Nevada isn’t known for its national parks, but beyond the endless desert landscape, stunning sunsets and glittering casino lights is a natural environment begging to be explored. Great Basin National Park, a half-day’s drive north of Las Vegas on the Utah border, is home to the second highest peak in Nevada, pristine alpine lakes, a rainbow of wildflowers, the darkest sky in the lower 48 states and miles of quiet hiking trails.
It is an underrated, serene national park that I hope to visit again someday. Three days doesn’t even begin to give this hidden secret in the Silver State the justice it deserves.
Despite the haze from the California fires, every view in Great Basin National Park is a good one.
Hidden alpine lakes await in unexpected places along hiking trails.
Even with the sometimes harsh alpine climate, wildlife is abundant.
Aspens grow wild.
The eye-popping colors of the wildflowers can never truly be caught on film.
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- Slowly, Slowly … You Will Climb the Mountain
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Nomadic Matt
reminds me a lot of colorado
August 23, 2009 at 10:15 am
jessiev
GORGEOUS!
August 24, 2009 at 12:18 pm
My Three Best Travel Secrets | Kaleidoscopic Wandering
[...] Great Basin National Park, located in central Nevada on the Utah border, is far from everywhere but definitely worth visiting. All the campgrounds are first-come, first-serve, and there is no luxurious lodge in which to spend the night. Dress warmly—at more than 10,000 feet in elevation, the night can be quite chilly. But don’t pack it in too quickly; make sure you stay up long enough to check out the stunning starry sky. [...]
March 19, 2010 at 4:35 pm