Southeast of Ely, US-93, spliced together with US-50 and US-6 into a single two-lane highway, continues for 25 miles before crossing the narrow waist of the Schell Creek at Connors Pass (elev. 7,722 feet), one of only two fractions of US-93 in Nevada that climb above the tree line. (Unlike most of the rest of the country, the tree line in Nevada has a lower, as well as an upper, limit: No trees grow below roughly 4,000 feet.) As you ascend toward the pass, the air cools and freshens, the single-leaf piñon and Utah juniper appear and thicken, and, cresting the summit, the mighty Snake Range, including 13,061-foot Wheeler Peak, comes into view.

  At Major’s Place (where there’s a roadhouse), US-93 splits off from US-50 and US-6, the latter two heading east toward Utah, while US-93 cuts south, heading 80 long, solitary miles to the next contact with humans at Pioche. Once again, the highway rolls along taffy-pulled Spring and Lake Valleys, ushered on its way by the Schell Creek, Fairview, Bristol, and Highland Ranges on the west, and the Snake and Wilson Creek Ranges on the east.