This is Why Great Basin National Park is Worth Visiting

Great Basin National Park in Nevada is definitely worth visiting! It has some unique nature and beautiful caves. Make sure to stop there!

On our road trip from California to Utah we drove through the state of Nevada. Since we passed by the Great Basin National Park, it was only natural that we stopped there for a day.

This was actually our second visit to Great Basin, but when we were there for the first time, we were not able get a tour to the Lehman caves. And ever since, we have wanted to go back. I’m glad that we finally did, because this was easily the most memorable day of our whole trip!

Lehman caves, many endemic animals and the rare bristlecone pines are what make Great Basin National Park so special.

The park is located on the border of Nevada and Utah, in a tiny town called Baker. It is about 604 miles (972 km) from San Francisco, 234 miles (376 km) from Salt Lake City and 296 miles (476 km) from Las Vegas.

tiny, little Baker

When we visited Great Basin National Park we stayed in a town called Baker. It is very small, only 68 people live there, but they have all the necessary services there. And the drive to the park is only about ten minutes.

If you are heading out on Highway 50 a.k.a. The Loneliest Road of America from there, make sure to fill your tank and get some snacks. It will be almost 100 miles (160 kilometres) to the next pit stop.

There is a total of two motels to choose from in Baker if you are a family of four like we. They both had very good reviews, but only one had availability for our travel dates.

So we ended up at the Border Inn Casino along Highway 50. It was very, very modest, but the room was warm and clean, and we got a good night sleep. That was enough for us.

The main building had a gas station, a casino, a little store and a restaurant. We ate both dinner and breakfast there, and the food was pretty good. The staff there was also very friendly.

Baker Inn Casino is on the border of Nevada and Utah. You can tell because once you cross over to Nevada, you are always greeted by a casino or two. Both ”Welcome to Utah” and ”Welcome to Nevada” signs are right there in the hotel parking lot.

Great Basin National Park

The state of Nevada has only two national parks: Death Valley and Great Basin. Funny enough, they seem to be quite the opposite from each other. Death Valley National Park has become famous for being one of the hottest spots on earth while the Great Basin is covered with snow most of the year.

Also Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada is managed by the national park system. It is a beautiful lake area close to Las Vegas and Hoover Dam.

Great Basin has gotten its name from the area between the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains that is flat. The national park itself is known for the Wheeler Peak Glacier, Lehman Caves and the Great Basin bristlecone pines.

These pines can only be found in small quantities in California, Utah and Nevada. For example Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah has some.

Great Basin bristlecone pines are believed to be the oldest known living non-clonal organisms. The oldest one is almost 5000 years old and was named as Methuselah. The exact location of Methuselah has not been told to the public in order to protect it.

During the winter time, the road to Wheeler Peak Glacier and to bristlecone pines is closed. On our first visit we were able to do the park’s Scenic Drive, but this time we only visited the caves.

Unfortunately, both of our visits to Great Basin have been during the winter, so we haven’t been able to see the famous trees yet. However, there is a lot of beautiful nature all around the park.

This time after the cave tour, we did a little nature trail, which left from the visitor center and looped back little later. We saw many birds and plants, and many animal tracks in the snow.

Beautiful Lehman Caves at Great Basin National Park

The history of Lehman Caves

The reason for going back to Great Basin for us was the Lehman Caves. When we were there last time, all the cave tours were sold out and all we could do was drive around the park and hike.

This time we were wise enough to make the reservations early — Really early. And we still were not able get the tour on the date we wanted. Luckily though, we were able to adjust our schedule to make it work. So if you plan to go, make sure to make your reservation well in advance.

There are many different versions of the discovery story of Lehman Caves. According to one of them, Absalom S. Lehman, a miner who moved to the area from Pennsylvania, found them accidentally in 1885.

Another story states that it was actually Absalom’s brother who discovered them. As he was walking in the forest, he felt an air flow coming from underground and saw that there were caves.

Nobody really knows the true story, but there is evidence that the first people entering the caves were actually American Indians.

Visiting the Lehman Caves

There are normally four different cave tours to choose from at Lehman Caves: Grand Palace Tour (90 min.), Lodge Room Tour (60 min.), Gothic Palace Tour (30 min.) and Parachute Shield Tour (60 min.).

Each tour group is 20 people and the tours sell out quickly. Sales for particular days opens one month prior, so if you know when you are going, you should prepare to snatch the tickets right away.

During the winter time they have less tours than in summer. When we were there, they were only offering the Lodge Room Tour which was perfect for us. Usually they recommend the shorter tour for families with kids, but this way we were able to participate for an hour long tour. We were super happy about that!

Our Experience of the Lodge room Tour

The tour started from the visitor center with the White Nose Syndrome screening. White Nose Syndrome is a disease that has been spreading fast in the United States among the bats living in caves. It transfers from one bat to another, but also from visitors’ clothes.

During the screening, the rangers asked us about our previous visits to caves and whether we used the same clothes as today or not. One of the guests had to have his shoes disinfected before the tour.

So far, they have not had any White Nose Syndrome cases at Great Basin and they want to keep it that way.

After the screening we moved to the entrance of the cave, where the ranger told us some rules for the tour and the history of the caves. When entering the cave, we walked through doors with an air lock, so that the air in the cave remains as natural as possible.

Our tour was very interesting, and it took us through the Gothic Palace all the way to the Lodge Room. We stopped many times to look at the stalactites and stalagmites.

Stalactites are formations hanging from the ceiling and the stalagmites grow up from the floor as water drops fall from the cave ceiling above.

The formations are born due to calcite deposition in the water, and some of them can be thousands of years old!

Stalactites and stalagmites were not the only formations found in these caves. We also saw some cave turnips that look like little round turnips hanging from the ceiling, and some rugged cave popcorn. But the most interesting of them all, was the cave bacon that the ranger pointed out to us with her flash light. We would have never noticed it ourselves.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see any animals in the caves, but among the bats, there are several species that live there. For example an endemic false scorpion; Pseudoscorpion, Great Basin Cave Millipede and a fresh water shrimp called the White Pine amphipod.

During our tour we also experienced how dark it was in the cave without the light system. And wow, I don’t think I have ever experienced such a darkness before. The lights are kept on in the cave only while people are there, so they won’t disturb its natural setting.

Unfortunately, preserving the cave has not always been a priority and people have been destroying its unique features in the past. It is said, that when Absalom Lehman let people tour in the caves, he would let them take home any stalactites that they were able to break off. How sad is that?

In 1937 a new entrance was built, and in 1941 the light system was installed inside the caves. Also in 1974 a concrete floor was done inside to make it easier and safer for people to walk there.

Today however, protecting the cave and its habitat is the top priority for the national park system.

Even though there was a concrete floor and they had built stairways inside the caves, there were still spots that were pretty tight or where we had to duck.

Our 5 year old did very well on this tour, but if I had a toddler, I might want to wait a couple more years to participate. Not only due to the challenging spots, but also because for most of the tour you will just be standing and listening to the ranger.

You can’t really talk much, because others will want to listen the guide and the caves have an echo. And you definitely can’t wonder off or run around down there! It might not be the most interesting for little ones, but especially our older kid loved this visit!

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Great Basin National Park is absolutely worth a visit if you are passing by this area! Especially if you are visiting other parks in Utah, such as Zion, Cedar Breaks or Bryce Canyon, you could drive to Great Basin within three hours.

The mountains alone there are very beautiful but if you drive all the way to Great Basin, make sure to see the Lehman Caves too. They are amazing! Nature definitely gives us some beautiful things to see!

Have you visited this kind of caves somewhere? What did you think of them?