Ely, Nevada, is considered one of the most remote places in the continental United States. To get there, and if you’re daring enough, you can take Highway 50, which has been dubbed the Loneliest Highway in America. Perched on the edge of eastern Nevada, Ely is sandwiched between snow-peaked mountain ranges, making it the perfect launch pad for outdoor adventures. This part of the country is also known for its extreme darkness and unmatched stargazing—and for its silence. According to White Pine County Tourism & Recreation, and even considering the town’s boom-to-bust history, Ely has always been a “gathering place for tribes, travelers, and treasure hunters.”
After leaving the historic downtown train depot, a zig and zag through the neighborhoods gets you onto gravel and heading south toward Cave Lake State Park—the southern entrance to this stunning ride.
While its treasures of copper and gold have come and gone, the latest mineral rush for Ely is endless miles of gravel roads that spool out into the Great Basin, making it the perfect place to explore on two wheels and get a deeper sense of its expansive geography, colorful history and unique flora and fauna. The piñon pines, which dot the mountainous Great Basin landscape, are sacred to the Shoshone, one of many Southwest tribes that trace their origins to this tree, especially in harsher climates like Ely’s, as its pine nuts represented a life-or-death winter food source. The Western Shoshone, a hunting and gathering people, have inhabited eastern Nevada since prehistoric times and evidence suggests that tribes have been gathering in Hercules Gap and other parts of this valley to hold Sun Dance ceremonies for centuries.
Founded as a Pony Express stagecoach station along the Central Overland Route, it was the discovery of copper in 1906 that really put Ely on the map. This sparked massive development, but as those veins evaporated so did the initial boom. Copper mining still takes place, but fewer than 4,000 people now live in this once bustling railroad and mining town.
So, what brings folks to this remote region today? Well, it’s a combination of factors, but to begin it’s the home of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum, which features the Ghost Train of Old Ely, a working steam engine passenger train that travels the historic tracks from Ely to the Robinson mining district. It also has the East Ely Railroad Depot Museum, one of the most complete historic railroad yards in the nation. Nevada’s highest mountain, 13,065-foot Wheeler Peak, is in White Pine County. And few visitors know that Ely is home to a hidden gem, Great Basin National Park, which sits south of town on the border with Utah. But what’s really getting folks to explore this region are the hundreds of miles of gravel roads that spider out into the Great Basin, many of them leading to ghost towns, hot springs, high mountain passes and national parks.
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