Great Basin National Park is a United States national park located in White Pine County, east-central Nevada, near the Utah border. The park was established in 1986, 40 years ago. Most visitors enter the park through Nevada State Route 488, which connects to U.S. Routes 6 and 50 via Nevada State Route 487 and the nearby town of Baker, the closest settlement.

The park is named after the Great Basin, a dry and mountainous area between the Sierra Nevada and Wasatch Mountains. This region is part of the Basin and Range Province. The park is about 290 miles (470 km) north of Las Vegas and covers 77,180 acres (121 square miles; 312 square kilometers).

The park is known for its ancient bristlecone pine trees, the oldest living non-clonal organisms; Lehman Caves; Wheeler Peak Glacier, located below Wheeler Peak, which rises to 13,063 feet (3,982 meters); and some of the darkest night skies in the contiguous United States.

Lehman Caves National Monument was created by President Warren G. Harding through a presidential proclamation on January 24, 1922. The monument and its surrounding area became a national park on October 27, 1986, due to efforts by Congressman Harry Reid.

The park includes several developed campsites and opportunities for backcountry camping. The Highland Ridge Wilderness is located next to Great Basin National Park. Together, these protected areas provide connected habitat for wildlife and preserve 227.8 square miles (590.0 square kilometers) of eastern Nevada’s basin lands.

Natural history

Great Basin National Park and the surrounding valleys are home to eleven types of conifer trees and more than 800 kinds of plants.

Near the Visitor Center, plants such as sagebrush, saltbush, single-leaf pinyon, and Utah juniper are common. At higher elevations, mountain meadows and trees like white fir, quaking aspen, Engelmann spruce, and large Ponderosa pine grow. At the treeline, where trees stop growing, the area has low, delicate plants and rocky areas. Some plants found only in this park include Mt. Wheeler sandwort and Holgrem's buckwheat.

The oldest non-clonal organism ever discovered is a Great Basin bristlecone pine tree that is at least 5,000 years old. It grew near Wheeler Peak in the park and was cut down in 1964 by a graduate student and U.S. Forest Service workers for research. The tree was named Prometheus, after a mythological figure who brought fire to humans.

The park and nearby areas have 61 types of mammals, 18 types of reptiles, 238 types of birds, 2 types of amphibians, and 8 types of fish.

Many animals live in the different areas of the park. In the low-elevation sagebrush desert, jackrabbits, pygmy rabbits, mountain cottontails, ground squirrels, chipmunks, and various mice are common. Pronghorns, coyotes, kit foxes, and badgers are also found, though less frequently.

In the rugged mountain slopes and nearby valleys, cougars, bobcats, marmots, rock squirrels, and bighorn sheep can sometimes be seen. Other animals in the park include elk, mule deer, spotted skunks, shrews, ringtail cats, and ermine.

The Bonneville cutthroat trout is the only fish native to Great Basin National Park. It naturally lived in the mountain waters but became isolated due to changes in climate. Other trout species, such as Lahontan cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, brook trout, and brown trout, were added to lakes and streams in the South Snake Range before the park was established in 1986.

Many types of birds live in the park, including Canada geese, hawks, sparrows, bald eagles, tundra swans, barn owls, snow geese, killdeer, golden eagles, woodpeckers, mallards, wrens, greater roadrunners, chickadees, great horned owls, ravens, magpies, and swallows.

Only two types of amphibians have been confirmed in the southern Snake Range and nearby Snake and Spring Valleys: the western spadefoot toad (Spea hammondii) and the leopard frog (Rana pipiens).

Geology

During the Cambrian period, many rocks in the region formed when the area was near the edge of a large landmass called Laurentia. These rocks include layers of Cambrian strata. As the Paleozoic era continued, several strong geological events happened, such as repeated faulting and mountain-building events called orogenies. These events caused upward movement of metamorphic rock formations, creating dikes and sills made of mafic and rhyolitic rock.

Volcanic activity was widespread during the middle to late Cambrian, helping to raise the area further. This also caused a second phase of block faulting, during which conglomerates, ash flows, and tuffs collected in the Snake Range.

Both continuous and occasional fault movements occurred, causing the rock layers on both sides of the Snake Range to thin and stretch.

Glaciation, especially during the ice ages of the Pleistocene, eroded the peaks of the Snake Range, forming canyon walls, U-shaped valleys, cirques, and moraines across the region.

The Lehman Cave system began forming about 550 million years ago, during the Cambrian period, when the area was underwater in a warm, shallow ocean. The caves are mostly made of marble and limestone, which dissolved over time to create the cave decorations.

During the Pleistocene, the cave system deepened as water flowed through cracks in the rock for a long time. Eventually, the water level dropped, leaving large open spaces and cavities in the rock, which formed the deep parts of the Lehman Caves system.

Scenic features

The park's scenic features include Lexington Arch, the Lehman Orchard and Aqueduct, Rhodes Cabin, Stella and Teresa Lakes, and Wheeler Peak Glacier.

39°00′20″N 114°13′13″W  /  39.00556°N 114.22028°W  / 39.00556; -114.22028

The Lehman Caves were first protected as a national monument in 1922. This area was added to the national park in 1986. The cave is about two miles long, making it the longest known cave in Nevada. The park offers two tours of the cave: a 0.6-mile tour that takes about 90 minutes and a 0.4-mile tour that takes about 60 minutes.

Indigenous peoples knew about the cave long before Europeans arrived. In 1885, Absalom Lehman, a local rancher, began leading tours into the cave. Visitors who came before the cave became a National Monument left messages inside, showing how popular it was among people who had recently settled in the region.

Several species live in the Lehman Caves. Bacteria are the most common. Crickets, spiders, pseudoscorpions, mites, and springtails may complete their entire lifecycles in the cave. These creatures rely on organic material brought in by other animals or carried in from the surface.

Other animals use the cave but must leave to find food. These include chipmunks, mice, pack rats, and several species of bats. Only bats that eat insects live in the Great Basin. At least 10 bat species have been found near Great Basin National Park, including the Townsend's big-eared bat.

The park has 12 trails that range from 0.3 to 13.1 miles (0.5 to 21.1 km). Trails vary in elevation, from short nature trails at an elevation of 6,825 feet (2,080 m), such as the Mountain View Nature Trail, to the Wheeler Summit trail, which begins at 10,160 feet (3,097 m). The Wheeler Summit trail is very challenging, and the high altitude can be dangerous for hikers who are not prepared or experienced. Some backcountry trails are sometimes maintained in the southern part of the park. Many trailheads are accessible via a road that ends at the Shoshone campground.

The Great Basin visitor center is located on Nevada State Route 487 in the town of Baker. The Lehman Caves visitor center is on Nevada State Route 488, about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from Baker, 0.5 miles (800 m) inside the park boundary. A rifle called the Forgotten Winchester, made in 1882 and found leaning against a juniper tree in the park in 2014, is displayed at the Great Basin visitor center. Both visitor centers have exhibits about the park's geology, natural and cultural history, and theaters that show orientation films.

Climate

Great Basin National Park has a warm-summer humid continental climate, classified as Dfb in the Köppen system. The plant hardiness zone at Lehman Caves Visitor Center is 6b, with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of −3.8 °F (−19.9 °C).

The park is located in an arid area and receives very little rain most of the year. Most precipitation comes from winter snow or summer thunderstorms. All water in this region either evaporates, soaks into the ground, or flows into lakes—no water reaches the ocean.

Winters are cool, and summers are mild to hot. Weather changes quickly, especially in the backcountry or at high elevations like Wheeler Peak. Lehman Caves stay at a steady temperature of 50 °F (10 °C) and 90% humidity throughout the year. The climate varies across the park based on elevation and location. The following information applies only to the Lehman Caves Visitor Center. Higher elevations are cooler and receive more precipitation, while lower areas are hotter and drier.