Liberty Lake and Wines Peak - Elko Nevada

LIBERTY LAKE AND WINES PEAK - ELKO NEVADA

Rating: Day hike or excellent backpack Length: 4-6 hours to Liberty Lake and back. (8 miles) Gear: Standard Hiking Gear Maps: Ruby Dome, NV; Water: Several Filterable Lakes Season: Summer, Fall Waypoints: Trailhead - Lamoille Canyon 11T 637422mE 4496080mN

N40° 36' 15" W115° 22' 33" Dollar Lakes 11T 636470mE 4494866mN

N40° 35' 36" W115° 23' 14" Stock Trail Jct - Stay Left 11T 636122mE 4494826mN

N40° 35' 35" W115° 23' 29" Lamoille Lake Jct - Stay Left 11T 636071mE 4494802mN

N40° 35' 34" W115° 23' 31" Unmarked Jct - Stay Left 11T 635913mE 4494076mN

N40° 35' 11" W115° 23' 38" Wilderness Boundary 11T 635935mE 4493977mN

N40° 35' 08" W115° 23' 37" Liberty Lake 11T 635795mE 4493363mN

N40° 34' 48" W115° 23' 44" Farve Jct 11T 635369mE 4492885mN

N40° 34' 32" W115° 24' 02" Kletchner Jct 11T 635023mE 4492729mN

N40° 34' 28" W115° 24' 17" Ponds 11T 634554mE 4492459mN

N40° 34' 19" W115° 24' 37" North Furlong Jct - Left 11T 635148mE 4491250mN

N40° 33' 40" W115° 24' 13" Wines Summit 11T 634818mE 4490004mN

N40° 32' 59" W115° 24' 28"

Hype

A continuation of the Lamoille Lake hike, Liberty Lake offers a bit of a gateway to the heart of the Ruby Mountains. A day hike is worth doing, but if you have time, I would highly recommend staying a night or two at Liberty Lake and using it as a springboard to Favre Lake, Wines Peak, and Furlong Lake as day hikes from a base camp at Liberty Lake.

Note: Liberty Lake itself offers only a few primitive campsites and is relatively confined. You may need to continue on to Favre Lake during busy times to find better camping and more solitude. There are quite a few campsites around Favre Lake and in the meadow before the lake.

Trailhead

From downtown Elko, take 5th Street south, which becomes state road 227. This is well signed for Lamoille Canyon. From Elko, stay on 227 for about 19 miles to the signed Forest Road 660 on the right. Signed for Lamoille. Follow the road to its ends in 12 miles. This is the exit trailhead. There is a toilet at the trailhead, but no camping. Thompson Canyon Campround is part way up the canyon, but can fill up on weekends. See Reserve America for reservations.

Route

To Liberty Lake (4 miles one way) From the trailhead, follow the main trail. It climbs in the wash bottom, then begins a series of wide, sweeping switchbacks climbing up to the next layer of the canyon. Once up a layer, the trail flattens out a bit and offers great views of Lamoille Canyon.

The first few lakes passed are called Dollar Lakes. Continuing past Dollar Lakes, it is a short distance to the junction for Lamoille Lake on the right. The lake is within sight of this junction and offers quite a few good primitive campsites along its shore.

Past Lamoille Lake junction, the main trail climbs steeply to Liberty Pass and the first views south to Liberty Lake and Lake Peak/Wines Peak in the distance. The pass is a stunning spot to take in the sights from.

Liberty Lake is a short 15-20 minutes south, down from the pass. Primitive sites on the east side of the lake seemed the most scenic.

Side Trip: Favre Lake and Wines Peak (1.5 miles to Favre one way, 5.1 miles one way to Wines Summit) From Liberty Lake, it is a short 30 minutes or so down to Favre Lake and Castle Lake. Both are popular with fisherman and make a good short side trip from Liberty Lake. Castle Lake is smaller and offers good, isolated camping.

For the more motivated, a day hike to Wines Peak makes for a good and bigger outing. From Liberty Lake follow the trail to the junction with Favre Lake. Go right, soon crossing the stream and reaching the junction to Kletchner Lake. Go left here. The trail meanders around the mountain side to a valley then climbs up and over a pass and reaches the junction to North Furlong Lake. North Furlong Lake is 20 minutes or so down this trail.

Go left again at the North Furlong/Wines Peak junction. Wines Peak looms directly to the south. The trail climbs steeply up to the pass of the peak. The true summit is a short distance to the west and worth the 10- minute side trip from the pass. From its summit, you can see the Ruby Crest trail as it continues south along the crest of the range.

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