Just a few hours from Zion, Great Basin National Park features glacial vistas, dark skies, and surprising solitude.
National Parks: Rarely Visited Parks Worth Visiting
These are among the least-visited national parks in America, with the exception of remote areas such as Alaska, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Dry Tortugas.
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- Great Basin National Park is one of the least visited national parks in America, even though admission is free.
- The park’s landscape features alpine landscapes, locust pines, and Riemann Cave.
- This park is located in a remote part of Nevada, about 3 hours from Zion National Park.
BAKER, Nev. – As we hiked through the towering trees and snowy meadows of Great Basin National Park on a road trip through Nevada, my family was quickly outnumbered.
But not by large numbers of tourists, as seen in recent videos of Yosemite after reservation requirements were lifted.
No, we were outnumbered by mule deer many times. Unlike white-tailed deer that would normally run home, these deer were munching along the park’s picturesque Alpine Lakes Loop as if we weren’t there.
Humans are probably a relatively rare sight for them. Just over 161,000 people will visit the Great Basin in 2025, making Nevada’s only national park the least-visited national park in America. However, it is only three hours away from Zion, one of America’s most popular parks visited by nearly 5 million people.
Having been to both, I don’t know the difference, but I can see why it’s worth visiting the Great Basin, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year with free admission.
Is the Great Basin worth a visit?
That’s true, but don’t expect the same red rock scenery as southern Nevada or neighboring Utah. The Great Basin, rising like a water-rich oasis in the desert, reminded me of Yosemite and other alpine regions.
“This is a landscape like no other, not just in North America, but literally in the world,” Travis Mason Bushman, the park’s chief interpreter, told me as he pointed to a map at the visitor center of the broader Great Basin, which spans multiple states. “Across this landscape, the earth is literally being torn apart.”
He explained that the land has stretched like pizza dough over millions of years, creating countless mountains and valleys like the park’s South Snake Mountains. The park’s most iconic peak, and the tallest independent mountain in Nevada, is Wheeler Peak, at 13,065 feet, which visitors can climb on foot or admire from a distance.
We climbed Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive in about the largest RV the road could accommodate, a medium-sized Class C provided by RVshare. I was in awe of the greenery and forests of the high desert, and as I approached the Mother Overlook, I couldn’t help but start singing, “The hills are alive with the sound of music.” Mother Overlook is a wheelchair-accessible observation deck with tactile rock sculptures for visitors who are blind or have low vision.
Equally impressive is Lehman Caverns, Nevada’s longest cave system. This is why this area was first protected as part of the national park system.
“Unlike, say, Mammoth Cave, Jewel Cave, or Wind Cave, which were carved by trickling water, these caves were carved by water coming up from below and were carved out 10 million years ago. So when you go into that cave, you’re entering a space that has been on Earth for 10 million years,” Mason-Bushman said, acknowledging the Native Americans who originally cared for this land. Now, when visitors enter the cave, they are asked to remain quiet at the entrance out of respect for the original caretaker.
Visitors can enter the cave only on paid tours. Please note that only lantern tours of the Gothic Palace are currently available as the rest of the cave system is undergoing maintenance to install new lighting. Other cave tours are expected to resume in the coming months.
Other notable features include the Great Basin’s internationally recognized dark skies, a delight for stargazers, and the pied pine tree, one of the world’s oldest living organisms.
What is the Great Basin?
According to the National Park Service, the Great Basin spans much of Nevada, half of Utah, and parts of California, Idaho, Oregon, and Wyoming, and the park tells the history of this vast basin.
“Not a single drop of rain that falls in it reaches the ocean,” Mason-Bushman said. “Every stream, river, lake, stream flows inward and disappears. The water either evaporates into the sky or sinks to the ground. So the water of the Great Basin is the keystone of it all.”
The park includes six subalpine lakes and several streams, as well as Nevada’s only remaining Ice Age glacier, Wheeler Peak Glacier, which visitors can hike and view from the Wheeler Peak Lookout on Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive. All that water contributes to the park’s impressive greenery.
My family didn’t get to go to the glacier, but we loved Stella Lake, hiked it with Mason Bushman, and even had to go by ourselves at one point. The way the wind gently rippled the crystal water reminded me of a real-life Bob Ross painting. Mason Bushman said that on a calm day, Wheeler Peak looks like a mirror.
We also enjoyed the babbling stream along the Sky Island Forest Trail. The trail is less than half a mile long with rubber mats for easy access and numerous benches to stop and enjoy the beautiful solitude. I didn’t know what to expect in the Great Basin, but once I arrived at these places I didn’t want to leave.
How to get to the Great Bases
Great Basin National Park is located just outside the small community of Baker, Nevada, where we camped for the night, but there are also campgrounds within the park. One of the park’s visitor centers is also located in Baker. The other is located inside the park, near the entrance to Lehman Cave.
The park is approximately a 3.5-hour drive from Salt Lake City and the nearest major airport. It’s about 5 hours to Las Vegas. We drove from Las Vegas and stopped at several scenic Nevada state parks along the way.
It’s a remote drive to an equally remote park, but it’s rewarding. Mason-Bushman joked that in some cases as many as five cars would be considered a traffic jam, but the vast desert and mountains everywhere in Nevada are so beautiful that I was taking photos and videos the entire way.
Travelers can easily incorporate the Great Basin into an extended Las Vegas vacation or visit several of Utah’s Mighty Five parks. Zion is approximately three hours from the Great Basin. Bryce Canyon is approximately 3.5 hours away. Arch, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef are further afield.
It’s amazing how few people visit the Great Basin compared to other parks, but maybe the mule deer prefer it there. me too.
This article has been updated to update the headline and add the link.
USA TODAY reporter Eve Chen was provided access by RVshare. USA TODAY maintains editorial control of content.
