Welcome to Elko County, Nevada ~Cowboy Country!

Please enjoy the many beautiful sights below we have experienced during our trips to Elko County!

Elko County is located in northeastern Nevada, 295 miles east of Reno and 237 miles west of Salt Lake City. Click here for Elko's road map. With 17,135 square miles it is one of the largest counties in the USA. A book listing American towns with the highest quality of life declared Elko, Nevada, "The Best Small Town in America." It is a small city, and a booming trading and service center for a mining and ranching area roughly the size of New England. In 2005 Relocate-America.com has named Elko City as 1 of the "Top 100 Places To Live" in the United States.

The population of Elko County is 45,275, the town of Elko is 16,708 and the town of Spring Creek is 10,548. Lately, Elko has evolved into a showcase for Western American Folk Art. Long famous for the National Basque Festival, held each Independence Day, a new era in Elko's cultural history began in 1985, when the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering was held. Estimates are 8000 - 10000 people attended the festival this January!

The weather in Elko County is considered ideal by many. Summer finds hot, dry afternoons with temperatures in the 90s, cooling to the low 40s and 50s by morning. Winters are moderate with lows typically in the 20s or 30s. Daytime highs during the winter months are in the 40s or 50s. Snowfall averages 42 inches per year and generally melts quickly. Yearly rainfall ranges from 9 to 10.5 inches. Sunny skies are usually seen over 300 days a year! The land is mountainous and interspersed with low, flat valleys. The Humboldt River flows through the county, with the Ruby Mountains stretching across it in a north-south direction. The elevation in the valleys is about 5000 and reaches up to 11,300 feet at Ruby Dome. The elevation of Pilot Peak on the east side of Elko County reaches up to 10,716 feet. Elko County provides unlimited recreational opportunities with fishing, big game hunting (mule deer, elk, antelope and bighorn sheep), snowmobiling, ice fishing, mountain biking, hiking, camping, boating and skiing.

I had a chance to visit Elko County a few times in the fall of 2007 and as always it was beautiful!

2007 said good bye to Caesar Salicchi who had been the Elko County Treasurer for 36 years and one of my mentors when I started investing in land. His former Administrative Deputy Rebecca Erickson won the election as the new Treasurer. I was thrilled to have breakfast with the both of them! Good people in a good place!

Wendover Bill who welcomes you to the gambling town of Wendover that sits on the border of Utah and one of the locals just to the north of Wendover near Montello.

Wildhorse still had people out using their RV's in early November 2007 and beautiful fall colors!

          The bright lights of one of the downtown Casinos and new homes being built on the northwest side of town!         Rhyolite Butte and Pilot Peak in early September 2007.       The rural town of Montello.                     Some of the locals - proof once again that we see them every time we visit Montello!        In early November 2007 we journeyed thru the Humboldt National Forest and saw the burn from the major fire they had there this past summer. As sad as it was to see entire canyons wiped out it was also amazing to see how quickly mother nature sends new life up! You can see in the first few pictures what it usually looks like and the last few pictures you can see the new vegetation growing up through the burn!                      

One of the locals in Independence Valley near the Pequop Mountains! May 2005

Beautiful spring flowers blooming and the Pequop Moutains east of Independence Valley. May 2005

These next four pictures are taken of Rye Patch Reservoir. The Humboldt River finds its early beginnings in Elko County and it flows across the state to this reservoir. They received quite a bit of snow this winter and it has been a wet spring making for early springtime fun for the locals!  May 2005

What a beautiful sight this was! While out exploring land north of Deeth we came across the largest herd of antelope I have ever seen. As we got closer they took off over the mountain giving us a great show!

A family of antelope that we came across a few miles out of the town of Elko - the baby is too cute! And the Elko County Courthouse.

A view of The Elko Hills with the big "E" looming above the town of Elko with the Ruby Mountains in the distance and a view of the golf course in Elko. The golf course sits below Kittridge Canyon where you will find the western side of Meadow Valley Unit #5 - a beautiful subdivision!

The beautiful pictures above were taken on our trip to Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby Mountains! Often called the Alps of Nevada this Scenic By Way is a 12 mile tour into the glacier carved canyon. There are more than 100 miles of hiking trails to explore there!

The pictures above were taken just south of Wells in Clover Valley. Clover Valley is a beautiful valley tucked at the bottom of the Ruby Mountains on the east side of the range. You will see these beautiful sights as you venture to Ruby Lake.

A roaming horse and antelope that we saw as we traveled over the Ruby Mountains along a route that was once part of the Pony Express Route and is now a scenic byway.

A beautiful farm with hay bales and the South Fork Humboldt River with beautiful views of the Ruby Mountains taken southwest of the Ruby Mountains near the South Fork Reservoir in late spring.  

A view of the town of Elko showing the Elko Hills, Ruby Mountains and the lush green color that Elko turns every spring! Elko has a beautiful chamber of commerce located in the Sherman Station. Built in 1908 and moved to it's present site in 1998 it was previously a ranch house and stagecoach stop.

A beautiful view of the world class fishing Wildhorse Reservoir with the Independence Mountains and a cattle drive up near Wildhorse! Wildhorse Reservoir is a 2,800 acre premium trout reservoir 60 miles north of the town of Elko. Hunters know the area for its elk, deer, mountain lion and bird hunting but it's the fishermen that tell tall stories about the area! Ice fishing junkies consider this the creme-de-la-creme!

These two pictures were taken in the Humboldt National Forest near Jarbidge. What an incredibly scenic drive! I have no idea what bird this is but it was stunning as it kept its wings spanned to let us know not to mess with them. The Jarbidge Wilderness area is a favorite for locals and I had heard about it many times before visiting. A must see on your visit to the area!

A beautiful look at Pilot Peak from a home north of the town of Montello and a few locals in Pilot Valley out enjoying their afternoon. I don't recall ever taking a trip to this valley without seeing them!

Wild horses roaming Pilot Valley near Pilot Peak and more locals checking us out on our way to Jarbidge! The horses were absolutely beautiful standing there in the breeze in the distance - watching us carefully. My first look at the wild horses Nevada is known for!

The town of Wells with the beautiful Ruby Mountains in the background and the Flying J truck stop that is always hopping! Wells is about 51 miles east of Elko along I80 and has a population of about 1350.

The new mini mart/gas station at the Ryndon exit along Interstate 80 south of Devils Gate and Walmart and McDonalds located on the booming west end of the town of Elko. September 2005

The new Home Depot was having it's grand opening when we visited in September 2005 and The Great Basin Bank of Nevada that was being built.

If you look carefully you can almost see the antelope that blended in so well to the fall colors north of Deeth. We zoomed in to get a better shot in the second photo. September 2005

Devils Gate Ranch in early September 2005.

A few of the locals out enjoying a beautiful afternoon in Montello in September 2005. This valley is always filled with an abundance of animals!

The beautiful fall colors on the Ruby Mountains in September 2005!