What to see/do at Great Basin National Park (motel, pine)

[swagger]

We're going up to Great Basin later this month - we're heading up there on a Friday night and leaving Sunday afternoon, and we're staying at a motel in Baker.

On Saturday night we're attending a star party, and on Sunday morning we're going to take one of the tours of Lehman Caves. That'll leave us with the daylight hours on Saturday, and a few hours on Sunday before heading for home.

Besides Lehman, are there any other "must see" things that we should check out? The cave tour is about as "active" as we can be, due to my girlfriend's broken back, so long hikes and other such things are (very unfortunately) not an option.

[humboldtrat]

Since you don't want to take any long hikes, there isn't much else to do. There are a couple of small lakes not far from the road to visit. There is also a glacier (unless global warming melted it) and some old bristlecone pines, but I think that would require a hike. I once hiked to the top of Wheeler Peak (about 13,000 ft.) in the park, but that nearly killed me .

In the cave, there is some walking up and down stairs. Take your own flashlight and a jacket (it's cold in the cave).

[swagger]

It's not that we don't want to go hiking, we can't.

That's pretty much what I figured. I thought that maybe there might be some specific points of interest not far from the road, but I'm not surprised that there's not. I think we're going to spend part of the day on Saturday fishing, part on just a scenic drive and we'll probably take a nap in the afternoon to rest up for the star party.

[uli2000]

There is a less than 1/2 mile paved nature walk path at the top of Mt. Wheeler rd. (the road that goes to the top). It's completly paved and has ramps if taking a wheelchair/scooter is a neccesity. The drive and the views are beautiful. There is also a visitors center in Baker thats got lots of info on the area, but that may take an hour at most. There's a ton of little ghost towns on the west side of the mountain. May require a 4wd vehical for some of them. Check out here and select White Pine county. Other than that, bring a book or two and enjoy the laid back life.