I visited the great basin this last September 2007 and found myself in a very "primative land". It felt like nothing had touched it and nothing was about to touch it. I drove on highway 93 for hours into Utah and only passed one car in the Shoshone Valley. The forest ranger was a hero, she led me to the shortest destination for gas. See there is not much of anything in the great basin. Baren land that you could tell was once underwater and the walls of black color Mountains were so high and granderous that I almost felt like I should be swimming. I use the word primative becasue on my travel the was a dead cow that the coyotes were eating along side the road, and the dark large birds were so wide winged that they soured like they owned the air and everything around. Truely a place untouched and I felt so full of the earth as I traveled through. To this very day I can recall the most stars I have ever witnessed in my life was the Sky in ELY, Nevada. Just as I turned off from highway 50 onto highway 93 the only signs of life was a rustic place called Major place where I purchased indian hand made granit rock earrings for a cool price of 5.00. The picture is current on my wallpaper and will remain for a long time. If you ever have the time and chance to go through, the sun, earth, stars and animal life will not dissapoint you. Have your cameras ready. Also the hunting in Eureka Nevada was in abundance and I saw many hunters with prize game in the back of their trucks.

Great Basin National Park is the second least visited National Park in the National Park Service system.

There are several reasons for this, but for spectacular views, real camping without another camper on your doorstep and great hiking country, this is hard to beat. Added to the National Park system only two decades ago, GBNP is not well known. Add to this its somewhat isolated location and its easier to understand why less than 100,000 guests visit the park each year.

There is no entrance fee. Camping fees, (nightly in the $8-10 range) and cave tour charges are about the only costs you will incur.

There is a small gift shop and cafe at the park's headquarters location, but no other facilities are offered. Firewood is not sold in the park. This is not the place to go if you have health problems because there is nowhere to go for medical help within an hour's fast drive. Virtually all emergency services are provided by volunteers, most of them park service employees. There is no local airport, no bus service and no railroad. Even mountain emergency rescues are usually done by the highly competent, but understaffed Park Rangers and their dedicated crews and there is no helicopter service in the area.

But during the summer months the park is a secluded oasis in the middle of the great Nevada desert, 100 miles from any city and interstate highway. Part of the Snake Range of mountains, the park is high altitude; from about 5,000 feet AGL to over 10,000 feet on the summit of Wheeler Peak.

There are four main campgrounds, (I stayed in two of them: Baker Creek and Wheeler Peak), with a total of about 120 camp sites and there are some primitive camping areas as well. With the exception of the Wheeler Peak campground, all others will accommodate most RV's and all have excellent facilities for tent campers, something that is now harder and harder to find in any parks because of the dominance of RV's on the national camping scene. Wheeler Peak Campground is reached by an eight mile long narrow paved road with no turnouts and sharp switchbacks. The Park Service discourages large RV's from taking this road, but each year a few start up the six percent grade thinking they know better. Once you start up, there is no way to turn around and go back down until you get to the top or to the one overview area big enough for turning around.

Each campground has a dedicated volunteer camp host during the summer months. There are no telephones and cell service is not available in the area. The camp hosts each have a single VHF handheld radio and this is their only communication with the outside world. These folks are not Park employees and work for the enjoyment of it. They get no pay and few perks other than their campsite. They do not collect fees, but patrol the camp areas offering help ranging from advice on days trips to maps and even help for stranded hikers. In the event of an emergency, additional help may be at least 8 miles away.

This is not Yellowstone. Facilities are limited. There is no electricity in any campground and the park has one dump station, (fee), near the park headquarters. Campfires are permitted unless there is a fire risk and at the present time, any wood dead and on the ground can be picked up and used for firewood.

The nearest civilization is Baker, Nevada, a tiny town without even a stoplight. Baker has a single, self-service gas station, (credit cards only), two restaurants, both of which sell some groceries and a couple of small RV campgrounds. There are no facilities for automobile repairs and the nearest town is Ely, Nevada, about 90 miles west across part of what has been dubbed "The Loneliest Road in America." To the East, across the Utah border, it's 85 desert miles to Delta, where stores and other conveniences are also in evidence. Big cites, like Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, are hundreds of miles away.

So why go to Great Basin? Here are a few reasons: A fine cave with guided tours, good campsites for tents and small, self-sufficient RV's; no bears, great hiking for the hardy or the novice; first class, unspoiled back country with many peaks to climb and thousands of acres of high altitude alpine woods with lakes and the famous Bristle Cone Pines, the oldest living things on earth.

If you are tired of crowded next to the interstate park lands, Great Basin is perhaps worth a visit.

If you go, take plenty of your own provisions, and prepare as you would for primitive camping. This is not the place to roll into with your 40-foot $300,000 motor home and expect a level site with power, water, satellite TV and sewage at your site side. (There is a Campgrounds of American in Ely and two smaller camps in Baker).