Lamoille Canyon, Nevada

August 8, 2022

Scenic Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada. 

The drive south from Ketchum eventually transitioned into a flat landscape as we headed into southern Idaho. It was quite the change from the mountainous terrain we were used to. It also was very hazy.

Looks like we may have spied our first Idaho potato field!

After passing through some farmland we noticed what appeared to be coarsely plowed fields. but as we got closer, it was apparent that it was an area of large black rocks. Google let us know that we had passed through the Black Butte Crater lava field.

Driving through Black Butte Crater lava field

Just a bunch of black rocks, but it was a bit of a diversion.

We drove through Twin Falls, which didn't really look like much until we suddenly and unexpectedly traversed over the Snake River Canyon. After that, the scenery was finished for a while.

Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls, Idaho

And then...not much.

While getting gas in Shoshone, Idaho, we came across this dilapidated building that surely had to have an interesting story...

If buildings could only talk!

Turns out, it used to be a boarding house for sheep herders, but it was then converted into a pet store. Now it is just vacant.

We stopped by an Amazon location to pick up some items we ordered, and then we stayed the night near Hagerman, Idaho along the Snake river.  This provided a quiet location for the evening as well as somewhere to install the wiring for a new cell phone booster (WeBoost Seek OTR) in the hopes that it will help with cell service in marginal locations. 

We hit 104 degrees--it was hot!

The Snake River adjacent to our overnight camping spot

We met Dave, an interesting individual who was riding his 4-wheel recumbent bike with trailer and dog from Seattle to Las Vegas (where he has an uncle).  He had been riding since March (he got stuck in snow storms in the mountains) and was hoping to make it to Las Vegas before fall.  Since he was quite loaded down with a tent and supplies, he generally would ride between 10 and 30 miles a day and camp wherever he could find space (legal or not).  He had previously owned a IT company, but when COVID hit, he lost all his business. He ended up selling what little was left of his company, got jobs for his employees, sold pretty much everything he owned, and took off on his bike.  He seemed to be enjoying the lifestyle, but wasn't sure what would come after Vegas.  Good luck Dave!

Then next day, we entered the Nevada border town of (wait for it....) Jackpot.  We were immediately inundated with casinos.

The local RV park even had a casino shuttle.

Seemed like an appropriate addition to the town.

We arrived at our campsite just before sunset. It was a beautiful drive into Lamoille Canyon (in the Ruby Mountains) after a long day of mostly boring driving (mixed in with some equally boring grocery shopping).

Our campground was pleasantly situated in an aspen forest with lots of privacy. There was a pretty creek adjacent to our site, but we couldn't see it directly from the site.

The first order of business the next morning was installing the outdoor antenna for the cell phone booster and getting the cables routed into the camper (hopefully in a way that won't leak). Unfortunately, we couldn't test the booster, as there wasn't even a whiff of cell service. (Not surprising, given that we were literally surrounded by mountains.)

That afternoon, we took a hike right off the campground. The trail followed Thomas Creek all the way up to its headwaters through a scenic canyon and meadow. We hiked up about 1400 feet in altitude over a relatively short distance (total hike was 5.25 miles out and back).  We encountered several waterfalls and an abundance of wildflowers along the way. The hike ended up taking over 4 hours because Julie had to stop so often to take pictures. Rick was a trooper and was (mostly) patient with the slow-ish pace 😊.

The beginning of the hike right off of the campground.

Julie's artistic aspen trunks shot

The scenic box canyon near the end of the trail.

We're guessing this is a beaver lodge.  We didn't see any occupants, though.

It felt like someone had planted a garden along the path.

Rick's artistic moss shot

Cooling off in the ICE COLD stream.

After a while, Rick began mocking Julie by taking a photo of her every time she stopped to snap a picture of flowers.

The next day, we took a second hike up to Island Lake. This hike was shorter (4.27 miles) and less altitude gain (only 1000 ft), but it also had great scenery and more wildflowers (sensing a trend here?)

A very enticing trailhead.

Every switchback offered more wildflowers!

We made like trolls and rested under the bridge to escape the hot sun. The masonry job looked a little amateurish to us.

Almost to the top!

It became immediately obvious why the lake was named Island Lake.

A broken heart?

Heading back down.

Since our campground was completely tucked away inside a canyon, there was no cell signal whatsoever.  Friday and Saturday were both rainy days, so we took the opportunity to drive out of the canyon and do some blog work and other internet-related errands. Saturday afternoon, we hung out at the public library in the nearby town of Elko.  It seemed that the whole town had showed up for some library event that day, so the atmosphere was more festive than your typical library visit. We even had someone come by and take our picture. He didn't seem to mind that we were just passing through.

Mural on the outside of the Elko library building.

Our ride back into the canyon gave us some good views of an approaching storm.

This post has too many photospheres in it to work so you need to continue on to part two by clicking here:

Continue with Part 2

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