Island Lake

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

(map link)

The desert was nice and temperatures pleasant, but the fall colors were on and nothing there was turning. I headed off to the Ruby Mountains to see what they might have. They've been on my list to visit for a while. Something like 10 years ago, I signed up to Caltopo to dump all kinds of information onto a Ruby Mountains map. It's surprisingly easy to find information about both on and off trail routes in the area. I got no takers for the Ruby Crest and canyons loop I wanted to take, so it sat there. No takers 5 years ago either. I hadn't reviewed it recently enough to do it now. There are cross country segments that can be hard in the northern section if you get going in the wrong place. I guess that means no takers once again, but I was going to see a bit of the place. Given that the tarn of Island Lake is east facing, light considerations meant I wanted to do this hike on a morning. It was so early in the afternoon when I arrived at the end of the road, I had to do something. I decided to go for it anyway.

00: glacial canyon — Autumn display looking north in Lamoille Canyon with the trail left of the road ahead

It's only a two mile hike up from the parking lot at the end of Lamoille Canyon to Island Lake. Admittedly, had I reviewed my old map, I'd have wanted to continue on to the Thomas benchmark. That is a class 2 climb if you choose the correct route.

01: trail and parking and mountains — Looking back down the trail to the parking area and the rest of the canyon in autumnal splendor

02: tall purple flower lines — Lupine still blooming

The trail makes a pretty steady climb all the way to the top.

03: line of trees on rocks — Pinyons along the ridge line

05: outflow with rocks to sheet over — Bridge over the outflow from the lake above and lovely rock slabs below

06: bright pink flower — Geraniums have been providing deep red leaves near the ground, but here they are still flowering among those leaves

07: white peaks — Pondering the white peaks along the canyon

08: sun over the tarn — Sun in the face on arriving at Island Lake

10: little island in a lake — Trail into Island Lake

So I wandered around to the south side of the lake, where there's a few little camp sites, to hang out a while. There is use trail going up the north side toward a small pond above. That's part of the typical climb to Thomas Peak. There's also trail around the south side that might go up to a closer peak.

11: lake and north side — Island Lake and the northern and wester edges

Eventually shadow came across the lake and it got rather cold. I headed down. Though it was chill, I made sure to stop and see all the flowers. They're sparse, but varied.