Nevada. The very name conjures up images of casino gambling, glittering neon night life, quick-and-easy marriage and divorce. That`s what draws most of the state`s 29 million visitors annually.
But Nevada, translated from the Spanish, means snowy. And in this arid part of the West, its mountains catch the snow. Depending on whom you talk to, the state has 150 to 235 mountain ranges. Two of the most beautiful and interesting are the Ruby Mountains near Elko and the Snake Range in Great Basin National Park.
On a recent trip I tore myself away from the Reno glitz and headed east on Interstate Highway 80 through the desert for 290 miles, until I saw the snow-capped peaks of the Rubies just beyond Elko. This mountain range is 100 miles long, has 10 peaks over 10,000 feet high and can get 400 inches of snow in the higher elevations.
Officially worth saving
Recognizing their beauty, Congress designated major portions of the range a wilderness area three years ago.
Nevada Highway 227 takes you 20 miles southeast of Elko right to the base of the mountains and the Lamoille Canyon Road. This 12-mile road runs around Ruby Dome, at 11,249 feet the tallest peak in the range, up a U-shaped valley into the heart of the range. Sheer walls rise 2,000 feet from the valley floor on either side. Waterfalls tumble from small lakes hidden in glacial cirques
(steep, bowl-shaped hollows, often containing a small lake) and hanging valleys between the high peaks.
Three picnic areas, four short trails and a campground are along the road. I drove to the road`s end at the head of the canyon, parked and walked some of Ruby Crest National Scenic Trail.
The entire trail runs 40 miles along the crest of the range. To do it all takes four to six days; to reach the first alpine lakes and savor some incredible scenery close up takes only a few hours.
A moderate trail
A group of Girl Scouts-early risers, no doubt-were coming down for lunch as I started up. The moderately steep trail begins at 8,000 feet and goes through sheltering trees and lush-for Nevada-vegetation. Snow doesn`t usually melt in this high country until June; I saw patches in shadows.
Within an hour I had reached Dollar Lakes in an alpine meadow. Thirty minutes later Lamoille Lake, surrounded by peaks and still partially ice-covered at 9,740 feet, came into view. Several fishermen were landing brook trout.
I continued climbing for 45 minutes to Liberty Pass (10,450 feet) and the crest. From there I could see the other side of the Rubies. Straight ahead and below me Liberty and Favre Lakes shimmered in the afternoon sun. Directly behind me the snow-covered slope I had climbed slanted down into Lamoille Lake. All around were the once towering peaks, now not much higher than I stood. It was an impressive vista.
Within two hours I was back in my canyon campsite, watching the setting sun slowly turn the surrounding hillsides a ruby hue.
There were no keno girls to take my numbers during dinner and no floor show for entertainment, only a few fellow campers and the stream flowing beside my tent.
Keeping to my tight schedule, I took off the next morning on a scenic shortcut through the Rubies along some well-maintained dirt roads, cutting 50 miles off the 280-mile drive south on U.S. Highway 93 to Great Basin National Park. Within four hours I had arrived.
The Great Basin
The Great Basin, actually a series of valley basins and mountain ranges, is a vast region encompassing most of Nevada and parts of five neighboring states. It stretches 500 miles east-west from California`s Sierra Nevada to the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, and 300 miles north-south from the Idaho-Nevada border to Death Valley and Las Vegas.
Unlike much of the rest of the country, water from its many mountains does not reach an ocean. Instead, its rivers drain inland and collect in landlocked lakes, soak into the ground or just evaporate into the dry desert air.
After driving for several hours through the hot, dusty, sagebrush-covered basin floor, I found it hard to believe that a mountain oasis exists only minutes away. But once you turn off for the park and begin climbing into the Snake Range, you`re in a different world.
Wheeler Peak Scenic Road, the highest road in Nevada, winds 12 miles up the mountain from the visitor center to 10,000 feet. The air becomes cooler, streams suddenly appear and the roadside turns green with pinons, junipers and aspens.
Stunning views of the 13,063-foot peak, second highest in the state, its small cirque-bound glacier and the broad expanse of valley below are bonuses. The park, established in 1986 to protect this extraordinarily diverse ecological area, is the newest in the continental United States. Within its boundaries all five life zones in the Great Basin occur in the almost 8,000-foot elevation gain from the valley floor to Wheeler Peak.
Multifaceted park
The park contains the southernmost permanent ice field on the continent, stands of bristlecone pines (said to be the oldest form of living plant life on Earth), a richly decorated limestone cave and ongoing excavations of an ancient Native American civilization.
The park`s extreme isolation from urban areas-385 miles from Reno, 286 from Las Vegas, 235 from Salt Lake City-keeps visitors to 70,000 a year and is a big reason why it has the cleanest air in the lower 48 states, according to Ranger Alan Young. Because of this purity it is one of several sites chosen for a national study of the effects of global warming on wildlife and vegetation.
Trails at the end of Wheeler Peak Road lead to the peak (a strenuous 3,000-foot climb in 5 miles), Stella and Teresa Lakes (a relatively level 3-mile loop), the bristlecone pines (1 mile) and the ice field (2 miles past the pines).
If you`re short of time, visit the bristlecones. Growing at the timber line between 9,500 and 11,000 feet in an incredibly harsh environment-short growing season, constant winds, freezing temperatures, rocky soil-these weirdly shaped trees, gnarled with thick trunks and only a few living branches, survive for thousands of years. One bristlecone in the park is said to be 4,950 years old.
Bristlecones grow slowly; even the oldest rarely rise above 30 feet. Because of this, their wood is extremely dense, tough and resinous, preventing rot and insect infestation. Instead, they erode from continuous wind and ice crystals, accounting for their resemblance to driftwood.
Other reasons for their longevity are the sparse nature of bristlecone stands, making fire less of a threat, and lack of competition from other trees at such high altitudes.
Fascinating as the bristlecones are, Lehman Caves attracts the most visitors. Rangers conduct daily 90-minute, half-mile tours on the hour from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (every half-hour on weekends) from the visitor center.
Surface water dripping underground for millions of years has dissolved the limestone below, creating giant rooms, narrow passageways and incredible columns, stalactites, stalagmites, shields, soda straws and cave popcorn.
Ranger Young wouldn`t tell us the official names of many of the formations, preferring to let us exercise our imaginations. Cave temperature remains a constant 50 degrees Fahrenheit year round, so wear a jacket.
That`s it for the relatively civilized portions of the park. The great remainder is rugged back country, accessible only by a four-wheel drive vehicle or by hiking along the many trails.
Six campgrounds provide overnight accommodations. The most picturesque, set among thick trees and a stream, is at the end of the Wheeler Peak Road.
Here, like the Rubies, I experienced the Nevada that so inspired early explorers, before Bugsy Siegel and gambling transformed our image of the state.
You should, too.
