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| Wheeler Peak and Stella Lake at Great Basin National Park. |
Dayton State Park Hikers longing for a patch of green in western Nevada’s desert find it at Dayton State Park. Just 12 miles east of Carson City on U.S. 50, the park borders the Carson River, whose headwaters form in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The slightly less than a mile-long River Nature Trail heads to and briefly follows the river.
Alpine Lakes Loop
Great Basin National Park
Families can hike an alpine landscape almost two miles above sea level on the Alpine Lakes Loop at Great Basin National Park. The 2.3-mile trail sits in a national park so remote that its night skies ranks as among the country’s darkest.
Best trails to see Grand Basin’s wonders
Among the best ways to see Great Basin National Park’s top sights is via a day hike. Just five short trails will allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – Earth’s oldest living organisms, limestone caves, night skies alit with thousands of stars, Nevada’s only glacier, and ancient pictographs.
Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks series.
