On our last day here in Nevada we made one more trip into Great Basin National Park. At the visitor's center we asked for the guide for the .3 mile hike which starts at the right of the center , goes up and around the back of the center, and ends on the left of the center. Along the trail we learned about the development of the area starting 700 million years ago to the present.
About 1869 a roamer/miner named Ab Lehman came to the Snake Valley
and traded mining for ranching. To bring water to the area
he diverted a stream from 2 miles away and ran it through that wooden sluice to wherever it was needed. Everyone was welcome to stop and rest at his ranch. The water helped him produce especially fine fruits, including apricots.
In 1885 Ab first entered a cave that he had known about for a while. Native people had used it before but had never gone farther than the entrance. Ab extensively explored the cave system and removed many stalagmites and stalactites to make the cave system accessible to visitors.
This info board gives an abbreviated geological explanation for the existence of the caves.
Ab kept the caves open to the public and led many tours himself until his death in 1891. The land around Lehman Cave (as it was and still is known) changed hands many times but the caves remained open to the public. In 1920 C. T. Rhodes acquired the property and began building his Lehman Cave Resort. Visitors could rent one of nine cabins (one recently restored on its original site), and when not exploring the caves or hills, could relax at the lodge, dance hall, swimming "tank" and dining room.
Rhodes and his wife ran the resort from 1920 until 1933.
The National Parks Service next acquired the property. In 1940 the Service blasted this new entrance to the caves and covered the old unsafe entrance with concrete which limited air flow and bat access. In 1997 the Service replaced the concrete with an open grate. Now bats have slowly returned to the caves.
Something else we learned was that the National Park is only a tiny part of the Great Basin for which it's named.
We were able to see the cliff (far left) and notch (middle) that were used by the Fremont people in the valley (see Down The Road blog). The present Baker Ranch is visible in the right foreground, about a mile from the Fremont village (out of sight behind the hill on the left).
The cliff and notch are on the House range in Utah.
It and the Snake Range which the Park encompasses are two of the ranges mentioned above.
The Nature Trail around the visitor's center is used as a short walk by most visitors who miss a lot by zipping around it. By taking the time to really see it we were greatly rewarded.
Moving day tomorrow,
Louise and Duane
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