Tour, camping fees at Great Basin National Park increasing

Diva Burns, center, of Glendora, Calif., uses her phone to illuminate part of the Lehman Caves during a guided tour at Great Basin National Park outside of Baker on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @csstevensphoto

The Milky Way is shown over Great Basin National Park in this long exposure photograph taken on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

BAKER — Federal officials are raising fees for cave tours and campground stays within Nevada’s vast Great Basin National Park.

New fees that take effect Jan. 1 will raise the cost of all Lehman Caves tours by $1.

That means 60-minute tours for adults will be $9, and 90-minute tours will cost $11.

Youth rates will be $5 and $6.

Camping at Wheeler Peak, Upper Lehman Creek, Lower Lehman Creek, Baker Creek and Grey Cliffs will increase $3 per night, to $15.

Grey Cliffs group campsite fees will increase $5, to $30.

Senior and access pass discounts still apply.

Acting park Superintendent Curt Dimmick calls the increases modest, and says the money they raise will underwrite services at the park where visitation increased 25 percent in 2016, to nearly 145,000 people.