Location: Baker, Nevada Map
Area: 77,180 acres (31,230 ha)
Official site
Info: 100 Great Basin Hwy, Baker, (775) 234-7331
Open: 8am- 4:30 pm
Closed: Jan 1, Thanksgiving, Dec 25th
Great Basin National Park sits near Baker, Nevada in United States. Great Basin National Park covers an area of 77,180 acres (31,230 ha). It was established in 1986, located in the eastern center of Nevada near the border with Utah. Its name comes from the Great Basin, dry and mountainous region between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch mountains. It is known for its ancient pine groves, and for the Lehman Caverns at the base of Wheeler Peak. The caves were protected since January 24, 1922 (Lehman Caves National Monument) and were incorporated into the park when it was created in 1986. The park is in an arid region and receives very little rainfall during most of the year.
Great Basin National Park includes 61 species of mammals: marmots, chipmunks, pronghorns, mule deer, pumas, lynx, coyotes, foxes, American badgers. There are 238 species of birds, 18 reptiles, 2 amphibians and 8 fish.
Open - Daily, year round, from 8AM to 4:30PM
Pacific Time. Extended hours in the summer. Closed - Thanksgiving
Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.
Great Basin National
Park has no entrance fee. Cave tour fees vary depending on length of
tour. 60-minute tours cost Adult/Child $8.00/$4.00 while the
90-minute tours cost $10/$5. Golden Age/Golden Access card holders
pay child rates. Camping fees are $12 for developed campgrounds per
night/per site. $6 for Golden Age/Golden Access card holders.
Primitive campgrounds have no fee.
Prometheus
The Prometheus tree is a Pinus longaeva pine that grew
near the forest boundary with Wheeler Peak. In 1964, young researcher
Donald Curry obtained permission to cut down part of the tree trunk for
research, during which it was discovered that Prometheus was about 5,000
years old. Thus, before the scientists was one of the oldest trees on
Earth. As Darwin Lambert (author of several works on Great Basin) noted
with bitter irony: “The oldest living creature was killed (and that’s
right, killed) in the name of science.”
The cutting down of
Prometheus caused a public outcry, as a result of which even the
location of centuries-old trees is kept secret.
Lehman Cave
Leman's Cave is a karst cave named after its discoverer Absalom Leman,
located at an altitude of 2133 meters above sea level. On January 24,
1922, US President Warren Harding awarded the cave the status of a
national monument, which was revoked in 1986 due to the formation of a
national park.
It includes 61 species of mammals: marmots, chipmunks, pronghorns,
mule deer, pumas, lynx, coyotes, foxes, American badgers...
There
are also 238 kinds of birds, including the bald eagle, the Canada goose,
the snow goose and the golden eagle. There are 18 species of reptiles, 2
of amphibians and 8 of fish.
Eleven species of conifers and more than 800 species of plants are found in the Great Basin National Park and the nearby valleys. The oldest organism ever discovered, a Great Basin bristlecone pine at least 5,000 years old, grew in the treeline near Wheeler's Peak in the national park. It was cut in 1964 by a graduate student and US Forest Service personnel for research purposes. He was given the nickname Prometheus, after the mythological character who stole fire from the gods and gave it to men.