I’ve lived in Las Vegas for three years, and until this weekend, had never ventured up to Great Basin National Park. It’s the only national park in Nevada, so I knew I absolutely had to go before we move in May.
How to Get to Great Basin National Park
Great Basin is one of the more remote US national parks. Ely (ee-lee) is the closest large town with the best options for food and accommodation, unless you prefer to camp in the park. Since it’s still snowy and I don’t have enough winter camping gear for two, we decided to stay at a motel in Ely instead of camping in the park. There are a few awesome hotel options in Baker right outside the park, but by the time I made these plans they were booked out.
It isn’t really feasible to get to Great Basin without a car. Ely has a small airport, but it’s still a one-hour drive from Ely to Baker. The nearest large airport is in Salt Lake City, a 3.5-hour drive from the park. Since we live in Las Vegas, we drove the 4.5 hours from Vegas to Great Basin. This is a huge part of the reason why I definitely wanted to visit before we left–it’s certainly not the easiest park to get to.
When To Visit Great Basin National Park
It seems to me that the best time to visit Great Basin would be the summer or fall. The park is open year-round, but in the winter parts of the park do close. While I would love to visit again when it’s a little warmer, I really enjoyed being able to explore the park in near solitude.
Great Basin National Park in April
There was some snow on the ground when we visited the first weekend of April 2022, but not as much as I expected. Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for a better day! We got lucky with a gorgeous sunny day and perfect mid-50s temperatures. The hike we chose definitely had some lingering snow, but it was doable in just hiking boots. Jump to our hike summary for details.
Where to Stay Near Great Basin National Park
As I mentioned above, we chose to stay in Ely due to the time of year and the unavailability of hotels in Baker.
If it were warmer out, I would love to camp at any of the five campgrounds near Great Basin: Wheeler Peak, Lower Lehman Creek, Upper Lehman Creek, Baker Creek, or Grey Cliffs. If you’re looking to camp near Great Basin, visit the official NPS site for more information.
If I had planned better, we would have stayed at the Stargazer Inn in Baker. It looks so cute, and I was sad to see that it was booked out for the days we wanted to visit. As a bonus, it’s pet friendly! (We did bring Charlie on this little adventure for us, see below.)
The other hotel I checked was the Whispering Elms Motel and RV Park, but all their rooms were booked too. There are a handful of vacation rentals available, but when you add the fees tacked on from these sites, the prices are exorbitant for just one or two nights.
With accommodations closer to the park exhausted, we chose to stay at a Motel 6 in Ely. It wasn’t the fanciest, but it was cheap, dog friendly, had no additional pet fee, and didn’t have bed bugs. When I’m barely going to see the inside of my hotel room other than to sleep, those are the only things that matter to me!
Pets in Great Basin National Park
I did choose to bring Charlie on this weekend getaway with us, but bringing her into the park would have severely limited our hiking and activity options.
We chose to board her at Park A Pooch in Baker, just ten minutes away from the park entrance and the Lehman Caves Visitor Center. They had hourly, half-day, and full-day options for $15, $35, and $50 respectively. The owner, Tana, was absolutely wonderful with Charlie. Tana had a new puppy, and the two dogs ran around in her fenced-in yard all day and completely tired each other out. It was the perfect option for her while we spent some time in Great Basin, and I would absolutely leave Charlie in Tana’s care again.
For the full rundown, check out my full post about Pets in Great Basin National Park.
How To Spend One Day in Great Basin National Park
From what I’ve read online, it seems like most visitors to GBNP try to do it in one day as part of a cross-country road trip or a weekend getaway.
My first stop is always at the visitor center, especially on days like this when I’m not familiar with the weather conditions. I also always make sure to get my national parks passport stamped and buy a sticker or two for my travel journal.
Drive the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive
I’m always amazed by how much you can see just from the road. The Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive is 12 miles long and takes about 45 minutes to drive. When we visited, it was only open up to the Upper Lehman Creek campground.
Go For A Hike
There are a number of different hikes to do in GBNP. Since you can read all about them on the official NPS page, I’m not going to list them all here.
Lehman Creek Trail in Early April
At the ranger’s suggestion, we chose to hike the Lehman Creek Trail. We didn’t have time to do the whole thing, but there is a meadow with gorgeous views of the mountain about two miles from the trailhead. We hiked up to the meadow, ate lunch while admiring the mountain, and hiked back down.
During the first weekend of April, the trail was muddy from snow melt, but nothing that a good pair of hiking boots couldn’t handle. For the last ¾ mile before the meadow, the trail was covered in snow. We didn’t need snowshoes, though. The snow was fairly well-packed by previous hikers and somewhat easy to stay on top of. I was glad I had my hiking poles for balance, but no further gear was required.
We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was a beautifully sunny day, and the trail was warm enough for short sleeves despite the snow.
Tour the Lehman Caves
As this was a very last-minute trip, all tours to the Lehman Caves were already booked up for the Saturday that we were there. Although this is the most popular activity in the park, I wasn’t too upset as I had recently visited Carlsbad Caverns and will also be visiting Wind Cave this summer. If you have time and have never seen caves like this, you certainly should take a tour.
If you do plan to tour the caves, be sure to register early, especially in the summer months. The ranger mentioned that cave tours need to be booked up to a month in advance.
Mather Overlook
If you’re staying in the park or nearby in Baker, I’d recommend stargazing at the Mather Overlook once the sun goes down.
Things to Do Outside of Great Basin National Park
Explore Baker
Although Baker is a tiny town, it is known for its local art. Not much was open yet since we visited so early in the season, though.
Cave Lake State Park
If you’re staying in Ely, I recommend stopping by Cave Lake State Park on your way between Great Basin and Ely. Cave Lake is also a great dog-friendly alternative if you’re unable to board your dog while in the area.
Explore Ely
Ely is full of old-timey treasures. There are a number of museums, especially railroad-related ones. My favorite is the McGill Drugstore Museum, which is a fascinating frozen-in-time snapshot of a 1950s drugstore. Comically, the website calls it “untouched for over 30 years”–since 30 years ago would be the 90s, they clearly need to update their copy!
We were hoping to bring Charlie to Racks Bar and Grill for dinner on their patio, but unfortunately they didn’t have their outdoor seating set up yet. Instead, we got takeout from Hunter’s and ate in our motel room. The food was tasty, though! Before we left in the morning, we got coffee and croissants from Taproot, which I’d also recommend.
If you don’t have a dog and have a little more dining flexibility, try The Cup for breakfast, the Whipple Family Country Store for a quick lunch, and the Jailhouse Casino’s Cellblock Steakhouse for dinner.
Road Trip from Great Basin National Park to Las Vegas
On the day after we visited the park, we stopped at a few attractions on our way back to Las Vegas. Check out those details in this separate post!