One Park, One Museum, One Stamp at a Time
The first National Park of my adventuresAfter our drive past Area 51 and a few hundred miles of empty desert and range land, we began to climb in elevation in our approach to Great Basin National Park and Great Basin National Heritage Area. About a half hour outside of Ely we entered the tiny town of Baker, gateway to Great Basin. I stopped by the offices for Great Basin NHA to pick up their passport stamps and to get some information. The woman there gave me an awesome "Loneliest Highway" bandanna since I did not have a copy of that passport book and told me about a planned digital passport app for the heritage area program. The heritage area covers a large portion of Nevada and Utah in the Great Basin and is home to a number of museums and natural sites. I was considering visiting the Baker Archaeological Site about 5 miles from the NHA office. The site is home to a filled in Indian village archaeological dig that sounded interesting (Unfortunately, we never made it to the site due to time constraints). The NHA office was a stones throw away from the Great Basin NP Visitor Center. The VC is located on the highway just outside the park's main entrance. We took a look around the exhibits and spoke with the ranger about campground options in the park. While I was picking up my stamps, the rangers were able to hook me up with a "Loneliest Highway" passport book which was fun to flip through. The main visitor center is home to a slice from Prometheus, the oldest known tree at its time. The tree lived for 4,900 years with the Great Basin before its demise. Despite the unfortunate end of this ancient tree, it was amazing to see the seemingly endless rings of the tree slice. We picked up a few things from the gift shop, grabbed our map, and headed into the park to find a campsite. It had been a long day of driving so we decided to skip any hiking that evening. We were looking forward to the ranger-led astronomy program that night so we rested up at the campsite for a few hours. We made our way down to the Lehman Caves Visitor Center about an hour before the astronomy program. This VC is located within the park and is just outside the Lehman Caves, which we had booked a tour of for the next morning, I picked up my stamps and then we wandered around the short interpretive trail before finding a good seat for the astronomy program. The program was interesting and began at dusk with a presentation projected on to a screen in the parking lot. The sunset in the parking lot featured a gorgeous sweeping view of the basin and Wheeler Peak. I was excited for nightfall and the start of the program. Great Basin is a designated International Dark Sky Park and is known for its tremendous night sky. Of course, the night before our visit was a full moon and our views of the stars were limited due to the light of the moon. This did not take away from the great information provided by the rangers but we did miss out of the full Great Basin dark night experience. The program ends with opportunities to look through telescopes at different features of the sky and the Milky Way. The moonlight made this pretty uneventful so we called it a night and headed back to our tent to rest up for our cave tour and planned hikes in the morning. Lehman CavesOne of the coolest features of Great Basin is the Lehman Caves. The caves wind into the hills and mountains behind the visitor center within the park. They offer a 60 minute and 90 minute tour, both of which often sell out so you should buy your tickets ahead of time online. We had a 9:00 am tour time and checked in early to make sure we were compliant with White Noise Syndrome policies. The parks service works to protect bats within its caves by asking guests if the clothes and shoes they are wearing have ever been in another cave in the past. They are working to prevent the spread of disease and protect bat populations. The tour begins at the visitor center and heads into a large cavern at the entrance of the caves. I volunteered to bring up the rear of the group and carry an official flashlight. The ranger did a great job of explaining the natural features and history of the caves. The caves have been a tourist attraction for over a hundred years and used to be a social gathering place. A nearby high school actually held their prom in the caves for a number of years in the past. The caves were a popular place to party and drink during prohibition. These various uses have led to types of vandalism and damage that the park know preserves as a part of their history as the caves slowly rejuvenate themselves. There were a few points in the tour that we turned off all of our light to get a feel for the natural darkness of the caves. It is amazing to picture people touring the caves by candle light in formal attire 80 years ago. The tour was great and my fiance was happy to have visited her first cave. Wheeler Peak and Bristlecone PinesAfter our cave tour, we ventured 12 miles up the steep and windy Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive to the main hiking area of the park. Wheeler Mountain is the second highest peak in Nevada and home to many bristlecone pines, a variety of tree that lives to incredibly old ages. The scenic drive takes you toward the top of the mountain and the last campground of the park. A series of trails begin at or near the parking lot at the end of the drive. We elected to take on the Bristlecone and Glacier Trail hike to capture some of the highlights of Great Basin NP. The trail was listed at 4.6 miles, but with a few detours we ended up completing about 6 miles at around 10,000 feet of elevation. The elevation definitely hit me for the first few miles but not enough to take away from the amazing setting and scenery. We detoured to the small alpine Teresa Lake and then worked our way to the bristlecone pine grove. This is a short loop through a heavy congregation of the gnarled and warped pines. These trees were interesting for their variety and unique features. No two bristlecones were the same as each tree had its own features. From the pine grove, you can turn back toward the trail-head or continue on the glacier trail. I was not going home until I saw a glacier in Nevada! I have been to the Las Vegas area many, many, times and spent quite a bit of time driving through the desert of Nevada and California. The fact that there is a glacier in Nevada blows my mind. I know that Nevada features different geography and natural features besides desert, but a glacier just was not something I imagined finding within a few hours drive of Las Vegas. The hike to the glacier was difficult due to the altitude but worth it. The glacier is nothing too terribly exciting, a rock and snow pile nestled near the top of the mountain, but the views of the surrounding peak were well worth the trek. We hiked our way back to the car and then began the drive down the mountain. We payed the Lehman Caves Visitor Center one last visit, refilled all of our water bottles, and hit the road. Exiting Great Basin, we headed north on US 93. We planned on camping out near Twin Falls, ID for the night. Northern Nevada was about as desolate and the rest of the state but had some interesting features. There was a long stretch of highway that was surrounded by large fences designed to funnel game animals toward a series of animal crossing overpasses over the highway. I had seen pictures of similar overpasses online but had never seen one in person. The BLM office in Vegas had described the large quantities of elk and other game animals that migrate through the area and I am glad that the state has some systems in place to protect the migrating and traveling creatures. The entire drive the Nevada was amazing. Despite the isolation and lack of population centers, the natural features and changing scenery made for a fun and relaxing drive. New Units Visited: 2*
Great Basin NP and Great Basin NRA Total Affiliated Areas This Year: 11 Total Units: 24
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
NPS Units:
|