The Great Basin

The Great Basin region of the United States is a series of alternating mountain ranges and wide valleys stretching across Nevada and western Utah. The mountain ranges run north to south, breaking up the monotony of the Nevada landscape. The alternating mountain ranges and valleys formed through a process of faulting and stretching of the crust.

I confess to seldom thinking of Nevada as a place to explore as a naturalist. It has long seemed a place to just pass through while en route to more interesting destinations. However, in my first trip across central Nevada from the Sierra near the Tahoe region to Great Basin National Park in the western reaches of the state, I was stuck by the unexpected beauty of the landscape.

Heading west to east, the parallel ranges of mountains seem to have become increasingly attractive. The Toiyabe and Egan ranges in central Nevada in particular were notable. Most of the ranges are still wearing crowns of snow which add some vibrancy to the earthen tones of the landscape. Junipers became more frequent towards the eastern part of the state, forming pygmy forests at higher elevations.

Sand Mountain (left) and the Egan Range (right).

Traversing Nevada, I stopped only briefly at places, to photograph the mountains and look at weathered petroglyphs off the highway. US route 50, which winds through the basins and ranges is proudly advertised as “the loneliest road in America”.

Approaching the eastern edge of Nevada, the bright white Wheeler Peak came into view from the previous range to the west. At over 13,000 ft elevation, it forms the centerpiece of Great Basin National Park, an oasis of forest and snow. The main entrance to the park is on the eastern side, nearly in Utah. There, Lehman Creek runs off Wheeler Peak towards the lowlands.

Great Basin National Park, as viewed from near Sacramento Pass.

 Yesterday evening I hiked along part of the trail that follows the creek up the slopes of the mountains. There, at about 8000’, was a fairly dense forest that reminded me superficially of the forested Cascades, though the main conifer species differed. Single leaf pinyon pines (Pinus monophylla) was the dominant species, joined by at least two other conifers: Rocky Mountain fir, and Engelmann’s spruce. The most attractive trees to me were not the conifers, but white-barked hardwoods, still leafless, which I think are probably quaking aspens (Populus tremuloides). Their white or grey trunks (sometimes taking on greenish or orange hues), stood like skeletons, waiting to be clothed again with new leaves for another growing season.

Populus trees at about 8000 ft elevation near Lehman Creek.

According to the Park Service ranger, this is the most
iconic feature of Lehman Caves and is known as the
"parachute". It combines several types of formations
including "shields" (at top), "drapery", and "columns".

This morning I availed myself of perhaps the main attraction of the park, Lehman Caves. Following a guide for an hour and a half, our group walked through narrow passageways and larger chambers, observing thousands of limestone sculptures, each slowly built over hundreds or thousands of years and each unique. There is an entire geologic vocabulary for the major shapes formed by the precipitates, names which include columns, drapery, soda straws, shields, and popcorn. In the array of formations, Lehman Cave was much like the Oregon Caves that I visited last summer.

After the undulation of the Great Basin, I am off to the Colorado Plateau.

References

Kauffman ME. 2013. Conifers of the Pacific Slope. Backcountry Press, Kneeland, CA.

Little EL. 1979. Forest trees of the United States and Canada, and how to identify them. Dover Publications Inc., New York

"Soda straws" on the ceiling of the cave. All stalagtites start their existence as soda straws.

More "drapery" from the cave.

Single leaf pinyon. Along with juniper, this species
was very common in Great Basin National Park.