Great Basin

https://www.nps.gov/grba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Basin_National_Park Great Basin National Park is in eastern Nevada near the Utah border. It's in the Great Basin Desert and contains most of the South Snake mountains. In the north, the mountain-hugging Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive leads to towering Wheeler Peak. Nearby is one of several ancient bristlecone pine groves. The marble Lehman Caves have distinctive stalactites and other formations. Park wildlife includes bighorn sheep. From the 13,063-foot summit of Wheeler Peak, to the sage-covered foothills, Great Basin National Park hosts a sample of the incredible diversity of the larger Great Basin region. Come and partake of the solitude of the wilderness, walk among ancient bristlecone pines, bask in the darkest of night skies, and explore mysterious subterranean passages. There's a whole lot more than just desert here! From the East or West: From U.S. Highway 6 & 50, turn south on Nevada State Highway 487 and travel 5 miles to Baker, NV. In Baker turn west on Highway 488 and travel 5 miles to the park. From the South (Utah): Travel north on Utah State Highway 21 through Milford, UT and Garrison, UT, Highway 487. Turn west on Highway 488 in Baker and travel 5 miles to the park. From the South (Nevada): Travel north on U.S. Highway 93. No public transportation is available to, or in, Great Basin National Park. Great Basin Visitor Center Phone: (775) 234-7520 Located just north of the town of Baker on the west side of NV Highway 487. The Visitor Center contains an information desk staffed by park rangers, exhibits about the ecology and history of the park, a theater with the park film, and brochures. From Baker, NV take 487 .5 miles north. The Great Basin Visitor Center is on the right. Lehman Caves Visitor Center Phone: (775) 234-7510 Lehman Caves Visitor Center is located 5.5 miles up from the town of Baker, NV. At this visitor center visitors can plan their visit, purchase cave tour tickets, watch the park movie, and explore exhibits about the caves and the darkness of Great Basin National Park. From Baker, NV take 488 5.5 miles to the end of the road. Baker Creek Campground Baker Creek Campground contains 37 campsites. All sites are available, when the campground is open (seasons permitting), on a first-come-first-served basis. Potable water is not available. Nightly Fee 20.00 $20 per night per site. $10 for senior/access pass holders. No checks. Baker Creek Campground Sign Green sign with white text "Baker Creek Campground" Baker Creek Campground is located on the Baker Creek Road Dump Station No overnight camping allowed. Dump Station is for dumping garbage and RV sewage. Dump Station Fee 10.00 $10 to dump RV sewage Dump Station Great Basin Dump Station with sewage hose, water fill up, and dumpsters Dump station located near Lehman Cave Visitor Center Grey Cliffs Campground For visitors to Great Basin National Park, Grey Cliffs Campground is an ideal place to setup and start exploring. Experience the solitude of the desert, the smell of sagebrush after a thunderstorm, the darkest of night skies, and the beauty of Lehman Caves. Nightly Fee 20.00 $20 nightly fee for single site. Nightly Group Fee 30.00 $30 nightly fee when using group sites. Minimum 9 people. Maximum 12 people per site or 30 people per loop. Grey Cliffs Green sign with white text that says "Grey Cliffs Campground" Grey Cliffs campground is the first left on Baker Creek Road Lower Lehman Campground Among the lush green vegetation which hugs Lehman Creek, you'll secure your tent or park your RV within earshot of clear mountain water which has tumbled 3000 vertical feet from the lakes and snowfields of the high Snake Range. Naturally landscaped with red-barked water birch, aspen and white fir a stroll through this sky island ecosystem provides for great bird-watching or a cooling dip in the stream while placing you just minutes from spectacular Lehman Caves. Nightly Fee 20.00 Campsites are $20 per night per site. $10 for senior/access pass holders. No checks. Lower Lehman Campground Lower Lehman Campsite. Picnic table, grill, green tent, and blue skies. Site #8 Snake Creek Primitive Campgrounds Make yourself at home in the Snake Creek Campsites along the Snake Creek River, located on the south-eastern side of the park. These sites are nestled among Aspen groves and at the base of impressive limestone cliffs. Sites to choose from include, Monkey Rock, Squirrel Springs, Pinnacles, Eagle Peak. The Shoshone and Johnson Lake trail sites are a short 0.5 mile hike from the parking lot at the end of the Snake Creek Road. Camping Fees 0.00 There are no camping fees for the Snake Creek Campgrounds. All sites are First-Come-First-Served. Maximum stay is 14 days. Snake Creek Primitive Campground Squirrel Springs Campground sign with mountain in background Squirrel Springs, one of six primitive campgrounds, located in the Snake Creek area. Upper Lehman Campground Whether you prefer the rich smell of summer mahogany riding air currents blended with the vanilla of ponderosa pine, or the sound of a clear mountain stream babbling beneath a symphony of swaying white fir, you won't regret your stay at Upper Lehman Campground. At 7500 feet in elevation and 3 miles up the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive a stay at Upper Lehman is just a brief cruise from high alpine trails that will take you into the heart of the Snake Range. Nightly Fee 20.00 Campsites are $20 per night per site. $10 for senior/access pass holders. No checks. Upper Lehman Campsite Picnic table, grill, empty tent pad. Surrounded by pine trees with a view of mountain tops. Site #21 Wheeler Peak Campground Located at 9500 Wheeler Peak campground offer a great experience camping at high elevation. Nestled in aspen groves in the shadow of Wheeler Peak templates can be cold even during the summer. Potable water is not available. Nightly Fee 20.00 The Nightly Fee covers a one night stay in one campsite. Wheeler Peak Campground Green sign with white text showing the way to "Wheeler Peak Campground". Snow on the ground. Wheeler Peak Campground Sign in snow Wheeler cirque blue sky with green trees in mountain cirque Trail to ancient bristlecone pine trees. Bristlecone at night Bristlecone pine tree with a dark blue sky behind it with a bright Jupiter shining Planets like Jupiter shine bright at Great Basin Lehman Caves Grand Palace Parachute formation Brown and tan cave formation in the shape of a parachute Lehman Caves of Great Basin National Park offers incredible views of a rare subterranean world. Milky Way at Great Basin National Park Colorful Milky Way over the red lit Lehman Caves Visitor Center Come see the Milky Way at Great Basin National Park. Remember to check the moon phase. Great Basin Visitor Center Tan and green Visitor center with mountains in the background. Great Basin Visitor Center just six miles from the park entrance Alpine Flowers White, yellow,, and pink alpine flowers. Flowers grow even at the high altitudes of the Great Basin National Park Golden Eagle Golden Eagle flying with wings spread wide Wildlife is abundant at Great Basin National Park including birds, deer, fish, and mountain lion. Snow Covered Mountains Snow covered mountains with brown trees in the foreground Snow can come early, even in the fall at Great Basin. Comet NEOWISE Ancient bristlecone with comet NEOWISE in the background Great Basin National Park offers truly dark-skies that rarely seen within the United States. Cave Management Plans, Summer Bat Crew, & Biomonitoring Development of the Lehman Caves Management Plan and Wild Caves and Karst Management Plan are nearing completion. Bat surveys, quarterly biomonitoring in Lehman Caves along with a cave climate change study were a focus of cave activity for 2017. view out of cave opening to distant mountains and trees Army Couple Visits 59 National Parks When you’re a dual-military couple, it can be a challenge to try to find things to do together, especially when you’re at separate duty stations or on deployment. For one Army couple, what started out as a simple idea to get out of the house turned into a five-year adventure. Couple standing in front of The Windows at Arches National Park. The Sounds of Spring When the weather warms, national parks across the country rouse from winter’s sleep. The sounds you hear in parks reflect this seasonal change. They contribute to the unique soundscape of these special places, and are among the resources that the National Park Service protects. Sandhill cranes dance in a courtship ritual in flooded grasslands at Great Sand Dunes NP. Wildland Fire in Douglas Fir: Western United States Douglas fir is widely distributed throughout the western United States, as well as southern British Columbia and northern Mexico. Douglas fir is able to survive without fire, its abundantly-produced seeds are lightweight and winged, allowing the wind to carry them to new locations where seedlings can be established. Close-up of Douglas fir bark and needles. Bat Projects in Parks: Great Basin National Park Bat demographics, hibernacula, occupancy, and outreach in Great Basin National Park. View of Great Basin National Park wilderness Wildland Fire in Ponderosa Pine: Western United States This forest community generally exists in areas with annual rainfall of 25 inches or less. Extensive pure stands of this forest type are found in the southwestern U.S., central Washington and Oregon, southern Idaho and the Black Hills of South Dakota. Recently burned ponderosa pine forest. White Pines Healthy in Great Basin National Park The Mojave Desert Network monitors two white pine species in Great Basin National Park, limber pine and Great Basin bristlecone pine. These trees are important foundation species that support wildlife and plants. However, white pines face threats from mountain pine beetles, a warming climate, and the non-native pathogen that causes white pine blister rust. Recent collaborative monitoring documented that surveyed pines are healthy, with no incidence of blister rust infection. Great Basin bristlecone pine on a rocky mountain slope overlooking the sagebrush steppe below. Series: Inside Earth – NPS Cave & Karst News – Summer 2017 This newsletter is produced as a forum for information and idea exchanges between National Park Service units that contain caves and karst landscapes. It also provides a historical overview and keeps partners and other interested folks aware of cave and karst management activities. 4 rangers walk through shoe cleaning station Series: Geologic Time Periods in the Paleozoic Era During the Paleozoic Era (541 to 252 million years ago), fish diversified and marine organisms were very abundant. In North America, the Paleozoic is characterized by multiple advances and retreats of shallow seas and repeated continental collisions that formed the Appalachian Mountains. Common Paleozoic fossils include trilobites and cephalopods such as squid, as well as insects and ferns. The greatest mass extinction in Earth's history ended this era. fossil corals in a rock matrix Series: National Park Service Geodiversity Atlas The servicewide Geodiversity Atlas provides information on <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/geoheritage-conservation.htm">geoheritage</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/geodiversity.htm">geodiversity</a> resources and values all across the National Park System to support science-based management and education. The <a href="https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1088/index.htm">NPS Geologic Resources Division</a> and many parks work with National and International <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/park-geology.htm">geoconservation</a> communities to ensure that NPS abiotic resources are managed using the highest standards and best practices available. park scene mountains Lehman Caves Virtual Tour Lehman Caves in Great Basin National Park is a beautiful, well-decorated cave that has been visited since 1885. But due to its remoteness and the pandemic in 2020, many people have a hard time getting to the cave in rural Nevada. Fortunately, the half-mile tour route was scanned with LiDAR in February 2020 and the resulting pointcloud was made into a high definition virtual cave tour. Now anyone with an Internet connection can visit the cave. Person conducting LiDAR at the base of a stairway in Lehman Caves. NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Great Basin National Park, Nevada Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park. Links to products from Baseline Geologic and Soil Resources Inventories provide access to maps and reports. park scene mountains at night Ordovician Period—485.4 to 443.8 MYA Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains national parks, along with the Blue Ridge Parkway that connects them, pass through rocks from the core of the Appalachian Mountains. The mountains began forming during the Ordovician and eventually attained elevations similar to those of the Himalayas. rock with fossil brachiopod shells Cambrian Period—541 to 485.4 MYA The flat layers of rock exposed in Grand Canyon National Park encompass much of the Paleozoic, beginning in the Cambrian where they record an ancient shoreline. rock with fossil burrow tracks Paleozoic Era During the Paleozoic Era (541 to 252 million years ago), fish diversified and marine organisms were very abundant. In North America, the Paleozoic is characterized by multiple advances and retreats of shallow seas and repeated continental collisions that formed the Appalachian Mountains. Common Paleozoic fossils include trilobites and cephalopods such as squid, as well as insects and ferns. The greatest mass extinction in Earth's history ended this era. fossil corals in a rock matrix Blanket Cave National Youth Park—Activity Enjoy a fun activity and learn about caves even when you can't get out to a park. In this activity you will build your own cave and learn how to make it like a "real" natural cave. Find out about cave formations and wildlife, and how to be safe and care for caves. New "Blanket Cave National Youth Parks" are springing up all across America! Join the fun! cartoon drawing of a childs and a park ranger exploring a cave Plan Like a Park Ranger: Top 10 Know Before You Go Plan like a park ranger using these top ten tips for visiting. See you along the trail! Series: Pacific Ocean Education Team (POET) Newsletters From 2009 to 2015, the Pacific Ocean Education Team published a series of short newsletters about the health of the ocean at various National Park Service sites in and around the Pacific Ocean. Topics covered included the 2010 tsunami, marine debris, sea star wasting disease, ocean acidification, and more. Ocean waves wash in from the right onto a forested and rocky shoreline. POET Newsletter Summer 2010 Pacific Ocean Education Team (POET) newsletter from Winter 2009. Articles include: Stewardship Without Boundaries: Conserving Our Ocean Ecosystem from Baja to the Bering Sea; A Seamless Network of Parks, Sanctuaries, Refuges & Reserves; Life Entwined with the Sea: The Non-Coastal Park Connection; Take the Plunge into Ocean Stewardship; Nearshore Vertebrates in Four Hawaii Parks; and Ocean Stewardship: A Commitment to Collaboration. Sea stacks rise above ocean waves washing ashore. A wooded ridge rises in the distance. POET Newsletter Winter 2009 Pacific Ocean Education Team (POET) newsletter from Winter 2009. Articles include: Stewardship Without Boundaries: Conserving Our Ocean Ecosystem from Baja to the Bering Sea; A Seamless Network of Parks, Sanctuaries, Refuges & Reserves; Life Entwined with the Sea: The Non-Coastal Park Connection; Engage Visitors in Ocean Park Stewardship; Inventory Map & Protect Ocean Parks; and Ocean Stewardship: A Commitment to Collaboration for Conservation. A color map indicating the depth of the Pacific Ocean floor. Darker blue represents deeper oceans. Saving Our Sagebrush Sea A recent study underscores the importance of protecting sagebrush lands in national parks to prevent a national treasure from disappearing. Sagebrush lands in front of the Teton Range in Wyoming Changing Patterns of Water Availability May Change Vegetation Composition in US National Parks Across the US, changes in water availability are altering which plants grow where. These changes are evident at a broad scale. But not all areas experience the same climate in the same way, even within the boundaries of a single national park. A new dataset gives park managers a valuable tool for understanding why vegetation has changed and how it might change in the future under different climate-change scenarios. Green, orange, and dead grey junipers in red soil, mountains in background Beatrice Rhodes Beatrice Rhodes spent ten years (1920-30) as the steward of Lehman Caves in Great Basin National Park along with her first husband. Her time there coincided with the era’s burgeoning automobile tourist industry, fueling a desire among many to explore the US West and escape the pressures of urban modernity. Rhodes’ role as an advertiser, tour guide, and even entertainer at the Lehman Caves embodied this trend to seek excitement and individuality in the rural West. Rough, single story log cabin with door and window in shrubby desert Battle of the Bark Trees shade us from the sun, provide homes for wildlife, stabilize Earth’s surface, and produce food for humans and animals alike. Some are massive, and others are miniscule by comparison, but what makes one better than the other—we’ll let you decide! Check out our iconic trees below and find your favorite! Five thick barked red-brown trees are backlit by the sunlight. Pollinators in peril? A multipark approach to evaluating bee communities in habitats vulnerable to effects from climate change Can you name five bees in your park? Ten? Twenty? Will they all be there 50 years from now? We know that pollinators are key to maintaining healthy ecosystems—from managed almond orchards to wild mountain meadows. We have heard about dramatic population declines of the agricultural workhorse, the honey bee. Yet what do we really know about the remarkable diversity and resilience of native bees in our national parks? Southeastern polyester bee, Colletes titusensis. The bioblitz: Good science, good outreach, good fun Part contest, part festival, part educational event, and part scientific endeavor, bioblitzes bring together naturalists, professional scientists, and the interested public, who canvass the area over a 24-hour period to find and document all plants and animals. young woman gathers flying insects from a backlit white sheet at night. Studying the Past and Predicting the Future Using Rat Nests In the western United States, packrat middens are one of the best tools for reconstructing recent environments and climates. These accumulations of plant fragments, small vertebrate remains, rodent droppings, and other fossils can be preserved for more than 50,000 years. Packrat middens have been found in at least 41 National Park Service units. Photo of a wood rat. Series: Park Paleontology News - Vol. 14, No. 2, Fall 2022 All across the park system, scientists, rangers, and interpreters are engaged in the important work of studying, protecting, and sharing our rich fossil heritage. <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/newsletters.htm">Park Paleontology news</a> provides a close up look at the important work of caring for these irreplaceable resources. <ul><li>Contribute to Park Paleontology News by contacting the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/common/utilities/sendmail/sendemail.cfm?o=5D8CD5B898DDBB8387BA1DBBFD02A8AE4FBD489F4FF88B9049&r=/subjects/geoscientistsinparks/photo-galleries.htm">newsletter editor</a></li><li>Learn more about <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/">Fossils & Paleontology</a> </li><li>Celebrate <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossilday/">National Fossil Day</a> with events across the nation</li></ul> Photo of a person sitting while using a laboratory microscope. Series: Geologic Time—Major Divisions and NPS Fossils The National Park System contains a magnificent record of geologic time because rocks from each period of the geologic time scale are preserved in park landscapes. The geologic time scale is divided into four large periods of time—the Cenozoic Era, Mesozoic Era, Paleozoic Era, and The Precambrian. photo of desert landscape with a petrified wood log on the surface Series: Women's History in the Pacific West - California-Great Basin Collection Biographies from Northern California, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada Map of northern California, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada Lehman Cave Area's Water and Wastewater Systems to be Rehabilitated at Great Basin National Park to Protect Long-Term Visitor Services through GAOA Funding Great Basin National Park, with funding from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), will rehabilitate water and wastewater systems that serve the Lehman Caves area. From the summit of Wheeler Peak to the sage-covered foothills, 150,000 annual visitors come to Great Basin National Park to enjoy the solitude of the wilderness, walk among ancient bristlecone pines, bask in dark night skies, and explore the mysterious passages of Lehman Caves. gray rocks climbing up cave's walls. Some pointy rocks haning down from the ceilding. Outside Science (inside parks): Rattlesnakes in Great Basin National Park Meet biologists Meg Horner and Bryan Hamilton as they explore rattlesnake dens in Great Basin National Park. Rattlesnake NPS Establishes NPSage Initiative to Restore Sagebrush-Steppe Ecosystems Artemisia species, commonly known as sagebrush, are far from being the only species on the landscape. The sagebrush biome is composed of a rich mosaic of thousands of diverse plant species, which are largely driven by differences in climate, soil and elevation. These distinct sagebrush plant and animal communities occur in approximately 70 park units across the western U.S— all of which are experiencing significant threats from wildfire and droughts. Two NPS staff knealing next to plants growing in a nursery