I find it interesting that Great Basin National Park consistently makes the top ten list of the least visited national parks. By comparison, Great Smoky Mountains NP attracts nine million visitors, and the Grand Canyon five million. Great Basin—at best—draws about 60,000 visitors a year. I suppose that’s not really surprising—after all, it’s in a remote corner of Nevada and it’s not exactly on the way to anywhere.
Trust me. If you like your nature experiences peaceful, gorgeous, uncrowded, and unique—you need to make the trek to this park.
This time, we spent four nights, and we were wishing we had another week to just soak in the beauty. We hiked a different trail each day—through aspen groves to turquoise colored glacial lakes, along rocky hillsides to ancient bristlecone pine forests, and through meadows of wildflowers along a beautiful creek. We came upon an entire meadow of shooting stars—a first for us, and absolutely spectacular!
There is an almost complete lack of civilization here. The nearest town, just a few miles away, is Baker, population 68. There’s an unattended gas station, an RV park of sorts, and a couple of cafes, including the LectroLux—which serves pizza, beer, and good wine—and curiously, is decorated with Electrolux vacuums suspended from the ceiling. We stopped by the LectroLux one evening for a glass of wine, and had the place to ourselves—our server was gracious, and then went back to reading “Gone With The Wind,” which she offered to lend to me as soon as she finished the last few pages.
A few caveats:
Stock up on groceries. Seriously. Bring everything you need and more, because the closest town is Ely, about 65 miles away (and Ely isn’t exactly a gourmet paradise).
Bring lots of leveling blocks. We love staying in the park, but virtually all of the sites are horribly unlevel. No hookups, first-come-first served, and unlevel sites—nonetheless, incredibly beautiful and peaceful. Our site in the Upper Lehman campground was one of the few good-sized sites, with a gorgeous sitting area by the creek. The Lower Lehman campground has bigger sites, but we couldn’t get our trailer level and gave up. If you have a big rig, you might be happier in the in-town park (Whispering Elms), which is very Baker-esque, but appears adequate.[portfolio_slideshow]
That was one we missed Laurel. Now you’ve made me want to come back!
It’s an easy one to miss, Carol — it’s so out of the way! I think you’ve done just about everything else, so when you come back to the States to color in Nebraska, you can swing by Great Basin….
This NP must rank up there with Big Bend in TX as far as visitation. It looks wonderful and you look lovely Laurel sitting in the meadow of shooting stars. What a great capture of the hummingbird tasting the columbine.
We recently visited Isle Royale NP and, imho, unless you are a backpacker instead of a day-tripper like us, there is not much to be seen. The boat ride over offers more in the way of sights.
Big Bend is still on our list, LuAnn — hopefully before too long! We seem to like the more remote parks. Isle Royale sounds really interesting, too — maybe we need to backpack when we go there. But I’m so spoiled now with our comfortable bed. :-)
I’m sold! So exactly what dates were you there that the weather was so great or better what dates should we not plan to go to avoid whatever bad weather. We’re finding we should have planned Rocky Mountain NP for July not August. Low of 35. Brrrr and no hook ups. Are the park’s campsites too small for Winnona too? LOVE LOVE your pictures. And the beauty and simplicity of your text. Why can’t I learn to do this?
Sherry, you guys absolutely need to go to Great Basin. This is your kind of place. We were there June 5th-9th, and the weather was perfect. Still a bit of snow on the trails in places, but great timing for the wildflowers. I’m guessing it’s pretty nice there all summer — the high elevation (9000 feet and above) keeps it from getting too hot. And the fall is gorgeous, too. There are definitely sites big enough for Winnona, but as I mentioned, getting level is a challenge. Go midweek, and go early and there will be sites available. (As far as posting, I’m in awe of your ability to post almost every day!)
We really need to get to this park. I love that there is no one around. I guess this truly is small town America!! It is good to know there is a park with electric. I love our residential refrigerator but we do need power if we are staying for more than two night. We don’t have solar because I really am not one to be away from comforts for long. We can use the generator for short stays.
That is an amazing photo with that humming bird. Gorgeous! I love your clever captions:)
Pam, I think you would love this park. The hiking is spectacular, and there’s so much variety. The campgrounds in the park are definitely rustic, and so is Whispering Elms — but at least you would have electric, etc. there. Yes, this is definitely small town America. More like a wide spot in the road! Thanks for noticing the photo captions. Glad you enjoy them. :-)
We loved Great Basin when we stopped for a few days in mid May, but the snow was still a little too deep to do any long hikes. I would love to see it in the fall. Looks like you picked a perfect time as well. We did stay at Whispering Elms and though it was kind of a funky unkempt park, it was extremely peaceful and worked out just fine.
We will be in Ashland, at Emigrant Lake, for 5 nights starting Sept 25th. Let us know if you’ll be home at that time and would like to get together.
Lisa (and Hans)
“and curiously, is decorated with Electrolux vacuums suspended from the ceiling. ”
laurel…this above depicts perfectly what i so love about your writing. just like that! hilarious.
just had to share how much i appreciate what you are doing for all of us! where are you off to next? and when are you if you are? returning to ashland?
im headed back east for a month soon.
sending you both much love, laurie
Laurie, I am SO delighted to hear from you and to know that you’re with us on this journey! Wish we could have had a glass of wine together at the Electrolux — just the kind of place that I know you would enjoy, too. We’re currently on Lopez Island for the next couple of months — I’ll email you and fill you in on our plans. As for now, the road continues to beckon, and we’re going to continue traveling for the foreseeable future! Miss you. xo
Lisa, I think we were in Great Basin about three weeks after you — just enough time for a lot of the snow to melt and the wildflowers to emerge. We also love the fall there — and want to go back. Glad to know that Whispering Elms was a fine place to stay — it seems to be a good alternative for those who want hook-ups and to still be just a few miles from the park. And YES we would love to see you in Ashland! We’ll be returning the first of October, so we’ll make sure we get there while you’re there!
GR-BA is one of our fav’s too. Love your photos of the wildflowers. We were there in the fall and had a beautiful display of color.
We seem to have a lot of the same fav’s! Our visit in the fall of 2012 was also incredible with the golden aspens covering the mountains. Seems to be a beautiful place, no matter what the season.
Thanks for the fabulous tour of a NP I’ve been curious about. Love the photo of you sitting in the field of flowers. Looks like you timed the visit perfectly :-)
Ingrid, I think you would really like this park (but then again, I know it’s tough to pry yourself out of beautiful Colorado!). Our timing was pretty perfect — although the fall is also spectacular!
We leave on Sept. 30th. It would be great to see you…but if it’s next time we come through that’s okay too. We come through every year at least once going between my daughter in Roseburg and our parents in San Diego. Let us know if you do make it home by the 30th, we could at least get together for dinner!
Lisa
We’ll make sure to get home before you leave! Don’t want to miss the opportunity to get together. :-)
Cool! Sept 29th is our last night. It will be good to meet you two!
We visited Ashland last year a bit later in Oct and really enjoyed the autumn flower show in Lithia park, we’re hoping to catch it in its prime this year.
Bout time we see Spotty the Magnificent on the hunt! She looks healthy and ready to make those small rodents very nervous. Go Spot go! Hope you are enjoying the coooool on
Lopez as we swelter in the 100plus smoke….happy for you on this ongoing adventure. Sending love, a good giggle and special pets for Spotty!
She looks good for 19, doesn’t she? We’re amazed at how well Spotty has adapted to full-time travel. (Actually, we’re the ones who have had to do the most adapting….) So sorry to hear that there’s smoke in Ashland. Miss you!
Hmmm the park truly looks lonely and just wanting for visitors like us. I would not know about this place if not for adventurous souls like you and Eric. Who knows we might be there in 2016!
Great pictures as always especially the both of you on the lake.
You and Steve would love this park, ML. There’s so much great hiking and gorgeous scenery.
My friend Suzanne told me about your travel blog and I had to check it out. My husband and I travel at least 4 months out of a year, and we like birding, photography,and are about to buy a kayak…..so this blog is perfect for us. We camped at Great Basin NP last Sept. and loved it. I’ve lived in the West all my life, even in Nevada for a few years, but had never been. You’re right, it’s not on the way to anywhere!Looking forward to reading your other posts. Cheers!
Joan, I’m so happy you found our blog! Eric and I also traveled 2-4 months each year for many years before we decided to go full-time. Thanks for commenting!