The Alpine Lakes Loop Trail at Great Basin National Park is a 2.7 mile trail that passes two glacial lakes. It starts and finishes at the end of Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive. The elevation gain is 600 feet.
With a 4,000 foot elevation gain over just 12 miles, the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive at Great Basin National Park will have you wonder if you’ve been suddenly transported from Nevada to Colorado. The stark contrast between the desert at the beginning of the road and the sub-alpine forest at the end is simply amazing.
Just outside the Lehman Caves Visitor Center at Great Basin National Park is the Mountain View Nature Trail, a short and easy informative trail that takes visitors through a pinyon-juniper forest.
One of the most popular activities at Great Basin National Park is to visit the Lehman Caves. Discovered by Absalom Lehman in 1885, the caves are home to several small creatures including bats, spiders, and mites, and are full of spectacular formations. Cave bacon, stalactites, and stalagmites are everywhere.
Great Basin National Park is a remote park in the middle of the Nevada desert with several unique ecosystems. This peaceful park is the perfect place to go if you’re looking to get away from the crowds.
In the 1890s, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent settlers from Salt Lake City to establish new communities. A group of families settled in the Antelope Flats area of Jackson Hole in what is now Grand Teton National Park. This community was named Grovont (Gros Ventre) but is now known as Mormon Row.
The tiny town of Moose, Wyoming, now sits within the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park and is the location of the park headquarters. Just to the north of the town is the ½ mile long Menor’s Ferry Trail which takes you through the Menor’s Ferry Historic District.
US Highway 89 in Wyoming runs through Grand Teton National Park. There are several turnouts along the road and a few points of interest to stop at. We stopped at a few of these spots during our trip down the road from Colter Bay Campground to Jackson. Each turnout gives a unique angle of the mountains but I had bad luck with the weather and could barely see them.
On our drive from Colter Bay Campground to Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park, we went down a stretch of Teton Park Road. There are a few turnouts and points of interest that we stopped at along the way.
Jenny Lake is one of the most scenic and popular areas of Grant Teton National Park. It was also its first developed area. After setting up camp at Colter Bay, we packed lunches, drove to Jenny Lake, and set off on a late afternoon hike.