Great Basin National Park

Today was an unusual day for me. I woke up at 5:30 AM really looking forward to the ride. I knew it would be a reasonable distance (62 miles) with only 2 passes to climb. I left the RV park in Ely, Nevada about 6:30 and when I had ridden only 3.5 miles I had another flat – this time on the rear tire. As this was my 2nd flat on the same type of tire I really just wanted to replace the tire with a “Hard Case” like I now had on my front wheel. Also, in the back of my mind I really wanted to spend some time in Great Basin National Park, including having time to tour Lehman Caves. So, I called Steve, asked him to come pick me up, and decided to change tires in the evening and go to the park with Steve.


It turned out that Dana and Lisa had really favorable tailwinds and made the ride in record time. They said it was the easiest ride so far. I would have had time to ride and visit the park, though fixing the flat would have proven difficult and taken more time than normal (the tire was so “stiff” that neither Dana nor I could get it off of the rim and ended up getting Steve to help us; and I’ve been struggling for about 15 minutes to get the piece of glass out of the tire and still haven’t been able to do so).

Steve and I really loved Great Basin. Lehman Cave is probably the most beautiful cave I’ve ever been in, and I’ve been in a lot of caves. The ride up to above 10,000 feet is spectacular with scenery so different than what we’ve been riding through. I did a ½ mile nature walk and would have enjoyed doing some hiking if we had had more time.

We are staying tonight in Baker, NV which is 5 miles from the entrance to Great Basin National Park. This town has a population of only 159 but has two outstanding restaurants. It has no cell service and a post office that is open “now and then”. One of the wonderful things about this trip is that we are travelling on “roads less travelled” and seeing parts of our country that most will never see. The people have been wonderfully friendly, the food has been good, and the scenery at times spectacular. This is truly the trip of a lifetime.

Lehman Caves in Great Basin National Park

Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park