Baker Archeological Site

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.4 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 5269 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Baker Archeological Site
Fee: none
Attractions: solar pueblo

The Baker Archeological Site is located near the Great Basin National Park 61 miles east of Ely, Nevada and 6 miles west of the Nevada/Utah border along US Highways 6 & 50. Found at the site is a prehistoric Fremont Village where the buildings were arranged along lines of the Summer and Winter solstices.

For turn-by-turn directions you can enter 'Baker Archeological Site' into your driving app.

The kiosk at the trailhead provides an orientation to the site.

The most valuable aspect of a visit to the Baker Archeological Site is the information contained within the trail guide.

The trail leading to the site is interpretive in nature with numbered signs that correspond with entries in the trail guide.

What remains above ground are outlines of the buildings that once stood at each spot. At the center of the village was the 'Big House'.

Some of the buildings were above ground adobe structures while others were pithouses which were both above and below the surface.

The really interesting aspect of the village is the relationship between the Summer and Winter Solstices sunrises on the distant horizon - 

and the alignment of the buildings in the village.

With most pueblos that you visit the various rooms will be adjoining and have walls incommon like a motel. At the Baker Site the buildings aren't even really in rows but arranged with the position of the sun as it rises above the horizon in relation to a central observation point, the Big House. The site is like a solar calendar where all the annual festivals, planting times, and migrations could be easily anticipated by the villagers and taught to each generation. Perhaps the Fremont regarded the site as a temple of sorts. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.