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Route: Toiyabe Crest Trail

Submitted by Harrybrown99 on Fri, 06/30/2023 - 04:52pm
Location
Nevada, US
Distance
63.3 mi
Vertical Gain
13,189 ft
Description

The Toiyabe Crest trail is a true hidden gem! Located in the middle of the Nevada desert, 4 hours from Reno, you are almost guaranteed to not run into another person on this trail. The trail was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and has fallen into disrepair, however, many people are trying to revive this National Scenic Trail. The trail has an elevation range from 6345' to 11,775' and the majority of it is above treeline. 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/toiyabe-crest-trail

 

GPS Track
Toiyabe_Crest_S._--_N..gpx191.78 KB

FKTs

Comments

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Harrybrown99
Fri, 07/28/2023 - 01:31pm

Set out to run all 64 miles of the TCT. Half is wilderness and half is NF. I started with the wilderness with my partner. We had put a bike and supplies at Ophir pass half way and she was going to ride back to the car after and I was going to continue on…

We spent 12 hours bushwhacking an extremely overgrown trail…needless to say, I ran out of time and mental energy to do the whole thing, but still had an extremely difficult run back to the car and her bike was no easy feat as well. We got back made ramen, rinsed in the creek and passed out hard.

The trail starts out following the South Twin river and crosses it easily 50 times. Then the TCT continues to follow rivers back and forth for the majority of the wilderness section. The last 10 miles of pretty sweet high alpine though. Until we got caught in a thunderstorm and had to down climb to get under some bushes and huddled in the rain and cold under my one rain jacket for an hour…

The bushwhacking makes for constant route finding and getting lost and tired from looking for snakes. The sagebrush, wild rose, and bramble is a constant cut on your exposed skin.

There is plenty of water to drink for the entire trail but your feet are wet the rest of the day. There was some sketchy spot for water where there were dead cattle and beavers, but also amazing springs.

The three different map sources of the TCT were wrong at some critical moments which lead to off trail scrambling and hiking straight up the side of a loose mountain.