2022 Update: Five years after doing this loop, we returned to get the peaks surrounding these lakes. It uses a similar route to this one, but gets a higher view of the area and adds a bunch more danger. You can see that trip report here.
Jul 09, 2017 — The Ruby Mountains are an unexpectedly gorgeous mountain range in northern Nevada. This loop tours some of the best lakes in the area using trails and off-trail routes: Island Lake, Snow Lake, Castle Lake, Favre Lake, Liberty Lake, and Lamoile Lake. We started out along the Island Lake Trail, headed around the lake's north side, and worked off-trail to a Class 2 pass directly to its west. We dropped down a Class 2+ steep slope on scree and began heading south, working around the slopes below Snow Peak. A steep slope led to a pass to the west of Snow Peak, where we found a notch that led into the head of a valley, where Snow Lake was nestled. We had lots of snow on our visit, making the trip more dangerous, but I wouldn't call anything harder than Class 2.
We dropped down to Snow Lake and continued south, working around a ridge by by following the slopes and were rewarded with the most gorgeous valley I've ever seen. The views to the west were incredible, serene, bright green, and super remote. We followed the valley's slopes down to the southeast until we reached a stream crossing coming from Favre Lake. We opted to head up the slopes to Castle Lake farther to the south before hitting Favre Lake. The slope was steep, but the lake very pretty. After, we got to slide down on lots of snow back down to Favre Lake. We were able to pick up the Ruby Crest Trail from Favre Lake, which we followed north past Liberty Lake and Lamoille Lake, returning to the trailhead.
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