- This time on Wild Nevada, we're back at Great Basin National Park for the first time in a long time.

- We'll celebrate a special anniversary at Lehman Caves.

- We'll see what's new in Baker after almost 20 years.

- You'll come with me on a hike I've been wanting to do my entire life.

- And I'll show you an alternative that might appeal more to us reasonable people.

- All that coming up right now on Wild Nevada.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Support for PBS Reno and Wild Nevada comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Narrator 2] Travel Nevada helps provide travel inspiration and experiences for those interested in creating their own Wild Nevada adventures.

(upbeat music) For more information, visit www.travelnevada.com.

And by Millie Hopper and Millard Reed, (calming music) Charles and Margaret Burback, Sande Family Foundation.

Khristine Perry, Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation.

June S. Wisham Trust, the Hall Family, Dillard and Meg Myers, Sara and Leonard Lafrance, in memory of Sue McDowell and by individual members.

(calming country music) (upbeat country music) - This time we're way out east on the edge of the state.

As you can see, I'm standing along the state line on Highway 50.

- Well, so am I. I'm over here on the other side of the Loneliest Road, and behind me is the Border Inn.

And this is the last stop for travelers, or it's the first stop depending on which direction you're going.

But since this show is not called Wild Utah, we are going west to revisit an old favorite Great Basin National Park.

- It's been a long time since we've been to this part of the state, so we're going to reacquaint ourselves with the park and see what's new in Baker.

- But before we do that, we're going to Lehman Caves to join in the celebration of a special anniversary.

from the Border Inn, it's not far to Great Basin National Park and Lehman Caves, just 13 miles on Highway 50 then state routes 487 and 488.

- [Chris] At the Lehman Caves Visitor Center, we meet Kelsey Jackson, a park ranger, and our guide for today.

- It's 100 years since this was designated as a national monument.

Lots of people coming through the caves and we really wanna highlight that this year and how important it is to protect the caves so that people can come for the next hundred.

- [Dave] I love it.

Yeah.

So, do we get to go inside today?

- Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Let's go.

- [Dave] Lead the way.

I feel like we're going into the lost mine.

Oh, the echoes.

- [Chris] Oh, that feels good.

- [Kelsie] It does feel good right away.

- [Dave] Oh, do you come in here just to sing?

- I've had an opera singer on one of my tours one time.

(upbeat music) This is the Gothic Palace that we're in right now.

Lots of beautiful formations that have taken millions of years to form for us to be able to come and really see how beautiful it is.

- [Chris] This is amazing.

- [Dave] It does kind of leave you speechless.

- [Chris] Yeah.

(upbeat music) - You might have just seen that little drop of water right there.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- Water is the driving force here in the cave.

It's responsible for all of the formations that you see as well as the space that we're standing in right now.

That water seeps in from the surface in the form of rainwater, brings in calcite along the way that it picks up and deposits reacting with the marble or the rock that we're standing in right now.

So stalactites, we see them growing down from the ceiling, so they hold on tight to the ceiling.

And you might notice if you look closely at some of the formations, there's a little drop of water right at the end waiting to fall.

And as that falls it, it deposits calcite or calcium carbonate that helps the cave grow from the ground.

So eventually, if you wait long enough, those two will actually grow together, stalactite and stalagmites.

- [Dave] It's like a tree trunk.

- Exactly.

Yeah.

Multiple formations probably grew together to make that large column that we see right there, millions of years.

- It's like an art installation made by water.

- [Dave] Yeah.

- [Kelsie] An art installation made by water.

I like that a lot.

- [Dave] I like that.

Nature's 3D printing.

(Kelsie and Chris giggling) Instinctively you want to touch the stuff and you've gotta resist.

- Absolutely.

As I bring families in here who have small kids, they're really good about not touching anything.

I'll be like, "Hey, make sure that you don't touch the cave.

And also make sure that your parents don't touch the cave."

And they're really good at watching them.

- [Dave] Kids are better cops for the parents than sometimes the parents are for the kids.

- [Kelsie] Yeah.

We go a little bit deeper, we're gonna be going through the tightest part of the cave, so be very, very careful as you go through.

We don't wanna touch the formations.

- [Chris] It's a little bit like a dance.

- [Dave] Like a dance with somebody you don't like very much.

(Chris and Kelsie laughing) (upbeat music) - [Kelsie] This is one of my favorite rooms that we have in the cave.

You can hear the acoustics in here are pretty cool.

So people would come in here and of course, make actual music, they would sing in here.

This also kind of resembles a pipe organ itself over here.

- [Dave] Oh yeah.

- [Kelsie] Yeah.

(calming music) Cave bacon right there up above you.

- [Chris] There's nothing else you could call that other than bacon.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Because of the lines that you see.

So this is a type of drapery.

We do have other draperies in the cave that are one color.

The lines that you see that's as that water's coming in, that droplet depositing along the edges that works its way downwards, it might have more iron than the next hundred years.

So that iron's deposited as it's being drift along the edge.

So those lines that you see, it's kind of looking back in time, looking at the chapters that have been written as you work your way downwards.

- Almost like the rings on a tree.

- Yeah, exactly.

- [Chris] So it's like the lines in the bacon.

- [Dave] It looks delicious.

(Chris and Kelsie laughing) What other cave foods are there in here?

- [Kelsie] Yeah.

Well, we've got some popcorn, cave turnips, which are a very rare formation that we have here in this cave.

- [Chris] And healthier than cave bacon.

- Exactly.

They're both not great for your teeth, but.

As you come in, make sure you turn around and look up right here.

- [Dave] Whoa.

- [Chris] That is breathtaking.

That is amazing.

- [Kelsie] That is frozen Niagara.

I think it captures the essence of it very well in that name.

(calming music) All right folks, as you come up here, make sure you look over to the right.

See the cave giving you a thumbs up.

(Chris laughing) - [Chris] It absolutely is.

It's very happy that we're here.

- Yeah.

You're doing a great job, the cave thinks so too.

- [Dave] I feel validated by the cave.

(calming music) - Wow, how does this just keep getting better?

- [Dave] Wow.

- [Chris] This is amazing.

- [Dave] Oh, this is unreal in here.

- [Kelsie] This is the cypress swamp.

So you might see how it kind of resembles cypress trees up over here with these columns.

- [Dave] Oh, I can see that.

Yeah.

- [Chris] Yeah.

(upbeat music) - This right here, this is a passage that takes you up to the Inscription Room.

They blasted through here and then they put the broken formations on the side so people could get in and out more easily.

So we're here in the Inscription Room.

This room has a lot of history all around you as you can clearly see, this is a destination spot.

We've fortunately got to walk through it.

An easy passage to get in here.

People used to have to crawl back through a much tighter area to get into the gate.

- [Dave] They crawled through there?

- Yes.

With their big Victorian dresses and their suits and their bow ties.

- [Dave] What?

And all they had were like a candle or a lantern that they would have to roll on the ground in front of them to make it in here safely.

And then, you can imagine after going through a space like that, they were pretty stoked that they survived.

So they took their candles and their lanterns and they actually traced their names in the ceiling.

So we've got lots of names and dates written in here.

- [Dave] They're everywhere.

- [Kelsie] They are.

Yeah.

We have about 8,000 inscriptions here in Lehman Caves.

Lots of people can be traced back to these inscriptions.

- [Dave] Wow.

- In 1922, the Forest Service at the time actually put an end to the inscriptions to maintain the natural beauty of the cave.

And then the park service since we've taken over, we do protect both the cave and the inscriptions 'cause they are considered historic as well.

(whimsical music) - [Dave] After so long since our last visit, it's like seeing the cave for the first time.

I get a fresh feeling of awe, thinking about how centuries have gone by while these walls are slowly changing and growing, I know I'll be coming back again.

(whimsical music) Now it's time to reacquaint ourselves with Baker.

A lot has changed since we were here last.

The Bristlecone General Store offers goods and supplies for park visitors and residents alike.

Liz Woolsey owns both the store and the Stargazer Inn right behind it.

- You just traveled four and a half hours on the loneliest highway and didn't see another car.

So I want you to walk into the store and just say, "Okay, I'm gonna be okay."

One of my big goals is I want people to connect with nature here.

I want people connect with the resource.

Your needs are met if you can find some food, or gear, or sunglasses, or things that you forgot.

And I do think that some people think, oh, this is a national park, they will have the amenities I need.

And a lot of Nevada towns, they're scarce.

So if I can be that resource, then people will have grand adventures.

My mission statement is to create inviting spaces, new opportunities and lasting memories.

- [Dave] Across the street, we turn our attention toward this restaurant, Sugar, Salt, & Malt.

Owners Cheri and Tabitha Phillips were born only a few miles away from here, but they've been all over working at some of the best restaurants in the country for nearly 20 years.

And now they've returned to Baker to open their own place.

- [Chris] So who's the sugar and who's the salt?

- Well, I'm the pastry chef.

- So you're the savory?

- I am the savory chef.

And then malt, which is our future endeavors of the brewery.

So we have sugar, salt, and malt.

- [Dave] I love it.

- Cheri and I have been looking to open a restaurant actually for almost 20 years.

2020, that's what we did is we bought a restaurant, We started selling our own pastries and we got really interested in coffee and all of the nuances of that.

- So why Baker?

What brought you to Baker?

- It's home.

- Yeah.

- We grew up here across the valley.

This area was where we could invest in our local community being a gathering place where people can come and have their anniversaries and their birthdays and serve all of these people coming to Great Basin.

Why not grab a dozen scones before you go up and go camping?

So it was just a very natural fit.

- It is such a huge resource for not only visitors but for the community.

- We do have quite a bit of local people that grow a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables here.

The lady who helps us with our landscaping, she has a huge garden.

She'll actually grow us anything we ask, we have a bucket of tomatoes and then a lot of the times we just start to feel like, oh, Don has a whole bunch of grape leaves, can we do something with that?

- We make everything, we make all of the bread.

The health inspector whisked through here.

And she was I inspecting, she goes, "You guys still making all of your own bread?"

She's like, "It looks so nice."

- But wait, you guys are making me hungry again with all this food talk.

(upbeat music) Well, it's been a great day and it's been wonderful getting reacquainted with the town of Baker, which is very different from the last time we were here.

But pretty great.

- Absolutely, as much fun as the very first time we visited.

- Yeah.

And in a different way, but still wonderful.

Now tomorrow we have our work cut out for us.

- And actually, tomorrow I'm gonna check something off my bucket list that I've wanted ever since the very first time I visited here.

I'm gonna climb Wheeler.

- Yeah, good luck with that.

I don't think my back and my knees want to handle Wheeler.

That's quite a strenuous hike.

So we're gonna show you an alternate hike that is really interesting through the bristlecone pines and it should be a beautiful experience.

But this allows you to see maybe which one you'd like to choose when you come out here.

So good luck to you.

- I'm gonna test out up my lungs and test out my thighs and get up that mountain.

- See you in the morning.

(gentle country music) (upbeat music) - I'm up early the next morning and very excited to head back into the park because this is the day I've been waiting for.

I follow the same path as yesterday, but this time head up the Wheeler Peak scenic drive for about 11 miles to the trailhead where I meet Kenji Hakuta, a board member with the Great Basin National Park Foundation and an avid hiker.

Kenji, you're gonna climb Wheeler with me.

- We'll go up Wheeler.

- I've been waiting a long time to try to get to the top of it.

- Well, it's a great hike.

It starts off with a mild uphill and then it gets a little steeper, it's a little steeper, but it's well worth it because you will wanna stop along the way and take in the view because it's just an incredible view all the way along.

- I think we're gonna take probably a few breaks.

- Yeah.

Maybe so.

- Because we're starting with, we're right around 10,000 already.

- 10,000, yeah, yeah.

Those oxygen molecules are sparse.

(calming music) - [Kelsie] So we're going up that.

- [Kenji] Up to that.

Yep.

(both laughing) 13,000-something feet.

- [Chris] Oh my gosh, this view is just phenomenal.

- [Kenji] Yeah, yeah.

When we're at the top, we'll get to see the moraines and the marks that the glacier left when it was carving the rock and that's what created that bowl.

Theoretically, it's the southernmost glacier in North America.

- [Chris] I didn't realize that.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

But a lot of people dispute whether it's a real glacier or not at this point.

(calming music) - [Chris] It's so interesting how many different ecosystems Great Basin encompasses.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

They start at the desert base with the sagebrush and then you kind of get up to the 7, 8,000 feet with pinyon-juniper and then you start seeing some aspen.

(calming music) - [Dave] Meanwhile, I got to enjoy sleeping in a little.

So with Kenji and Chris well underway, I roll up to the trailhead a few hours later to meet James Woolsey, the park superintendent for a very different experience.

- Yay.

- [Dave] Morning.

- Pleasure.

Thanks for joining us.

- Oh, thank you for having me.

This is exciting.

So I'm here for the alternative hike.

This is the non-hardcore part.

- [James] Why don't we take you out on one that's a little bit shorter.

So we're gonna hike up the Bristlecone trail and if we're hardy enough we can keep going up to the glacier trail, which goes to the glacier in Nevada.

- I would love to see it.

So let's see if we can make it there.

- All right, sounds great.

- Cool.

- Yeah.

- After you.

I love the path that you've put here.

It's actually almost like pavement.

And then you've got this really beautiful wood bridge that you've placed here.

- [James] Oh, it's beautiful through here.

It's not only lovely, but actually this first part of the trail is handicapped accessible.

And really what we're trying to do is we're trying to make national parks available to everybody.

(upbeat music) So there's a nice little short trail here.

It's handicap accessible.

- [Dave] Good.

- But you can bring somebody up in a walker or whatever.

And it's short enough and beautiful enough where you really get a sense of the park and you can see it weaves down through this beautiful forest.

With the stream running right through it.

- [Dave] It's gorgeous here.

- [James] So it's a great place and it's a short little hike and it's also a nice place you can just come hang out and enjoy yourself.

- [Dave] Yeah.

I love that you have a place here for people to come in who aren't able to hike up or even hike in, but can roll through and can enjoy all of this.

- So this is the trail that heads on up.

So we're off the accessible trail.

- [Dave] Oh nice.

- [James] And into the wilderness.

- [Dave] Oh, boy.

Here we go.

- [James] All right.

- [Dave] My carpet's gone.

My rubber carpet.

What am I gonna do?

- [James] But isn't this beautiful?

So this is one of our first junctions that we come to.

And actually, Kenji and Chris.

- [Dave] Yeah.

- [Chris] They headed off this way.

- [Dave] Ah-huh.

- [James] And if you go a short way this way, you get to the Alpine Lakes Loop.

- [Dave] That sounds pretty.

- [James] That they cut off and that's where you head up 3000 feet to the mountaintops, which is fantastic.

- [Dave] Hi, guys.

We're going this way, right?

- [James] We're gonna go left.

- [Dave] Nice.

- [James] And actually we're gonna head off to the Bristlecones.

- [Dave] I love it.

- [James] And the glacier.

- [Dave] Okay, now we're talking.

- So here we are.

Look at the different transition from where we were.

We were down in that really dense spruce forest down below and look at how it just opens up right here.

- [Dave] Yeah.

- [James] It's really fabulous.

- [Dave] Suddenly I can see peaks.

- [James] Yeah, you can see the peaks up top.

- [Dave] Yeah.

- [James] There's some snow.

And also the trees are changing.

- [Dave] I see a bench.

- [James] There is a bench.

- [Chris] Is that a real, or am I having a mirage?

- [James] I think that bench has your name all over it.

- [Dave] Am I hallucinating?

- [James] Yeah.

- [Dave] Oh, let's sit there.

- [James] Why don't you go sit down.

- [Dave] Don't mind if I do.

- This is where the trail splits again.

- [Dave] Oh yeah.

- You can go to the right and that goes, it's the other part of the Alpine Lakes Loop.

But we're gonna head up.

But yeah, come have a seat.

- Oh, don't mind if I do.

- Yeah.

- Thank you very much.

It's like they know me.

(James laughing) Have a seat.

- Oh, okay.

I guess so, I guess so.

- Just for a minute.

- Yes.

- It's just so beautiful here.

And I hear the wind pushing through the trees.

That's a sound you can't duplicate.

- [Chris] Up on the side of Mount Wheeler, Kenji and I are making progress.

- [Kenji] It says 3.1 miles.

- [Chris] All right, let's do it.

- [Kenji] This is the aerobics component of your day.

- [Chris] Testing our lungs and testing our thighs.

- [Kenji] That's right.

(country music) - [Chris] This view is amazing.

- [Kenji] Isn't it?

Yeah.

There's stories that the bristlecones went all the way down to the base of the valleys here at one time.

- [Chris] You know as you climb you're gonna get a different perspective.

- [Kenji] Yeah, yeah.

- [Chris] But it is amazing.

Until you really see it, you don't appreciate how different.

It's so interesting to think that it's still evolving.

- [Kenji] Oh yeah.

(country music) So is it pretty much rocky from here on?

- [Kenji] Yeah.

Very little vegetation to make soil.

- [Chris] Definitely a change of terrain.

- [Kenji] Well, yeah, we're getting to see the other side, which is where the bristlecone pines are.

- [Chris] It's amazing to think the longevity that they have.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

I believe they are the oldest trees in the world.

- [Dave] A couple of thousand feet below.

We arrive at a special location.

- [James] This is where it's really gonna start becoming really beautiful.

- [Dave] I'm gonna have a beauty overload here.

- [James] Yeah.

- [Dave] It's like an art gallery.

- [James] So we're getting here into the edge of the really old bristlecones.

- [Dave] Yeah.

- And so you look around here and I mean, some of these trees are 2000 years old, some of them are close to 5,000 years old.

- [Dave] Mind blowing to think about that.

- [James] Which is incredible.

(country music) So Dave, this is really the heart of the really, really old bristlecones.

- [Dave] Yeah.

We're right in the middle of 'em.

It's really fun to see 'em in every direction.

- Yeah.

And it's cool.

And I mean, look at this one and just look at the structure of the wood and I mean, feel it.

It's really, you hit on it and it's just, it feels like a rock.

It's so hard.

And this is part of the reason why they're able to keep out bugs and other things.

And just last for so long.

- [Dave] If I didn't know better, I would think it could be petrified.

- [James] Yes.

Yes.

And look at the color too, isn't it beautiful?

- I was thinking this looks like it's finished wood.

Like somebody had come and put some coating on it to protect it.

- [James] Yeah.

But it's a natural color.

- [Dave] It's just natural.

- [James] Yeah.

And this beautiful just kind of rust-red color.

There's bark on the side.

- [Dave] Yes.

- And then you come here and there's no bark at all.

And there's some of these trees that you'll look at them and they'll be three quarters of it have no bark.

- [Dave] Yeah.

- And there'll be one section with bark and there may be 10 limbs and one limb has a few pine needles on it.

- And so it's just living in that space.

And is the rest of it dead?

Or is it just living in a different way?

- It's all alive.

- [Dave] Okay.

- [James] And those tend to be the ones that are really old.

(country music) So I gotta say, this is one of the best.

Look at this gnarly old bugger.

And then look how it grows up, typical old bristlecone.

- [Dave] Yeah.

- Hardly any bark.

And you go up on the left, there's one limb that has needles on it.

- [Dave] Yeah.

It's popping out there saying hello and the rest of it's shut down.

- Yeah.

And it's gorgeous and there's nothing like it on earth.

- [Dave] I feel lucky we get to be here.

(country music) - [Chris] We're definitely climbing now.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

These are beautiful little bonsai terraces.

It's a tiny little world.

- [Chris] They really are.

They're like a little biosphere of their own.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

Nice little view of the saddle, right?

You kinda see the whole valley here.

We're on the Snake Range and there's Snake Valley and you can see all the lakes we came up along.

- [Chris] And you can see just the change in the vegetation from the singles.

- [Kenji] I love those marines that we see down there.

The glaciers kind of carved it, pushed it, 15,000 years ago that's spectacular to see the fingerprints of that still.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- [Kenji] To this day.

- [Chris] Another example of how water has shaped this landscape.

- [Kenji] Water and ice.

(country music) - [Dave] This is beginning to become a very different-looking terrain, it's like entering a cathedral here.

- [James] Yeah.

It's a little bit magical in this place, isn't it?

- [Dave] Yeah.

- [James] Back in the ice ages this would've been a gigantic glacier.

- [Dave] Okay.

- [James] And now it's a much smaller glacier.

- [Dave] Yeah.

Yeah, it is.

- [James] Yeah.

- What makes up the glacier and the rock glacier?

Because I'm not an expert at all.

I don't know exactly what I'm looking at.

- So we're looking up at the Wheeler Peak circ.

And so this area, which has all been eroded out through time by glaciers and up above is Wheeler Peak.

But then down below because that area is in the shade so often is most of the ice is below the rock layer and so snow builds up all year and then in the summer it melts, but it never melts all the way.

And so that identifies a glacier.

And in Nevada, this is the only glacier you're gonna see.

- Looks good to me.

I'm happy we made it.

That was quite an experience today.

I can't ask for more than this, so thank you.

- Oh, you're very welcome.

It's been a pleasure.

(upbeat music) - [Chris] Up top we're getting closer to our goal, but with each step higher, the climb gets tougher and each step forward requires more effort.

And I think the air's getting awfully thin.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

(both laughing) - [Chris] I'm panting more than I was.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

I am feeling it a little bit.

- [Chris] Oh my gosh, we're so close.

- [Kenji] We're almost there.

(both laughing) (upbeat music) - [Chris] Wow.

- [Kenji] Look at that.

(both laughing) - [Chris] We've reached our goal.

(both laughing) - I'm not a big high-five person, but this deserves a high-five.

- [Kenji] Right.

- It is really beautiful in every possible direction.

Thank you for bringing me up here.

- [Kenji] My pleasure.

- [Chris] Just have the landscape all around you open up, I don't think getting on top of the world can get much better than that.

- [Kenji] No.

And here, you really appreciate what the elevation does.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- [Kenji] The elevation captures the moisture.

You get the trees.

- [Chris] Changes the terrain.

- [Kenji] Yeah.

Here we are.

- It feels absolutely great to get up here and have earned this view.

- We did have to work for it.

- Have a lot of appreciation for what they mean when they say this is not a casual hike.

- No.

- [Chris] You're not gonna get this view any other way.

Thank you for bringing me up here.

- You're most welcome.

My favorite place in the world.

Here we are.

The earth is never gonna be the same, but here we are at this point in time.

- And I'm not worrying about anything other than absorbing this moment right now.

- Well, that's what these trees have been doing sitting here.

- [Chris] And these mountains have been doing, right.

They've just been enjoying their moment in time.

- [Kenji] Yep.

And those bristlecone pines for 3000 years.

(upbeat music) - So we're at the amphitheater near the trailhead.

It's a beautiful place just to sit and relax.

- Yeah.

And we're celebrating here.

I gotta toast you and your accomplishment.

Well done.

So how was it?

- I actually, in preparation, already knew I wanted the souvenir.

I made it to the top of Wheeler.

- [Dave] Well done.

Well done.

- It was amazing.

To watch this or any of the Wild Nevada shows.

Visit us at www.pbsreno.org or stream us with the PBS video app.

- Till our next wild Nevada trip, here's hoping you get to enjoy some outdoor adventures of your own.

Alex is directing you in how to lift a glass.

- [Chris] I need practice.

- [Dave] That's not what I've heard.

- Shh.

(upbeat country music) - [Crew Member] What just happened, Dave?

- Well, our GoPro, which was we thought stuck to the windshield with a very strong suction cup, doesn't suck enough 'cause it fell off.

- [Narrator] Support for PBS Reno and Wild Nevada comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Narrator] Travel Nevada helps provide travel inspiration and experiences for those interested in creating their own wild Nevada adventures.

(upbeat music) For more information, visit www.travelnevada.com.

And by Millie Hopper and Millard Reed, Charles and Margaret Burback, Sande Family Foundation.

Khristine Perry, Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation.

June S. Wisham Trust, the Hall Family, Dillard and Meg Myers, Sara and Leonard Lafrance, in memory of Sue McDowell and by individual members.

(upbeat country music)