No, you can't get to Verdi this way, yet...

So, apparently, folks are hiking up the Secret-Lamoille trail these days, fishing poles in hand, hoping to bring home a nice trout dinner from Verdi Lake.

I hate to tell you this but you can't get through to Verdi yet via this trail.  Not only that, you probably won't be able to get through to Verdi on this trail for a couple more years at the rate they're going.

Progress on trail construction is happening, but it's happening slowly.  The crews are up there working again this summer pushing the trail through, but they still have some rough country and thick brush to cross.

The trail is beautiful and challenging and a great day hike or mountain bike ride, but right now it dead ends a little less than half-way to Talbot Canyon where the crews are working.  Walk or ride on up, tell them "hi" and thank them for sweating in the sun on our behalf.

And in the meantime, if you want to get to Verdi, you can head up over the top of the Lamoille-Talbot ridge above the Terraces Picnic Area or you can make your way up the old guide trail that takes off at about the Glacier Overlook.  Neither route is for sissies, and the old guide trail fades into the brush before you get to the top of the ridge.  One of these days some trail fairies should go up there and finish brushing that trail out, but at the moment it eventually becomes very difficult to find.

The easiest way to get to Verdi right now - at least if you're willing to hike 16 miles or so round-trip - is through private property at the mouth of Talbot Canyon.  The folks who own it are good folks and are pretty open-minded about access.  You can pick up the old Secret-Lamoille trail behind their property and follow it to where it joins the Talbot Creek trail by a huge rock cairn.  Call Nancy Taylor at the USFS for contact information for this and other access points in the Rubies - 775-752-3357.  You can also call Joe Doucette at the Nevada Department of Wildlife for access information, 775-777-2300.

National Trails Day!

Can you believe it? My favorite day of the year is here! NATIONAL TRAILS DAY is coming up on Saturday! We're back up at the SnoBowl again this year, and if we get enough help will have a NEW bottom-to-top hiking and mountain biking trail complete and ready to use. The trail was roughed in last summer by volunteers and NDF crews, and if the stars align we should have it DONE by the end of work on Saturday.


Here's a write-up that appeared on the front page of today's Elko Daily Free Press. Thanks, guys, for helping us get the word out!

Anyway - This SATURDAY, June 8th. 8AM at the Elko SnoBowl. Wear work clothes and gloves. We'll provide tools and lunch. Let's get this baby done! Thanks to Raleys, the BLM and Event Source for helping us make this happen!