Great Basin National Park
June 4th 2026
Great Basin National Park is located in White Pine County in east-central Neveda near the Utah border. Established 40 years ago in 1986. The park derives its name from the Great Basin, the dry and mountainous region between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Mountains.
The park is notable for its groves of ancient bristlecone pines, the oldest known living non-clonal organisms; Lehman Caves, Wheeler Peak Glacier and some of the darkest night skies in the contiguous United States.
This is one of the least visited National Parks. We arrived in the area in the early afternoon, so we had time to drive into the park and check out the Visitor Center. The ranges were very helpful and gave us some recommendations for some hikes. We drove 488 from the Visitor Center into the park. We turned off the main road onto Wheeler Park Scenic Drive. The views along this road were amazing. We stopped at Mather Overlook. It is names after Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service. It offers an easily accessible view of the classic glacier cirque formation of the basin. WE also stopped at Wheeler Peak Overlook for a better view of the Peak. The road ended Wheeler Peak Camp Ground. We drove around to check out the campsites, it was one of the most beautiful campsites I have seen. All very wooded and private. I would definitely come back here just to camp! It was getting late, so we headed out and made plans to return tomorrow to do some hiking.
We decided to do the Bristlecone Trail. This trail starts at 10,000 ft next to the parks campsites. This trail is only 2.4 miles, round trip, but goes up an additional 500 ft. We could definitely feel the effects of the higher elevation. When you get to the top, there is an informational trail pointing out the local flora a nd fauna. There is a bristlecone tree up there that is over 3200 years old and still growing! I believe it is the oldest one in this area. There are some bristlecone trees over 4,800 years old.
We were not able to get into Lehman Caves. Reservations for access to the cave go quickly.
We did not hike the Wheeler Peak Trail to Wheeler Peak Glacier. This is a 8.8 difficult hike that also starts at 10,000 feet and goes up another 2,800 feet. Experienced hikers usually take 5-8 hours to do this hike. It is recommended to leave early in the day to avoid storms and have time to return safely. We opted not to do this hike and got a nice view of the Glacier from a pullout in the park.
