The Road to the Great Basin

There has been a lot of scientific research on the "the Great Basin," but it really hasn't entered our mainstream lexicon as a geographic area. I didn't really begin to understand it until I saw it. Antique seas, enormous volcanic activity, plate tectonics, great lakes that evaporated. All contributed to the ridge and furrow effect. Did you know Nevada has more named mountain ranges than any other state, with over 300 named ranges? Interestingly, they seem to run north-south, with deep and wide valleys in between. Precipitation that falls in the Great Basin has no outlet, no rivers to the ocean or gulfs; it just evaporates or seeps into the ground.

Great Basin National Park was formed to represent all the key components of the Great Basin area. Yet it is one of the least visited parks in the US, perhaps because so few people are aware of it. The park is 300 miles north of Las Vegas, and has Nevada's only permanent areas of snow, 4,000 year old bristlecone pines, the Lehman caves, Mt. Wheeler, beautiful campgrounds, and breath-taking views.

When we left Elko on Sunday morning and began to drive south, we first headed to Ely, thinking that's where we might stay. But it's an hour away from the park, so we instead opted to stay in Baker, NV. We drove through very pretty open lands, until we started to see Mt. Wheeler in the distance.

Since we were travelling west to east at this point, you can see the roads are curvy and up-and-down. But then, as we approached the park land, we really began to appreciate the Basin.

And then there it was: the Great Basin, stretching as far as you could see. You may be able to see here why it is a basin, with the faint rings of mountains in the far distance forming the walls of the bowl.