The Great Basin Scenic Byway stretches across Nevada's high desert, from Ely, south to Crystal Springs. The loop takes in eight state parks and one national park. The byway loop follows U.S. Routes 6, 50 and 93, and Nevada's Rt. 318, plus short side trips to the diverse Great Basin National Park and the state's Echo Canyon park.
Here at the Great Basin National Park, once thought as a hot dry and barren wasteland, diverse plant and animal communities thrive. Shown here is an age old bristlecone (Pinus Longaeva - in true Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote style), clinging to a rocky glacial moraine. The pinon pine was the first tree adopted as a state symbol, but Nevada students have opted for the bristlecone as the state tree. The bristlecone pine is one of the oldest trees in the world. It seems the harsher conditions, the longer the tree lives, with some reaching over 4,000 years.
This Great Basin Area supports 11 species of conifer, 73 mammal species, and barely believably, eight species of fish. With an elevation difference of 8,000 feet between Wheeler Peak and the desert floor, coupled with large temperature swings, the park displays some very interesting and very different ecosystems.