The region is one of high, silent valleys, numerous mountain ranges, and few rivers. Great Basin National Park protects the southern Snake Range, near the Utah border east of Ely, Nevada. We call it the Great Basin, a vast area of sagebrush-covered valleys and narrow mountain ranges. Instead, water collects in shallow salt lakes, marshes, and mud flats, where it evaporates in dry desert air. There is not just one basin here but many, all separated by mountain ranges running roughly parallel, north to south.
Appearances are deceptive.
As in the ocean, there is much life not immediately apparent. And above the valleys, rising thousands of feet from the sagebrush sea, mountain ranges form a sort of high-elevation archipelago , islands of cooler air and more abundant water. Here we find a rich variety of plants and animals that could not survive in the lower desert. Great Basin National Park, established in 1986, includes much of the southern Snake Range, a superb example of a desert mountain island. From the sagebrush at its alluvial base to the 13,063-foot summit of Wheeler Peak, the park includes streams, lakes, alpine plants, abundant wildlife, a variety of forest types including groves of ancient bristlecone pines, and numerous limestone caverns, including beautiful Lehman Caves .