Hennen Canyon: Ruby Dome

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

(map link)

DAY 1  |  DAY 2

The morning wasn't nearly as cold as I expected it to be. I packed up my gear, that which was needed to hike in my pack and that needed for camping into my liner bag. I crossed back over the dam and found a spot to tuck it away among some bushes and a log.

Sunlight touches the peaks over Griswold Lake

I found the trail again and started climbing. There were a few more sites people use for camping up that way. I'd been hoping for morning sun when I made my location choice.

While the light is approaching where I camped, it still isn't there or anywhere else near Griswold Lake

There was a little bit of hope involved in finding the trail climbing again, but once it was climbing it was easy to follow until things got rocky. It was also steep. Once in the rocks, there's choices. I ended up climbing a bit I wasn't sure I'd be comfortable going down. It was something to worry about later.

There's a secondary route following roughly where the shadow ends and ledge above but my rough roughly follows the official trail as mapped

Finally sunshine comes to Griswold Lake

With no more problems or difficulties, I got to the ridge above. There's a large plateau to wander across following cairns before it really feels like a ridge. My instinct was to try to follow the ridge, but the route actually goes up a gully to the left of the ridge and stays left.

Up on the ridge and looking into the sun to find the peak east of Ruby Dome

A branch off Seitz Canyon with Rabbit Creek on the far side

Looking across the ridges to the north

There's some nice wide ledges to walk along if staying left of the ridge around the lower peaks. I kept oozing more and more toward the edge of the ridge because I didn't quite trust the ledges to give a continuous path. I got to more and more climbing and started to worry there might be another spot where I'd go up and be ready to go down it again, only here there wouldn't be much other options. I was starting to scare myself.

A very steep ridge climbing toward a lower peak

Looking over Griswold Lake

I stopped and had a sit for a while and considered going back because this was clearly too much for me alone. I was west of all the Peakbagger tracks. No two of them are alike, but they all agreed on this even if I was seeing a cairn once in a while. I decided to give something closer to the usual route a chance and backtracked, coming to spaces with lots of cairns. Here I felt perfectly happy to walk.

Ruby dome comes into view beside the ledges. Trust the ledges, the ledges are your friends

There is one rather narrow spot as the ledges feed out to a saddle below the peak. This is the one spot where I got to questioning this whole thing again, but it really wasn't that bad once going along it. Three cairns mark the spot at the top to make really sure it can be found again for the return.

The line of ridges to the south shows some autumnal color

After the saddle, people haven't even bothered to stack cairns. It's a wide ridge covered in rocks. I picked a way and walked across them. They do move once in a while. Then I was on the Elko County high point!

No cairns to mark the last of the route, but a giant cairn at the top of Ruby Dome

Back along the ridge west

I pondered how much crest there is north of Lamoille Canyon where the Ruby Crest Trail ends. I'd been looking at it as I drove by, too. So much of it is missed. There's more forest and trails on those peaks, too.

The "range" side of the view

The "basin" side of the view

Not quite alone at the top of Ruby Dome: western white (butterfly)

I headed down. There were some geocaches that I hadn't gone past on the way up because I was on the ledges and they were in a gully. Another peak bagger who had come up a gully stated they were a scree slog and no fun, but I was willing to give it a try on the way down. I didn't manage to hit the right gully and just ended up showing that there's lots of ledge routes that are usable. Well, there's at least two. (But do hit the spot marked by the three cairns at the top!) For the drop after the flat, I followed some well used trails toward an area that probably has more camps along with a pond, then circled back in order to avoid the short climb I had on the way up. It was a lot of extra to miss that.

Returning to Griswold Lake

Then I packed up all my gear nice and tight into my nominal day pack that I had finally actually used as a day pack. (It worked quite alright. I'd actually selected it to force myself to do this.) Heading down, I stuck to higher routes and didn't have any climbs, easy or otherwise, like I had on the way up. Closer to the line on the map is a better route.

The dusky grouse is getting away again!

Returning to the basin scattered with house clusters

I sped down the road through the campground seeing no one this time, but I heard people in playing in the creek. There were still footprints and bike tread. There were a few tire tracks from folks who had parked behind me, even.

Looking back to the canyons, but not the hidden dome

Having scared myself a bit on the climb up, it was very nice to arrive back at the car without so much as a scrape. That's one more excellent Nevada county high point checked off the list. I tossed in the bag and took off for the next adventure.


*Ruby Mountains 2022 photo album*




©2022 Valerie Norton
Written 21 Dec 2022