HIKING THE RUBY MOUNTAINS

NOTE: IF YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT THIS PAGE, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU IMMEDIATELY LINK TO PART 1 HIKING THE RUBY MOUNTAINS FOR UPDATED PAGE INFORMATION AND CONTINUE FOLLOWING THE LINKS FROM THAT PAGE.

HIKING THE RUBY MOUNTAINS (PART 1)

TRAIL TO LIBERTY PASS AND BEYOND

Contents of this page:
Introduction || Nevada's Swiss Alps || Area Map || Lamoille Canyon/Island Lake || Trail to Liberty Pass || Beyond Liberty Pass
Insights to Fishing || Weather/Temperatures/Baneberries and Dogs || Knife Edge Ridges || Walking the Lamoille Canyon Flume
Hiking the Ruby Crest Trail || Hiking Season || Native Inhabitants || B-17 and C-47 Military Aircraft Crash in the East Humboldts
Fu-Go Incendiary and Explosive Devices || Links to Other Ruby Mountains Sites || Site Search Engine

LINKS TO ASSOCIATED PAGES:
View Photo Preview Page (1) || View Photo Preview Page (2) || Part 2 Other Wilderness Areas, Photos and Information
Part 2 Supplement Other Wilderness Areas, Photos and Information || Part 3 Outfitters, Pack Trips and Backpacking Guide Service
Part 3 Supplement Outfitters, Pack Trips, Thomas Canyon, Right Fork Canyon and Ruby Valley
Part 4 Hiking the Ruby Crest Trail with Lynda Mellows and Rosanne Baker || Photo Page Hole in the Mountain--East Humboldts
Part 5 Birdeye Lake, Lake Peak, Smith Lake, Clover Valley and Cave Creek ^New

This site consists of seven pages and two photo preview pages and is updated periodically with new information and photographs. The seven informational pages are lengthy, but it is hoped that loading and scrolling a few long pages will be more convenient than linking to numerous shorter pages. The site is intended to be comprehensive enough to provide the prospective visitor/hiker/fisherman with all the information necessary to make the trip to this northern Nevada area. Explicit directions are furnished for locating the trailheads to the various lakes, and comments are made on fishing conditions for most of the lakes. Note that information for any particular lake is not necessarily confined to a single page but may exist on two or three pages. Part 2 Supplement contains a Lake Name Directory chart that identifies the pages where information can be found for any of the named lakes.

Rock climbers using ropes and pitons have been observed dangling from shear cliffs in Lamoille Canyon, but the entire area is primarily a hiker's paradise. Most hikes would be considered moderate in difficulty, requiring only average hiking ability, and the main consideration might be just how far do you want to go. The classic hike over Liberty Pass is on a well maintained trail and is easier than many of the other hikes. The real difficulty comes in where there are no trails and you may be climbing rather than hiking.

Click on the image icons for expanded views and then click the "Back" button to return to the page.

Part 1 (Trail to Liberty Pass and Beyond)
This is the current page and describes the Lamoille Canyon area and the lakes that can be reached from the trailheads at the end of Lamoille Canyon and continuing over Liberty Pass. This is the most popular hiking area in the entire mountain range and should be the primary consideration for anyone planning a first time trip to the area. Lamoille Canyon however, due to popularity and easy access, is the one area where you cannot go to escape civilization. Depending on the day and weather, cars may be parked most anywhere along the 12 mile stretch of canyon road, and there could be 50 or more cars parked at the end of the canyon. Some people will just be taking in the scenery, others fishing Lamoille Creek, while most of the others will be on the trail to Island Lake or going the other direction towards Liberty Pass and beyond.

Part 2 (Other Wilderness Areas)
Other Wilderness Areas describes most of the remaining lakes and trailhead locations in the Ruby Mountains and East Humboldt ranges. It also furnishes information on transportation, motels and other accommodations for staying in Elko, located just 20 miles from the entrance to Lamoille Canyon. Contact information is also provided for five Outfitters in the area in case you would rather ride than walk.

Part 2 Supplement (Other Wilderness Areas)
The supplement is a continuation of Part 2 and provides information and photos for the remaining lakes in the Ruby and East Humboldt ranges. As noted above, the supplement contains a chart showing all the named lakes in the Rubies and East Humboldts and provides links to the site pages where information can be found for any particular lake. Part 1 through Part 3 Supplement all have a site search engine that will identify site pages by conducting a search for any place name or other data contained in the site.

Part 3 (Outfitters, Pack Trips and Backpacking Guide Service)
This section provides information on the five area outfitters as well as information on a backpacking guide service for the Lamoille Canyon area. Pack trip photos from trips with four of the five outfitters are displayed. Photos and information for the fifth outfitter are shown in Part 5. Information is also provided for the campgrounds and picknicking areas in Lamoille Canyon and at Angel Lake. Reservations for a campsite can be made at either of these campgrounds, and making reservations during June, July or August for the Thomas Canyon campground in Lamoille Canyon is definitely recommended.

Part 3 Supplement (Outfitters, Pack Trips, Thomas Canyon, Right Fork Canyon and Ruby Valley)
This page provides information on some of the more unusual and less visited destinations and, if you don't want to hike in, the outfitters who can get you there. These include Echo Lake, Verdi Lake, Lost Lake, Greys Lake, Hole in the Mountain and Right Fork Canyon. Information is also included on Thomas Canyon, Ruby Valley and the Ruby Marshes. The marshes are popular for bass fishing.

Part 4 (Hiking the Ruby Crest Trail with Lynda Mellows and Rosanne Baker)
This is a very inspiring account of a four day hike over the 34 mile Ruby Crest Trail (starting at Lamoille Canyon) by two ladies from Minden, Nevada that is told by Lynda Mellows. Take the time to read this section.

Part 5 (Birdeye Lake, Lake Peak, Smith Lake, Clover Valley and Cave Creek)
This section presents an unusual and interesting trip to Birdeye Lake in the East Humboldts with Secret Pass Outfitters. Also featured are Lake Peak, Smith Lake and Cave Creek. Cave Creek emerges from a granite wall within the Ruby Mountain range and soldiers intent on exploring the cave are to have met disasterous ends.

Above Photo Courtesy of Susan Zerga Photography, P.O. Box 281327, Lamoille, NV 89828. Susan Zerga photography can be viewed and purchased at the Northeastern Nevada Museum and other Elko locations.

Nevada's Swiss Alps, the Ruby Mountains Wilderness and East Humboldt Wilderness, are centrally located 20 miles south of Elko, Nevada, near the ranching community of Lamoille in Northeastern Nevada. The mountain range is within the Humboldt National Forest and is approximately 90 miles in length and a dozen or so miles in width. The northernmost 70 miles, extending from Angel Lake in the East Humboldts to Harrison Pass in the Rubies, see 99 percent of the recreational activity. The range runs approximately in a north-south direction, and Secret Pass, one of two road passes that traverse the range, separates the East Humboldt section of the range to the north from the Ruby Mountains section of the range to the south. The mountain range is gently sloping on the west side and steep on the east side. The elevation is in the 10,000 to 11,000 foot range, not particularly high, but the range is formed by a single 5,000 foot rise rather than by a series of foothills. The elevation of nearby Elko is over 5,000 feet.

Twenty-seven named and just as many or more small unnamed lakes are scattered throughout the length of the range. Most of the named lakes are stocked with various species of trout. Standard trail maintenance by the Forest Service may be lacking in certain areas, making lake access more difficult, but horse traffic by Outfitters in the area goes a long ways towards keeping many trails open. Most of the lake trips start from the more gradual sloping west side of the range and are generally longer than trips starting from the steeper east side.

Click the map image to expand to full size (file size is 282k so loading time may be slow). The map will show the locations of many features mentioned on these pages. Included are the communities of Elko, Wells, Deeth, Jiggs, Lee, Lamoille and Spring Creek. Some geographic features shown are Ruby Valley, Secret Pass, Harrison Pass, the Ruby Marshes (Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge), and Lamoille Canyon. Relative positions are shown for all named lakes in the Ruby Mountains and East Humboldts as well as some other major canyons. To prevent over-crowding, the distances apart are not exactly to scale.

The hikes described in PART 1 to Island Lake and to Liberty and Favre lakes can be undertaken without the aid of a map. Destinations described in PARTS 2 and 3, along with their supplement pages, will, for the most part, require a map for orientation and locating the trailheads. During the week you can purchase a combined Ruby Mountains Wilderness and East Humboldt Wilderness map from the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest office in Elko at 2035 Last Chance Road, (775-738-5171). From Idaho Street, go south on 12th Street until you make a left turn onto the Lamoille highway. Pass Dale White Automotive on the left and Last Chance Road is on the left immediately after passing the dealership.

The most popular access to the area is from the trailhead at the end of Lamoille canyon, about a 30 mile drive from Elko. Short hikes over part of the Ruby Crest trail can be made from this location. Avoid excessive snow by planning your hikes at the end of June or later. The elevation at the trailhead is around 8800 feet.

To reach Lamoille Canyon from Idaho street, the main east-west street through Elko, turn south towards the Ruby Mountains on either 5th or 12th street and make a left turn onto the Lamoille highway. Five miles later, at the intersection of Lamoille Highway (SR 227) and SR 228 (to Lee, Jiggs and Harrison Pass), you will be passing through the community of Spring Creek. Observe the 55 MPH speed limit (or 45 MPH "when lights are flashing") when passing through this area.

Several miles later the highway will turn left, paralleling the Ruby Mountains. Less than a mile before reaching the rustic community of Lamoille, make a right turn onto the Lamoille Canyon road to begin the drive up majestic, glacier carved Lamoille Canyon. At times there has been a Lamoille Canyon Recreation Area sign at the intersection identifying the road to the canyon, at other times the sign has been removed. It may come as a complete surprise to discover that the Silver State is not all brown mountains and sagebrush.

Dwarf willow bushes are constant companions on most lake trips. These thick entanglements are anywhere from one to six or seven feet tall and are prevalent in lush canyons and hillsides, along creeks, and around the shoreline of many of the lakes. If you are making an off the trail climb and encounter a large willow patch, try to go around rather than through if it is much over one to two feet in height. Willow patches found around creeks can be over your head, and fighting your way through this is anything but fun.

Don't overlook the usefullness of a sturdy hiking pole, or even two, especially if you might be taking an off-trail climb up a steep and rocky hillside.

An easy beginning hike from the parking lot at the end of Lamoille Canyon is to Island Lake, a round trip distance of about 3.5 miles. The climb is gradual with switchbacks along the trail. Younger children can usually make this hike with little difficulty. The lake sustains a population of Brook trout but fishing is usually not good.

Going the other direction from the parking lot along the Ruby Crest trail towards Lamoille Lake, the trail will cross Lamoille Creek two or three times and much of the lower trail is through pine trees. Before reaching Lamoille Lake, you will pass two small lakes, Dollar Lakes 1 and 2. There are no fish in these shallow lakes so continue on to Lamoille Lake for the first fishing opportunity.

Continue a little further along the trail to reach Lamoille Lake. The hiking time from the parking lot can be stretched to two hours at a comfortable, leisurely pace. For many day hikers, Lamoille lake is the final destination for the day. The lake is well stocked with Brook trout but fishing is usually not that good.

For SUPURB photos of Lamoille Lake and the Lamoille Canyon area, link to web site A Hike in Lamoille Canyon by Abe van Luik.

The trail from Lamoille Lake continues on up to Liberty Pass. The distance is not all that great but it is moderately steep. The numerous switchbacks along the trail make it quite manageable. You may encounter some snow along the way and the hiking time is less than one hour.

Several times I have been coming back down the pass in mid to late afternoon, and have met hikers coming up the pass with the intention of continuing on to Liberty Lake to fish and then returning to the parking lot. This could be cutting the time a little close before darkness sets in. Have a flashlight along if this might be you.

Continuing down the far side of Liberty Pass is a pleasure, and Liberty Lake will come into view after walking a short ways down the trail. You will be high above the lake at this point and if you look off into the distance on the far side of Liberty Lake you can see Castle Lake hidden away in its basin. Castle Lake is above Favre Lake but Favre will not come into view until you start to descend from Liberty towards Favre. The trail from the pass will wind down to the far side of Liberty Lake where you can camp or start fishing. Fishing for Brook trout and perhaps an occasional Lake trout is usually good.

The fish in Liberty are under a sheet of ice for several months (longer than most lakes) during the winter with little food available, and it is not very sporting to fish the lake early in the season. The fish are starved and extremely thin with the result that their heads are disproportunately large. At this stage they will bite at anything so let them fatten up some and try your fishing skills towards the end of July or later.

The following reference to Liberty Lake and the Ruby Mountains is an excerpt from "Nevada Wilderness Areas and Great Basin National Park" by Michael C. White:

"Liberty is the quintessential [classic] mountain lake, with splendid scenery and great views. Cradled in a steep-walled rock basin, perched high above the surrounding canyon, you can appreciate the relative popularity of this lake. Travelers along Interstate 80, a mere thirty miles away, race past the range completely unaware of this tremendous beauty, assuming that Nevada is nothing more than endless sagebrush and brown mountains."

On a few occasions we packed a five man rubber life boat complete with oars and a large inflation pump to Liberty Lake. Rolled tightly enough, the boat would just fit into a steel frame WWII army knapsack. Trolling Liberty Lake with large red and white spoons was very productive and resulted in catching larger fish than what you would catch from the shore.

Favre Lake has Brook trout and fishing at Favre is almost always good. By following the more obvious trail from Liberty Lake to Favre, the trail cuts back to the right and makes one long switchback which makes the distance seem a little long. You could make an off-trail beeline from Liberty straight down to Favre by fighting patches of willows, which is the way we used to do it before we knew that the trail actually went down there.

At this stage of the hike, the round trip distance from the trailhead is about 10 miles. At altitude on a lazy, warm afternoon you probably won't feel like going much farther. But as long as you're there, take a short but steep climb from Favre Lake up to Castle Lake. Not many hikers actually do this. There is no trail but the way up is obvious. Castle Lake is unusual since it is very shallow, not more than three to five feet deep all the way across. There are no fish in the lake which may almost freeze solid in the winter.

However, if you know ahead of time that you want to make it to Castle Lake, do not follow the more obvious trail to the right from the sign post near Liberty which will take you down to the right end of Favre Lake. From that point there is little choice other than making the fairly steep and hard climb to Castle. Instead, another trail continues from Liberty Lake which will skirt the left end of Favre Lake and will continue about half way up to Castle. From there it is a much easier climb the rest of the way to Castle.

If you intend to camp for several nights, there are better camping areas at Castle Lake than there are at either Liberty or Favre.

To find this trail around the left end of Favre, continue on the main trail to Liberty like you were going to the camping area near the large rock, and, 50 yards or so before the camping area, watch for a trail leading off to the right. Actually there will be two parallel trails separated by only a few feet. Take the trail on the right and you are on your way.

If you just want to go to Favre only, it doesn't matter which of the two trails to take; they are both easy and about the same length.

The hike to Favre (and to Castle if inclined) is usually the upper limit for a day hike or fishing trip. For best fishing results, get an early start. With a full moon on a clear night, you can easily follow the trail without the aid of a flashlight. On a recent trip we started at 3:00 a.m. with flashlights and extra batteries and were at Liberty Pass by 6:00 a.m.

The only reason we can say that we were the fastest hikers on the trail on this hike is because there was no one else on the trail at that hour. Otherwise, three hours to Liberty Pass is certainly not a particularly good time. Usually the pass can be reached in two hours. However, take time for some good photography along the way rather than trying for a record breaking hiking performance to the pass.

If you are camping overnight at Liberty or Favre, or, having started hiking at 3:00 a.m., and just want to extend your day hike, the next and last lake in the vicinity is North Furlong. Looking up from Favre Lake to Castle, North Furlong is some distance beyond the rugged looking ridge behind Castle. Continue on the trail from Favre Lake as it winds around to the canyon on the left, over two low ridges, and eventually down to the lake on a trail that cuts off to the right from the main trail. The extra distance will add an additional four moderate hiking miles to the round trip. Reports seem to indicate that the lake does not contain fish.

North Furlong is the last lake in this cluster of lakes. The hike to Liberty and Favre lakes is a great experience, especially for the first time, and the scenery is superb. The hike takes you up Liberty Pass and then down to the lakes. After relaxing or fishing at Favre, you may not be looking forward to the uphill two mile portion of the return trip to Liberty Pass. But it is all downhill from there and when you return to the parking lot you can impress the non-hikers by pointing back to that big "V" in the mountain and telling them you were on the far side of Liberty Pass.

Lake fishing is open year around, 24 hours a day. Lake fishing is unpredictable but chances are greatly improved by being there early. Early refers to both early in the season, June or July, and early in the morning (or early evening). The best fishing lakes, considering fish quality, are Boulder and Steele and these are early morning lakes at the extreme. They are also difficult to get to. At Boulder, great fishing from the first signs of daybreak may last for only an hour and then abruptly end until evening. The fish at Steele Lake are more cooperative and will continue to hit for a while longer.

The predominate fish in most lakes are Brook trout with colorful markings. They are often on the small side, ranging from seven to ten inches. The notable exceptions for Brooks are at Boulder and Steele lakes, with sizes extending to 11 and 12 inches, and these fish are also fatter than usual.

The next most common species is Cutthroats and these can be quite large, up to 18 inches in length. Hidden Lakes, Smith Lake and Greys Lake are good Cutthroat lakes.

Other trout species that might be encountered are Rainbow, Golden, Lake and Tiger. Tigers, sometimes found in Angel Lake, are a hybrid of female Brown and male Brook, but cannot reproduce. Tiger trout have tiger like markings, are more ferocious than either of their parents, and have been know to reach 20 inches in length.

Lake trout (Mackinaws) are known to exist in only two lakes, Echo and Liberty, the two largest and deepest lakes in the range. They can be well over 20 inches in length and up to 10 pounds, but few fishermen ever catch one. I have seen Mackinaws in both Echo and Liberty lakes but like most fishermen have never caught one.

Attempts have been made to stock Golden trout in Cold lakes but they failed to survive. Smith Lake is also to have been stocked with Goldens, but fishing reports on this lake are so sketchy that their survival status is unknown.

Some insight into a lake’s fishing potential is included with the hiking information for that lake. But in each case, timing is important. Echo Lake for example, due to its inaccessibility, generally provides superb fishing but during an August heat wave you may hardly catch a thing.

Several lakes are small in size, three to five acres or less, and these can be great fishing. Severe winters, however, can be unforgiving on small lakes and winterkill may almost wipe out the entire population. Small or shallow lakes that usually or always have fish are Greys, Smith, Robinson, Hidden and possibly Winchell. Other small or very shallow lakes that do not have fish are Birdeye, Dollar, Castle and Seitz.

The following chart, with the exception of the elevation figures shown in parenthesis, is reproduced from a similar chart prepared by the U.S. Forest Service that had been available as a web page.

LAKES OF THE RUBY MOUNTAINS RANGER DISTRICT
Lake Name	Elevation	Acres	Depth	Fish/Trout
Angel	8400	13	29	rainbow, brook, tiger
Birdeye	9300 (9335)	4	?	none
Boulder	9500	10.5	10.5	brook
Castle	9800 (9783)	14	5	none
Cold #1	9900	3.7	28	brook
Cold #2	9800	1.8	?	brook
Dollar #1 & #2	9600	3	?	none
Echo	9800	29	155	brook, mackinaw
Favre	9500	19	45	brook
Greys	8600 (8723)	4.9	15	cutthroat
Griswold	9200 (9220)	17	20	cutthroat
Hidden #1	9500 (9490)	6.1	32	cutthroat
Hidden #2	9500 (9490)	2.8	9	cutthroat
Island	9800 (9672)	7.5	22	brook
Lamoille	9700	13.6	20	brook
Liberty	9700 (10039)	21	108	brook, mackinaw
N. Furlong	9600 (9580)	16	20	none
Overland	9600 (9453)	15	?	brook
Robinson	9600 (9080)	17.4	4.5	brook
Sietz	9000	17	20	none
Smith	9100 (9096)	4	?	cutthroat
Soldier	9100	6	14	none
Steele	9500	10	48	brook
Verdi	10,150	6	86	cutthroat
Winchell	8200 (8568)	6	?	?

The indicated elevation for Verdi Lake, 10,150 feet, seems to be excessive since that would only be 300 feet less than Liberty Pass which is just not the case. A more realistic elevation might be in the order of 9750 feet, higher than Lamoille Lake but less than Island Lake. The elevation figures in parenthesis are those that are available from the USGS Mapping Geographic Name Information System. In most cases the U.S. Forest Service elevations are rounded to the nearest hundred feet from the USGS elevations, but in others the differences are several hundred feet apart. The USGS did not provide an elevation for Verdi Lake.

Be aware of the possibility of wet weather. Drenching downpours can occur when least expected, but fortunately they often pass over as quickly as they appear. On a return hike from Winchell Lake we were met with thunder, lightning, rain and hail but this is unusual.

Late night and pre-dawn temperatures during July and August can be in the 30's and 40's at the higher elevations. Hiking conditions will generally be more on the warm side than on the cool side. A light or medium jacket is usually necessary for a pre-dawn or early morning start, but it won't be long until the jacket is relegated to the knapsack or tied around the waist.

There will be some cool and cloudy days, even drizzling days, that are great for comfortable hiking. The trade off, if taking pictures, is that photo quality will suffer without the clear, blue sky.

During June and July when creek runoff is high, it may be necessary to wade many of the creek crossings. The exceptions to this are the crossings on the way to Lamoille Lake where foot bridges have been constructed. Boulder balancing creek crossing acts can usually be done during August and September when the water is low.

What to wear? Ninety-nine out of 100 DO NOT wear hiking shorts. Not that you couldn't as long as you stay on the trail but they just seem out of place.

By all means bring your dogs along if they want to come; there are no dog restrictions. They will have a lot of fun but if their feet are not conditioned to long trail walking and running, the pads of their feet could come loose. Have some emergency "dog socks" available.

You will encounter a number of different berries along the way. If you can definitely recognize currants or chokecherries, these are OK to eat. But if in doubt, DON'T. A number of berries are poisonous and sampling some could ruin the whole day. The baneberry is an extremely poisonous berry that is dark red and grows in clusters at the end of the stem. Eating just a few could at least result in stomach cramps and vomiting. Note that the individual berry stems protrude at a rather distinctive 90 degree angle from the main stem.

Firewood in the mountains is generally scarce. You may come across a downed, dried-up tree, but firewood is otherwise limited to just small pieces of tree limbs scattered here and there. A camp stove or small backpacking stove is the only reliable means for heating and cooking.

Fishing licenses can be obtained from several sources in Elko. One convenient location is the Sav-On-Drug store located near the west end of town at 550 W. Idaho Street (near the junction of the Mountain City highway). The fee for out-of-state licenses is $12 for one day and an additional $4 for each consecutive day thereafter.

When making day trips, getting to a lake or other destination is only half the battle, and, if you do not have flashlights, you also have to get back while it's still daylight. If necessary, turn back without reaching your destination and get an earlier start next time. A rescue due to injury or getting lost would be very embarrassing, uncomfortable and could even be costly.

Violent and unseasonal storms can hit the mountains. Thomas Canyon, a fork off Lamoille Canyon that is mentioned several times throughout these pages, is named after Raymond Thomas, a former Elko school teacher, who died in 1916 after he and other hikers were caught in a sudden October snowstorm.

In a much more recent tragedy, during March 2001 a 22 year old man from Twin Falls, Idaho and his nine year old half-sister from Elko died after falling 60 feet from a ledge in Lamoille Canyon. The location was near the branch to Right Fork Canyon. The report indicates that they had taken a shortcut over some bluffs and fell as a result of slipping on snow.

A newspaper article dated May 31, 2004 states that an eleven year girl from Sparks, Nevada died in the Ruby Mountains after apparently falling some 75 feet down a cliff. The exact location is not identified nor is it mentioned if snow might have been present.

Snow still abounds until June or July and it goes without saying that many off-trail areas are dangerous without snow. Don't get in over your head--avoid similar incidents by paying attention to and respecting the elements.

On one side excursion, hoping (unrealisticly) to find an undiscovered lake on the other side, I climbed the ridge directly to the left of the Lamoille Canyon parking lot. The above photo, taken from the Island Lake trail, shows the canyon wall and ridge in full view. The parking lot is out of view to the lower right.

The first part of the climb was easy enough, but the second part was through the treeless, beige colored terrain near the center of the photo which is loose rock and shale. The best way to traverse this turned out to be on all fours, hand over foot. Scaling the ridge near the low point of the saddle, the ridge was only inches wide, and it was difficult to safely traverse the ridge line for more than several feet in either direction. Your left foot is on the left side of the ridge and your right foot is on the right side.

The drop off on the far side was steep enough to discourage any thoughts of descending into the adjoining canyon. You are actually looking out at Ruby Valley from this viewpoint, but if there would have been a lake down there, it would have just had to have stayed there by itself.

A powerhouse for the Elko-Lamoille Power Company had been constructed around 1913 at the entrance to Lamoille Canyon to supply electricity to Elko and Lamoille. It burned down during 1971, leaving only the concrete foundation.

The powerhouse was located alongside Lamoille Creek but water pressure at that point was not strong enough to turn the turbines. Some three miles up the canyon, water from Lamoille creek was diverted to a flume that carried water down the canyon to the powerhouse, and gravity flow reaching 180 MPH was sufficient to power the turbines.

The most visible part of the flume was in the lower part of the canyon and was built some distance up the hillside on the left side as you were traveling up the canyon. Much of the flume was built across trellises spanning the vertical ridges projecting down the canyon wall. Part of the flume consisted of iron piping some 12" in diameter that was enclosed within a wooden frame on three sides with the top left open, while other sections of pipe were only supported on the bottom with no frame enclosure whatsoever. Other parts of the flume consisted of just the solid wooden frame without piping, and it was common to see water leaking, sometimes pouring, from these wooden sections.

It naturally followed that walking the flume became a popular activity. It was easy to do, especially where the frame completely surrounded the pipe or flow of water, but you couldn't really call it a hike. However, over sections of pipe that were not covered on top or on the sides, walking had to be done on the curved iron pipe. Some of the trellises were rather high off the ground and care had to be exercised when traversing those sections that were open. I'm not aware of anyone who fell and was injured but the possibility of falling was an accepted risk.

(Poor quality images are the result of prints having been made from videotape which in turn was produced from Super 8 movie film.)

The trellises added an unusual and interesting feature to the canyon wall, but the flume has now been disassembled and only parts of the wooden framing can be found along the hillside. The picnic grounds located close to the powerhouse retain the Powerhouse name.

The Ruby Crest trail, also called the Harrison-Lamoille trail, runs between Harrison pass near the southern part of the Ruby range to the trailhead at Lamoille Canyon, passing several lakes along the way. The crow flying distance is 20 miles but the distance for those who have to follow all the turns and switchbacks along the trail is 32 to 34 miles. The hike can be made from either direction but the most popular way seems to be from Harrison Pass to Lamoille Canyon. This way, you will descend into "civilization" at the parking lot, and an abundance of water will be available at the latter stages of the trip. Water is very scarce between Harrison Pass and Overland Lake (the first lake you will come to when hiking from Harrison Pass to Lamoille Canyon).

Either way, you will first have to spot a vehicle for your return trip at the end (or have someone pick you up), and someone will then have to drop you off at the beginning. It is safer to have a vehicle spotted at the parking lot rather than at the more remote Harrison Pass area. When starting at Harrison Pass, try to catch a ride in a 4-WD vehicle in order to make it as far as possible up the access road/trail which will dispose of some initial hiking distance.

Before undertaking the entire trail hike, acquire the combined Ruby Mountains Wilderness and East Humboldt Wilderness map (or just the separate Ruby Mountains Wilderness map) from the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest office in Elko. If available, also obtain Michael White's "Nevada Wilderness Areas, A Hiking & Backpacking Guide" that contains good information on hiking the entire trail. Cost of the combined map is $4 and the hiking guide is around $15. You can arrange for these items to be sent to you by calling the forest service office at 775-738-5171.

For an inspiring account of conquering the Trail, requiring considerable effort and determination and accompanied by agony and suffering, Hiking the Ruby Crest Trail with Lynda Mellows and Rosanne Baker is a Must Read. Lynda Mellows is 40 years of age and her mother Rosanne Baker is 64 years of age. If they can do it, you and I should be able to do it also. Well...maybe.

They hiked from Lamoille Canyon to Harrison Pass which I consider to be the hard way. By going the other direction, you will get the long, dry, loneliest stretch out of the way first while you are still fresh, and there will be plenty of water available down the home stretch. Other hikers will be encountered during the last seven miles or so which will provide the relief of finally "getting out of the woods".

Author Lynda Mellows' vivid description let's you experience almost first hand the agony and glory of conquering the trail. Undecided trail hikers will quickly come to one of two conclusions: 1) 'I can't wait to get started', or 2) 'For now I'll just be satisfied with a hike to Island Lake'.

The recommended hiking season for the Lamoille Canyon area is about four months long, from July through October. However, the Thomas Canyon campground, located eight miles up Lamoille Canyon, usually opens late May around the Memorial Day weekend and attracts a few campers that may result in some early season hiking activity. (See Part 3 Outfitters, Pack Trips and Backpacking Guide Service for campground reservation information for Thomas Canyon as well as the Angel Lake campground.)

From the Thomas Canyon campground, the Lamoille Canyon road extends four more miles up the canyon to the parking lot at road's end. During early June, unless the last quarter to half mile of road has been plowed, it is not always possible to drive all the way to the parking lot. And from road's end there are still several feet of snow farther up the canyon that makes the trail to Lamoille Lake impossible to follow. As an alternate hike, the snow is usually gone from the trail to Island Lake that begins from the parking lot but continues in the opposite direction from the trail to Lamoille Lake. Other early season hikes are Thomas Canyon from the campground and Right Fork Canyon a few miles back down the road. See Part 3 Supplement Outfitters, Pack Trips, Thomas Canyon, Right Fork Canyon and Ruby Valley for Thomas Canyon and Right Fork Canyon hiking information.

When considering a trip during late May or early June, call the U.S. Forest Service office at 1-775-752-3357 for snow and road conditions, or link to Ruby Mountains Road and Snow Report that usually shows updated snow conditions in the canyon. By early July most of the snow has melted and the trail is open to Lamoille Lake and on up to Liberty Pass and over.

On one trip we did go to Favre Lake on June 1st. We were able to drive up Lamoille Canyon to the parking lot, but there was the usual early season snow from there on in to Lamoille Lake and beyond. The trail was completely hidden so the only alternative was just to pick your way through the rocks, snow and brush the best you could. By staying high and to the right of Lamoille Creek, you can avoid much of the ever-present thick brush and willows that will only be partially covered with snow and difficult to traverse.

We wore hip boots to make our way through the one to two feet of slushy snow to Lamoille Lake. We did get rained on during this leg of the hike but were able to wait most of it out under a large pine tree. When approaching the lake using this route it is necessary to wade Lamoille Creek on the left.

Going up Liberty Pass was not too difficult. There was snow about all the way but you could follow the trail reasonably well. Much of the snow on the other side of the pass was gone and it was easy to find a dry spot above Liberty Lake to spend the night.

Liberty Lake was completely frozen over. Favre Lake was clear except for some snow banks around the edges, and the fish were in good condition and fishing was exceptional.

On another occasion in April, we were able to drive up Lamoille Canyon almost to the Thomas Canyon campgrounds before snow blocked the road. We then donned skis with moleskins and trudged our way up to Lamoille Lake, again staying high and to the right of Lamoille creek when passing the snow covered parking lot. This added five miles to the one-way trip but the going was easier than the June trip since the snow was hard packed and deep which covered most of the brush. Approaching Lamoille Lake and wearing skis, we crossed Lamoille Creek on a snow bridge without caving in.

This was a two night outing and it was our original intention to stop at Lamoille Lake. However, Liberty Pass didn't look impossible, except on skis, so we threw the skis over our shoulders and started through the snow to the pass on foot, but put the skis back on towards the top where it made the going easier.

Getting to the pass required considerable effort and there was some concern that once we got there the Liberty Pass sign would be buried under the snow. We could follow the trail switchbacks during the lower portion of the climb, but after that there was little choice other than pointing the skis straight upward in a beeline direction towards the top. The moleskins on the bottom of the skis prevented sliding backwards.

There is an interesting web site with great photos at Discover Nevada Trip (June, 99). Starting with Day 5 of the trip (June 10th), there are photos of Lamoille Canyon, Wildhorse Reservoir (north of Elko), and Angel Lake (see Part 2 of this site). The date is early June which accounts for all the snow still remaining in Lamoille Canyon. The author makes the following statement about the canyon: "This place had been lifted out of the Canadian Rockies and placed in Nevada." The site contains quite a number of good photos.

Most of the local inhabitants will not be the least bit bothered by your presence and some will appreciate it if you will leave a scrap of food around here and there.

Rattlesnakes are residents of the area (very prevalent in Ruby Valley) but I have only seen one in Lamoille Canyon. During mid-day a large rattler was shading himself beneath a sagebrush on the hillside to the left of the powerhouse right after entering the canyon. It is not likely that you will encounter one, but they rate the usual precaution--don't reach anywhere you can't see.

There are some friendly porcupines. It is more likely that a chance meeting with one would occur at night rather than during the day since they seem to prefer the coolness of the evening. Porcupines are generally in no hurry to get somewhere, but they can run quite fast if need be and they are also good tree climbers.

Mountain lion sightings are few and far between but these mountains are home for quite a few of them. They will see you more often than you will see them. I have seen one in Lamoille Canyon but this was at night. A second sighting, but in a completely different location north of Elko, also occurred at night. Night sightings are up close but unfortunately they don't last very long as the silhouettes quickly disappear into the darkness.

While there are various reports of mountain lion attacks on sheep or other livestock in the Ruby Mountains, there are no known reports of mountain lion attacks on people. When hiking, stay together as a group rather than stringing out individually along the trail. Safety exists in size and numbers. Mountain lions have been known to attack groups, but by far most attacks are against individuals. If an attack seems imminent, do NOT play dead. Lions kill for food rather than from a belief they are threatened, and playing dead just makes it that much easier. Instead, resist with whatever means are available--make noise, shout, throw rocks, wave a hiking pole or other object, raise your arms to look larger, anything to make the lion think it better look for easier prey. Do not run unless you can quickly get somewhere for protection before the lion gets there. Running only stimulates attacks since the lion believes its dinner is trying to get away.

Bears? I would like to think so but bear reports in the area, at least within the past 100 years or so, are unknown. On one excursion, we had to pitch a tent at the Lamoille Canyon parking lot because of a very heavy and long lasting downpour during the night. Groceries were left in an ice chest outside the tent, and during the night some noisy foraging occurred just on the other side of the tent wall. I lacked the desire to go out in the rain and confront whatever it was.

Come morning, it was discovered that the culprit had gained access to the ice chest and had completely devoured a whole berry pie and other food items, leaving only the aluminum pie plate. This sounds like typical bear-like activity but a badger was probably responsible.

Coyotes are common to the area. I don't think a coyote was responsible for the above incident since coyotes tend to be rather messy. Whatever raided the ice chest was very tidy and didn't leave any mess to clean up. A howling pack of coyotes can be frightening, especially at night. We know one individual who became disoriented at Favre Lake and took the path of least resistance in the opposite direction down Kleckner Canyon--at night without a flashlight. Not a comfortable position to be in. He reported that he was constantly plagued by nearby howling coyotes all night long.

You don't hear very much about wolves but we did see one as we were returning down the road from Soldier Canyon during daylight. This fellow was dark grey in color, appearing almost black, and half again the size of the usual coyote. It ran across the road in front of the car, stopped in the sagebrush briefly to look back, and then disappeared.

The mountains are also home to bighorn sheep, mountain goats, elk, and mule deer. Bighorn sheep and mountain goat sightings are quite common but most of the times they are at some distance away. For a totally unexpected deer encounter, a young doe calmly walked up to within arm's length like she wanted to be petted. Thinking better of this, since an extended hand might be just the thing for lunch, we just had a staredown until she slowly turned around and walked away.

There are beaver dams along Lamoille Creek and along other creeks in other canyons so there has to be beavers to go along with them. With some luck and perhaps a little bravery I was able to release a young beaver that had been caught in a leg hold trap. Fortunately it was trying to pull away in the opposite direction which made the release possible. A full grown beaver may not have been so accommodating and might have turned to fight. And the beaver would have won the fight.

There are skunks, bobcats and weasels that are only rarely seen. Mink and muskrats probably live around the beaver ponds (the trap holding the beaver was most likely intended for mink). Numerous mink and muskrats do make their homes in the Humboldt river just a few miles away. Grouse, sage hen and chukar partridges are common, and the area boasts that it is home to the only band of Himalayan Snow partridges in North America.

Also called snowcocks, web site http://gbwf.org/francolin/hsnow.html shows an excellent photo of a snow partridge. The bird is quite large, primarily white and brown with some black streaks.

Without giving drinking water a second thought, there is a natural tendency to just help yourself to creek water, snow runoff, or water from whatever source as it cascades down over rocks. But be aware that there is a constant threat of giardiasis (parasite caused intestinal sickness) in western streams, and these natural sources, unless purified or filtered, should be avoided. Springs will be found here and there and this water should be safe to drink.

If you prefer to carry plastic containers of bottled water instead, use the old trick of stashing some along the way for the return trip rather than carrying the extra all the way over and back. Hiking to Favre Lake for example, hide several bottles at Liberty Pass for the return trip and just keep enough for the remainder of the round trip back to Liberty Pass.

During early December 1952, a military C-47 aircraft crashed during a heavy snowstorm about 100 feet below a mountain peak on the Clover Valley side of the East Humboldts. We thought we would try to locate the crash site which was close to 11,000 foot elevation. The steep 5000 foot climb from Clover Valley had all the promises of a wild-goose-chase, but surprisingly we did locate the site and walked right up to one of the radial aircraft engines on the hillside.

We cannot recall the hiking route we took to the crash site but the starting point had to have been Lizzie's Basin in Clover Valley which has the only access road leading into the mountain. But from there it is questionable whether we hiked in the direction of Hole in the Mountain basin or up Week's Canyon, the next canyon to the south. Hole in the Mountain is north of Boulder and Steele lakes and access information to Week's Canyon and Lizzie's Basin can be found at Part 5 of this site, Birdeye Lake, Lake Peak, Smith Lake, Clover Valley and Cave Creek.

As far as I have been able to determine, these are the only photos of Hole in the Mountain on the Web. The window is about 30 feet in diameter.

There was a second plane crash in the same general area but on the west side of the range that occurred during January 1943. This was a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress flying out of Wendover Field, and the crash site is near the head of Pole Canyon in the vicinity of Humboldt Peak. The crash is again attributed to low visibility during a heavy snowstorm. The downed plane was not located until the following summer.

This crash site is south of Boulder and Steele lakes and the two crash sites are about four to five miles apart. Access to the B-17 site is by a long trek up Pole Canyon that starts from the Secret Valley area near the east side of the range. The Norton bomb sight was recovered from the B-17 but wreckages from both planes still remain on the hillsides.

One of the best kept secrets of WW II is the bombing of North America by the Japanese. Called the Fu-Go (balloon bomb) program, this bombing was not by aircraft but by paper balloons, about 33 feet in diameter, carrying incendiary devices and anti-personnel type explosives. About 9,300 balloons were launched that were to have been carried across the ocean on the jet stream. Ballast was periodically dropped along the way to keep the balloons aloft, and an onboard battery lit a fuse to release the bombs at the time they should have been over North America. Another device was to destroy the balloon to evade detection but this device rarely worked.

Sources estimate that only about 1,000 of the balloons actually made it to North America, and only about 300 have been discovered. Unexploded balloons were found in several western and mid-western states and two were found around the Elko area.

Unfortunately, the balloons were responsible for six fatalities in Oregon, caused from the explosion when an attempt was made to drag a balloon with the bomb attached, but otherwise very little damage was done. Hoping to create panic by starting forest fires, the bombs and incendiaries were dropped during the winter with little effect. The Fu-Gos were kept quiet by the media, were not known to the general public, and only reports of failures got back to the Japanese. Consequently, the program was discontinued after about seven months.

So, there could possibly be several hundred undiscovered and yet unexploded bombs waiting to be found. The balloon casings, however, having been constructed of paper material, would probably be disintegrated by now. Finding one of the bombs while hiking in the mountains would be a unique discovery, but could be a potentially deadly souvenir.

The Award Winning NevadAdventureS site presents an unbelievable collage of topics associated with the Elko area and other rural Nevada locations. Topics include hunting, fishing and camping information, outfitter information, locations of Nevada ghost towns, where to go in and around Elko, and much more.

The Cruise Nevada site provides links to informative Nevada web pages which include such topics as culture, government, education, regions, environment, travel and tourism, recreation and sports, business and economy, and others.

Backpacking the Ruby Mountains contains some extraordinary photos of bighorn sheep, mountains goats, deer and other wildlife that make their homes in the Ruby Mountains. Some excellent lake photos are also provided along with trail information to many of the lakes.

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