Baker, Ely and Wells Nevada - Great Basin Natl Park

We arrived into Baker, NV at the Whispering Elms RV park on April 27.  Baker is in the middle of nowhere, except it is the closest town to the Great Basin National Park.  We had full hookup site and the park was very quiet.  The park and motel was used more as a pass through location, then anyone staying for longer periods of time.

On Saturday, we had a beautiful day, so we went up into the park hoping to take a hike into the Bristlecone Pine Grove, but since there was still snow in the higher elevations of the park, we could only travel to about 8500' elevation to the Osceola Ditch Trail.  We also drove a couple of the gravel roads within the park to include the Baker Creek and walked around at the Grey Cliffs camping area and also the Baker Creek Loop Trail.  We then drove to another entrance to the park, and drove along the Snake Creek.

At the ranger station we inquired about the Bristlecone Pine and since they grow best in the harshest climates, around 9500 - 11,000 elevation.  The grove has trees that are 2 - 7 thousand years old, which are the oldest trees in the world.  They have one planted by the lodge that was about 500 years old, but as the ranger said, this one looks very different than those up in the higher elevations and most likely will not last as long.  We took a picture of the trunk that was displayed (estimated to be about 4900 years old) in the Visitor Center and also a picture of one of the trees in their video.

Since the weather was so nice (rain and mixed snow showers being predicted) we drove about 60 miles to Ely, NV to tour the Nevada Northern Railway.  We walked through the museum and then took a tour of the Machine Shop for the trains - of course, Craig loved that part.

This is a National Historic Landmark and is America's best preserved short line and complete rail facility to include paperwork, office equipment and supplies and all the buildings and much of the equipment that was there when the East Ely Yard was operational.  The site was constructed in 1905 - 06 and closed in 1983.  The museum is dedicated to the preservation of the trains, building and equipment used at the Northern Railway.  They currently have a couple of steam engine trains operational for train rides and are in the process of restoring additional engines.

Snow Blower to clear tracks.  

Caboose that will be restored.

Shop Cat for 10 years - "Dirt"

Lehman Cave tour on Monday - We took the 1 1/2 hour tour through the caves.  There are actually 42 caves in the park, but this one is the only one open to the public.  In the early 1900s, the boy scouts and Elks lodge used the lodge room to hold meetings.  In 1920 the lodge room was used as a Speak Easy as part of the prohibition.  In 1960 the movie "Wizard of Mars" was filmed in the lodge room.

Shield formatons - only 70 caves in the US
have these formations.

On Wednesday, May 2 we travelled to Wells, NV and stayed two nights.  On Thursday, we drove to West Wendover, NV and then to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.  In West Wendover they have a neon sign of Wendover Will in the middle of the road.  It was built in 1952 and stands 1,184 feet tall. It signifies "Where the West begins".

We drove first out to the Speedway on the Bonneville salt flats, but most of the racing takes place from July - September.  Records in excess of 600 mph have been set during the World of Speed events.

The tree of Utah sometimes called the Tree of Life, is an 87 foot sculpture that was created by a Swedish artist in the 1980s and dedicated in 1986.  There is no legal pull of of I80 to stop and take pictures, so anyone doing so could get a ticket?!  We heard the cost of this sculpture was about 2.5 million and now they are trying to raise additional money to get an Interpretive Center and rest stop put in.

Next time through the Baker area we hope to check out the Cathedral Gorge State Park which is south of Baker and about 60 miles towards Ely, we would like to visit Cave Lake State Park.

From Wells we drove to Caldwell, ID to meet up with friends.