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Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive
Baker, White Pine County, Nevada. Scenic drive.
Details
- Where
- 100 Great Basin National Park, Baker, NV 89311. Directions
- Season
- Park roads typically open between Memorial Day and late October; weather determines opening and closing.
- Getting there
- From U.S. Highway 6 & 50, turn south on Nevada State Highway 487 and travel five miles to Baker, NV. In Baker, turn west on Highway 488 and travel five miles to reach the park.
- Fees
- Free; no entrance pass required to access Great Basin National Park.
- Access
- Paved road, closed in winter and after snowfall. No vehicles over 24 feet beyond Upper Lehman Creek Campground due to sharp curves and steep grades; vehicles shorter than 24 feet towing a trailer also under 24 feet are permitted with caution.
- Phone
- 775-234-7331
- Website
- nps.gov
- Managed by
- National Park Service.
Taking a drive along the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive is a highlight of any visit to Great Basin National Park. A true mountain road, the scenic drive hugs the mountains of the South Snake Range, slowly winding you to a point above all others, where vistas reach the horizon, and one is met with a pristine view of the rugged and harsh, yet beautiful, Great Basin Desert.
Notable Events
- 1855Ezra Granger Williams, leader of an exploring party from the new Mormon settlements in southern Utah Territory, named the landmark and claimed to be the first white man to gain its summit; in the same year Lt. Col. Edward Steptoe named it in honor of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, and Jeff Davis Peak became the official and commonly accepted title. nps.gov
- 1869Six men of an Army mapping expedition led by Lt. George Montague Wheeler climbed the mountain in August 1869, surveyed distant landmarks and measured latitude, longitude, and barometric pressure; encouraged by his fellow mountaineers, Wheeler named the peak after himself. nps.gov
- 1922President Warren G. Harding declared Lehman Caves a national monument; it was dedicated in a grand celebration on August 6th involving the American Legion, the mayor of Baker, and local school children. White Pine County later proclaimed the whole Wheeler Peak area a Wildlife Preserve. nps.gov
- 1933Executive Order 6166, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on June 10, 1933, transferred control of all national monuments, including Lehman Caves, to the National Park Service; Otto T.W. Nielsen was appointed the first Park Ranger in Charge in 1934. nps.gov
- 1986Great Basin National Park was established and Lehman Caves National Monument was incorporated into the Park on October 27th. nps.gov
People
- Clarence Rhodes, official custodian of Lehman Caves under the Forest Service; with his wife Bea constructed cabins and a log lodge and offered pack trips to Wheeler Peak (until around 1930).
- Edward Steptoe, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, who named the mountain for Jefferson Davis.
- Ezra Granger Williams, leader of a Mormon exploring party who named the mountain Williams Peak (1855).
- George Montague Wheeler, Army lieutenant whose mapping expedition named Wheeler Peak after himself.
- James H. Simpson, Army captain surveying wagon roads who proposed renaming the mountain Union Peak (1859).
- Nioquitch, Pavant Ute guide who gave the mountain's native name Pe-up.