Lehman Caves
Our guide, a senior experienced ranger with kind and laughing eyes, said that Lehman caves are the most spectacular caves in the USA. And that’s totally true! Unforgettable experience! Caves consist of many huge ’rooms’ full of stalactites and stalagmites of different shapes. That’s one of the biggest cave systems in the USA and for sure the most dazzling.
There are many legends about how the cave was discovered by Absalom Lehman, some tell that his horse accidentally broke through a crust that covered the natural entrance, and some say that Lehman and his horse almost fell down into the cave while he was pursuing the packrat. Nobody knows the real story behind this discovery and it seems that the truth will be buried forever.
Native Americans knew of the cave long before Ab Lehman and his brother began the exploration in 1885. After the brothers realized that they found a real wonder, they decided to make the show cave and opened the business for the tourists. In the beginning, they allowed visitors to take any part of stalactites and stalagmites as souvenirs, for sure for some payment, but soon they figured out that the cave started to be significantly damaged by the tourists and they tried to preserve the original look of the cave. Nowadays cave is being studied by scientists and nobody is allowed to take anything out of them or even touch the rocks because oil on the human hands can damage the microclimate. There’s still natural water in the cave, cave formations are still naturally growing and you can see new small ones that have been developing during the last hundred years.
Tours
Caves can be entered only with guided tours led by a ranger, no self-guided tours are allowed. Some may say that guided tours are always better as you can learn more from them, some prefer wandering alone as you can feel being closer to nature and its wonders. Anyway.. unfortunately, you don’t have an option here, but I’d want to say that our guide transformed our hike into a magical journey and I’d really want to say great thanks to him! Groups are not big, and you have enough time to take photos and feel the atmosphere.
They currently offer two tours – Grand Palace for ~1.5hr and smaller Gothic Palace that is a subset of the first one and takes ~30mins. If you’re visiting the cave for the first time, be sure to take tickets for the first, longer tour. But hurry up and do it in advance! Grand Palace was fully booked when we checked it only a couple days in advance, so we could book only a shorter tour to Gothic Palace. So… if you see that Grand Palace is still bookable, don’t hesitate for a moment and book it, otherwise, take tickets for a smaller one (mostly likely there’ll be some same-day spots for it on a weekday). We even came to the visitor center at 7:45 am the next day, right before its opening at 8 am, to check if some spots got free for Grand Palace, but unfortunately no…
Admission
- Gothic Palace: Adult (ages 16+) $8.00 / Youth (ages 5-15) $4.00
- Grand Palace: Adult (ages 16+) $15.00 / Youth (ages 5-15) $8.00
You can check the prices and buy a ticket here.
More Info
Weather in caves tends to be very constant compared to surface conditions. The temperature in Lehman Caves is 50 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. Wear a light jacket and bring a flashlight or your cellphone. No food or drink is allowed in the cave.
Alert
Since 2006, bats have been dying in unprecedented numbers in the United States and Canada from white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fatal condition associated with exposure to the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Although humans aren’t susceptible, they can potentially spread the fungus between caves, mines, and other bat roost sites. In order to protect the bat population of Lehman Caves please be sure not to wear or carry anything into Lehman Caves that hasn’t been laundered or disinfected since the last time it was in another bat habitat, such as a cave, mine of lava tube.
A Land of Surprising Diversity
Great Basin national park is also called ‘A Land of Surprising Diversity’. By taking the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive you can experience the change of nature with elevation. The road starts almost in the deserty area, and at the end of it you’ll be definitely surprised by being surrounded by subalpine meadows and forests of limber pine. It’s also a great switch from the desert heat to alpine cold just in a few hours. We really enjoyed driving around the park and reached the highest overlook at 10000 ft (3049 m), although the cave tour was the park’s highlight, the views from the overlook are also really amazing!
Viewpoints and hikes
Many trails start at the Weeler Peak parking lot. Some are small, with many informational plates that introduce you to the bristlecone pine grove or meadows. Some longer trails will lead you to alpine lakes and the strongest can also summit the Weeler Peak itself, the second-highest peak in Nevada! 8.2 miles. 2,900 feet of elevation gain.
Camping
There are 4 campgrounds in the main park area. For now Upper and Lower Lehman campgrounds are available only by online reservations and Baker and Grey Cliffs campgrounds are first come first serve. Cell connection is poor at all campgrounds, so better to keep it in mind. All have pit toilets fire rings, tables, and tent pads. Wheeler Peak campground is also available for reservation but it opens only in mid-summer, like in July depending on snow weather conditions. We were in the park in mid-June and Wheeler Peak road was already opened but the campground was still closed.
Activities
- Hiking
- Cycling
- Scenic drives
- Camping
- Wildlife viewing