Muddy Mountains
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The Muddy Mountains, Nevada.
The Muddy Mountains are a mountain range in Clark County in the U.S. state of Nevada. The highest point is the peak with Muddy 1,643 meters. The United States Congress declared in 2002 a part of the territory for Muddy Mountain Wilderness. With Wilderness, a class of natural protected areas is referred to, which are basically unaffected by human intervention should be permanently protected from them.
Geography and Geology
The Muddy Mountains are about an hour north of Las Vegas, west of Lake Mead and just north of the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. The Muddy Mountain Wilderness has a size of approximately 195 km ² and includes a large area of the mountain. 300 million years ago this area was covered by a large sea. The former seabed today consists of limestone cliffs, which rise to a height of 1643 meters. Between the mountain peaks, petrified sand dunes have formed, which were washed out over time to rock galleries and canyons and shine in the colors yellow, orange and red. The unusual sandstone formations of Hidden Valley have been exposed by the erosion of limestone.
Flora and Fauna
The entire area lies at an altitude 510-1640 meters, in which the creosote bush or chaparral ( Larrea tridentata ), Black Brush ( Coleogyne ramosissima ), the Joshua tree lily or Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia ), the Beavertail Cactus ( Opuntia basilar ) that Catclaw Acacia (Acacia gregii ) and the Desert Willow ( Cuilopsis linearis ), and the Las Vegas buckwheat ( Fagopyrum ) and the Las Vegas bear poppy ( Arctomecon ) can be found. In mammals here the Desert Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni ), the Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis ), the donkey Hare or Jackrabbit live (Lepus californicus ) and the coyote (Canis latrans ). At reptiles we find the California tortoise ( Gopherus agassizii ), the Chuckwalla ( Sauromalus ), the Whiptail ( Cnemidophorus ) and the Striped Gecko ( Coleonyx variegatis ). Among the birds living here the rock wren ( Salpinctes obsuletus ), the Trauerseidenschnäpper heard ( Phainopela nitens ), the Zimtbauch - Phoebe tyrant ( Sayornis saya ) and the Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis ).
Colonization
At least 4,000 years, the area of the Muddy Mountains was inhabited by humans. Archaeologists have petroglyphs, roasting facilities for agaves, cliff dwellings, edited found stones and potsherds. There are impressive petroglyphs in Colorock area and Hidden Valley, as well as in area at Buffington Pockets.
Check-in
The Muddy Mountains can be reached via the Bitter Springs Back Country Byway, the North Shore Road of Lake Mead and several roads from the west, including the Colorock Road. In most of these roads are unpaved gravel roads. From Las Vegas from the Muddy Mountains look like a single mountain range. In fact, visible only to the western part of the highest mountain ridge that extends east-west extension. The rock is cut by deep canyons and the southern part contains layers and dry riverbeds (English Wash. ) extending to the south.