ST. GEORGE — A cool breeze compliments the crunch of rocks and leaves underfoot as you climb upward. When you reach the alpine lake, the silence strikes you. There are no voices to distract you from its beauty. The solitude is a welcome relief at Great Basin National Park in a post-pandemic world.

You breathe clean air as your eyes dart from the water to the snow-capped Wheeler Peak. This trip will later land in Ely, Nevada, as your base camp for your weekend getaway.

Travis Mason-Bushman, chief of interpretation at Great Basin National Park, told St. George News the park is one of the least visited national parks in the United States. Visitors can trek on its most popular trails without finding crowds.

“If you go hiking in our backcountry, you might not see another person for days,” Mason-Bushman said. “You can get to the top of a 13,000-foot peak — the summit of the Snake Range here behind me, and in an afternoon, climb from the bottom of the Nevada desert all the way to one of the highest peaks in Nevada. That’s a special opportunity, especially given how many people have discovered many of the other parks.”

Great Basin National Park climbs from 6,200 feet in the Sagebrush desert valleys to 10,000 feet, where alpine lakes shimmer in the sun. Then, the park climbs to the glacier-carved mountain Wheeler Peak.

“There’s not a whole lot of other parks that can say they have caves, glaciers, mountains, sagebrush and an incredible human history as well. So I think this park has a wealth of opportunities for people to discover,” Mason-Bushman said.

The Lehman Caves and ancient Bristlecone pine forests are standout attractions at a National Park that offers various unique experiences.

Another highlight of Great Basin National Park is its inky, dark skies. Mason-Bushman said the park has some of the least polluted and clearest night skies in the United States. Astronomy Rangers will present programs at the Astronomy Amphitheater every Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday during the summer. Following the Astronomy Festival in September, programs take place on Saturdays until the Astronomy season ends in October.

One hour from the park, the historic town of Ely draws adventurers. The former mining town was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express route. Downtown, a series of murals celebrate the town’s history. Travelers can listen to an audio tour to guide them to the murals.

The town’s crown jewel is the Nevada Northern Railway Museum, a National Historic Landmark where visitors can experience a working railroad. Train rides are available during the day or evening. Riding on an original steam and diesel locomotive slows down time.

Mark Bassett, president of the Nevada Northern Railway, gazes over the vast machine shop separate from the train station. The shop was built in 1907 to repair the railroad’s locomotives and cars. He was overseeing repairs on locomotive 93. He told St. George News that the Federal Railroad Administration inspects locomotives for safety. The railroad grounds include over 70 structures and 30 miles of railroad track.

Bassett said his biggest challenge is training the next generation on how to repair the trains. The locomotive his crew was working on was built in 1909 and is hot riveted. He said it’s a technique that’s not used nowadays, so he has to capture that knowledge and that technique so this locomotive still operates. Bassett oversees the teens atop the locomotive: Jack, 14 and Chris, 17. Chris has been with the trains since he was 14, receiving hands-on training.

“I have to be able to maintain this equipment and to maintain this equipment. I need to teach the next generation how to do this,” Bassett said. “And as you can see, they’re in the thick of things up there, getting ready for the Federal Railroad Administration. And Jack is actually going into the boiler.”

Once locomotive #93 is repaired, it will haul excursion trains for a unique program called Hands-On History from the Northern Nevada Railway. The public is allowed to operate a train on a 14-mile round trip as the engineer. Bassett said the locomotive would burn about 2,500 pounds of coal shoveled into the firebox during the journey, with the fire temperature at 1500 to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It’s amazing. And if you don’t want to do that, you can ride with the engineer up in the cab to see what it takes to get a train over the hill,” Bassett said.

Patrons can also ride the train in the evening and experience the night sky with astronomers pointing out the stars. Throughout the year, special events such as the Santa’s Reindeer Flyer, Fire and Ice and Roaring 20s trains are held.

Visitors may also see the train station’s mascot, Dirt The Cat‘s brother, DJ The Cat, zipping around. The train station is a national historic landmark built in 1907 and the locomotive arrived here in 1909.

“Here we are more than a century later, still maintaining the locomotive in the original building and using the original tools,” Bassett said. “We have the original tools hanging on the wall behind you that we still use to this very day.”

Perched on the eastern edge of the “Loneliest Highway,” U.S. Highway 50, Ely draws outdoor enthusiasts and history buffs. There is outstanding mountain biking, hiking and hot springs. It’s close to Great Basin National Park, home of Lehman Caves and ancient Bristlecone pine forests.

Kyle Horvath, Tourism Director of White Pine County, told St. George News that a recent destination development study revealed that many people visit the area. The report states that 500,000 people spend the night in Ely, 500,000 pass through and about 250,000 visitors camp in dispersed public lands or the Great Basin National Park.

Horvath added that the non-room tax-reporting campgrounds are a bit harder to track, but those tourists still have an impact.

Horvath is enthusiastic about the events the residents enjoy, such as the new concerts in the park in Ely. He said music is the catalyst to involve families to come out and enjoy their neighbors and visitors.

“Every event here is the fastest or the oldest or the first, so it’s really kind of a cool legacy to work with,” Horvath said.

Previously, Horvath was the marketing manager for Visit Carson City before he moved to Ely. He said he’s always been intrigued with White Pine County’s history.

“It’s wild when you hear the stories; this was a hopping, important place because copper was the most important thing with America putting power lines all over the place in its major cities. Electricity was becoming more of a thing, and copper was stretched all across the country,” Horvath said.

Another favorite aspect for Horvath is that when looking at a map, Ely may look like it’s in the middle of nowhere. Yet, when you look closer, you find these “little nuggets of amazing things.”

For example, 12 miles outside of Ely sits McGill, a mining company town with Nevada’s first full-size major league baseball field, and people traveled from all over to play ball there.

“So we got a grant to complete the train tracks into McGill. So at the top of McGill, there’s the original depot and then what’s left of all the Kennecott buildings from that era,” Horvath said. “But two miles of track are missing, so we’re putting that back in. The train’s gonna be able to take you all the way into McGill to the depot. There will be trailheads at the end where you can go ride your bike all over the mountains and back to the depot.”

Horvath added that McGill will be hosting events like concerts. So one could listen to music there and then have a train ride back to Ely.

The McGill Drugstore Museum is on the east side of U.S. 93 and is frozen in time. In 1908, the Nevada Consolidation Copper Company decided to build a company town to house its employees. The drugstore, originally called the Steptoe Drug Company, was built in 1909 and closed in 1979. Today, many of the products on display date back to the 1950s.

Keith Gibson, the curator of McGill Drugstore Museum, proudly showed St. George News that every business record, invoice and prescription filled out back to 1915 has been maintained. Gibson and helpers have volunteered hundreds of hours to preserve the store. Shelves are lined with original products, many of which are no longer produced.

A soda fountain beckons visitors to sit on green bar stools while Gibson shares the area’s stories. In the late 1930s, Gerald “Jerry” Culbert was a pharmacist in 1954 at the drugstore By the mid-1950s, Gerald and Elsa, his wife, were sole owners of the McGill Drugstore.

Often, Gibson said he meets people passing through who have a relative that had roots in the area.

“I know pretty much everybody who lived here back in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s. So when people come in looking for grandparents or something, I have a card file back here of all of the houses in McGill who lived there from 1918 to 1956,” Gibson said.

Ely held the country’s first Enduro Mountain Bike Race and continues to do so. Horvath said there are new trail expansion projects. In the Humboldt Forest near Ely, 50 more miles of trail will be built. The Bureau of Land Management also has a 20-mile expansion project in the works.

Horvath said there are many bike trails “just outside of downtown.” Garnet Hill will also have many trails and campsites added. He noted improvements, including increasing the parking and collection area. He said that there would be some motorized trails leading out to a motorized area.

“A lot of recreation investment is happening. To have 100 miles of single track all surrounding the downtown that you can leave right from your doorstep and that’s amazing,” Horvath said. “If you identify as an outdoor adventurer, nature lover or cultural traveler, those are the people we’re going after.”

He added that while the Ely area is outdoor-based, it’s also cultural-based. So, one can recreate in the mountains and then come back to town and have an enriching experience.

“So you kind of have to be adventurous. You have to be willing to drive down a dirt road or explore a little bit,” Horvath said. “Our trails, our facilities and our music are top in class. We pay attention to detail out here.”

Horvath loves that Ely is a four-season mountain and cultural town without the insane crowds. In winter, snowmobiling, backcountry skiing and split-boarding are also available.

“It’s a place that you could visit and not get bored. You end up having people who have built such a strong relationship based on coming out for one event that they now come out for all kinds of events,” Horvath said.

White Pine County is also home to many other recreational and entertainment activities, including:

• Museums:
• • East Ely Railroad Depot
  • Nevada Northern Railway
  • White Pine Public Museum
  • Renaissance Village
  • McGrill drugstore
• Arts and Culture
  • Embrace Ely’s historic culture through modern art and expressive creativity by experiencing the murals, sculpture and other art installations around town. Guided tours are available for Ely’s Art Walk.
  • The Ely Art Bank and Garnet Mercantile displaying not just local artists but also the expansive Wally Cuchine collection, the largest collection of Nevada artists.
• Outdoor Recreation
  • Bask in Ely’s outdoor recreation during all four seasons, including kayaking and paddle boarding, golf, hiking, fishing, ATVing and Dark Sky and Wildlife Viewing.

For more information, visit this website.

Editor’s Note:

“Southwest Weekenders” is a travel series exploring diverse destinations in the American Southwest. From majestic desert landscapes to historic towns, each article offers readers an insider’s guide to weekend getaways. Southwest Weekenders aims to inspire wanderlust and provide tips for planning short trips.

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