Ruby Mountains

The dramatic shape of the Ruby Mountains is the work of glaciers. During the Pleistocene, ice filled the high valleys and ground them into the classic forms of alpine country: U-shaped canyons with smooth, polished walls, bowl-like cirques at the heads of the old glaciers, knife-edged ridges called arêtes, and sharp horns where several glaciers cut into a single peak from different sides.

Lamoille Canyon is the showpiece of this sculpting, a broad, steep-walled gorge that looks lifted straight from the Sierra or the Alps. The glaciers also left behind the tarns, small alpine lakes cupped in rock basins, that dot the high country, including Lamoille Lake and the cluster known as the Dollar Lakes.

The Lamoille Canyon Scenic Byway runs about a dozen miles up the canyon from near the town of Lamoille to the road's end high in the range. In that short distance it climbs through several life zones, from the sagebrush and cottonwoods of the valley into aspen groves and finally the granite and conifers of the alpine, with waterfalls spilling from hanging side valleys along the way.

The byway is seasonal, opening when the snow melts and closing when it returns, and it is the gateway to the range for most visitors. Overlooks and picnic spots line the road, and the trailheads at the top open the way to the high lakes and passes.

From the end of the canyon road, the Ruby Crest Trail and shorter routes lead to a string of alpine lakes set beneath the peaks, some reachable in a few miles, others deep in the backcountry. Wildflowers blanket the meadows in summer, and the fishing in the cold, clear lakes and streams is a quiet reward.

The Rubies hold unusual wildlife too. Mule deer and mountain goats range the high country, and the range is one of the only places in North America to host the Himalayan snowcock, a large game bird introduced decades ago that thrives in this alpine terrain. Birders travel a long way for a chance at it.

The Rubies catch some of the deepest, most reliable snow in the Great Basin, and that has made them a destination for backcountry and helicopter skiing, drawing skiers to untracked bowls far from any resort crowd. In summer the same terrain turns green and welcoming for hikers and horse packers.

What ties the seasons together is solitude. Despite their beauty, the Ruby Mountains see a fraction of the crowds of comparable ranges, in part because they sit in a remote corner of Nevada that few travelers reach. For those who do, the reward is an alpine world that feels both spectacular and their own.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.