This was my third time to walk across beautiful, wild Nevada.Last time was in 1995 when I did a 400-mile
walk through 4 different mountain ranges in central Nevada. Before that it was part of a 1700-mile trek back in 1986 as I thru-hiked from the Grand Canyon back to my home in
Montana. On
that journey I walked up the eastern side of Nevada,
across Idaho,
and back to Big Sky where I was living at the time.On that trip I did a wonderful high-route
through a portion of the SchellCreekRange.I loved it! Often I’d be above 10,000 feet
with bristlecone and limber pines, and none-stop views. It was incredible. But
it was also in May so the presence of snow made it difficult.I’ve always wanted to go back and hike the
length of the entire range. This summer I did just that.
I started on the north end of the SchellCreekRange
and walked it all the way south to PattersonPass. Then I cut over through
the Egan Range, crossed the desert White River Valley up into the Horse Range,
and then walked north through the White Pine Range and into the Ruby Mountains
and the East Humboldt Range.
Trek Stats:33 days on the trail --- twenty of those
days I never saw a soul.
There was no trail at all for 110 miles (mostly as I walked the ridge
tops)
Shortest Day: 3 miles
Longest Day: 33 miles
I completed 3 new songs, and started two others.
8 food caches that I put out ahead of time
1 food cache broken into (by people)
No town stops (unless you count the ghost town of Hamilton)
The entire trip was 515 miles
I know most people think of Nevada as a desert wasteland. And I guess
that’s why the wild places there are anything but crowded. But many of the
mountain ranges have lush stands of aspens, trout streams, and wonderful alpine
country. I wish I could send you all the scent of sage, juniper, and mountain
mahogany.Sometimes I'd just stop in
mid-stride and just soak it all in.These
are special places. And it is big country. Vast country . I'd often feel like an
ant crossing a vast universe as I trekked across a big desert valley, or
watched the sun set slowly into rosy clouds over a skyline as wide as the
world.Unfortunately, several times I
got to springs I was counting on for water and found them bone dry, forcing me
to march on. That's how I got my longest days of the trip. And some of the high
routes were pretty challenging for these ol' legs of mine, but after I did them
I was very proud of myself.I saw lots
of deer and elk, coyotes, mountain goats, wild horses (though beautiful, they’re incredibly
destructive on the native habitat and springs), and many birds of prey.Pikas were conspicuously missing from some of
the ranges (their populations are plummeting due to climate change) so I was
delighted when I started seeing them the last couple weeks in the RubyMountains.All in all it was a great journey. I feel so
blessed (and ever so grateful) that I’m able to visit places like this.
