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| Ruby Dome - Elko COHP, NV | |
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| | Ruby Dome - Elko COHP, NV | | | |
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Ruby Dome - Elko COHP, NV
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| Hiking | 10.45 Miles |
4,868 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.45 Miles | 10 Hrs 35 Mns | | 1.17 mph |
| 4,868 ft AEG | 1 Hour 39 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This hike was to the summit of Ruby Dome (elevation of 11,387 feet and prominence of 4,793 feet), the highpoint of Elko County. Elko County is in the northeastern corner of Nevada. In terms of area, Elko County is the 4th largest county in the continental US -- in the lower 48 only San Bernardino(CA), Coconino(AZ), and Nye(NV) counties are larger.
Ruby Dome is also the highpoint of the Ruby Mountains, which were named from garnets found there by soldiers in the late 1800's. The Ruby Mountains are known as "The Alps of Nevada". The Rubies feature U-shaped canyons, towering peaks, and year round snowfields. The range is wetter than most Nevada mountains, and it can get up to 300 inches of soft, powdery snow in a winter. The Rubies have 25 alpine lakes and 50 peaks above 10,000 feet, including 14 above 11,000 feet.
Ruby Dome is in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. However, I started the hike at the Spring Creek Homeowners Association Campground, and had to get online and pay them a fee of $27.50 to get a code for a gate that you go through to get to the campground. When I got there the gate was open, so I did not need to use the numeric code that they sent me via e-mail.
The first 3.25 miles of the hike are on a trail that goes through Hennon Canyon and leads to Griswold Lake. Much of this trail is alongside Butterfield Creek, which had a nice flow of water. There were lots of aspen trees and wildflowers blooming. The trail was mostly easy to follow, but I would describe it as a wilderness trail. After a couple of miles there were some rock slabs to go across, and cairns were helpful in finding the route. There was one rock and boulder field to go across, which slowed me down. Before getting to the lake, I had to make one short class 3 climb, which I avoided on my way back down.
Griswold Lake was very nice I stopped there to take a break.
It is hard to describe exactly what I did to get from Griswold Lake to the summit. Initially,there was a use trail to follow that went steeply up a slope to a saddle. From the saddle was a lot of class 2 climbing, with some occasional ever-so-slight exposure. There were some cairns along the way and at times I could see a use trail, but I was looking at my GPS frequently to make sure that I followed my intended route. I went east of a subpeak marked "10,425" on a topo, and then traversed under another subpeak before going up a ramp to get to a saddle below Ruby Dome. Once at the saddle, I just went up a steep talus slope to the summit. If nothing else, this section reminded me of how much I hate hiking on talus.
Views were great at the summit. I returned to the trailhead the way that I came. I got off-course once and got cliffed-out, so I had to backtrack a short distance.
I enjoyed hiking in the Ruby Mountains, although this hike was tougher than I envisioned. It was very steep with a good bit of rock scrambling, so it definitely was not a walk in the park. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
There were some nice yellow aspen leaves on the smaller trees, but the larger trees were still green. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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