Great Basin National Park Trip Review

The Great Basin National park is a great park to learn about how different animals live at different levels. Plus there is Lehman Cave that is great to explore. There is lots of fun hiking trails to take and enjoy being in a great park. You can travel up to just over 10,000 feet in elevation. We love this trip it was full of lots of learning.

Name: Great Basin National Park
Location: Baker, NV
Website: http://www.nps.gov/grba/index.htm
Length of stay: 5 hours

There are two different visitor centers: Great Basin Visitor Center and Lehman Caves Visit Center. The main visitor center has information about the whole park and great learning displays about the animals and plants you can find in the park. They are great for learning about some of the life. In the Lehman Caves Visitor Center there is information about the caves and features in the cave and a wall display that shows animals on each of the different elevation (5,000 to 13,000).

Lehman Cave area great chance to explore and learn about caves. You can take two different tours a 60 minute or a 90 minute. We took the 90 minute tour. Be aware there is an age limit on going in. You go in and learn about the cave and its features.

Before going in the cave they gave you a chance to hold some limestone cave features. This was fun to look at how they looked and see the lines and colors. I recommend wearing a jacket in the cave it can be very cold.

Once in the caves they lead you in through a cement tunnel and show you how they used to see the caves with a candle. Then you learn about the features in the cave and take the rest of the tour. It is a great tour through the cave. Be sure your kids are watching where they are going and not touching anything. The tour is great and lots to learn about. The whole cave tour is fun and you can look at the many different.

We did the drive up to Wheeler Peak and started on the hike to the Bristlecone Pines. We did not complete the whole trail but enjoyed the hike. The girls lead the way. They had fun looking at the rocks and how different they were. We saw many layers in the rocks and took pictures of several to look at afterwards. This was a great way of comparing the layers. Be aware that it can be colder up here than lower below.

Don’t forget when at a National Pack to check out the Junior Ranger Program! It is loads of fun and they learn and earn badges for it!

I thought we would highlight some of the cave books we read and one national park one. These are all ones we enjoyed.

Caves and Caverns is a great book for exploring and learning about caves. It shows all the features caves and how they are formed.

Caves (Nature in Action) is a great book about caves with good pictures for kids to look at.

Caves (Landforms) another one for learning about cave formation and good size text for older kids to read on their own.

Cave Animals (Animals in Their Habitats) is a great book to learn about the animals that live ins various types of caves.

Cave: Look Inside is another book about the animals you can find in the caves or all kinds. It is interesting to see all the different types.

The Great Basin National Park has one of the animals from: Antelope, Bison, Cougar: A National Park Wildlife Alphabet Book. It is fun read for a book plus learn about the animals as well!

Have some fun and learn about caves! They are wonderful to learn and see!

Cassie – 3Dinosaurs.com