fine but I really wish they would have been more clear about that on the website so we could have saved ourselves the 7 hour drive and come when we could actually spend some time there. read more

Remote and solitary, this little known, and scarcely visited national park is a hidden gem. Once you arrive, you really have entered another world. The silence is deafening and time moves just a bit more slowly here. This is the other Nevada, rarely visited, with natural light, clean air and solitude. This is park #31 on my quest to visit them all. There's quite a variety here, from an underground tour of the Lehman caves, to hiking at 10 to 13 thousand feet. I went on the 1.5 hour Lehman caves tour which was terrific. There are multiple rooms with magnificent formations that have been building for eons. Sadly, over the years of touring the caves, tourists have been breaking off some of the formations to take away as souvenirs. It's now protected, but hasn't always been so. The 90 minute tour is a steal at $10, but if you're claustrophobic, it's probably not for you. Unique to many parks, Great Basin has a road most of the way up it's most prominent peak (Wheeler Peak) and a primary destination. The road goes up to 10,000 feet with access to campsites so you can stage your assault on the mountain. That leaves you another 3000 feet of elevation or so to the summit of Wheeler peak at just over 13k. Another main attraction is the bristlecone pine groves, ancient trees that have been here for thousands of years, housing some of the longest-lived organisms on the planet. Driving up high also gives you access to several of the bristlecone pine groves, but you'll have to hike a bit, appropriately I think, for trees that have been there for thousands of years. You ought to take a little time to pay a visit. read more

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Lehman Caves is what first brought me to this area then I enjoyed the quirky Silver Jack Inn in downtown Baker. Wheeler Peak gets a lot of attention, obviously, but the main reason I keep coming back here is the view of the basin. In other words, most folks want to focus on Wheeler but not me. I just turn around and gaze at the amazing skies of the basin: truly incredible. I think this is why it's my favorite area in the entire state of Nevada. A Las Vegas casino has nothing on what I can see here. read more

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Great Basin National Park is known for a couple of things: very dark skies that are excellent for astronomical viewing and its remoteness. Both are true, but GBNP also boasts another feature, one that drew us here: a significant bristlecone pine forest. The trail leading to the bristlecone pines is awesome. We set out on the trip in early June hoping to get to the pines but a ranger who started out with us said that she didn't know of anyone who'd made the trip yet this season (snow on the trail). However, not too far up we encountered a hiker who was coming back from the forest, so we knew we were good to go. The trail still was quite snowy in parts and the meltwater runoff was significant in places, but all was manageable. If you do the hike, be aware of altitude sickness - hiking at nearly 11,000 feet can do strange and unpleasant things to you, even if you're in good hiking shape. The trees are fabulous. I love ancient bristlecones - they're just so majestic in their age and beauty. While this forest is not as big as the one in the White-Inyo Mountains of California, it's still impressive and well worth the trip and hike. Because we were feeling good, we continued past the pines to the Wheeler Peak glacier - it's another half mile on the trail. That hike is also awesome because of the views, although the glacier is about gone from warmer climate. Footing can get squirrley because you're hiking the glacial moraine (loose rocks). The Visitor Center folks are very nice and helpful. No good t-shirts, though. I don't like the ones with heavy graphics on the back and that seems to be the style with NP shirts these days. Nice gift shop cafe at the other visitor center near Lehman caves. We didn't do the caves, which requires a scheduled tour. Lots of great camping spots on the mountain, particularly at the upper campground near the summit/bristlecone/glacier trailhead. And yes, the park is remote. The nearby town of Baker doesn't offer much but you can get a meal, a bed and a beer. We drove to GBNP by taking the legendary Hwy 50 across Nevada, which affords a good idea of the geology of the Great Basin (caterpillars marching north). National Parks - America's Best Idea Highly recommended. #800 read more

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This National Park was a nice surprise! And though it is kind of in the middle of nowhere (the closest town with services, lodging, and restaurants is Ely, which is about an hr drive away), it is worth checking out! I specifically came for their annual astronomy festival as the skies out here are some of the last remaining true dark ones in the country. They have 3 days full of astronomically themed activities and nightly sky viewing with telescopes at the Lehman Caves visitor center picnic area each night. The Lehman Caves (surcharge) were the highlight of my visit, but the scenic drive up to Wheeler Peak was also pretty spectacular (you go up 10,000+ft!) with full panoramas of the basin valley below. The facilities are very nice as well and there is a cafe at the Lehman Visitor Ctr. The NP even has its own very informative app! read more

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This is one of the lesser visited National Parks and I now see why. It's visitable only in the summer due to very long winter closures. It's a four-hour drive from any city with a commercial airport. Although the signage was superb, the roads were okay but subpar compared to other National Parks. The only close town was Baker which had a sparse selection of food and accommodations. It's not that unique or beautiful but it's still a National Park and still has some interesting attributes. My ranked list of activities all located on or near Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive: - Lehman Caves (4 out of 5 stars): The cavern is only viewable by guided tour. Weekend tours quickly sell-out so book in advance at recreation.gov. We took the $15 and 90-minute Grand Palace tour that snaked through 0.6 miles of the cavern. With smaller rooms than other caverns, the connecting tunnels are a snug fit. People with lower back problems due to the hunched over walking or that have trouble with balance won't have as good of a time. Lehman has lots of unique features like shields which are round discs, turnips which are hollow bulbs, and helictites which are sideways formations, but lack the dramatic formations like curtains. Highlights included the purple and red bacteria on the ceilings and a flyover by a couple bats. - Stella Lake (4): Easier to start this already easy 2.5-mile roundtrip hike with 250' gain from the Wheeler Peak Summit parking area instead of Alpine Lakes trailhead. This trail also has better views of the pinnacles than the Alpine Loop trail. Stella Lake is better framed by the surroundings and more serene than Teresa Lake. - Bristlecone Forest & Rock Glacier (4): The 4.2-mile roundtrip hike with 900' elevation gain starts at the Alpine Lakes trailhead and ends at a "glacier" that was sadly a couple small patches of snow - not the field of ice and snow marked on the maps. The glacial moraine was encircled by overhead crags that made the trek worthwhile. Along the way is the bristlecone forest with an interpretative trail and the best part of the hike. Although I prefer the California bristlecone pine forest near Bishop, this one still had photogenic gnarly trees. Reaching the pines takes half the amount of effort as going to the "glacier". - Teresa Lake (4): The easy 1.5-mile roundtrip hike with 300' gain begins at the Alpine Lakes trailhead with limited parking on weekends. Teresa is part of the Alpine Loop and easy-to-reach when going to the bristlecone forest. - Wheeler Peak Overlook (3): Vista point of Wheeler Peak at a pull-out. Better views of Wheeler are found on the trail to Stella Lake. - Mather Overlook (3): Not like Mather Point at the Grand Canyon but a distant view of Wheeler. Located at the end of a short gravel road. - Lehman Caves Visitor Center (3): At the cave entrance, the cave tours start here. The displays contain information that is covered on the cave tours but good if unable to go on a tour. Location includes a small gift shop and snack counter. - Grand Basin Visitor Center (2): Positioned outside the park boundaries in the town of Baker, helpful information is available inside and outside the building. The roomy interior includes a few educational exhibits and a gift shop. Be careful not to drive into the wild turkeys and deer that like to enter the road. I'm not sure if this was related to the environment of the park but my car's gas cap indicator lit up when leaving the caves. The warning finally stopped days later upon returning to Los Angeles. read more

Crazy beautiful National Park, we hiked the trails and found it to be unique and wild. It was May and there was a bit of snow on the ground and the streams had some ice at their edges, cold and gorgeous. We didn't see any bears but it feels like they are around in the backcountry. It actually started snowing as we drove out of the park. We would like to go back and see more of the park. read more

Great Basin National Park - heart on a birch tree - Parks Near Me - Baker, Nevada

I LOVE this park... first time back in years! It's off the beaten path, beautiful everywhere, great hiking, and it's quiet! Definitely worth the trip! read more

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This place has been on my bucket list for a while. It's the least visited National Park in the US with only 140,000 visitors annually. Compare that to 6 million visitors to Grand Canyon, 4 million to Zion or 3 million to Yellowstone. If you really want to get away from it all, this is the place. I early May, the 13 mile drive into Snake Canyon, we only saw 2 other cars on the round trip. Just a warning- this park is 5 hours north of Vegas. 3 hours north of Zion. In an area with no cell reception. No cell reception a hour out of Vegas No grocery stores. And 100+ miles between gas stations. There is no free wifi in the visitor centers. This is truly an unplugged park. Cave tours sell out weeks in advance. There are 4 a day with a 20 person cap. The road to the top of Wheeler Peak typically does not open until late may or early June Meaning no access to the glacier or the ancient bristlecone pine forest until then unless you want a 5 mile snow shoe walk. I recommend 4WD. So you can take the drive into Snake Canyon or Pole Canyon. Plus in rural Nevada, there are lots of fun places to go if you have 4WD. Like looking for wild mustangs at the Sulphuric Springs Herd Management Area. read more

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Great Basin is a remote National Park with beautiful lands to hike and explore. Trails are well maintained and easy to locate by map or by sign. Due to the remote nature of this park, you're likely to enjoy more peace and solitude on hikes when compared to other NP's. Great Basin NP is home to Nevada's last remaining glacier and one of the country's few bristlecone pine forests. The park is also an amazing place to view the night sky due to the park's distance from city light pollution. Park Rangers host free weekly astronomy workshops in the visitor's center parking lot where guests are treated to a presentation followed by telescope views of key celestial bodies. Also recommended: the cave tour. Make cave tour reservations well in advance of your time in the park as tours book up early. read more

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It amazes me how people review National Parks and never get out of their car. Take for instance the the yelp reviewers who gave 2 stars for Great Basin. Their complaint about the weather makes me laugh, get a grip. We had planned a weekend of camping and had planned to summit Wheeler Peak, Nevada's second highest peak. It's always a gamble going to higher elevation this time of year, there could still be snow pack on the peak and the weather can drastically change in no time. We knew this going in. The day we arrived it was a perfect 65 degrees. We camped at Grey Cliffs, which sits about 7,500 ft. We could see clouds rolling in around the peak, so there was a good chance we would be seeing rain soon. We woke up the next morning to rain, and it never stopped. The trailhead for Wheeler Peak is 10,000 ft, I knew it would be freezing and snowing, and not safe to hike, so we had to forgo our plans to summit this trip. Luckily we had other things to look forward to. Not too many people know about GBNP, and even fewer know that is it is considered a "dark park", meaning it is one of the best places in country for star gazing. Weekly astronomy programs are held on Saturday nights April and May, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday night Memorial Day to Labor Day and Saturday nights in September and October. We were able to attend one while we were there, and I learned a lot of info and was able to see a lot of stars, two planets, and a portion of the Milky Way (we had cloud coverage and a bright moon). "On a clear, moonless night in Great Basin National Park, thousands of stars, five of our solar system's eight planets, star clusters, meteors, man-made satellites, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Milky Way can be seen with the naked eye" from the NPS website. Our "dark" ranger showed us some amazing photography. We also were able to use the telescopes to check out two planets. We did have one day of fantastic weather, so we took adavantage and did the Bristelcone-Alpine Lakes Trail. This was a short, easy 4 mile loop at 10,000 feet elevation. Took you around to two amazing Alpine Lakes, Teresa and Stella, as well as the Bristlecone Pine Grove Interpretive Trail. Home to trees that are 2-3,000 years old! Longest living organism. Also home to GBNP are the Lehman Caves. A 90 minute tour through the cavern and you can see "cave bacon" , tons of stalactites and stalagmites, cave popcorn as well as the famous parachute shield. One of the few caves in the country have this. Be sure to stop by the gift shop/cafe for some homemade Huckleberry ice cream and the largest ice cream sandwiches known to man. Only a 5 hour drive from Vegas, this is truly a hidden gem in Nevada. One of the least traveled National Parks, and one of the few in the country that doesn't have an entrance fee. Worth a visit. read more

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I have been to almost every national park in CA, NV and UT and many of the other major parks in the 48 contiguous states but I generally do not write reviews on them. Why? Because we are casual tourist types who never camp and almost never go on hikes of over 5 miles and thus I do not feel qualified to tell people what to see and do in the massive parks. After going to Great Basin though I feel that I saw and heard enough to tell you confidently that this park is tied with Mt. Lassen as being the most remote park I have ever been to and it is tied with Joshua Tree as being the most boring! We visited on a winter day (our bad) and took the Lehman Cave tour. It was the only thing we could do since all the trails were snowed in and so we could not hike out to see the bristlecone pines. The caves are a joke IMHO since they are small and had been thoroughly desecrated by the many tourists who came here prior to Great Basin's entry into the National Park system in the 1980s. The trunks of broken stalactites and stalagmites can be seen everywhere. And even if we could have seen the bristlecones I am not sure that the over 2 hour drive from the interstate would have been justifiable. In short, if you are a casual tourist like me you can give Great Basin a pass. Only more gung-ho travelers who are willing to camp out here overnight or are willing to risk bed-bugs in one of the nearby small-town lodges will find the park worthwhile. With Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands and Arches NPs nearby why waste your time? read more

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