Filed under: Hiking, Stories, North America, United States
-"Shine on, Ruby mountain, from the valley to the sea. Shine on, Ruby mountain, shine your sweet love down on me" -Kenny Rogers, Shine On, Ruby Mountain-
The first time I ever heard of Elko, Nevada was when I was eight years old. As a big-haired tot growing up on the island of Maui, a place where the weather page is nearly always stuck on "warm and tropical", I was obsessed with the multicolored national weather page of lands far, far away.
During certain months of the year, I would notice on the national temperature map there was always this dark blue, maybe even violet circle hovering in the middle of Nevada--a place that looked eerily colder than the rest. Smack in the center of that cold, violet bubble was always a town I had not visited until today: Elko, Nevada.
As school got harder and life got faster, my fascination with the great blue blob of Elko, Nevada slowly faded away. That was until three months ago when I found myself at a California wedding in the company of a couple of ranchers from, where else, but Elko, Nevada.
"Elko, huh. Isn't that the really cold place in Nevada?" I confidently slurred, the pour-your-own sangria bar having a noticeable effect on my social willingness to engage.
"Nah, last year it was only -18 at the coldest. I love Elko, though. I wouldn't live anywhere else", offered the rancher in his tightest pair of Wranglers.
"Wouldn't ever leave Elko, eh? And why's that?"
"Well we've got the Ruby Mountains".
As a map obsessed child who could rattle off every world capital by the age of 3 sort of guy, I was taken aback at the prospect of there being an American mountain range with which I was unfamiliar.
The Ruby Mountains.
As the wedding ended and the weeks wore on, I did what any self-respecting travel blogger would do and I Google searched them. Even after some research, I simply couldn't shake the allure of these mystery mountains in the middle of the cold dark blob.
Gallery: Ruby Mountains, Elko, NevadaContinue reading 10 days, 10 states: Ruby Mountains, Nevada10 days, 10 states: Ruby Mountains, Nevada originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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