Great Basin NP

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Our stay at the Love’s RV Stop in Salina Utah for a night worked out well. We got caught up on some mundane chores like laundry, dumping our holding tanks and filling up with fresh water. Chris also took the opportunity to grab some groceries while we are in civilization. Our next planned stop will be boondocking at a forest service recreation area near Great Basin National Park for 5 nights so we needed to prepare. Great Basin is definitely not in a convenient location for travelers. I remember back in October of 2022, we were driving south on Interstate 15 heading to St. George Utah and passed an exit with a sign for the national park. We had some extra time and thought maybe we should stop for a visit. Of course, when Chris checked the map, it was nearly 130 miles away. A bit too far from the expressway. We definitely didn’t have that much time to spare so we passed.

But as we put together plans for our travels this year, we managed to work this park into our route. It’s 175 miles from Salina to Baker Nevada which is the closest town to Great Basin. There was a camping option in Baker but we also saw there was a federal recreation area just west of the national park. Sacramento Pass Recreation area has 10 first come first serve sites without any services other than some vault toilets. They have a 14 day stay limit and there is no fee for staying there.

The drive starts out on Interstates 70 and 15 before exiting onto US Route 50 heading west. There definitely isn’t much out in western Utah as we head towards Nevada. The camping area is about 15 miles inside the Nevada border on the way up Sacramento Pass. About 5 miles from camp while climbing the pass, we hear a bell chime. A quick look at the dashboard of the motorhome shows a yellow check engine light. I slow down a bit while it try to determine what the root cause is. The engine temperature is on the high side and slowing down allowed the temperature to drop enough that the light went out. I guess we will have something to investigate to see how serious the problem is.

We pull into the camping area and there are six sites around a large loop. Only two of the sites were occupied so we got out to investigate which of the remaining sites looked to be the best for us. They all have a shelter with picnic table underneath. We picked the site that looked to be the most level. We had a nice spot with a larger shelter holding a couple of tables. We later found the other sites were up a side road to a more remote location. That area was accessible with our Jeep but we definitely would be unable to drive the motorhome safely over the ruts on the hill.

Our Spot at Sacramento Pass Rec Area

Sacramento Pass Sign

It was only midafternoon and the visitors center at Great Basin was open for a couple more hours. It’s about a 10 mile drive there so we go in to get some park information and find out about some hiking options. It was pretty busy when we first got there so we checked out the displays, stamped our park passport and watched the orientation video to get a feel for the park.

Great Basin Visitor Center with Distant Mountains

Displays Inside

By then, the ranger at the desk was available without a line and we talked to her about which trails are worth doing during our 4 days in the area. She provides some useful information and we picked up the maps and descriptions of the hiking trails in the park. . We check out some of the outdoor displays. The visitor center is on the northern edge of the park at an elevation of 5300 feet but the majority of the park to the south is rather mountainous with much of it above 10,000 feet and is home to Wheeler Peak at 13,065 feet the tallest independent mountain in Nevada. The view of the mountains looks impressive and are looking forward to exploring some of them.

Stained Glass at Visitor Center

Mountains to the South

On the way back to camp, we stop at the Baker Archeological Site. We saw signs along the road but didn’t know what it was. It’s not far off our route so we felt it was worth the stop. Run by the Bureau of Land Management, there is a parking lot and picnic shelter but as we look up the pathway, there doesn’t appear to be much else. We pick up one of the brochures describing the various stops along the way and head out.

Pathway to Site

It was clear there was a storm approaching but is looked to be far enough away get in the short walk out to the site. Hard core archeologists might find it interesting but to us it was just a series of small mounds placed around the perimeter of the footprints of various building from the Fremont Indians that lived here in the 1200’s. The site was excavated back in the 1990’s by the archeology department of Brigham Young University. This is how we know which of these mounds were possibly homes or storage of food. Let’s just say, visitors really need to use their imagination to “see” what this village looked like. We didn’t quite make it back to camp before we hit some of the rain showers.

Outline of Backfilled Home Site

One of the things to see in Great Basin are the Lehman Caves. The park service offers tours of the caves with a few different options. We chose the 90 minute Grand Palace Tour. Since we knew when we were going to be here, we had made reservations about a month ago but as we were checking in, there were people showing up without reservations and getting tickets. This tour was $20 per person and we picked a time in the middle of the morning. Weather isn’t much of a factor for a cave tour but it did clear up overnight with heavy rain expected later in the day. There is a small interpretative area with lots of information about the cave that can help to spend the time while we wait for the tour to begin.

Lehman Caves Visitor Center

Cave Display

Fifteen minutes before our tour time, we group with the other visitors in some benches outside behind the visitor center. A ranger shows up and gives us the tour information and a safety lecture. We all must walk through a footpath to reduce the risk of bringing something harmful into the cave. We have a full group of 20 and the ranger.

In We Go

The entrance to the cave is a passageway blasted into the side of hill with minimal lighting. Our first stop is in an area called the Gothic Palace. The group stops while the ranger talks about how and when the cave was found as well as how the cave was created eons ago.

Our Group in Gothic Palace

It is very interesting and beautiful. Years ago before the area became part of the national park system, the man who found the cave in 1885, Absalom Lehman, conducted tours. Back then, visitors were much less concerned with keeping the cave in good condition. They would break off pieces of stalactites as souvenirs. There are lots of spots where this is visible.

Another room we stop in is the Inscription Room. This area has a rather flat and low ceiling where my head just clears. We are told how this room used to be used for parties. Visitors back then, used their candles to leave soot inscriptions on the ceiling.

Ranger Explains History of Inscription Room

Soot Grafitti

It is quite a thorough tour and the highlight would be the Grand Palace. This room is quite large with lots of features to view.

From here, we start to head back out. Much of it is along the same path so we get the opportunity to experience some of the things we missed on the way in.

Hole Overhead to Another Section of Cave

The Wedding Cake

When we got back to the Lodge Room, there is a separate exit tunnel which permits the other tours coming through to not have to pass each other. It was a very good tour. The exit tunnel has been lined with concrete and has a much taller ceiling. We came back out to bright sun which was tough to adjust to after spending so much time underground.

Exit Tunnel from Lehman Cave

Nice Day Outside Cave

Since it was still looking like good weather, we drive to the trailhead for one of the hikes the ranger had suggested. Baker Creek Loop is 3.5 miles with just over 900 feet of elevation gain. The parking area is over a 3 mile drive up Baker Creek Road which starts close to Lehman Caves. It is a dirt road but quite well maintained and plenty wide. We pass the campground on our way to the parking area. It was a little before noon, so we had the lunch we brought with us before heading out. We ate fast since we knew there were storms pushing this way later in the afternoon. We are able to take advantage of the restroom here before heading out. The loop starts low and climbs before crossing the creek and coming back down. Either direction would work but a clockwise direction will have a slightly steeper ascent and less step descent which we prefer.

Heading Up Baker Creek Trail

Meadow in the Mountains

Rocky Stretch

We had not done our normal preparation for a hike in a remote area. Normally I would have downloaded the route onto my Garmin so we don’t get lost. We did have the route onto our phone, but when we lost cell coverage, our map disappeared. At 1.3 miles in, we got up to a large open meadow, we convinced ourselves we had missed a turn so we head back down part of the hill nearly a half mile before we decided we had been on the proper route and turn back around to climb some of the hill for a second time.

Another Meadow

We discover that had we simply gone a few hundred feet from where we first turned back, we would have saw the trail signs and continued on our way. At about 1.6 miles we are at the high point of the hike and should have an easy downhill back to the car. We cross over the creek and find this section of the trail has a large hill to one side and the creek to the other. It is a fairly pretty walk.

Baker Creek

Long Exposure

Trail on Side of Hill

With the hill to the side, we didn’t have great visibility of the skies so when we heard a clap of thunder and still have a mile or so to go, we pick up the pace. We eventually make it into a pretty valley with good views of the sky and see some serious dark clouds behind us and closing in fast. We hustled back to the car and only got some early sprinkles before getting inside. At this point, ours was the only car left in the parking area and we had a wet drive back to camp. Nice hike and had we not made the navigation error we would have easily made it to the car before the storm.

Skies Ahead of Us Look Okay

But Turn Around to See Storm Approaching

The following day had a similar weather forecast as we’ve been experiencing. Decent weather in the morning with afternoon thunderstorms. We had some hikes picked out in the national park, but having a thunderstorm in the mountains didn’t sound like a good idea. Later in the week, the weather was to improve so we would save the hikes for then and head in a different direction to check out some beehive kilns. The Ward Charcoal Ovens is just over 40 miles west on US Route 50. We set out early hoping to beat the rain. There is a 5 mile dirt road off of US 50 back towards the mountains where the kilns are located. They are now part of a state historic site so there is an entrance fee paid via an iron ranger.

Mountains in Distance

Made it to the Beehive Kilns

When we first arrive, ours is the only car in the parking lot, but within 5 minutes two other cars show up with several noisy children. We felt we would enjoy the kilns more with peace and quiet so we decide to try out a hike first. There are a few trail options with the longest one being 2.5 miles. The Riparian and Ridge Line Loop starts near the kilns. We find the not so obvious trail at the start that leads to the north to take the loop in a counterclockwise direction. There is a small but fast flowing stream running from the nearby mountains. The recent rains likely have it flowing faster than usual. The first section of the trail follows an old service road to the west before crossing a nice new bridge over the stream.

Stream from the Mountains

New Bridge

As we progress, we come upon a second bridge that looked to be in questionable shape with several broken boards. It held us and we proceeded to the turn for the Ridge Line Trail which heads up some more. It was a pretty area with decent views from the high point of the trail.

Old Bridge

Nice View

As we head back down towards the kilns, we find the turn and sign for the Overlook Trail. It looks like it should only add another half mile so we head up the steep wash. This trail turns out to be nearly impossible to follow. Some of it is in a wash and the trail markers are spaced rather far apart. We end up winging it a bit occasionally looking at the supposed trail on our phones to see if we are roughly following it. We found a couple of trail markers at points so we knew we were close. Near the top we did get a nice look over the charcoal ovens.

Attempting to Follow the Overlook Trail

Ward Charcoal Ovens from Above

We eventually worked our way around the one tall peak and back toward the main trail by the kilns. It ended up being a little over 3 miles with 600 feet of elevation gain.

Lizard Watches Us

Side View of Ovens

 By now we had the place to ourselves again so we could explore in peace. These are in very good shape with only one of the 6 having some apparent damage at the very top. We had visited some similar structures during our visit to Death Valley National Park 4 years ago. They were built in the mid 1870’s. They could hold 35 cords of wood and would be burned in the kiln for 12 days to produce 50 bushels of charcoal. This was then used in nearby smelters to produce iron ore. Some of the usage numbers were rather extreme. All the trees from 5 to 6 acres were needed to fill just one kiln and the charcoal produced was enough to smelt 1 ton of ore. The hills around this area were completely striped of trees to keep the operation running.

Inside a Beehive Kiln

We went to one of the day use areas with shelters to have our lunch while we tried to figure out what to do next. We were able to check the weather radar and see that rain was moving in again so we couldn’t really do much more hiking. Given the outlook, we couldn’t just head back to the rig and chill or I suggested that we drive 35 miles out of our way to get a geocache in a Nevada county we don’t have yet. We made it to the cache before the rain hit, but it poured as we drove back to camp.

View from Geocache in Extra County

When Saturday arrived the following day, the weather had greatly improved so we head back into Great Basin NP for another hike the ranger had suggested.  This time we head up Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive. This is about a 12 mile road that begins close to the Lehman Caves area and heads up into the mountains. I was assuming this was going to be a gravel road and a pain to drive but it turns out that it is paved as it winds up the mountain with lots of switchbacks. It climbs about 3600 feet ending at nearly 10,200 feet. There are lots of places to pull out and enjoy the views or tackle some other hikes.

I wish I could say our goal was the Wheeler Peak Trail since this goes to top of the tallest mountain in Nevada - 13,065 feet. (As a side note, there is a higher spot within the state, Boundary Peak at 13,441 feet but it is a sub-peak of a different mountain that resides in California. So most people consider Wheeler Peak the tallest mountain in the state.) The Wheeler Peak Trail is a bit more than we should attempt. It’s an 8.4 mile out and back hike which we could likely handle. But the problem is it gains almost 3100 feet, and a good portion of the hike is above 12,000 feet which we learned during our stay in Colorado 4 years ago is a bit too high for our lungs to handle.

The ranger recommended hike was to visit an area called the Bristlecone Pine Trail which starts out of the same area near the Wheeler Peak Campground. It’s about 1.5 miles to the Bristlecone area and is a fairly steady climb of 600 feet. The trail is in good shape and the trail markers are quite obvious. They seem to be located pretty high up on the trees possibly for winter show shoeing.

Trail with Bright Orange Markers

Mountain in Distance

Trail Across Hill

Being a nice day after several rainy days as well as a Saturday, the trail was busy. Not so crowded that it’s wasn’t enjoyable. We seemed to pass some people and get passed by others. It is a very beautiful hike.

It’s clear when we start getting into the bristlecone region. These trees are quite unique looking. They tend to be rather gnarly with almost a tortured look to them. There is a short loop of less than a quarter mile that has lots of interpretive signs explaining about these remarkable trees. They are “the world’s oldest known living thing”. Some of them are between 3000 and 5000 years old. What’s remarkable is that even many of the dead ones are still standing. The climate at 10,400 feet is mainly dry and cold and the trees are very dense so they tend to not decay over time. From core samples, researchers know that some of these trees died over 600 years ago but have not fallen. The oldest tree in this area is around 3300 years old!

Dead Bristlecone Pine

>3000 Year Old Tree

From here the trail proceeds up the valley almost another mile to a glacier. The ranger had explained that while there technically is a glacier, it is actually buried under a layer of rocks so it isn’t all that impressive to see. Chris was inclined to turn back since we still wanted to hike the nearby Alpine Lake Loop. I wanted to at least get a bit closer since we had already come this far. I was convincing enough that we headed towards the glacier. The trail is steep and very rocky along this stretch. At points it was tough to know if we were on the trail or not. We came across a guy hiking back down and we asked him if it got more interesting the further up we hiked. It sounded like it is pretty much more of the same. When we made it a half mile from Bristlecone, we picked some rocks to sit and have a snack. We could see some snow on the side of Wheeler Peak but we didn’t feel the need to make it there.

Rocky Trail

The "Glacier"

We come back down and take the other half of the Bristlecone Loop in this direction. These trees definitely have character.

Looking Back Down Valley

There seemed to be a lot more people coming up so we had apparently beat the rush to the glacier. We even ran into one woman still coming up after having passed her nearly an hour ago. We chatted and discovered she was in her late 80’s and still hiking. We hope to be like her. The cones of the bristlecone are rather different than most evergreens we have seen.

Closeup of Cone on Bristlecone Pine

About 3.25 miles since starting the hike, we make it down to where we can either head back to the car directly or follow the Alpine Loop Trail to the south which will eventually make it back to the car. One route is 2/3 mile while the loop will be a little more than 2 miles. We think we have the energy to check out the alpine lakes so we go that way. It’s only a tenth of a mile to the first lake - Teresa Lake. It’s not a very big lake - probably less than 2 acres. But the setting is quite pretty.

Teresa Lake

Stella Lake is another 3/4 mile along the trail and it’s mainly an uphill hike. This lake is 2 or 3 times larger than the last one and there seems to be a large group of people congregating here. In fact on the far side of the lake, there were two people out wading in the water. I didn’t feel the lake but it see seems like it would be rather cold. We walk around some of the perimeter and find a nice spot on a fallen log to have lunch and enjoy the views.

Stelle Lake

Our Lunch Spot

It’s another mile from the one edge of Stella Lake to the parking lot but at least it is all downhill. Back at the car, we had hiked for over 3.5 hours to cover the 5.6 miles and almost 1300 feet of elevation. Definitely a noteworthy and rewarding hike.

Looking Back Toward Wheeler Peak

On the ride back down Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive, we plan to stop at a few of the many overlooks to see the views from a different perspective. About halfway down is Maher Overlook. It is a quarter mile off the main road on a dirt road. This one provides another nice view of Wheeler peak as well as the valley below. As we reach the main park road, we stop for one last picture of Great Basin National Park. It’s an out of the way location but definitely worth a visit.

Wheeler Peak from Maher Overlook

Goodbye Great Basin NP

Since the weather has finally cleared up, I took advantage of the exceptionally dark skies to do some more night sky photography. A few clouds popped in and out during my time outside but Sacramento Pass works out well for dark sky photography.

Dark Skies at Sacramento Pass

Milky Way

Our last full day was one of rest. Yesterday’s hike had worn us out and while we surely could have found other hike in Great Basin, we didn’t feel motivated enough to bother. We sat outside in the sun and watched the two swallows that must live nearby coming to visit us.

Checking Out Old Nest in Our Shelter

We have plans for tomorrow since it is my birthday. Our goal is to get up early to drive to the town of Ely Nevada for a morning train ride. More on that in the next blog post as we continue west across the Loneliest Road in America.