Great Basin Visitor Center

A must stop on your way to visit Great Basin National Park. Very interesting exhibits and helpful staff.

Stopped in here for some information for the next day. Great facility and a lot of information inside. We watched a 20 minute movie here that was very helpful in giving us a background of the park. Rangers here we're super helpful.

On my way to Lehman Caves, I first came upon the entrance to the Great Basin Park where the visitor center is located. There is no fee for this national park so there's no need to stop to pay your fee. However, if you don't stop, you'll miss a lot of the history of the Great Basin and miss your chance to see a slab of the Prometheus Tree.

Prometheus was thought to be one of the oldest if not the oldest non-clonal thing on Earth at an age estimated at 4,862 years old and possibly more than 5,000. The ranger at the desk explained one version of why the tree was cut down. In the 1960s, a researcher was trying to do core samples to count the rings. The technology of the day was not good enough and the core samples were not effective. He then asked for permission from the US Forest Service to cut down the tree.

The last part of this description is open to different stories. Some say it was plain stupidity to cut down such an old tree. Some say the US Forest Service was not involved in the decision. I guess you can believe what you want. In any case, 22 years after this action, the Great Basin National Park was established as a way of protecting these trees that grow generally at elevations of 10,000 feet and above.

The ranger also gave me a tip on where to hike after my tour of Lehman Caves. He was very helpful!

What's so great about the Great Basin? It's one of the most remote&least visited National Parks. While Yellowstone has crowds for Old Faithful&the bison herds, Great Basin NP is a place of cosmic solitude- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSGsVqRU4Kg And while the East Coast is comparatively older (geologically), Great Basin NP has some of the most ancient trees, including the Prometheus one. Great Basin NP feels ancient, if not timeless.

The Visitor Center is a great place to begin. It's clean (like the desert) There's a nice little gift shop. You can find pamphlets, maps, helpful rangers. One can behold the stump of the Prometheus tree, and learn what makes the Basin so great- https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/8497/great-basin-geology
It has Wheeler Peak, Nevada's highest point. Great Basin NP embodies extremes- ancient trees, ancient glaciers clinging onto the mountains, dry deserts, sagebrush. One will also learn that it's Nevada, not Colorado, that's the most mountainous state in the US.

A pleasant oasis in a spectacular spot.

National Park visitor centers are always a treat and GBVC is no exception. Helpful people (as expected!), useful information on the park and a few trinkets and souvenirs to commemorate your visit to this awesome park.

Great Basin is not the most accessible national park. So stopping in here for advice on how best to enjoy the park is highly recommended.

Note: this is not the Yelp page for the park itself. Go here for that:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/great-basin-national-park-baker

I love the National Parks and this is one of my favorites.

The visitor center is very accessible. The staff are friendly and helpful and very knowladgable about the park. The store sells the usual NPS stuff and is a great place to get your Passport stamps and stickers (I am SUCH a geek) and books and cofffe mugs (the new ones are BEAUTIFUL) and Camelback water bottles.

They have maps and can provide guidance to make the whole park experience the best for you.

There is a small cafe attached to the visitor center and the food is amazing. It's homemade food. The service was great and fast. They have a lot of food options for everyone (meat/veggie/ect). The French fries were SO GOOD! If you are in the area, definitely stop in. There isn't much around, but this is the gem in the park!

Also, they have some cute gifts in the shop!

We were on a road trip and were unsure of whether or not to stop at Great Basin. We had heard mixed things. DO IT. It's a great park! The visitor center has some cool things. There are beautiful views, nice forested areas, NO BEARS, and lots of deer. We got some great photos of deer frolicking around our campsite. We had an AWESOME campsite for only $12! Pas the visitor center, there is a place where you can go on guided cave tours (you can only see them with a guide) which I did not go on because we had our dog with us (dogs aren't allowed in the caves) but my husband went and got some great photos. It's not as well known or talked about, but it's a beautiful national park.

Yet again, our government lies to us. The online NPS website lists the opening time of the visitor center to be 0800 everyday, so we plan our trip accordingly. We arrive shortly after 0800 on a Friday and find a sign on the door that shows an 1100 opening time. So what are we supposed to do for the next 3 hours?

Unacceptable government incompetence at its best. Knowing that my tax dollars and park fees goes to this type of behavior is depressing.

For those who want to see even a piece of Prometheus, the almost mythical 5000+ year old Bristle Cone pine that was accidentally cut down that helped prompt Congress to create Great Basin NP in the first place, this is a must stop. This is for the most part your typical NPS visitor center with friendly and helpful staff, a modest selection of trinkets, t-shirts, stickers, souvenirs and exhibits. But for those in the know, the piece of Prometheus they have on display is a crown jewel, and yes you can touch it. Try explaining how old it is to a 7 year old and watch as their eyes light up and they reach out their hand to it and you'll know that long drive to get here was so worth it.

4 Stars. Don't blow past it on your way to the rest of the park. Take a few minutes and stop in...you won't regret it. Plus if you have kids with you this is a mandatory bathroom stop. It's not like you have a lot of other options around.

The visitors center is nice. The restroom is open 24 hours a day and very clean.

The rangers are very informative of the area we were going to backpack in.

We will likely come back the next time we plan a trip to the Great Basin.