There are just some places in Nevada that combine everything amazing about the state into a relatively small and concentrated location.
The Ruby Range is one of those places!
Above the treeline alpine, beautiful lakes, blooming flower fields, pretty dense forest patches and beautiful all around high desert country.
I would not just show up to this trail. You want to come prepared.
This is quite the serious hike especially
if you walk the crest trail to completion.
Our trip started off Friday after noon, we decided to get the first 5 miles complete and make it to Farve Lake before sunset.
Before showing up, we parked a shuttle car at the end of the road as far as you can go.
Thankfully, mark was successfully able to get his jeep up the road and ran back to the highway. This proved to be the preferable action as this took 2.5 miles out of our hike. This was really nice to have when we got done.
We drove back around and started our hike up to Liberty pass and to liberty lake. The hike up to the lakes was beautiful! flowers were blooming, the sun was starting to set, and the amazing lakes provided beautiful scenery.
Hiking over to Farve Lake, we made it in time for the sunset. We got set up and camped for the night there.
We got a decently early start and packed our camping kits away. Our first mistake was not
bringing enough water with us to cross the crest.
We were around 10K of elevation or more for the duration of this hike. We made it to the first saddle crossing and figured we would fill water in the "last" section where water was located.
There was no water, we each had around a liter and a half of water to make it over 12 miles to a source of water.
We were feeling the effects of elevation, direct sun, and rationing water
It got quite interesting as we continued to push and dig deeper into ourselves for motivation to continue.
Once we crossed the high crest, we followed
the trail down to a meandering section that twisted around chutes, cliff bands, spur, and draws.
The sun was baking us as we continued to walk through the meanders.
The temps were reaching 90 degrees.
Just as when we ran out of water, we came up to a stream of snow melt.
We jumped into this stream, filtered water, and cooked up some lunch.
We could feel the life coming back into our bodies as we were having lunch.
two more miles to go and we slowly make it to overland lake. It was a task but we were able to cross the crest
and make the lake by the afternoon.
We decided to stay at the lake for the rest of the day to rest and recover.
Another group passed through, and they continued from farve lake to the south camp site. That was quite the commitment they took on.
We got an early start the following morning and headed up overland lake pass and into the last section of the Rubies.
It was more vegetated and a bit "flatter" I could also feel the trees breathing oxygen, or at least it seems as such, as we would walk through long patches of green forest.
The terrain changes quite a bit on this trail but now we are heading lower and lower into the valleys to get back to our shuttle.
The trail meandered through thick bushes and birch forest.
We made it to the south camp and filled
our bottles with more water.
This last section we found more water sources than the first two thirds of the trip.
There is one 1500 ft ascent that needed to be made that was in direct sunlight and was quite hot!
A few more saddles and we finally worked our way onto old 4x4 roads and the last segment of the trip.
This is where it got really hot!
The last few miles were in direct sun, lower elevation so it was in the 90s and we were spent.
Eventually we wobbled to the car and completed the trip in 45 hours from start to finish.
We were sooooo grateful to have the car where it was, or we
would have had to hike an additional 2.5 miles.
Our first mistake was not filling up at farve lake.
Make sure you have enough water to cross the crest, there was no water up there when we crossed.
Having a shuttle car at the end of the road was sooo helpful. Bring a 4x4 if you have it.
Also come prepared, a bit acclimated, and pack
accordingly for a backpack.
Its the real deal and I recommend taking it seriously.
This is by far the best hike in Nevada.
It is also park and go
no permited are needed to visit or to park your cars
I can see this changing soon so please take this place seriously and make sure you pack any garbage out.
I do not recommend doing this trip in 45 hours.
I would ideally like to spend a day at liberty lake,
spend a day at overton lake, spend a day at south camp, and hike out on the 4th day.
Enjoy this absolutely beautiful wilderness!