Below the darkest night skies, Great Basin is home to groves of ancient bristlecone pines, Lehman Caves, and Wheeler Peak. At the park’s high point, Wheeler Peak Glacier is last glacier in Nevada. The Great Basin watershed covers most of Nevada and Utah, and reaches into Oregon, California, Idaho, and Wyoming. Caught between the Sierra Nevadas, Rockies, its 90 basins and rivers all flow inland, with no outlet to the ocean.

MUST SEES

Wheeler Peak

From the eastern stretch of US 50 (the Loneliest Road in America), Wheeler beckons from far away. It’s a stunner with a jagged glacial cirque, glacier, and moraines (glacial lakes). Go on an 8.3-mile round-trip hike to the summit of this thirteener.

Ancient Bristlecone

Hike the 2.8-mile trail to the high elevation grove. The Great Basin bristlecone pine is the oldest living non-clonal organism. The oldest known bristlecone was over 5,000 years old.

Aspens

The quaking aspen’s roots form large clonal groves. As a result, aspens are much older than even the ancient bristlecone pines. One grove known as Pando in Utah may be over 16,000 years old.

Keep Exploring!

Africa | Antarctica | Asia | Australia | Caribbean | Europe | Middle East | North America | South America