Virgin Mountains

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Virgin Mountains seen from North Shore Drive along Lake Mead

The Virgin Mountains are a small mountain range in the border area between the major regions of the Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Nevada and the northwestern part of Arizona. The mountain range runs along the left bank of the Virgin River to its mouth in Lake Mead with a length of about 60 km from northeast to southwest. With a maximum width of 13 km, it covers an area of about 300 square kilometers. The highest elevations form the Virgin peak with 2461 meters and Mount Bangs with 2442 meters above sea level. The nearest town is Mesquite, Nevada.

The largest part of the mountain is in federal ownership and is the responsibility of the Bureau of Land Management ( 91.6 %). In the Northeast include parts of the mountains north of Mount Bangs Nature Reserve Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, under the management of the BLM and the Paiute Wilderness, a wilderness area and thus the most stringent class of protected areas in the United States. The Virgin Mountains are characterized by arid climate, the vegetation is thin. The fauna includes a large number of lizard species and the spotted rattlesnake and Arizonanattern.