It can be difficult to stand out in a state so rich in amazing outdoor wonders, but Great Basin National Park does just that. Nevada’s largest national park is filled with fabulous natural treasures, from spectacular alpine lakes to limestone caverns and even a small glacier, yet it has an unusually low number of annual visitors. Visitors to the park in spring or fall can conceivably hike for hours on backcountry trails without seeing another soul. For the outdoorsman looking to get away from it all, Great Basin National Park is the place to be.
The park is known for its beautiful high mountain terrain, which is dotted here and there with cascading mountain streams, mountain lakes and bristlecone pine trees over 3,000 years old. Access to these and other features at Great Basin can be had from the visitors center located a short distance from the town of
Baker. A scenic drive over paved road will take motorists to the 10,000-foot mark on the 13,063-foot peak of Mt. Wheeler. Tours of the amazing Lehman Caves offer glimpses at stalagmites, stalactites and rare cave formations such as helictities, calcite features that curve in such an astounding way that they seem to defy gravity. The park’s namesake, the Great Basin, measures roughly 200,000 square miles. This mystifying area drains internally, with no streams, creeks or rivers reaching either the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. With sights like these, as well as incomparable fishing, hiking, winter pursuits and more, Great Basin National Park is one Nevada treasure that should not be missed.