Great Basin

 

It was good to get out of Utah. I had only spent one night there in the holy city of provo, but that was more than enough.

Being a former Tahoe resident  crossing the border into Nevada felt like coming home. Even though it looked the same as Utah.

Now I didn’t travel very far into Nevada for this first night because I wanted to stay in Great Basin National Park. I even stopped at the park's visitor center to check to see if the campgrounds were open.

The Lower Lehman camp was indeed open, the road and sites had been cleared of snow, but some snow was still hanging on, I was told. The tours of the caves were still closed for the season, and that was all right with me.

Nothing That A Gingham Table Cloth Couldn't Handle

To get to the paved road that goes up to the accessible part of Great Basin Park you have to go through the town of Baker.

Lot Of Area To Cover When The Road Is Open

Now one of the reasons I wanted to stay in the park was because I thought I had never been here but looking around I had previously been in Baker on a motorbike road trip I think around 2018.

Baker Street Art

We never went into the park on that trip but did stay in a  dated cabin in the towns RV park.

RV Park Cabins My Traveling Compadre Really Liked The Gravel Driveway

Going into the park and spending the night would still be a first so up the road I went to Lower Lehman.

The camp only has 15 or so dry sites, the water wasn’t on yet, and the sites were not level but for $10.00 the fresh smells of the pinion and juniper pines just budding out, the sound of a clear stream, and a night sky if it hadn’t gotten cloudy, made it all worth it.

High  Country Great Basin 

The park road extends all the way to the high country, but the road to the summit wasn’t open yet. Perhaps another visit to this park is required

Not far from Great Basin national park is the town of Ely Nevada, home to the northern Nevada Railroad Museum.

Some Of The Trains At The Museum 

This had been a previous stop too, but as long as I am in the neighborhood, the museum is worth a visit.

The museum has all the regular trains, shops, old buildings, that you can wander around, and look at their collection. The trains also move around, and they offer rides but not today.

Perhaps the most famous thing about the museum was it’s cat Dirt

I met dirt on my last visit, but he only lived until 2023. His sidekick Dirt Junior or DJ has assumed the role of Top Cat. I looked for him but didn’t see him. Perhaps he was out murdering songbirds.

Dirt's Grave

Ely is not a very big place, and food options are limited, but when I found Racks that advertises itself as “Non-Smoking” I figured that was the place to go.

The food was good, the air was clear, the people nice and I remembered eating here on my prior trip.