What are the best Off-the-Beaten-Path hikes in Rural Nevada?

Been doing weekend hikes around Nevada for a few years, mostly sticking to the obvious spots near Reno and the Lake Tahoe edge. Starting to feel like I've pulled most of the lowhanging fruit there and want to push further into the state.

Ghost town areas like Rhyolite keep coming up when I browse around, and I get the appeal, but I'm more interested in terrain with actual elevation change or canyon features. Not just flat desert walking. I work long weeks and the weekend trip needs to feel like it paid off.

I've been looking at the Spring Valley area and some spots up near Elko but haven't committed to anything yet. Part of the hesitation is not knowing which access roads are actually passable without high clearance. I drive a standard pickup so I'm not too limited, but I don't want to burn a Saturday on a washedout road situation.

If you've hiked something in rural Nevada in the last year or two that surprised you terrainwise, I'd genuinely want to know what it was and roughly where. Distance from a major highway matters too if you can remember.