We prepared our backpacks on Friday evening and headed out from Sandy, Utah toward Elko, Nevada on Saturday morning. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to the town of Lamoille and another .5 hours to drive up the canyon. It is a spectacular drive up a U-shaped glacial valley, with several hanging valleys on the sides. There were many visible water falls and plenty of snow on the north facing slopes higher up.

Lamoille Canyon Trailhead

There is a nice parking area at the trail head, with lots of parking spaces. There is a pair of pit toilets, with running water (which was not turned on at this time).

A storm had just dampened everything before we arrived, but the sky was clearing, so we donned our packs and headed up the Ruby Crest Trail toward Liberty Pass, three miles from the trailhead. We figured that if we could make it to the pass, through the snow, we should be okay to spend the night on the south facing slope, either at Liberty Lake, Favre Lake, or North Furlong Lake.

We met several people on their way down, and they informed us that we'd soon reach the first snow drifts. We crossed the main stream over a narrow log bridge and proceeded. This trail is usually well kept and has plenty of easy switchbacks and the hike up to the pass should have taken us somewhere between 1 and 1.5 hours. It took us 2.5.

The trail was muddy in many places, and was actually covered in running water in others, but this water was usually shallow and easy to cross. The snow was soft and generally easy to traverse and in most places was only just a few feet across. However, there were several places that were covered by enough snow that we had difficulty locating the trail on the other side. Once we made the Dollar Lakes the trail flattened out some and was mostly clear. But then we came to several deeper, steeper snow fields and the only way we could determine where the trail went was by trusting the footprints of those who had gone before us. That got us through.

Liberty Pass

We were about ready to turn back at several spots when the snow fields seemed to go on way beyond any possible passage. But we persisted and eventually made it to the Liberty Pass at 10,500 feet. It was very windy and cold.

On the way up the temps weren't that bad. The sun was shining and it was pleasant until a cool wind blew through. But the wind was at least sporadic. However, at the pass, it was pretty steady. We adjusted our altimeter watch, had a little snack, and put our packs back on and proceeded toward the south.

Once over the ridge at the pass we could see Liberty Lake, still partly covered with ice. The trail down from that point seemed obscured by snow for most of its length, and the flat places where one might set up a tent were covered by deep snow. It was at that point that we decided to head back down the trail, the way we had come, to see if there might be a suitable spot to camp. We didn't find one and so hiked on back down to the trail head. A round trip of about 6.5 miles. The return trip took us 2 hours. Much longer than it would take with a dry trail.

We had taken extra drinking water because we had intended to spend the night. There would have been plenty of water to filter. The leather on our boots sucked up a lot of moisture, and tightened as they dried. We'll save those boots for wet weather hiking and buy new pairs for our usual desert hikes.