Mesquite Mountains | |
---|---|
location of Mesquite Mountains in California [1] | |
Highest point | |
Elevation | 1,321 m (4,334 ft) |
Geography | |
Country | United States |
State | California |
District | San Bernardino County |
Range coordinates | 35°43′9.913″N115°42′37.025″W / 35.71942028°N 115.71028472°W |
Topo map | USGS Mesquite Mountains |
The Mesquite Mountains are a mountain range in eastern San Bernardino County, California, near the border with Nevada. [1] They are north of Interstate 15 in California and southeast of Death Valley.
Established in 1994 by the U.S. Congress, the Mesquite Wilderness and the North Mesquite Mountains Wilderness are managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and divided by Kingston Road. The 28,955 acre North Mesquite Mountains Wilderness is in the northwestern section of the range and includes the broad western end of Sandy Valley. Rolling brown foothills, a few steeper mountains, and medium-sized buttes comprise the reddish-brown geologic features in the wilderness. The Kingston Range Wilderness is to the west. [2] The 44,804 acre Mesquite Wilderness includes the southeastern part of the range and is bordered by the Stateline Wilderness to the east. [3]
Vegetation of this area is characteristic of the mid-elevations of the eastern Mojave Desert. Dominant vegetation includes creosote brush scrub, blackbush scrub, Joshua tree woodland, yucca, cacti, and some grasses.
Wildlife is also typical for the Mojave Desert; including coyote, black-tailed jackrabbits, ground squirrels, kangaroo rats, quail, roadrunners, rattlesnakes and several species of lizards. The southern tip of the wilderness provides critical habitat for the desert tortoise.
The Dead Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern Mojave Desert, in San Bernardino County, California. The range borders the tri-state intersection of Nevada, Arizona and California, and the Mohave Valley, with the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation bordering the range foothills on the east and northeast, in the three states.
The El Paso Mountains Wilderness was created in 1994 and now has a total of 23,780 acres (96.2 km2). All of the wilderness is in the northern Mojave Desert in eastern Kern County, California and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. It is located south of Ridgecrest, California.
The Sheep Hole Mountains are a mountain range in the Mojave Desert, to the north of Joshua Tree National Park, in San Bernardino County, California. The mountains were once Chemehuevi hunting grounds.
The Kingston Range, sometimes called the Kingston Mountains, is located in Inyo and San Bernardino counties in the Mojave Desert in eastern California. The range reaches a height of 7,323 feet (2,232 m) above sea level at Kingston Peak.
The Chemehuevi Mountains are a mountain range that are found at the southeast border of San Bernardino County in southeastern California and are adjacent the Colorado River. Located south of Needles, California and northwest of the Whipple Mountains, the mountains are oriented in a north–south direction, and stretch for approximately 15 miles (24 km) in length.
The Clipper Mountains are located in the eastern Mojave Desert and protected within Mojave Trails National Monument, in San Bernardino County, California.
The Piute Mountains are a mountain range located in the Eastern Mojave Desert and within Mojave Trails National Monument, in San Bernardino County, California.
The Palen Mountains are located in the southern Mojave Desert – northern Colorado Desert in eastern Riverside County, California, US. The range lies southeast of the Coxcomb Mountains, and northeast of the Chuckwalla Mountains near Interstate 10. The mountains lie in a southwest-northeasterly direction and are approximately 15 miles long and nine miles wide at their widest point.
The Turtle Mountains, are located in northeastern San Bernardino County, in the southeastern part of California. The colorful Turtle Mountains vary from deep reds, browns, tans and grays, to black. The area has numerous springs and seeps. The Turtle Mountains are also a National Natural Landmark, with two mountain sections of entirely different composition.
The Nopah Range is a mountain range located in Inyo County, California, United States, near the eastern border with Nevada.
The Stepladder Mountains are located in southeastern California in the United States. The range, found in San Bernardino County, is home to the 84,199-acre (approximate) Stepladder Mountains Wilderness, which protects the Desert tortoise, California's state reptile. The mountains are located east of the Old Woman Mountains and north of the Turtle Mountains, about 29 miles (47 km) southeast of the town of Essex.
The Bigelow Cholla Garden Wilderness is in the eastern Mojave Desert and within Mojave Trails National Monument, located in San Bernardino County, California.
The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument is a National Monument in southern California. It includes portions of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountain ranges, the northernmost ones of the Peninsular Ranges system. The national monument covers portions of Riverside County, west of the Coachella Valley, approximately 100 miles (160 km) southeast of downtown Los Angeles.
The Eldorado Mountains, also called the El Dorado Mountains, are a north-south trending mountain range in southeast Nevada bordering west of the south-flowing Colorado River; the endorheic Eldorado Valley borders the range to the west, and the range is also on the western border of the Colorado River's Black Canyon of the Colorado, and El Dorado Canyon on the river. The range is 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada; and the Eldorado Mountains connect with the Highland and Newberry mountains.
The Piper Mountain Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area located in the White Mountains 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Big Pine, California in Inyo County, California.
The Bighorn Mountains are a mountain range of the Mojave Desert and Transverse Ranges, located in San Bernardino County, California. They are primarily within a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) protected area.
The Mopah Range is a desert mountain range, in the Lower Colorado River Valley region, in southeastern San Bernardino County, California.
The Santa Rosa Wilderness is a 72,259-acre (292.42 km2) wilderness area in Southern California, in the Santa Rosa Mountains of Riverside and San Diego counties, California. It is in the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert, above the Coachella Valley and Lower Colorado River Valley regions in a Peninsular Range, between La Quinta to the north and Anza Borrego Desert State Park to the south. The United States Congress established the wilderness in 1984 with the passage of the California Wilderness Act, managed by both the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. In 2009, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act was signed into law which added more than 2,000 acres (8.1 km2). Most of the Santa Rosa Wilderness is within the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument.
The Whipple Mountains Wilderness is a 76,122-acre (30,805 ha) wilderness administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Most of the Whipple Mountains are within the wilderness area. It is located in the northeastern Colorado Desert near the Colorado River. Lake Havasu and Lake Havasu City are 25 miles (40 km) to the North. Earp, California and Parker, Arizona are 20 miles (32 km) to the South. The Parker Dam is 8 miles (13 km) due east.
The Clipper Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Clipper Mountains of the eastern Mojave Desert and within Mojave Trails National Monument, located in northeastern San Bernardino County, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management.