Great Basin National Park
Nevada
Dark sky
Excellent dark skies
Bortle 2 · SQM ~21.43 (est.)
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
6.6 h fully dark
Hikes
Easy–Strenuous
🟢 🟡 🔴
Crowds
low
Open today
Open
Entrance
Free entry
No Potable Water in Park Campgrounds
There currently is no water available in any campground in Great Basin National Park. Water is available at the RV Fill and Dump Station, the Great Basin, and the Lehman Caves Visitor Center as well as some local businesses.
From the 13,063-foot summit of Wheeler Peak to the sagebrush-covered foothills, Great Basin National Park hosts a sample of the incredible diversity of the larger Great Basin region. Come and partake of the solitude of the wilderness, walk among ancient bristlecone pines, bask in the darkest of night skies, and explore mysterious subterranean passages. There's a lot more than just desert here.
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
Park Grounds and Trails Check "Visitor Centers" tab for facility-specific hours
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 775-234-7331
✉ grba_interpretation@nps.govConditions
Excellent dark skies · DarkSky-certified (Bortle 2)
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ☀️ Clear, 74°F
☁️ 75°/54°
☁️ 73°/57°
🌦️ 78°/56°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
8%
Feb
6%
Mar
8%
Apr
27%
May
52%
Jun
88%
Jul
100%
Aug
78%
Sep
90%
Oct
63%
Nov
6%
Dec
7%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Things to do
Hike to the Wheeler Peak Bristlecone Grove · 2.8 mi · 9890 ft gain
Become a Great Basin National Park Junior Ranger
Lehman Caves Tour · <p><strong>Gothic Palace Tour - 30 minutes<br /> <br /> Lodge Room Tour - 60 minutes<br /> <br /> Parachute Shield Tour - 60 minutes<br /> <br /> Grand Palace Tour - 90 minues</strong></p>
Hike to Lexington Arch · 5.6 mi · 7050 ft gain
🟡 Hike the Upper Strawberry Trail · 4 mi · 7920 ft gain
🟢 Hike the Sage Steppe Loop · 1.1 mi · 7920 ft gain
🟡 Hike the Serviceberry Trail · 3.2 mi · 8030 ft gain · 1.5 - 2.5 hours is typical for this hike. Expect to be on the upper end of that time if you/your group is not well adjusted to elevation.
🔴 Hike the Big Wash Trail · 20.6 mi · 8200 ft gain
Campgrounds
Baker Creek Campground ↗ · 37 sites
Dump Station
Grey Cliffs Campground ↗ · 16 sites
Lower Lehman Creek Campground ↗ · 20 sites
Snake Creek Primitive Campgrounds · 12 sites · first-come
Upper Lehman Creek Campground ↗ · 23 sites
Wheeler Peak Campground ↗ · 37 sites
Visitor centers
Great Basin Visitor Center
Lehman Caves Visitor Center
Accessibility
3 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Parking
Baker Creek Trailhead Parking Lot
Bristlecone Parking lot
Great Basin Visitor Center
Lehman Caves Visitor Center · 75 accessible spacesaccessible
Snake Creek Parking Lot
Strawberry Creek Parking Lot
Summit Parking Lot
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Great Basin National Park — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Dark sky
How dark the night sky is — darker (lower Bortle) fills the dial.
Bortle 2
★★★★★
SQM ~21.43
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
Trail profile
Each dot is a trail — distance vs. elevation gain, by difficulty.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
Passport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Great Basin Visitor Center
🎫 Lehman Caves Visitor Center
Places to see
Absalom Lehman (Stop 8)
Astronomy Ampitheater
Baker Creek Road
Baker Creek Trailhead
Baker Lake
Basin and Range (Stop 5)
Bristlecone Grove
Bristlecone Parking Area - Montane & Alpine (Stop 7)
Bristlecone Trailhead
Dead Lake
Great Basin National Heritage Area
Great Basin Visitor Center - Desert Shrub (Stop 1)
Audio & media
Learn more
Great Basin National Park held its seventh annual BioBlitz on May 15-17, 2015. The focus for the BioBlitz was Stream Insects, including the orders that indicate good water quality: Ephemeroptera (Mayflies), Plecoptera (Stoneflies), and Trichoptera (Caddisflies).
The Diversity Division of the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW), along with other partners (including National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Friends of the High Rock-Black Rock, University of Nevada, Reno, and Humboldt State University), held the annual Nevada Bat Blitz in northwestern Washoe County, in and around the High Rock Wilderness area on August 8-12, 2016.
This year, Great Basin National Park will hold its ninth BioBlitz. Each year, the park focuses on a different topic, from beetles to birds and now to lichens. Results help the park learn more about what lives in the park and where it is found.
Over 40 participants gathered over three days for Great Basin National Park’s tenth annual BioBlitz. Nevada State Entomologist Jeff Knight led the effort, focused on beetles.
After a few dry years, we were excited to see the mountains looking very white this winter. Just how much snow was up there? Park staff and volunteers skied up Baker Creek to measure the snow at three snow courses, at elevations of 8,200, 9,200, and 9,550 feet.
A BioBlitz is a short-term event to learn about the biodiversity of an area. In Great Basin National Park, we focus on one specific taxa, either plant or animal, each year over 48 hours.
Results of the 2021 Reptile BioBlitz at Great Basin National Park
It’s hard to believe, but you are reading the 50th issue of The Midden, the Resource Management Newsletter of Great Basin National Park. The publication started in 2001, published biannually. As the name hints, The Midden, just like packrat middens, has become a treasure trove of information for those who want to learn about the past.
How Great Basin National Park connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
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Topic
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ParkingLot
PassportStamp
Trail
ThingToDo
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