Lamoille Canyon Road End Trailhead
The terminus of Lamoille Canyon Road (Forest Road 660 / NV-227 spur) sits at 8,800 feet in the Ruby Mountains of northeastern Nevada, 27 miles southeast of Elko. The U-shaped canyon was carved by Pleistocene glaciers into a dramatic alpine amphitheater with sheer granite walls rising over 3,000 feet. The large trailhead parking area at the road's end anchors the Ruby Mountains Scenic Byway and provides access to trails toward Island Lake and Lamoille Lake. The drive up the canyon — 12 miles of paved byway with no dead-end turnaround issue for bikes — is routinely ranked among Nevada's finest alpine roads.
Lamoille Canyon Road (Forest Road 660) is administered by the Ruby Mountains Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, and it runs 12 paved miles into one of the most dramatically glaciated canyons in the Great Basin. The canyon was extensively sculpted during the Pleistocene, leaving the classic U-shaped cross section that defines it today — granite walls rising sharply on both sides, hanging valleys notched into the flanks of the peaks above, and a creek running the canyon floor. Riding in, you pass interpretive stops, a campground, and picnic areas before the road climbs to 8,800 feet at the Road's End Trailhead, where the canyon bends around the flanks of the high peaks and the pavement simply stops.
At the trailhead, the Ruby Crest National Recreation Trail begins — a 38-mile route that runs the length of the range. Shorter trails branch toward Island Lake and Lamoille Lake. For riders who want to stretch their legs rather than hike deep into the wilderness, the trailhead parking area has interpretive signs and a self-guided audio tour, and the views back down the canyon from that elevation are reason enough to make the stop. Afternoon thunderstorms build quickly over the high peaks in summer, so riders who time the trip for morning will generally have the cleaner sky and the drier road on the way back down.
The byway is generally open from late May through October, weather depending, and is not plowed or maintained in winter. Before heading up, a call to the Humboldt-Toiyabe ranger district office in Elko is the reliable way to confirm road conditions — snow lingers at the upper end well into the season, and the road can be slick after rain even in summer.
The Ruby Mountains are Nevada's answer to the Alps — a glacially carved granite canyon you can reach on pavement to 8,800 feet, with a dead-end loop that forces a leisurely return through one of the state's most spectacular alpine corridors.
Shot by the riders who've run it.
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