Ike's Canyon Ranch
A Writer's Far Outpost
The Proprietor of Ike's Canyon Ranch
Jerry Elkins
Before he was a balloonist, Jerry and his adventuresome pals pioneered previously unmapped caves in his native wyoming, sometimes hauling in scuba gear to dive into holes in search of the bottom.
He is an adventurer in life and in writing.
With a lot of help from close friends, Jerry Elkins built Ike's Canyon Ranch on the site of the old stage stop. He is a jack of all trades and he is the mastermind here. When he is not building writers' nooks at Ike's (or hot tubs or fixing fence or changing tires) he is a mapmaker for several of Nevada's enormous counties.
He's first and foremost an adventurer. For 35 years he traveled the world as a hot air balloonist, and has flown in all 50 US states and crossed two continents (the US and Australia). his sons and grandkids are all balloonists too.
If you look carefully, you can see the shadow of his balloon in the background picture.
He says writing workshops are kind of like balloon rallies. Just as fun but less sweaty, and you don't have to get up at 4am.
