5/29-5/31
I left SLC Memorial Day morning for Great Basin NP. Once I got there, I got a campsite and set about exploring the park. I headed up to the top of the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive, where I was hoping to hike out to an ancient Bristlecone Pine forest. However, there was still a ton of snow on the ground and I quickly lost the trail. After an hour of wandering, I backtracked to the trailhead and headed back down to the campsite.
I was most excited about exploring Lehman Caves, a cave system that was discovered in the 1800s and had been previously used as a burial site by the Native Americans living in the area. I booked a tour for my second day in the park and was not disappointed at all. The cave was filled with fantastical formations - stalactites, stalagmites, shields, cave popcorn, cave bacon, draperies, etc. The ranger turned off the lights at one point and we experienced absolute darkness - it was fascinating.
The first operator of the caves, Abraham Lehman, used to charge a dollar to allow people to explore the caves back during the turn of the century. This was before the access tunnel that we used had been dug, and so visitors had to rappel 30 feet down to access the cave system. He’d given them a candle and promise that if they didn’t come back in 24 hrs he’d go in after them to find them. Given that the candles only lasted about 4 hours I can imagine that quite a few people had to navigate back in the dark.
If there were a candle-lit tour available I would have signed up for that in a heartbeat.
Aside from the caves, what struck me most about Great Basin was it’s sheer remoteness - it was hours away from any city of note and really gave a feel for the vastness of the American West.