[Portland, OR –> Salt Lake City, UT, Aug 30, 2024]

Great Basin National Park is one of the least visited and most underrated of the 63 managed by the NPS. The park preserves about 120 square miles of the Great Basin, the largest area of contiguous contained watersheds. All the water within the Great Basin, and all the rivers and streams, do not have an outlet to the ocean. Think of it as a giant bowl with the Sierra Nevada mountains in California and the Wasatch range in Utah serving as its east/west boundaries. Yes, the Great Basin is huge – it covers most of the Nevada. Defining its exact borders depends on which criteria you use – are you looking at its hydrology, geology or biological communities? Each definition gives a different geographic boundary. The Great Basin desert is the only cold desert of the 4 in the United States. Because of the more northern latitudes and higher elevations, the Great Basin desert experiences freezing temperatures in the winter and the majority of precipitation falls as snow.

The park itself preserves only a small part of the basin on the eastern edge of Nevada, right on the border with Utah.

The southern Snake Range is the core of the park. It hosts the park’s scenic drive and its main hiking trails. Wheeler Peak, at over 13,000 ft, is one of the most popular destinations. Going from the foothills to the top of the mountain showcases the incredible biodiversity of the Great Basin Region.

I had been trying to get to Great Basin National Park for a while now. But its high elevation means that snow lingers on the best trails in the park until July, reducing the high season to just 2 to 3 months. In addition, it is really remote. The closest big cities are Salt Lake City (~ 4 hrs away) and Las Vegas (4.5 hrs away). Every time I decided to go, it was too late to find a hotel in the small town of Baker, NV just outside the park. The next closest place is Ely, NV, which is 90 minutes away – a no go for me. This time around, I booked my accommodations for Labor Day weekend 2024 way back in January.

I flew into Salt Lake City on Friday evening because I didn’t want to take Friday off work. I spent the night there at a cheap airport hotel because it was too late to drive the same night. This was my first time flying out of Portland after the new terminal opened in mid-August, and I was excited to see it. The new timber roof is gorgeous and the terminal is spacious and clean.

I used the new automated bag check belts to check my hiking backpack, which contained my poles. It was pretty cool! I also loved seeing restaurants and cafes before security, which many airports lack.

My flight to Salt Lake arrived about an hour later than scheduled, so I crashed in bed as soon as I got to the hotel. I can’t wait to get to the park tomorrow!