Great Basin National Park
The Great Basin is a vast area of sagebrush covered valleys and narrow mountain ranges. The name is derived from a peculiarity of drainage over most of the area. Streams and rivers find no outlet to the sea. Instead, water collects in shallow salt lakes, marshes and mud flats where it evaporates in the dry, desert air. There is not just one basin, but many, all separated by mountain ranges running parallel north to south. This area is from the Wasatch Mountains of Utah to the Sierra Nevadas of California. This is a vast area and as we traveled east to west along Highway 50, it was obvious why Highway 50 is known as the Loneliest Road, rightly named. The mountains are outstanding. In the south Snake Range there are 13 peaks which rise above 11,000 feet.
The Great Basin is a vast area of sagebrush covered valleys and narrow mountain ranges. The name is derived from a peculiarity of drainage over most of the area. Streams and rivers find no outlet to the sea. Instead, water collects in shallow salt lakes, marshes and mud flats where it evaporates in the dry, desert air. There is not just one basin, but many, all separated by mountain ranges running parallel north to south. This area is from the Wasatch Mountains of Utah to the Sierra Nevadas of California. This is a vast area and as we traveled east to west along Highway 50, it was obvious why Highway 50 is known as the Loneliest Road, rightly named. The mountains are outstanding. In the south Snake Range there are 13 peaks which rise above 11,000 feet.
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