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The United States has four great deserts - the Great Basin, Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts. Of these, the Great Basin Desert is the country's only cold desert (the other three are considered typical "hot" deserts). The Great Basin Desert spans much of Nevada and Utah and offers a very different ecoregion to explore.
The Great Basin Desert is a stunning landscape to hike and camp. It is filled with isolated mountain ranges and forests, wild horses (or mustangs), Wild West ghost towns, abandoned mines and settlements, and relaxing hot springs. Compared to the Mojave Desert, few people visit the Great Basin Desert. It is a place where one can relax and enjoy the tranquility of complete solitude.
America's Only Cold Desert
The Great Basin Desert is the only cold desert in the United States where most of its precipitation is in the form of snow. It owes its existence to the rainshadow effect that's created by the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains in eastern California.
- Biologically Defined North American Deserts: Great Basin, Mojave, Sonoran, And Chihuahuan Deserts
- Desert: A Region With Less Than 10 Inches or 25 cm Of Precipitation Annually
- Type: Cold Desert
- Where: Mostly Nevada & Utah Also Parts of California and Idaho
Much of the desert is characterized by the alternating valleys and mountain ranges in the desert. There are over 33 peaks with summits exceeding 9,800 feet (3,000 m), while the valleys in the region are also high with most being above 3,900 feet (1,200 m).
- Valleys: Mostly Above 3,900 Feet In Elevation
The Biological Diversity Of The Great Basin Desert
The altitude in the Great Basin Desert has a large impact on the biological life living within it. It ranges from low salty dry lakes to rolling sagebrush valleys to pinyon-juniper forests.
The environment has also been influenced by the prehistoric Pleistocene lakes that dried up a few thousand years ago after the last ice age - notably Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville.
These lakes have left different amounts of salinity and alkalinity while the watermarks from their ancient shores can still be seen in the rocks. Visitors also explore archeological sites where ancient Native Americans once camped on their shores.
- Prehistoric Lakes: Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville
Parks And Protected Areas Of The Great Basin Desert
Much of the Great Basin Desert is protected with much of it belonging to the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest (the largest national forest outside of Alaska) and many wilderness areas being managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). It is also home to one National Park - the Great Basin National Park. Still, more land is protected in a series of wildlife refuges.
- National Park: Great Basin National Park
- Largest National Forest: Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest (Largest In The Lower 48)
Some protected areas of the Great Basin Desert include:
- Great Basin National Park
- Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
- Mount Grafton Wilderness
- South Egan Range Wilderness
- Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge
- Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge
- Fallon National Wildlife Refuge
- Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge
- Becky Peak Wilderness
- Bristlecone Wilderness
- Goshute Canyon Wilderness
Great Basin National Park - Home Of The Oldest Trees
The Great Basin National Park is located in east-central Nevada near Utah and the gateway to it is the small town of Baker.
- Established: 1986
- Location: East-Central Nevada 290 Miles North of Las Vegas
- Size: 77,180 acres (31,230 ha)
The Great Basin National Park is home to some of the oldest trees in the world - the ultra slow-growing Great Basin Bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva). It is worth seeing these ancient and hardy trees. They are shaped by the wind and snow. They are still growing after ice-ages and catastrophic volcanic eruptions.
- Oldest Trees: The Great Basin Bristlecone Pines Are the Oldest non-Clonal Species On Earth
- See: The Great Basin Bristlecone Pines, Lehman Caves, And Wheeler Peak Glacier
Another notable attraction in the Great Basin National Park is the Lehman Caves at the base of the Wheeler Peak (which rises to 13,063-foot or 3,982 meters). While there see the Wheeler Peak Glacier - sometimes said to be the southernmost glacier in the Northern Hemisphere (although the Himalayas in Asia and Palisade Glacier in California are further south).
Next time when crossing the United States on a road trip, don't drive straight through the Great Basin Desert, instead, take one's time to explore this often forgotten landscape (and Nevada's historic Charcoal Ovens).