An endorheic basin is defined as a region in which the river network is completely isolated from the world ocean: the water flowing in the rivers never reaches the sea. Overexploitation of these finite hyrdologic resources poses significant challenges for cave managers in the arid west. Graphic by Kmusser at Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Read MoreThe Great Basin is characterized by numerous arid to semi-arid basins with unconsolidated alluvial aquifers separated by mountain ranges often comprised of carbonate aquifers. Population is concentrated within 100 miles of Salt Lake City and in the Las Vegas area and is growing rapidly. In the less populated areas, ranching, mining, and irrigated farming are the main economies.
Defining the Great Basin begins with a choice: are you looking at the way the water flows (hydrographic), the way the landscape formed (geologic), or the resident plants and animals (biologic)? Each of these definitions will give you a slightly different geographic boundary of the Great Basin, but the hydrographic definition is the most commonly used.
The Hydrographic Great Basin is a 200,000 square mile area that drains internally. All precipitation in the region evaporates, sinks underground or flows into lakes (mostly saline). Creeks, streams, or rivers find no outlet to either the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean. The region is bounded by the Wasatch Mountains to the east, the Sierra Nevada to the west, and the Snake River Plain to the north. The south rim is less distinct. The Great Basin includes most of Nevada, half of Utah, and sections of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, and California. The term "Great Basin" is slightly misleading; the region is actually made up of many small basins. The Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake, and the Humboldt Sink are a few of the "drains" in the Great Basin.
The Basin and Range region is the product of geological forces stretching the earth's crust, creating many north-south trending mountain ranges. These ranges are separated by flat valleys or basins. These hundreds of ranges make Nevada the most mountainous state in the country.
The Great Basin Desert is defined by plant and animal communities. The climate is affected by the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. It is a temperate desert with hot, dry summers and snowy winters. The valleys are dominated by sagebrush and shadescale. The biologic communities on the mountain ranges differ with elevation, and the individual ranges act as islands isolated by seas of desert vegetation. Because the Great Basin exhibits such drastic elevation changes from its valleys to its peaks, the region supports an impressive diversity of species, from those adapted to the desert to those adapted to forest and alpine environments.
Great Basin National Park preserves a small representative piece of this entire region.
Registration for the 2025 symposium is now open! Early registration discounts end at midnight on September 15. After that, registration packages increase by $50.
After registering, be sure to book your hotel room soon. Our hotel discounts will expire in mid-September. See our host hotel page for more details.
In July of 1986, Life magazine dubbed Nevada's Highway 50 the "Loneliest Road in America." The article claimed there were "no points of interest" along the route and "warned" readers not to risk traveling it unless they were confident of their survival skills. However, Nevada adventurers knew better then - and still do. Sure, a road doesn't get much more wide-open than Highway 50. But that's exactly why we dig it!
Scattered snow showers before 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 39. North northwest wind 15 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than half an inch possible.
Partly cloudy, with a low around 17. North northwest wind 15 to 25 mph.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 42. North northwest wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
The Spirit Cave mummy is the oldest human mummy found in North America. It was discovered in 1940 in Spirit Cave, 13 miles east of Fallon, Nevada by the husband-and-wife archaeological team of Sydney and Georgia Wheeler.
The Wheelers, working for the Nevada State Parks Commission, were surveying possible archaeological sites to prevent their loss due to guano mining. Upon entering Spirit Cave they discovered the remains of two people wrapped in tule matting. One set of remains, buried deeper than the other, had been partially mummified (the head and right shoulder). The Wheelers, with the assistance of local residents, recovered a total of sixty-seven artifacts from the cave.
Troglodyte Playing Cards
We're not entirely sure what these will look like yet, but we couldn't think of hosting NCKMS in Nevada without offering some themed-out playing cards. There's a good chance the card backs will feature a cave critter of some kind, but we still have some time to figure it out.
