GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK
BAKER, NEVADA: Visited October 2023
Great Basin national Park was established in 1986. The park is around 120 square miles though majority of the parks glory is focused in the northern region of the park. This park offers tons of off-roading and outdoor activities throughout the park but majority of visitors will focus on the Lehman Caves and Mount Wheeler.
This park can be difficult to access given it’s elevation and weather. Wheeler Peak sits at 13,000ft above sea level and majority of the road up to Wheeler Peak is closed in the winter due to snow. Wheeler Peak is where you will find Nevada’s only glacier and 4,000 year Bristlecone Pines! Some of the oldest trees in the world.
LEHMAN CAVES
Lehman Caves is typically accessible for most of the year, however, you must acquire a tour ticket to enter the caves. Visitors are not allowed to visit the caves on their own. Tours tend to sell out about a month ahead of time. I, sadly, was unable to get this tour.
WHEELER PEAK SCENIC DRIVE
The scenic drive is the easiest way to see majority of the park. During the winter, this road will be closed for snow, but during the fall, the colors made the drive breathtaking! It was like a fall in the northeast in the middle of the desert. On this drive, you will climb over 3,000 feet!
MATHER OVERLOOK
Mather Overlook is the first place you can stop to get a good view of the park and Wheeler Peak.
There is a nice little terrace with binoculars and diagrams of the park. During the fall, you could see the whispering aspens glimmering in the sun.
WHEELER PEAK OVERLOOK
The 2nd overlook is Wheeler Peak. This quick little stop is a great point where you can see Wheeler Peak. We were at 10,000ft and Garrett started to feel the effects of the high altitude! Sleepy sleepy!
TERESA LAKE
Distance: 1 miles (1 way) Elevation Gained: 300ft Estimated Time: 1 hour
You will find Teresa Lake either along the Alpine Lakes Trail or the Bristlecone Grove Trail. It is about a mile from the Bristlecone Parking Area.
We were hiking on the Bristlecone Grove Trail and decided to swing by on our way out. Teresa Lake was only an extra .2 miles of the trail.
The lake was fairly empty given the time of year, but still very beautiful with running water!
BRISTLECONE GROVE
Distance: 3 miles Elevation Gain: 600ft Estimated Time: 2 hours
This hike is not one to miss when in Great Basin! This hike will take you up to the famous Bristlecones! The hike itself is somewhat strenuous because of the starting elevation (10,000ft) AND the elevation gain on the hike
But it is well worth it. The Bristlecones found in this area of the park are thousands of years old. The oldest being over 4,000 years old! This means that these trees where sprouting when the Pyramids in Egypt were being built! One of the trees we stood in front of was already over 1,000 years old when Julius Caesar was in control of Rome. It was absolutely incredible and almost unfathomable how old these trees are.
I could write an entire article about what makes these trees live so long, how they date them, and the history these trees hold. But feel free to do your own research. Overall, these trees might be the coolest things I have ever seen.
The end of the Bristlecone Grove Trail takes you to (surprise surprise) a Bristlecone Grove. These trees have plackets with information on specific trees ages as well as how they are studied. You can even see the booring holes used to get the ring samples!
GLACIER TRAIL (including Bristlecone Grove and Teresa Lake)
Distance: 5.4 miles Elevation Gain: 1,100ft Estimated Time: 3 hours
The Glacier Trail is an extension on the Bristlecone Grove trail and continues passed the self guided Bristlecone walk.
Although the extra 2 miles is very strenuous, it is definitely worth it! The hike goes from a dirt path to stones that are usually covered in ice and stone in the winter. The path will take you right up to the only glacier in the state of Nevada. The hike also ends right at the base of Wheeler Peak.
We arrived at the glacier around 2:30pm. In the sun, it was comfortable, but in the shade is was freezing! If we had started this hike any later, the glacier section would have been in the shade. Bring a jacket!
The end of the trail.
During the winter, this whole area will be covered in ice and snow. This is also known as a rock glacier and is only found in a couple of National Parks. This means that although we appeared to be walking on stones and solid ground, the rocks form more of barrier between us and the Glacier below.
Prometheus and Wheeler Peak Hike
Although I did not do the Wheeler Peak hike (it is 3,000ft in elevation gain!), if you do venture on that path, you will be able to see the remains of Prometheus, one of the oldest living trees. Prometheus was 4,900 when it was cut down by a researcher in 1964 who was studying the Bristlecones. After receiving permission to cut down the tree, it wasn’t until afterwards that he realized his mistake. The researcher had so much guilt and received so much ridicule for cutting down the oldest tree on the planet that he changed fields and somewhat disappeared! You can read more about the story of Prometheus on the Great Basin website.
A cut of Prometheus’s trunk is in the visitors center as well!
We now know (as of 2012) that Prometheus was not the oldest tree. There is a bristlecone (exact location isn’t public knowldge) that is over 5,000 years old. That tree, Methuselah, as well as trees of a similar age live in the White Mountains of California.
