We’re no strangers to the beauty of Lake Tahoe, and we find it draws us back year after year. After all, there is always something new going on! Look no further for the newest adventures, bites, and places to rest your head during your next 48 hours in the Sierra Nevada.
You’ll find an abundance of lonesome highways, dirt roads, ghost towns, and wide open vistas as you travel through northern Nevada’s Cowboy Country. Leave your expectations at home, pack plenty of water and snacks, then hit the road.
When traveling to National Parks and other awe-inspiring places in the Southwest United States, you also travel across the ancestral lands of many different Indigenous tribes. We have created a guide to help you feel prepared exploring Indigenous heritage in the Southwest and Four Corners region on your next road trip. Indigenous communities are still very much tied to the land, and you can create a positive experience for both yourself and these communities by visiting with gratitude and respect – prepared to learn about the local cultures and histories.
This long weekend built for adventure lovers in White Pine County is based out of Ely, Nevada. Join us for three days of adrenaline, history, and fresh air in one of the west’s most undiscovered locations.
As a full-time travel writer, it’s not often that I have the opportunity to return to a place. Our visits are short, jam-packed, and if and when we can, we do it all. But when a destination has as much to offer as Carson Valley, Nevada, you take any chance you get to go back!
About five miles south of town, something starts to happen. The landscape stretches out and the monstrous, nearly 11,000-foot silhouette of Pilot Peak starts to rise over West Wendover. Its stark presence reaching out from the middle of the desert is intriguing and dramatic. When I was there it had just snowed up high, making views of this iconic peak truly breathtaking.
If I had one takeaway from my 48 hours in Carson Valley, it’s that this is a place that is still writing its history. It won’t look the same in five years, but it won’t change in the ways that matter, either.
When your car is covered in white dirt and brown sand, and your legs are tired from hiking, and your face sore from smiling, you’ve truly experienced the desert oasis of West Wendover. Remember to stay safe, play safe while you’re there.
Throw the skis on the car and bundle up for a weekend—or a whole week—of nonstop fun. There’s plenty of room in South Lake Tahoe for the whole family this season.
There are two major qualities of Cowboy Country that stick out to us most. First, no matter the size of the town or what you think you see from the highway, there’s always a myriad of dirt roads that will take you into country you didn’t think could be there. Second, many of the locals you’ll meet have families who have been in the area for over a hundred years.
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Find out the location of the hidden gem pictured below in our next newsletter!
Photo credit: @trip_with_hari via Instagram
