| Virgin Mountains | |
|---|---|
 Virgin Mountains seen from the Northshore Drive along Lake Mead | |
| Highest point | |
| Peak | Virgin Peak |
| Elevation | 7,946 ft (2,422 m) [1] |
| Coordinates | 36°36′10″N114°06′42″W / 36.60278°N 114.11167°W |
| Dimensions | |
| Area | 116 sq mi (300 km2)[ citation needed ] |
| Geography | |
 | |
| Country | United States |
| States |
|
The Virgin Mountains are a mountain range of the northeastern Mojave Desert, located in Clark County, southeastern Nevada and Mohave County, northwestern Arizona.
Virgin Peak, at 7,946 feet (2,422 m) in elevation, is the highest point in the range. The range is northeast of Lake Mead, and around 15 miles (24 km) south of the Nevada town of Mesquite.
Hydrologically, the range is located in the Lower Colorado—Lake Mead watershed. (USGS Huc 1501), [2]
91.6% of the range is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, with a section of the Virgin Peak area designated within the BLM Virgin Mountain Natural Area. [3]
The range has many species of lizards, as well as the Panamint rattlesnake and glossy snake. Trees found in the range include Single-leaf pinyon pine (Pinus monophylla), Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica), White fir (Abies concolor), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma), and Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum). The range has one endemic species of stick insect, Timema nevadense . [4]
The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river, the 5th longest in the United States, drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. The name Colorado derives from the Spanish language for "colored reddish" due to its heavy silt load. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora.
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted for both its arid climate and the basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin in Death Valley to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles (160 km) away at the summit of Mount Whitney. The region spans several physiographic divisions, biomes, ecoregions, and deserts.
The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife Fund, and the Central Basin and Range ecoregion defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and United States Geological Survey. It is a temperate desert with hot, dry summers and snowy winters. The desert spans large portions of Nevada and Utah, and extends into eastern California. The desert is one of the four biologically defined deserts in North America, in addition to the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts.
Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a U.S. national recreation area in Southeastern Nevada and Northwestern Arizona. Operated by the National Park Service, Lake Mead NRA follows the Colorado River corridor from the westernmost boundary of Grand Canyon National Park to just north of the cities of Laughlin, Nevada and Bullhead City, Arizona. It includes all of the eponymous Lake Mead as well as the smaller Lake Mohave – reservoirs on the river created by Hoover Dam and Davis Dam, respectively – and the surrounding desert terrain and wilderness.
The Spring Mountains are a mountain range of Southern Nevada in the United States, running generally northwest–southeast along the west side of Las Vegas and south to the border with California. Most land in the mountains is owned by the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management and managed as the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
Juniperus scopulorum, the Rocky Mountain juniper, is a species of juniper native to western North America, from southwest Canada to the Great Plains of the United States and small areas of northern Mexico. They are the most widespread of all the New World junipers. They are relatively small trees, occasionally just a large bush or stunted snag. They tend to be found in isolated groves or even as single trees rather than as the dominant tree of a forest. Though they can survive fires, they are vulnerable to them especially when young and this is one of the factors that can limit their spread into grasslands.
The Mormon Mountains are located in Lincoln and Clark counties in Nevada, between 16 and 28 miles (45 km) northwest of Mesquite on I–15 in the Virgin Valley, east of the Meadow Valley Mountains and Meadow Valley and northeast of Moapa Valley. The highest point in the range is Mormon Peak, at 7,414 feet (2,260 m) above sea level. Another smaller mountain range lies to the east, called the East Mormon Mountains. The south fork of the Toquop Wash drains the east side of the range and continues on through the N–S linear ridge of the East Mormon Mountains.
The Shoshone Mountains, in west central Nevada, make up one of the longest mountain ranges in the state. The range runs in a general north-south direction in Nye and Lander counties. The range has a length of about 66 miles (106 km) and a width of about 6 mi (9.7 km) with an area of approximately 400 sq mi (1,000 km2).
The Hualapai Mountains are a mountain range located in Mohave County, east of Kingman, Arizona. Rising up to 8,417 feet at its highest peak, the higher elevations of the Hualapai Mountains support Madrean Sky Island habitats, and are host to a plethora of unique flora and fauna in a wide range of microclimates, high above the surrounding Mojave Desert.
The Arizona Strip is the part of Arizona lying north of the Colorado River. Despite being larger in area than several U.S. states, the entire region has a population of fewer than 10,000 people. Consisting of northeastern Mohave County and northwestern Coconino County, the largest settlements in the Strip are Colorado City, Fredonia, and Beaver Dam, with smaller communities of Scenic, Littlefield and Desert Springs. The Kaibab Indian Reservation lies within the region. Lying along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon creates physical barriers to the rest of Arizona. Only three major roads traverse the region: I-15 crosses the northwestern corner, while Arizona State Route 389 and U.S. Route 89A cross the northeastern part of the strip, and US 89A crosses the Colorado River via the Navajo Bridge, providing the only direct road connection between the strip and the rest of the state. The nearest metropolitan area is the St. George, Utah, metro area, to which the region is more connected than to the rest of Arizona.
The Simpson Park Mountains, also known as the Simpson Park Range, are located in Lander and Eureka counties, in central Nevada in the western United States. The mountains reach an elevation of 9,147 feet (2,788 m) at Fagin Mountain, and cover an area of approximately 310 square miles (800 km2). US Route 50 crosses the very southern end of the range at Hickison Summit between Eureka and Austin.
The Roberts Mountains are located in central Nevada in the western United States. The mountains are found in Eureka County, east of the Simpson Park Mountains and west and southwest of the Sulphur Spring Range. The range reaches a peak at Roberts Creek Mountain at 10,133 feet (3,089 m). Nevada State Route 278 passes the east margin of the range in Garden Valley and continues about 25 miles (40 km) southeast to Eureka.
The Cortez Mountains are located in north central Nevada in the United States. The range lies in a southwest-northeasterly direction between Crescent Valley and Pine Valley. Mount Tenabo is the principal peak of the range, at 9,153 feet above sea level. Surrounding ranges include: the Shoshone Range to the northwest, the Pinon and Sulphur Springs ranges to the east, the Simpson Park Mountains to the south and the Toiyabe Range to the southwest across the narrow Cortez Canyon. The northeastern end of the range reaches the Humboldt River at Palisade about 9.5 miles (15.3 km) southwest of Carlin.
The Black Mountains, a mid-Miocene formation, in Nevada are a series of rugged, arid rocky volcanic mountains ranging in elevations to 3310 ft. The range lies on the north shore of Lake Mead, at the southwest corner of the Overton Arm, about 25 mi south of Overton, Nevada.
Bright Star Wilderness is a 8,190-acre (3,314 ha) wilderness area in Kern County in the U.S. state of California.
The Kiavah Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area located in the Mojave Desert, Scodie Mountains, and southern Sierra Nevada in Kern County, California, United States. California State Route 178 connects the town of Lake Isabella to State Highway 14 in the east, crossing Walker Pass at the north boundary of the wilderness.
The Worthington Mountains is a small 12 miles (19 km) long north–south trending mountain range in northwestern Lincoln County, Nevada. The range is bounded by the Sand Spring Valley to the west and Garden Valley to the east. The Quinn Canyon Range lies to the northwest, the Golden Gate Range lies to the east and the Timpahute Range lies to the south and southeast.
The South Virgin Mountains are a smaller mountain range of the eastern Mojave Desert, in Clark County, southeastern Nevada.
Pinyon–juniper woodland, also spelled piñon–juniper woodland, is a biome found mid-elevations in arid regions of the Western United States, characterized by being an open forest dominated by low, bushy, evergreen junipers, pinyon pines, and their associates. At lower elevations, junipers often predominate and trees are spaced widely, bordering on and mingling with grassland or shrubland, but as elevation increases, pinyon pines become common and trees grow closer, forming denser canopies. Historically, pinyon-juniper woodland provided a vital source of fuel and food for indigenous peoples of the American Southwest. The nuts continue to be a traditional indigenous food, and because nut-collecting was also adopted by the Spanish in the 1500s, the nuts are also traditionally harvested by some Hispanic communities.
The South Fork Eel River Wilderness is a 12,868-acre (5,207 ha) wilderness area located in Mendocino County, California. The wilderness was added to the National Wilderness Preservation System when the United States Congress passed the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act in 2006. The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the agency in charge.
Media related to Virgin Mountains at Wikimedia Commons| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
