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Great Basin National Park
Rising out of the Nevada desert, just over the Utah border along the crest of the Snake Mountain Range, are the majestic peaks of Great Basin National Park.
The highest peak, Wheeler Peak, towers above the others at 13,063 feet in elevation. The others, Baker, Pyramid, Mt. Washington, Lincoln and Granite, are well over 11,000 feet in elevation. The park's mountains are glorious with streams and lakes, and thick stands of pinyon pine, ponderosa pine, bristlecone pine (the oldest trees in the world,) alpine fir and mountain mahogany.
The biggest attraction to the park, however, continues to be Lehman Caves, located at the foot of Wheeler Peak. About 80,000 visitors tour the limestone and marble caves each year, marveling at the clusters of stalactites and the finger-like helicites.
With the scenic road on Wheeler Peak closing during the winter at the Lower Lehman Campground, about the only attraction to the park in the winter months is the caves. Park officials offer 30-minute, 60-minute and 90-minute tours of the caves. The temperatures inside the caves remain fairly constant year-round at about 50 degrees.
Great Basin was first set aside as a national monument in 1922 to protect the caves. The designation was changed to a national park in 1986. Because of its isolation, the park is one of the least visited in the national park system.
Most people who visit Great Basin National Park travel through Utah. The nearest town to Great Basin is Baker, NV. , which has few amenities. Ely, 70 miles southwest of the park on U.S. 6, is the closest city with services and facilities.
More information is available at www.nps.gov/grba/.
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