Initially set aside on March 29, 1904, the Ruby Mountain Forest Reserve was formally established on May 3, 1906. After 25 years of work and advocacy by individuals and organizations like Friends of Nevada Wilderness to realize the Wilderness Act promise of protection for Nevada’s wild places, the Nevada Wilderness Wilderness Protection Act of 1989 designated the Ruby Mountain Wilderness (see more on the Conservation History of the Ruby Mountains in the Additional Resources Tab). The Ruby Mountains are the traditional home of the Western Shoshone who have been living on and with these lands for countless generations.

The Ruby Mountains Wilderness is truly the crown jewel of Nevada’s mountain ranges, characterized by high, multi-faceted peaks soaring above lush green meadows and sparkling sapphire blue lakes. Nowhere else in Nevada is there such a spectacular, classic alpine landscape, featuring hanging valleys, paternoster lakes, and snow-fed streams flowing down the U-shaped glacial valleys on the west side of the range. Because they were so heavily glaciated and have such abundant water, the Ruby Mountains Wilderness represent classic mountain wilderness. Lamoille Canyon, adjacent to the northern end of the Wilderness, stands-out as a textbook example of an ice scoured, U-shaped valley created during the onslaught of the Ice Age.