Wheeler Peak Campground
4Heads uppark alerts
- Right now
- ClosedThe agency’s own notice
- A night
- $20When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 36In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
A stay at the Wheeler Peak Campground is a genuinely memorable experience. Shadowed beneath the hulking cliffs of Wheeler Peak and Doso Doyabi, a pair of Nevada’s true alpine monarchs, the views and campsites hover among the clouds. At nearly 10,000 feet in elevation your neighbors are Engelman spruce, mule deer and green meadows; your common distractions tumbling brooks and shimmering aspen leaves. A mile and a half up the trail will place you in the midst of the Wheeler Peak Bristlecone Grove, among trees so ancient that some have absorbed the fanciful hues of over a million sunsets. Keep reading
Take elevation and weather into account before you set out on your hike. Neither towing nor towed vehicles exceeding 24 feet in length are accommodated along the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive or at Wheeler Peak Campground. Fall campers should be aware that Wheeler Peak Campground may close at any time due to snow; in this case, all reservations will be canceled and refunded. Pay attention to weather forecasts and be prepared to change your lodging plans.
Recreation
The drive alone is worth the price of admission, as they say, even though there is no entrance fee at this National Park. The 12-mile Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive sweeps you over half a vertical mile to the Wheeler Peak Campground, just beneath what may be the most picturesque mountain in Nevada. Take in the view at Mather Overlook along the way. You can’t miss it. While the Wheeler Peak Campground is the most distant campground from the surreal Lehman Caves (a 30-minute drive down the mountain) it more than makes up for it in hiking opportunities. Two of the park’s most sought-after hikes, the Bristlecone Trail and Alpine Lakes Loop Trail, begin just outside of the campground entrance. The fully accessible .4 mile-long Sky Isalnd Nature Trail also presents a peaceful alternative. Beyond walking, the soundscapes and view-surfing are perfect for lounging, reading or catching up on some sleep after a long drive. Oh, and the caves are just 30 minutes away. If you prefer some less-traveled roads, consider a drive down the Snake Creek (no rvs or trailers) or Baker Creek Roads for such hiking destinations as Baker Lake or Johnson Lake. From the end of these maintained dirt roads, all trails lead to solitude. But be back at your campsite before sunset if you want to enjoy the dusk light show as the sun ignites the towering stone walls of Doso Doyabi, merging slowly into a sky so black that the stars pop in ways you may never have imagined possible. Be sure to make reservations before you arrive, for both the campground and the caves.
Facilities
Wheeler Peak Campground offers paved parking spurs, picnic tables, campfire rings and grills along with vault toilets. While towed vehicles are allowed, neither the towed nor towing vehicle may be over 24 feet in length.
Natural Features
Views of some of Nevada’s most picturesque mountains are abundant and never more than a few steps away from your campsite, if that. Bolstered by permanent snow and icefields of the Wheeler Peak cirque the spring serenading you just to the south has cascaded through ancient quartzite which makes up the towering cathedrals above. Stretched out among alpine meadows ringed within a dense forest of Engleman spruce, the Wheeler Peak Campground provides shade at nearly every site while a quick stroll will often reveal mule deer, turkey, or in the autumn weeks the lively orange and gold of shimmering aspen.
Nearby Attractions
Don't forget, Great Basin National Park was forshadowed when Lehman Caves was annointed a National Monument in 1922. The cave and its underground wonders are just thirty minutes away behind the Lehman Caves Visitor Center. Access is by tour only so be sure to book a reservation before you arrive, or stop by the visitor center to check on remaining availability.
Charges & Cancellations
No-Shows: A no-show visitor is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. The remainder of the reservation will be canceled and refunded, less the first night's rate and a $20 service fee. Refunds will not be provided within 24 hours of the first day of the reservation. Refunds will not be provided due to weather.
What the agency tells you
Wheeler Peak Campground is subject to closure without notice due to winter weather conditions, which can occur as early as September. Please be aware of this possibility when reserving a site during the shoulder season. In the event of a weather closure, reservations will be canceled and refunded.
Neither vehicles over 24 feet in length nor towed units over 24 feet in length are permitted at the Wheeler Peak Campground or beyond Upper Lehman Creek Campground on the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive. If towing, both units need to fit within the described driveway length for the considered campsite.
There is no potable water available at Wheeler Peak Campground. Please do not wash dishes in creeks or streams.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
The sites of Wheeler Peak Campground are available for reservation from late June through Labor Day weekend.
This is an unstaffed campground. Bring your confirmation paperwork with you or be sure to have your confirmation uploaded onto your cell phone before you arrive (since many cellular providers will not work out here). You may need to verify your reservation.
Generators may only be used between the hours of 8am and 8pm. Quiet hours are between the hours of 8pm and 8am.
Pets must be secured in a vehicle or on a leash of no more than six feet at all times. They must be attended at all times. Pets are not allowed on any trails, or the backcountry, within Great Basin National Park. They may be walked on paved surfaces or any roads legally drivable by vehicle. Please clean up after your pets.
Advanced reservations may be made as early as, but not prior to, 30 days from your desired stay.
Refunds will not be provided within 24 hours of the first day of the reservation. Refunds will not be provided due to weather.
🏕️ GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK CAMPER NOTIFICATION 📍 Baker, Nevada If you are camping at Great Basin National Park, we encourage you to sign up for CodeRED emergency notifications while you are visiting the area. In the event of a wildfire, natural disaster, evacuation, or other emergency, Great Basin National Park employees and the White Pine County Sheriff’s Office may use CodeRED to provide important emergency notifications to campers and visitors. 📲 How to Sign Up Visit the White Pine County CodeRED registration page: https://accountportal.onsolve.net/whitepinecountynv CodeRED Registration - Create a CodeRED account. - When asked for your address, enter: 100 Great Basin, Baker, NV 89311 - Complete your registration and ensure your phone number is correct so you can receive emergency notifications. 🏕️ When Your Camping Trip Is Over Please log back into your CodeRED account and unenroll from the notifications associated with your Great Basin National Park visit. This helps ensure that emergency notifications are reaching visitors who are currently camping in the park. Thank you for helping Great Basin National Park and the White Pine County Sheriff’s Office maintain an effective way to communicate with campers and visitors during an emergency. Stay informed. Stay prepared. Stay safe.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 36
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 24 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 3
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- 30 of 31 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Night sky · 14th darkest of 65 in NV
- Bortle 1
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:22 UTC
Wheeler Peak Campground Seasonal Closure
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
“The remainder of the reservation will be canceled and refunded, less the first night's rate and a $20 service fee. - Refunds will not be provided within 24 hours of the first day of the reservation.” · this campground’s own no-show terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
What the agency said · 1
Wheeler Peak Campground Seasonal Closure
National Park Service
The agency’s own notice describes an ordinary seasonal close. That reading is ours.
Open within 60 miles · 1
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Lower Lehman Creek CampgroundGreat Basin National Park · 3.5 mi · 20 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 15:22 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
36 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 36 mapped sitesAll 36 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 36 of the 36 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 36 of the 36 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Wheeler Peak | 10 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 85 ft | 430 ft | 104 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 11 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 124 ft | 491 ft | 62 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 12 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 100 ft | 652 ft | 197 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 13 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 59 ft | 730 ft | 297 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 14 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 59 ft | 742 ft | 342 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 15 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 64 ft | 709 ftLehman Creek | 337 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 16 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 92 ft | 645 ftLehman Creek | 185 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 17 | standard nonelectric | 14 ft | 67 ft | 757 ftLehman Creek | 73 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 18 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 67 ft | 818 ftLehman Creek | 44 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 19 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 79 ft | 855 ftLehman Creek | 88 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 2 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 126 ft | 130 ft | 166 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 20 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | 27 ft | 781 ftLehman Creek | 118 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 21 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | yes | 27 ft | 762 ftLehman Creek | 110 ft | $20 |
| Wheeler Peak | 22 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 49 ft | 714 ftLehman Creek | 142 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 23 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 93 ft | 514 ftLehman Creek | 268 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 24 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 61 ft | 446 ftLehman Creek | 265 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 25 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 61 ft | 392 ftLehman Creek | 282 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 26 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 153 ft | 262 ftLehman Creek | 224 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 27 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 119 ft | 193 ftLehman Creek | 101 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 28 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 22 ft | 157 ftLehman Creek | 216 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 29 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 22 ft | 172 ftLehman Creek | 223 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 3 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 126 ft | 136 ft | 291 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 30 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 32 ft | 157 ftLehman Creek | 255 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 31 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 17 ft | 209 ft | 341 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 32 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 17 ft | 197 ft | 357 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 33 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | yes | 30 ft | 218 ft | 364 ft | $20 |
| Wheeler Peak | 34 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 93 ft | 216 ft | 321 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 35 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 27 ft | 147 ft | 370 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 36 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 27 ft | 123 ft | 394 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 37 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 62 ft | 119 ft | 413 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 4 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 118 ft | 141 ft | 422 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 5 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | yes | 53 ft | 134 ft | 535 ft | $20 |
| Wheeler Peak | 6 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 53 ft | 136 ft | 490 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 7 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 31 ft | 312 ft | 223 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 8 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 27 ft | 323 ft | 201 ft | $20 | |
| Wheeler Peak | 9 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 27 ft | 346 ft | 176 ft | $20 |
25 of 36 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Upper Lehman Creek CampgroundGreat Basin National Park · 3.0 mi
Lower Lehman Creek CampgroundGreat Basin National Park · 3.5 mi
Baker Creek CampgroundGreat Basin National Park · 3.9 mi
Grey Cliffs CampgroundGreat Basin National Park · 4.7 mi
Snake Creek Primitive CampgroundsGreat Basin National Park · 6.6 mi
Cleve Creek CampgroundBristlecone Field Office · 19 miFrom the east or west: From U.S. Highway 6 & 50, turn south on Nevada State Highway 487 and travel 5 miles to Baker, NV. In Baker turn west on Highway 488 and travel 5 miles to the park. From the south (Utah): Travel north on Utah State Highway 21 through Milford, UT and Garrison, UT, which will become Nevada State Highway 487 as you cross the border. Turn west on Highway 488 in Baker and travel 5 miles to the park. From the south (Nevada): Travel north on U.S. Highway 93 (Great Basin Highway). At the junction of U.S. Highway 6 & 50 drive east to Nevada State Highway 487 and turn south. Travel 5 miles to Baker, NV. In Baker turn west on Highway 488 and travel 5 miles to the park.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Baker, NV
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Wheeler Peak Campground is in Nevada’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Mark Amodei (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →