Angel Lake and the East Humboldt Range

South of Wells, a paved road climbs steeply into the East Humboldt Range along a switchbacking route that gains thousands of feet in about twelve miles. The destination is Angel Lake, a small alpine lake sitting in a glacially carved bowl at an elevation of about eight thousand four hundred feet, ringed by sheer cliffs that rise another two thousand feet above the water. The contrast with the desert town below is startling: a short drive from a sun-baked sage flat to a cold, clear mountain lake surrounded by granite.

The East Humboldt Range is the northern section of what maps group with the more famous Ruby Mountains to the south. Both ranges contain classic glacial terrain: flat-bottomed, steep-walled canyons, and bowls at their heads. The Ruby Mountains attract more visitors, but the East Humboldt offers access from Wells that is shorter and less trafficked. The Angel Lake Road is generally accessible from late spring through October.

The lake itself is cold and small, occupying the bowl carved by a glacier that is now long gone. Trout have been stocked in it and survive in the thin alpine water. On a summer afternoon the cliffs above the lake hold shadows while the water catches the late light, and the valley floor of the Great Basin far below is visible through the notch at the canyon mouth. It is one of those places that should not exist where it exists, and that is exactly why it is worth the drive.