Over Labor Day weekend a couple of years ago, we did a 2-night stay in Ely, NV with our kids to visit Great Basin National Park.
What we did each day
Day 1 in Great Basin:
We drove up from the Las Vegas area to Great Basin National Park on a Saturday. It was about a 4-hour drive. We arrived at the main Visitor Center by noon, where we briefly stopped. From there we drove to the Lehman Caves, which also had another Visitor Center. Both centers are nice to check out and are not far apart from each other. The Lehman Caves Visitor Center had a café/outpost type of store where you can get lunch or picnic items, information, supplies, along with nice souvenirs.
We had a 1 pm reservation for a tour at the Lehman Caves. The tour was about an hour, and it was AMAZING. I was nervous about how my young children would behave during the 1-hour tour with no quick exit option, and they did great. The tour guide made it fun, and the sight itself was something to behold. Between the two it kept their attention quite well. The history given on the tour also made it worth it.
I highly recommend doing the tour and booking it WAY in advance. I waited until the last minute and initially the tickets were sold out. However, I stalked the website hoping for more slots to become available or someone to cancel, and sure enough 4 tickets became available! We got really lucky! It was a highlight of the trip and really can’t be missed if you make the trek all the way to the Great Basin. The link for reservations can be found here.
After the tour we hiked around the caves. This pretty much concluded our afternoon in the park. We then headed to Ely, NV to check into our hotel and to grab dinner. The drive to Ely was about an hour. It was an easy and relatively flat drive. Lodging in Baker, NV, a town closer to the entrance of the National Park, was sold out at the time of booking.
Day 2 in Great Basin:
The next day we wanted to hike and explore Wheeler Peak, but we arrived too late. There was ongoing construction at the top of the mountain, which had limited parking, so we had to select another trail to explore.
We pulled over at one of the first few pull offs on the way down the mountain and decided to hike the Osceola Ditch Trail. This trail is 5 miles and goes all the way down the mountain. However, we only did an out and back hike which covered portion of it.
We saw spectacular views of the Basin and a creek on this hike. The creek was our turn around point. I’m sure there is much more water in that “creek” in different parts of the year. Overall, it was a decent hike and good trail for the kids to burn off energy early in the day.
After the Osceola hike, we went back to the Lehman Caves Visitor Center for a picnic lunch. I grabbed a few items from their cafe to pair with cooler items we brought. We found nearby picnic tables and ate lunch there. After lunch we decided not to attempt Wheeler peak again, so we tried another hike in Strawberry Creek.
Strawberry Creek was in the direction to head back to Ely and out of the park. From the main road, the trailhead was a 4–5-mile drive on a gravel. The gravel road was completely fine to drive in any type of car, but it was quite a way to go on a gravel road. We only passed 1 other car the entire time and there was no one at the parking lot when we got to the trailhead. It felt very remote.
We did another out and back hike there, which was beautiful. I kept looking around expecting to see other people, but we were all alone, it seemed. I’m sure there was an animal somewhere, but it really felt far away from much of anything. We concluded our hike and then headed back to Ely.
It didn’t really feel like we had much to show for our full day in the park, but between those 2 hikes the day flew by! We debated stopping at the Ward Charcoal Ovens on the way back, but we went to find dinner instead. I will chalk up the decision of not “doing all the things” to having 2 hungry and tired kids in the car! This concluded our time in Great Basin National Park.
Day 3 leaving Great Basin:
The next morning, we drove back to the Las Vegas area and stopped at Cathedral Gorge State Park on the way. (see my post on that here). It wasn’t quite half-way back, but it was a good stop off to break up the drive. The park had some amazing views, interesting rock formations, and slot canyons to explore. We hiked around a bit and took in the sights. After about an hour exploring, we felt that we got our fill. We got back in the car and headed home.
I’m really glad we added this stop to our trip. It was really a hidden gem just off the side of the road. It was definitely worth the stop! I recommend! I have more details included under my NV State Parks post as well.
Recommendations and lessons learned:
1. Lehman Caves are a must.
2. I’d stay in Baker instead of Ely so the drive in and out of the park is more convenient and you can better maximize your time in the park.
3. With a shorter drive by staying in Baker, I’d get to Wheeler Peak early to secure parking and explore hiking trails there. I felt that it was a missed opportunity to not see the Bristlecone Pines (some of the oldest in the world), the Alpine Lakes on the Wheeler Peak Trail.
4. Also, with a shorter drive, I’d take advantage of the star gazing programs or self-pursue star gazing.
5. I definitely recommend Cathedral Gorge as a stop off to or from the Great Basin if you’re coming from the Vegas direction.