Silver Jack Inn & LectroLux Cafe and Bar

Our World

You will be in the Great Basin’s Snake Valley one of the longest valleys in the US and are sitting on the bottom of an inland sea, which uplifted about 250 million years ago.  The quartzite “basement” rock strewn about is ½ -3/4 billion years old.  All water precipitated here stay’s here – there are no outlets to the sea hence the “Great Basin”. 

Nevada has 314 mountain ranges (we are the most mountainous state) and you are in Basin & Range Country.  Be sure to read John McPhee’s “Basin & Range”, for sale at our bookstore, for a grand book about this world. Examples of area rocks are peppered throughout the gardens; ask about them.

 We provide guided hikes in the area, easy old mine walk or rigorous Mt. Wheeler or Notch Peak.

 Water is scarce: and you are in the driest part of the driest state. Please be short on water use; we have very little and have been in an 11- 12 year drought.  Water is the foundation of our life, our economy, and the Natural World here.

 Please hang your towels if you do not want a change to save water; leave on bathroom floor if you want a change. 

 This area was the home of the Native American Fremont people about 800 years ago but had been settled by Native Americans up to 13,000 years ago.  More recently it had been settled by pioneers seeking gold and other minerals in the mid 1800s, and now the home to about 52 folks in Baker proper and about 350 others spread around many hundreds of square miles.  There are many Native American sites with petrogylphs & pictographs about for viewing.  There are Shoshone and Goschutes living in the area now.

This is a shot I took on RT 50, "The Lonliest Road" through NV. The mountains in the distance flank the Smokey Valley about mid section of the state. This is a bicyclist and motorcyclist dream land - little traffic, vast landscapes, well-paved roads.

Our wildlife neighbors include mountain lions & bobcats (very reclusive and hardly seen), elk, mule deer, antelope, bighorn sheep, coyote, badgers, occasional marmots, at least 200 bird species, rabbits, lizards and a great variety of vegetation.  Of course we have creatures that startle – rattlesnakes, black widow & brown recluse spiders, and scorpions.  Our domesticated neighbors are cattle, horses, and sheep.  A few of the people here are relatively domesticated as well…

The vegetation includes many wildflowers (Spring the best viewing season), many sage varieties (smell our sage perfume early in the AM), grasses, Pinion Pine (pine nuts were a staple of Native peoples and are still harvested today), Juniper, pine forests, and 3-4,000 year-old Bristle Cone pines.  Collect fossils from areas nearby. Many desert plants are planted in the gardens.

This Utah Juniper, a native, is a few hundred years old. The view is across Snake Valley to Mt Wheeler (13,063') in the National Park. Photo by Terry Marasco

 This is high desert country.   You will be at 5,300’ elevation, Mt. Wheeler at 13,060’.  We have some of the best skies for stargazing (clearest & cleanest air in the country).  Our weather varies a good bit –Spring in the 40/70 range, Summer 55/95, Fall 40/70, and Winter -10/50.  This is Year Round sports country: xCountry ski and snowshoe December-June (!), hike, mountain & road bike year round.  The mountain gets about 15 feet of snow and Baker about 2 feet of snow per year.  Down here snow clears from the road by the next day if not in hours from intense sun.  We rent sports equipment.

 My photos are on the walls and there is an art/antique/crafts galley out back.

 I hope you enjoy and come to respect this place as we do.  It is very peaceful and quiet and I hope you had a chance to chill leaving your worries and tensions behind even only for a few days.