Great Basin National Park

**Great Basin National Park** is an American national park located in White Pine County in east-central Nevada, near the Utah border, established in 1986. The park is most commonly entered by way of Nevada State Route 488, which is connected to U.S. Routes 6 and 50 by Nevada State Route 487 via the small town of Baker, the closest settlement.

The park derives its name from the Great Basin, the dry and mountainous region between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Mountains. Topographically, this area is known as the Basin and Range Province. The park is located about Template:Convert north of Las Vegas and protects Template:Convert.

The park is notable for its groves of ancient bristlecone pines, the oldest known nonclonal organisms, and for the Lehman Caves at the base of Template:Convert Wheeler Peak, as well as Wheeler Peak Glacier.

President Warren G. Harding created Lehman Caves National Monument by presidential proclamation on January 24, 1922. The monument and its surroundings was designated a national park on October 27, 1986. A number of developed campsites are within the park, as well as excellent backcountry camping opportunities. The Highland Ridge Wilderness lies adjacent to Great Basin National Park. These two protected areas provide contiguous wildlife habitat and protection to Template:Convert of eastern Nevada's basin lands.

## Natural history

### Flora

 File:2013-07-14 09 22 54 Conifer forest along Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive in Great Basin National Park.jpg
Eleven species of conifer trees and over 800 species of plants are found in Great Basin National Park and the neighboring valleys.

The area around the Visitor Center is dominated by plants such as sagebrush, saltbush, single-leaf pinyon, and Utah juniper. Higher elevations are home to mountain meadows, white fir, quaking aspen, Englemann spruce, and large Ponderosa pine. At treeline is an alpine area of low, delicate plants and rocky outcroppings.

 File:A112, Great Basin National Park, Nevada, USA, bristlecone pine tree, 2004.jpg
The oldest nonclonal organism ever discovered, a Great Basin bristlecone pine tree at least 5,000 years old, grew at the treeline near Wheeler Peak in the national park. It was cut down in 1964 by a graduate student and U.S. Forest Service personnel for research purposes. It was given the nickname Prometheus, after the mythological figure who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man.

### Fauna

Sixty-one species of mammals, 18 species of reptiles, 238 species of birds, two species of amphibians, and eight species of fish are in Great Basin National Park and the neighboring valleys.

Mammals
 File:Big-eared-townsend-fledermaus.jpg
An abundance of wildlife has taken advantage of the habitat zones in Great Basin National Park. Jackrabbits, pygmy rabbits, mountain cottontails, ground squirrels, chipmunks, and various mice live in the low-elevation sagebrush desert. Pronghorns, coyotes, kit foxes, and badgers are less common inhabitants.

In the more rugged areas on the slopes of mountains and in the valley areas nearby, cougars, bobcats, marmots, rock squirrels, and bighorn sheep can occasionally be seen throughout this park. Other animals that can be found here include elk, mule deer, spotted skunks, shrews, ringtail cats, and ermine.

Fish
 File:Stella Lake Great Basin.jpg
The Bonneville cutthroat trout is the only fish native to Great Basin National Park. It arrived in the mountain waters naturally and was eventually isolated by changing climatic conditions. Other trout species, such as Lahontan cutthroat trout, rainbow, brook, and brown trout, were stocked in the lakes and streams of the South Snake Range until the park's incorporation in 1986.

Birds
Many species of birds can be found in Great Basin National Park, including Canada geese, hawks, sparrows, bald eagles, tundra swans, barn owls, snow geese, killdeer, golden eagles, woodpeckers, mallards, wrens, greater roadrunners, chickadees, great horned owls, ravens, magpies, and swallows.

Amphibians
Only two species of amphibians have been positively identified in the southern Snake Range and adjacent portions of Snake and Spring Valleys: the western spadefoot toad *(Spea hammondii)* and the leopard frog *(Rana pipiens)*.

## Geology

 File:NPS great-basin-map.jpg
Many of the rocks formed during the Cambrian, when the region lay at the edge of a continental landmass called Laurentia. These rocks include the Cambrian strata. As the Paleozoic era progressed, several intensified geologic events occurred, including repeated episodes of faulting, and in turn, orogenies which involved upward lifting of a metamorphic core complex, creating mafic and rhyolitic dikes and sills.

Extensive volcanism also occurred during the middle to late Cambrian, contributing further to the uplift of the area. This also contributed to a second round of block faulting, in which conglomerates, ash flows, and tuffs accumulated in the Snake Range.

 File:2013-07-14 09 37 43 Wheeler Peak viewed from Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive in Great Basin National Park.jpg
Both continuous and intermittent fault movements also occurred, with individual fault surfaces on both sides of the Snake Range thinning and stretching.

Glaciation
Glaciation, mostly during a series of ice ages in the Pleistocene, heavily eroded the peaks of the Snake Range, leaving canyon walls, U-shaped valleys, cirques, and moraines throughout the range.

Lehman Caves
The Lehman Cave system began forming around 550 million years ago (during the Cambrian), while it was still submerged in a relatively warm, shallow ocean. The caves are made up of a marble and limestone solution, for the most part, that forms the many cave decorations throughout the caverns.

The cave system became much deeper during the Pleistocene, when a prolonged and increased flow of water eroded through the cave's fracturing bedrock. Eventually, the water level dropped, leaving glare rooms and cavities in the rock, creating the depths of the Lehman Caves system.

## Scenic features

The park's scenic features include Lexington Arch, the Lehman Orchard and Aqueduct, Rhodes Cabin, Stella and Teresa Lakes, and Wheeler Peak Glacier.

### Lehman Caves

Template:Coord

 File:Lehman Cave Cypress Swamp.jpg
The Lehman Caves were originally protected as a national monument in 1922, which was combined with the national park in 1986.

According to the National Park Service, the caves were, most likely, discovered by Absalom Lehman in 1885.

Several living creatures occupy the Lehman Caves. Bacteria are the most common. Crickets, spiders, pseudoscorpions, mites, and springtails may live their full lifecycles in the cave. They are dependent on organic material packed in by other animals or washed in from the surface.

Other animals use the cave, but must leave to forage for food. These include chipmunks, mice, pack rats, and several species of bats. Only insectivorous bats occur in the Great Basin. At least 10 species of bats have been found in the vicinity of Great Basin National Park, including the Townsend's big-eared bat.

 File:Lexington Arch.jpg
### Trails

The park has 12 trails ranging from Template:Convert. Trails range from short nature trails at Template:Convert (Mountain View Nature Trail), to the Wheeler summit trail starting at Template:Convert. The Wheeler Summit trail is quite strenuous, and the altitude presents significant hazards for unprepared or inexperienced hikers. Backcountry routes are occasionally maintained throughout the more remote southern portion of the park. A number of these trailheads are accessible by the road that terminates at the primitive Shoshone campground.Template:Citation needed

### Visitor centers

The Great Basin visitor center is located on Nevada State Route 487 in the town of Baker. The Lehman Caves visitor center is located on Nevada State Route 488, about Template:Convert from Baker, Template:Convert inside the park boundary. The Forgotten Winchester, a rifle manufactured in 1882 that was found leaning against a juniper tree in the park in 2014, is on display inside the Lehman Caves visitor center. Both centers feature exhibits about the park's geology and natural and cultural history, as well as theaters with orientation films.

The park received 168,028 visitors in 2017, and operated with a budget of $2.8 million.

.

###  Dark Skies Astronomy

Great Basin National Park has basically the darkest skies in the nation. An International Dark Sky Park, Great Basin National Park provides distinguished and significant opportunities to experience dark nights. On a clear, moonless night, thousands of stars, five of our solar system's eight planets, star clusters, meteors, man-made satellites, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Milky Way can be seen with the naked eye. The area boasts some of the darkest night skies left in the United States. Low humidity and minimal light pollution, combined with high elevation, create a unique window to the universe.

Beyond stargazing, Great Basin typically offers astronomy programs April through October on Saturday nights, with additional Tuesday and Thursday night programs during the summer season. On summer nights when the moon is too bright for our regular astronomy programs, join a dark ranger for a full moon hike.

#### **Great Basin Star Train**

**Great Basin Star Train** pulls out of Ely on selected Summer evenings with the Dark Rangers of Great Basin National Park aboard.  These rangers love the night sky as much as we all do, but they probably know a whole lot more about stars than all of us put together.  They will guide us on our journey to find interesting things up in the Heavens on this journey. We will stop the train away from town to take full advantage of the dark night skies.  The National Park Service Rangers will be taking us on our own special tour of the celestial constellations.

#### **Great Basin Astronomy Festival (Sept)**

**Great Basin Astronomy Festival** Astronomy program days and start times change throughout the year. Programs are typically offered May through October on Saturday nights, with additional Tuesday and Thursday night programs during the summer season, between Memorial day and Labor Day. During some holiday weekends astronomy programs will be given both Saturday and Sunday nights. Check at the park for dates and times.

The programs are free and no reservations are necessary. All astronomy programs will start with a ranger talk at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center, followed by ranger-led telescope viewing. Please do not bring your own telescopes; we have them available.

* **Great Basin Park Foundation**

.

## Climate

 File:Wheeler Peak and Great Basin National Park.jpg
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Great Basin National Park has a Cold Semi-Arid Climate (BSk). The plant hardiness zone at Lehman Caves Visitor Center is 6b with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of -3.8 °F (-19.9 °C).

The park lies in an arid region and receives very little rainfall during most of the year. Most precipitation is winter snow or summer thunderstorms. All precipitation in this region evaporates, sinks underground, or flows into lakes — i.e., it is *endorheic*. No water reaches the ocean.<ref>

## See also

* Great Basin National Heritage Area
* List of national parks of the United States

## External links

Template:Sister project links

* Template:Official website
* Park photo gallery – National Park Service on Flickr
* Johnson Lake Mine – National Park Service
* Template:Internet Archive short film
* Winchester Model 1873 Rifle Recovered in Great Basin National Park – National Park Service, official press release

Template:Protected Areas of Nevada
Template:National parks of the United States

Template:Authority control

1. ↑ Geology of the South Snake Range. National-park.com Main page.
2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `area`
Plants. National Park Service.
 Cohen, Michael. Oldest Living Tree Tells All. Terrain.org.
5. ↑ List of Mammals. National Park Service (May 12, 2011).
Mammals. National Park Service.
Fish in the Desert?. National Park Service.
Birds. National Park Service.
Reptiles and Amphibians of Great Basin National Park and Vicinity. National Park Service.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 National Park Service, "Great Basin Geology". Web. http://www.nps.gov/grba/planyourvisit/upload/geology.pdf
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Harris, Ann G., et al. Geology of National Parks, Kendall/Hunt: Iowa, 2005. Print. 663-673.
12. ↑ Lehman Caves National Monument. National Park Service.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lehman Caves Discovery. National Park Service.
14. ↑ Cave Life. National Park Service.
15. ↑ Bats. National Park Service.
16. ↑ Lexington Arch. National Park Service.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Hiking Trails. National Park Service.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Operating Hours & Seasons. National Park Service.
19. ↑ Template:Cite news
20. ↑ "Winchester Model 1873 Rifle Found and Preserved". *nps.gov*. National Park Service. The Midden: The Resource Management Newsletter of Great Basin National Park. Summer 2016 edition. page 2. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
21. ↑ Park Statistics. National Park Service.
22. ↑ Top 11 Stargazing Sites of Southern Utah - SUU.EDU
23. ↑ USDA Interactive Plant Hardiness Map. United States Department of Agriculture.