Camping at Great Basin National Park

Wheeler Peak from the Scenic Drive

 I confess I am a fan of the national park system. Having unique parts of America set aside and preserved and made accessible to the average person is, in my opinion, a good thing. Each national park I have visited has its own wonderful characteristics. I have loved spending time in Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Zion, and Yellowstone. This year we decided to venture to a less-visited national park  Great Basin National Park is known for Lehman Caves, and bristlecone pines. As I researched things we wanted to do at the park, I realized it was far enough away that a day trip wasn't going to work. Our best option for truly seeing this park was to camp in one of the park's five developed campgrounds.

Lehman Caves

After a stop at the visitor's center, we arrived in the Upper Lehman campground in a driving rain. We drove slowly around the campground loops, trying to find a likely tent spot. Finally, we pulled over and parked in a vacant space, opened the cooler and assembled sandwiches, and ate lunch while we waited for the weather to improve. Eventually the rain stopped, and we got out to tramp around our potential camp site. Not enough room for our family-sized tent. Back to the loop we went. We finally chose a camping site I nicknamed "A River Runs Through It" for the small river that ran under the picnic table each time it rained. However, it did have ample room for the tent.

Having had a rather unfortunate rainy camping experience in the past, we were determined to do a better job on this camping trip. My daughter and I strung a tarp over the picnic table area, sheltering our camp kitchen, while my husband and son pitched the tent. We got the basics in place before the thunder, lightning, and rain began again. When the sun came out later in the trip, this tarp also provided welcome shade.

Tarp over our "camp kitchen."

Here are some tips I found for camping in the rain:
1)  Use tarps to shelter areas in your camp. (You can also string a tarp over your tent site if you have to pitch your tent in the rain).
2)  Put a ground cloth/liner INSIDE your tent, and let it curve slightly up the tent walls.  This keeps you and your sleeping bags and gear dry inside the tent even when the ground is pretty wet. We tried that on this trip, and it worked out really well!
3)  Keep firewood in garbage bags so it is dry when you are ready to use it.

Dinner is cooking during a rainstorm.

Upper Lehman campground was beautiful! We were near the creek,and took our camp chairs down to the water more than once. We did some bird watching, read books, sketched and painted, and just relaxed. It is a beautiful place to camp.

Creek near our camp site.

Great Basin National Park has several improved campgrounds. The campsites have a fire pit, tent site, and one or two picnic tables. There are also well-ventilated vault toilets around the campground. These were clean and well-maintained. Campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. There are NO reservations. Campgrounds can fill up on weekends and holidays in the summer time. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon in July and had no trouble getting a camp site. However, by late Friday night, the campground was pretty full, so plan on arriving early. The Lower Lehman Campground can accommodate RVs. Trailers longer than 24' are not allowed on the scenic drive, which is your only access to Upper Lehman and Wheeler Peak Campgrounds. Camp sites cost $12 per night, and entrance to Great Basin National Park is free.

Not a camper? Limited accommodations are available in the nearby town of Baker, NV.

The Art of Preparing for a Camping Trip

Alpine Lakes Trail - Great Basin National park

I am planning an upcoming car & tent camping trip and here are some things I have learned along the way.

1) Start early in preparing. Last time I camped (and it has been awhile!), I promised myself I would go through the camping "kitchen" box and clean it out, update it, add a few items, etc. Well, when we got home from our last camping trip, we put everything away, and I never did get around to that camp kitchen box.

This week, in anticipation of our upcoming trip, I got my daughter to help me drag the kitchen box out of the garage. Now our garage doubles as a squirrel haven, so things get a bit messy. We knocked some stray walnuts off the lid, opened the container and my daughter said "These dishes are kind of dusty, Mom." Thank goodness for the quick wash button on the dishwasher. In re-packing the box, I noticed we needed some things for our next trip. I like to have this kitchen box up to date. It is part of my emergency preparedness. We headed to the dollar store and bought some large spoons for cooking and serving, 2 dish pans for washing and rinsing dishes, a couple of serrated knives for cutting things like tomatoes, and some fresh salt and pepper in shakers. I dug through a kitchen drawer and added some hot pads, dish rags, and towels. My kitchen box has basic dishes (some paper, some more durable), mixing bowls, a set of camping pots and pans, a non-stick frying pan,matches, garbage bags, freezer bags, and some containers for leftover food. It also has a can opener and dish soap.

Update your kitchen box.

In a separate picnic bag, I have paper towels, paper plates, cups, utensils, and a tablecloth. We will use that at the campsite and when we are picnicking from our car. (For more tips on picnicking on the road, click here.)

2) Good equipment makes a difference. We are car campers. Several years ago we bought a small tent from a local sporting goods store that was going out of business. It served us well when our kids were small, but as they grew and we felt a bit more adventuresome, we thought we should invest in roomier, sturdier tent. One year we took our little tax refund and bought a nice canvas tent that holds all five of us fairly comfortably.  Again, I figure this tent is part of my emergency preparedness supplies. We have used it several times, and it still looks new. Now last time we went camping, it rained all while we were trying to set up camp, all through dinner, and on into the evening. The small tent (which was to hold a couple kids), was too wet and not up to the weather. We didn't have rain ponchos. We didn't have a tarp or canopy or anything to protect our cooking/eating area. We did have garbage bags, so everyone put one on for some protection from the rain,  and we assembled a cold dinner with our pre-cooked taco meat. We ate quickly, and then retreated to our tent for a damp night. The tent held up pretty well, though. It was a good investment.  New equipment this year:  rain ponchos, tarps, rope.

Our tent was a great investment.

3)  The more you prepare ahead of time, the easier camp life will be. This year I am planning on stringing up at least one tarp for shade and rain protection in camp. I searched online for images of the campground, and it looks like there are trees we can use when putting up the tarps. Everyone has a rain poncho, and I am taking umbrellas, and garbage bags to put things in so they don't get wet. I have also made some food ahead of time and have done my shopping for this trip.  Since we don't camp really often, and since this is my vacation for the summer, I want to have good food, so I am putting in a little more effort at home so that cooking at camp is easier. Garbage bags can also be used to keep firewood and kindling dry. We have re-fueled our camp stove as well, and have charcoal for the Dutch oven.

Preparing dry ingredients ahead of time makes camp cooking easier.

4)  Check your batteries before you go. Every battery powered flashlight and camping lantern we own had dead batteries, and there was not a spare "D" battery in the house! During that shopping trip I bought new batteries for all of our lights, and we should make it through the camping trip just fine. I am making a note for myself to get more batteries to have on hand at home. These lights are what we use during power outages, and clearly we were unprepared.

5)  Plan Activities, and then Let the Trip Happen. I find it is good to research where we are going and to plan things to do while we are there. However, part of the beauty of a camping trip is to have time to just hang out at camp and not do a whole lot. On this trip I have games we can play at camp (in the tent if it is raining), and I always take a book to read. We are planning on a hike and visiting a cave. Beyond that, we will just see what each day brings. I have bird books and binoculars for bird watching, a star book for stargazing, and plenty of snacks. It will take me almost as many days to get ready for this trip as we will spend camping, but hopefully the extra preparation will make for a more relaxed trip!

Happy Camping!