In the Nick of Time

Since we had to check in for our cave tour by 8:45AM, we hit the road about 7:15AM for the 70-mile drive back to Great Basin National Park. It rained most of the way along US 50, but when we turned onto NV-487, we saw this in the rearview mirror and had to stop for a pic...

Lehman Caves is the longest cave system in Nevada, with tours operating since 1885. It was established as a national monument by President Harding in 1922 and transferred to the National Park Service in 1933. The caves and surrounding areas were redesignated as Great Basin National Park in 1986.

The only way to visit Lehman Caves is on a ranger-guided tour. Because they are quite popular and limited to 20 visitors, reservations are highly recommended. Tour tickets become available on Recreation.gov 30 days in advance. We booked the 1-hour Parachute Shield Tour the first day we could, which was a good thing because all of the tours were completely sold out today. Several folks were in the visitor center hoping to take the place of no-shows. 

We saw the Lodge Room, Inscription Room, Cypress Swamp, and Grand Palace

Lodge Room

Cave popcorn

Inscription Room - check out the ceiling

Cypress Swamp

Grand Palace and parachute shields

Cupola

Parachute shield

Sunken Garden

Speleothem in progress

Can I just say how impressed I am with the photos from my iPhone 15 Pro?! I didn't edit any of the pics above. Maybe if I had an appropriate lens for low light, then my D90 shots would have turned out better. Or maybe it's time for a new DSLR... 😜  

After finishing the tour, we headed back to the visitor center. We overheard the rangers talking about closing the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive and evacuating the campground because the rain down here was heavy snowfall up there. So glad that we were able to hike out to see the Bristlecone Grove yesterday!

Last year we were able to earn the Gold Master Traveler Award (MTA) from the National Park Travelers Club. This year we needed to visit and get passport stamps from just one more region in order to earn the Bronze MTA. So instead of heading back to Las Vegas, we hopped in the car for the 2.5-hour drive to Cedar City, Utah (and the Rocky Mountain passport region) instead. With the government shutdown looming tomorrow, today would be our best chance to get the job done.

265 miles, 5 hours

We ate the last of our sandwiches in the car along the way and arrived at the administrative office for Cedar Breaks National Monument before 2:00PM, losing an hour when we crossed into Utah. After another quick stop at the Bureau of Land Management office (Old Spanish National Historic Trail stamp), we drove up UT-14 to UT-148 to reach Cedar Breaks NM. Mission accomplished!

The last time we were here was July 2011

We stopped at the new visitor contact station (opened in August 2024) to show our annual pass and get the passport stamps before walking out to the Point Supreme Overlook, elevation 10,350 feet.

 

Point Supreme

The log cabin that served as the original ranger station/visitor center is now the Human History Museum. It had some nice exhibits inside about the peoples who have called this area "home".

2011 - M and J being sworn in as Junior Rangers

From here, we continued driving along the rim to the Sunset View Overlook (10,354 feet), Chessman Ridge Overlook (10,460 feet), and North View Overlook (10,435 feet), with some beautiful autumn leaves in between.

Sunset View

Chessmen Ridge

Chessmen Ridge

North View

In search of more fall color, we first drove towards Brian Head Peak and then for a short stretch of UT-143 towards Panguitch before turning around and retracing our route back to Cedar City.

After checking in and dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we went back out for dinner at the All American Diner. To top off the evening, we stopped by Swig for dirty sodas. Originating in Utah, these popular drinks consist of soda mixed with cream, flavored syrups, and/or juice. Fun!

Left: Guava Have It - Mountain Dew, guava, strawberry, coconut cream
Right: The Tropic - lemonade, mango, passion fruit, vanilla cream