Toiyabe Crest Trail - An Arc in Arc Dome Wilderness
I’ve had my eyes set on the Toiyabe Crest Trail for several years now. It’s in the middle of nowhere Nevada and about 50ish miles all over 10k feet. I always imagined it being a two day fast pack but logistics with car shuttle, high snow years, and limited information on the trail had kept me away from the range. So when Nikki came to town and the California national forests were closed with thick smoke blanketing the area it left us with only one real option… the Toiyabe Crest Trail.
We decided on the Toiyabe Crest Trail about 3 days before we were supposed to drive out there. To my surprise it was closer than I thought only a short 4hr drive from Tahoe. Logistics were still uncertain, we wanted to do a point to point but we didn’t want to drive two cars. We mapped several routes out on CalTopo but after some satellite searching decided on a shorter 30 mile loop with roughly 8k feet of elevation gain and 8k feet of elevation loss. From what we could see on the satellite it looked like the trail disappeared after a bit and we didn’t want to be route searching. This also aligned with some trip reports we had read that made the trail seem very questionable at points so we picked what looked like the most defined, popular, and scenic part of the trail, the Arc Dome Wilderness section. As for the car shuttle we decided to self shuttle with bikes the last 5.5 miles.
We drove out to the Tioyabe Crest Trail on a Friday evening. We stopped in Reno on the way and did a few errands. We picked up 4 Jimmy John sandwiches for dinner. Yes, we had full intentions of each eating 2 sandwiches. We both made stellar progress through the first sandwich. But only made it half way through the second and decided that 2 JJ sandwiches was 2 too many. We thought we might eat them on the run but the idea of a day old sweaty JJ sandwich did not sound delicious. We arrived at Ophire canyon around 9pm and got setup in the van for the night. I was exhausted from the week in the smoke, the driving, and the drinking we had done the night before so I was out like a light. Nikki on the other hand flopped like a fish out of water for most of the night. The alarm chirped early at 4:30am. We wanted to be biking to the trailhead by 5am but the cold darkness consumed us. We tossed for a bit till the clock showed 5am. Neither of us felt ready or comfortable with the idea of riding an unknown jeep road in the dark towards an unknown destination. So we took the bikes out and found a random metal rope sticking out of the ground and locked them up. We decided we’d do the bike portion last hopefully while it was still day light.
We drove to the other trailhead, made breakfast and coffee, used the bathroom, and were hiking up the trail by 6:15am. At this point the day was already light enough that we didn’t even need headlamps. We carried 2.5 liters of water each as we had read online that the trail was very dry and water less. So with heavy packs we began the day with no idea what we were in store for.
The day started nice, we stayed in the shade almost for the entire 6k feet of climbing. It was a beautiful trail winding through steep rocky canyons, with beautiful wet river crossings. The rocks and the mountains didn’t feel like we were in the desert. After a couple miles the trail started to become less and less traveled. We were following a river and weaving over it back and forth for miles. The trail was covered in very thorny bushes with no escape. At first we ran right through but after awhile and the relentlessness of it wore on us. My legs and arms were raw. Blood started to drip from some of the deep gashes. Every thing that touched my skin pocky or not stung like non other. I started to carefully pick my way up the trail wincing in pain with every new scratch or brush. This continued for longer than expected roughly 4 miles of thorn whacking along the river.
After opening up in to a meadow we came to what our GPS said was a trail junction. We were supposed to go on the right trail. At this point it was clear there was no longer any trail. And that we would be following a drainage up and under Arc Dome Peak. Fortunately the “trail” was mostly just a sage brush drainage and we were able to find animal trails weaving through the sage brush to mostly come out with very few new scratches. Our sage quest ended right below Arc Dome as we continued on a lovely side hilling ankle breaking march to the large scree field below the peak. At this point 10 miles into the day and a couple thousand feet of climbing we were beat. Scree hoping wasn’t looking enticing and neither of us had high hopes that we would find any trail on the ridge at all. But the idea of going back down the way we came was absolutely not an option.
We made quick work of the talus boulder field and linked up to a pretty descent game trail on the other side. The game trail turned to what resembled an actual trail closer to the ridge line and before we knew it we were on a trail standing on the ridge line. Not just any trail but finally the Toiyabe Crest Trail the whole reason we had come here to begin with. It only took a rough 10 mile approach of pioneering to get there.
After looking at Arc Dome for hours we decided we weren’t super stoked on summiting it and decided to just continue on the crest trail in hopes we didn’t waste too much time bushwhacking and would still get to our bikes in the daylight. The well traveled trail was such a moral boost that we final took off in a run making good time along the ridge line. We decided not to stop till we got to the high point and then we would have our first sit down of the day and eat some snacks. When we got to 11,247 ft we sat down and eat the cookies we had made the night before and our pluots that we had packed. It was a much needed break. My lungs stung from the altitude and what I assumed might have been the pains of the previous two weeks of smoke inhalation.
As we packed up our bags to get moving again we spotted humans. Several humans walking towards us. I was honestly shocked after the very lonely morning we had. We asked the friendly people were they were coming from and they all, every single one of the 7 people we saw in that section, were coming from the columbine campground. Apparently the only part of the range that ever gets any visitors. Because of this the trail was well defined and we made quick progress jogging a long. We were surprised to find out that the trail had a lot of uphill still on the ridge line. Though we never dipped below 10ft. We would go up and down and up and down and up down. It wasn’t long though until we passed the turn off for the Columbine Campground and the trail disappeared again.
The section between the Columbine Campground and Ophir Canyon was long. We had sections of visible trail that would just disappear randomly then we would find it again faintly in the distance. Nikki took our one and only tumble of the day and other wise we just silently kept moving trying to keep tabs on the trail. Fairly close to Ophir canyon we came across two Native Americans on horse back with an older white woman. We got up and off the trail to let them come through. They however stopped confused. The woman led off the questions with “Are you girls packing heat? Don’t tell me if you aren’t packing heat. You better be packing out here.” We didn’t say much other than answering their questions. They asked us if we had seen any cows or deers. I assume because there were ranchers out hunting and also looking for there cattle. They asked us where we parked, where we were headed, what we were doing, where we were from, if someone was going to pick us up in Ophir canyon, if we had people waiting for us…. As we finally walked away from them I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. We were on an exposed ridge. Alone. Very very alone. In the middle of nowhere Nevada. I felt scared.
I had a bit of a spike in adrenaline as we jogged off. I kept looking over my shoulder to see if they had turned around to follow us. I kept eyeing exits that we could run to for cover and plans for the worst case scenario. I could only think they might be waiting for us at our bikes in Ophir canyon or at our van at the south twin trailhead. We had cell service on the ridge line so I asked Nikki to text Chuck and let him know what happened, our location, plan, and to be concerned if he hadn’t heard from us by 8pm. Nothing like fear to fuel you motivation to run.
We got to Ophir canyon quickly. It was a pleasant surprise that it was a well packed 4x4 mining road. We were relieved that we wouldn’t be having to bushwhack and route find down another canyon but that we just had to jog on this road and we would be at our bikes in a quick 4 miles and 4k feet of elevation loss. Nikki and I made fast progress of this. I usually chant the faster you run the faster your done but instead I was saying the faster you run the faster you are at your bikes and less likely we are to be kidnapped or killed.
As we ran swiftly through the old mining towns I felt safer being down in the tree cover again. Though Muay Thai has given me more confidence in my hand to hand combat. I still think the best beta is to run and hide. We made it to our bikes before 5pm. They were a welcome sign of the finish line and I was excited to get to use some new muscles. The jeep roads were a little confusing and we ended up taking a wrong turn right off the bat. We then got to employ some hike a bike techniques before we were cruising again on the road. Unfortunately the road was a jeep road… sandy and rocky. We made good time for a bit but soon the road become to much for our gravel bikes and we were walking our bikes. The pace and moral slowed to a crawl as we could see where the van was parked way off in the distance.
We hiked our bikes for a bit before we could ride them again and then we hiked them and then road them and then hiked them. My ancient bike that I acquired years ago weighed so much that at moments I wanted to just ditch it and cut my losses. But we kept pushing. The 5.5 miles went faster than if we had walked I’m sure, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. With the van in sight we had one last river crossing which we just walked straight through. The cold water rushed up over my knees and the wounds from the morning stung like fire. When we got to the van we quickly loaded up locked the doors and headed for home. We were getting the hell out of nowhere Nevada!
We made quick progress back to Tahoe. A quick stop for Sonic for dinner and gas in Austin Nevada. And we were tucked in our beds by 10pm. I will not be back to do the full 50 miles. But I’m glad I got a taste of what the range is all about. And it was in fact an adventure after all.
