The Ruby Mountains are located in the northeastern corner of Nevada, one of many north-south oriented mountain ranges that characterize the Great Basin. My first literary acquaintance with the Rubies was through an outdoor magazine article I read by Galen Rowell, about a winter ski traverse he undertook along the backbone of the range. This article later became a chapter in his book High and Wild, of which I hold an author-autographed copy, a treasured volume on our bookshelf. A seed was planted, at least to contemplate an exploration of the Rubies and other Great Basin ranges. Over the intervening years the opportunity never quite materialized except for visits on the Great Basin’s eastern fringe to the White Mountains and the ranges surrounding Death Valley.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge.
We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the phenological patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow.
|
After Rowell’s inspiring chapter, many years would pass before I actually had a chance to visit the Ruby Mountains. About six years ago, I had a work trip to Elko, but it was December and the Rubies were blanketed in deep snow and shrouded in clouds. The following year I was back in Elko again and it was June this time, warmer and mainly snow free. I drove up Lamoille Canyon and hiked up a ways until I hit the snow line and ice-covered Dollar Lakes. On the way down from that hike the clap of thunder announced a pelting hail storm just as I reached the trailhead parking lot.
I recently had work trip this August to Elko, giving me another opportunity to visit the Rubies. As before, I hiked up Lamoille Canyon to the Dollar Lakes, which I misinterpreted as Lamoille Lake. Lamoille Canyon is textbook example of a glacier carved valley, exquisitely U-shaped. Interestingly, several of these higher Great Basin ranges harbored glaciers during the last Ice Age.
The hike to Lamoille Lake is about two miles one way. The trail winds up and occasionally switchbacks through an open forest of whitebark pine. Being that it was mid-August, it was quite dry already and Lamoille Creek had little or no water flow where the trail crossed it. There were a few straggling wildflowers in the moister meadow and streamside places. But for the most part, the vegetation was drying and yellowing in anticipation of winter.
I snapped a few pictures to share with you the rare beauty found in a mountain range carved by glaciers and literally surrounded by desert. A view looking down Lamoille Canyon. Not a more perfect example of a glacier-carved valley exists outside of Yosemite.
Along the trail, the creek was hardly a trickle.
Through the whitebarks.
Reaching Dollar Lakes, thinking I had reached Lamoille Lake.
Animals and plant life. This butterfly blew my mind.
Fuzzy bumblebees.
T-BOBBs — tiny black or brown bees.
Yellow jacket, preoccupied with the task at hand.
Streamside wildflowers.
Chipmunk
I could not narrow down the ID of this sparrow but there were quite a few flitting through the willow thickets on the late afternoon hike down. None would hold still long enough or close enough for a good photograph. Perhaps a Lincoln’s sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii).
The underlying rock included some nice pegmatite dikes.
What’s up in nature in your area today?
SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS
EVERY SATURDAY AT 3 P.M. PACIFIC TIME
DON’T FORGET TO VIEW METEOR BLADE’S COLLECTION OF LINKS AND EXCERPTS FROM ENVIRONMENTALLY ORIENTED POSTS PUBLISHED ON DAILY KOS DURING THE PREVIOUS WEEK
|