Elko sits in the high desert of northeast Nevada, roughly halfway between Salt Lake City and Reno on Interstate 80. It is one of the more surprising small cities in the American West: a mining and ranching town with a strong Basque heritage, world-class helicopter skiing on its doorstep, and a peculiar claim to fame as the home of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.
The Basque community here is one of the largest in North America, descended from Basque shepherds who came to the Nevada range in the late 19th century. The Star Hotel and Nevada Dinner House serve traditional Basque meals — hearty, communal, and very good — and the culture has outlasted the open-range era that brought it here.
The Ruby Mountains rise just south of town, a genuinely dramatic range in a state not always associated with scenery. They offer excellent hiking and, from late winter into spring, helicopter skiing that drops you onto uncrowded powder above tree line. It's a long way to go for skiing, but for those who know about it, the Rubies are something special.
Every January, the city fills with working cowboys, ranchers, poets, and musicians for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering — a week of performances, workshops, and storytelling that has been running since 1985. It is an unlikely cultural institution in an unlikely place, and it is genuinely worth timing a visit around. The Western Folklife Center hosts the gathering and runs year-round exhibitions on Western folk traditions.
Historically, Elko was one of three main division points on the Central Pacific Railroad. The University of Nevada was founded here before moving to Reno, and the campus building survives as part of Elko High School.