We were a little disappointed when Tom said he was heading for the southern Ruby Mountains and we weren't able to go with him. However, forecasted bad weather put a postponement to Tom's plan, which allowed us to join him in exploring one of our favorite areas in Nevada - The Ruby's.
Tom wanted to "knock out" the southern peaks that lie to the south of Harrison Pass. While maybe not as majestic as the Ruby's proper (with all their beautiful cirque lakes), they were none-the-less impressive in their own right! The two days we spent hiking in the area was everything we had hoped it would be . . . don't overlook an adventure in these spectacular mountains!
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The Ruby Valley Scenic Drive passes through lush farms and ranches
with the majestic Ruby Mountains off to the west |
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A good breakfast is the best way to start the day
(Don't think for a minute Kent cooked this . . . it was all Allison!) |
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The last section of the road, leading to the trailhead, was scary steep! (Kent was rattled!)
Without Tom's Can-Am, getting us to the road's end, it would have been a much longer hike
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We had nice views of the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge off to our east
(You can get a feel for the steepness of the road from this camera angle) |
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We started following the remnants of an old road that lead us to Peak 9835
(Little did we know that the Ruby Crest Trail was to the left of the snow bank and just below the lone tree -
it would make the hike shorter and easier, if you're only interested in hiking to Sherman Mountain) |
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| Within twenty minutes we were on top of Peak 9835 |
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| Then it was off to Sherman Mountain . . . it looks further away than we thought |
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| Goosefoot Yellow Violet |
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| Colorful rock lichens growing on a rocky slope |
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| Ezy loves snow! |
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| We're getting closer! |
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| The last 500 feet were pretty steep . . . one step at a time! |
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Whew . . . we made it!
Cass House Peak is in the distance (one of our hikes for tomorrow) |
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| Reference marker #1 . . . it appears someone has chipped away and taken the benchmark |
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| Kent & Tom atop Sherman Mountain (10,320 ft) |
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It's always fun to find these names on a summit register . . .
Gordon & Barbara met on Mt. Whitney in 1959 & began hiking together in the 1960's |
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| We enjoyed nice views from the top |
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| Time to head back down |
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We took a slightly different route back, hoping it would be easier and it was!
(If you head towards the left of the middle skyline bump, you should run into an unmaintained section of the Ruby Crest Trail that will lead you back to the end of the road) |
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| We spotted this old bridle lying in the meadow |
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It sure was nice to find and follow this section of the Ruby Crest Trail back to the snowbank . . .
Making the end of our hike like a walk in the park! |
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Ah . . . the snowbank . . . we've made it back!
(Peak 9835 is directly in front of us) |
For whatever reason (old age, out of shape, elevation, etc.) this seemed like a long hike, but in reality was only about 6.25 miles round-trip and close to 2,000 ft total ascent (included a lot of ups & downs). You can click
here which will give you our route up Mitchell Creek to where we parked the Can-Am and began the hike to Peak 9835. Our route from Peak 9835 to Sherman Mountain can be found be clicking
here. Both links will take you to Tom's Peakbagger.com posts and have route information and a topo map.
