[John Morrow]

This was the tip of an iceberg of exploration possibilities in these mountains. Tuesday and Wednesday was an overnight into the Northern Ruby Mountains via a TH called the Krenka Trailhead. I took the Krenka Trail to the Soldier Basin Trail and camped at Hidden Lakes at the head of Soldier Basin. I was close to the ridge crest so I went up Pk. 10,550' for sunset.

IMG_3786

switchbacking up

Cell over Humboldts

Ross Basin; Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

Ross Basin 2; Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

Soldier Creek; Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

Sunset rays

Scramble of Pk. 10,550'

Cold lakes and Rubies

northern Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

Ruby Crest

northern Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

Robinson Lake

In the morning I hiked out by running the gentle sparsely vegetated crest over Pt. 9850' to avoid dropping into lower Soldier Basin just to climb out. I then explored Ross Creek before hiking back up and over to the Krenka TH.

Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

Sunrise glow

Reflection, Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

lots of aspen. Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

Ruby Mountains Wilderness, NV

Leaving Soldier country

Ross Creek exploration

grousies

long way down

Thurs-Sat I went into the East Humboldt Mountains Wilderness for a couple nights. On Friday I explored Fourth Boulder Creek Basin, locating a near vanishing "East Humboldt Highline" Trail. The only public access into the southern Humboldts is the Secret Starr TH. This leaves one to cross the different Boulder Basins enroute north on very seldom visited trail. Other trails on the map typically are inaccessible due to private land concerns around the margins of the National Forest lands. The reward is that there will likely be no one around in a wild feeling and beautiful place! Friday evening I went up Tent Mountain for the sunset. Pk 10,505' looked inviting from the saddle between 3rd and 4th Boulder Basins so I scrambled it to look across at the range. The rock seems to be a kind of schist and quartzite mix which is a pleasure to scramble. A vertical face protects Pk 10,505' at the saddle. A fun gully leads through a keyhole in the cliff for class 2 access to the upper reaches. Pleasant ridge scrambling ensued after that! I will be back for the highlights/well known locations of these wildernesses for sure. Like I said, "a sampler', or a taste.

The Hole-In-The-Wall

Ackler Basin camp

4th Boulder Basin

Nice basin; East Humboldt Wilderness, NV

East Humboldt Wilderness, NV

Up Pk 10505' SE ridge

ridgewalk; East Humboldt Wilderness, NV

Rubies in storm

The "key" hole

greenery

East Humboldt Wilderness, NV

IMG_3921

on SE ridge of Tent Mtn

East Humboldt Wilderness, NV

cloud and sun on Pk 10505'

East Humboldt Wilderness, NV

East Humboldt Wilderness, NV

[Abert]

Thanks John. The East Humboldt Wilderness is included on my unused USFS Ruby Mountains map. Just another place I still haven't made it to. This picture almost makes me get into the car right now.

[Jetlag]

John, love the thunderstorm and sunset shots! Shows me that I haven't yet explored far enough from Desolation and Mokolumne.