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Tomasz Dziubinski - Photography | all galleries >> USA 2011, 2012 & 2013 - AMERICAN SOUTHWEST >> VARIOUS IMAGES > The Spring Mountains
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©2012 Tomasz Dziubinski

The Spring Mountains

The Spring Mountains, Nevada

The Spring Mountains are a mountain range of southern Nevada, running generally northwest-southeast along the west side of Las Vegas and down 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 and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

The Spring Mountains range is named for the number of springs to be found, many of them in the recesses of Red Rock, which is on the eastern side of the mountains. The Spring Mountains divide the Pahrump Valley and Amargosa River basins from the Las Vegas Valley watershed, which drains into the Colorado River watershed, by way of Las Vegas Wash into Lake Mead, thus the mountains define part of the boundary of the Great Basin. The Great Basin Divide, (one of the Great Basin region borders) continues north through the Indian Springs Pass region then turns due east at the perimeter mountain ranges north of Las Vegas.

The highest point is Mount Charleston, at 11,918 ft (3,633 m). The area around Mt. Charleston is protected in the Mount Charleston Wilderness.

The Spring Mountains are a sky island ecosystem. With an area of about 860 square miles (2,200 km2), and a vertical range of nearly 2 miles (3.2 km), the mountains encompass a wide variety of habitats, and the biological diversity is probably greater than anywhere else in Nevada. 37 species of trees are known (more than any other Nevadan range), and 600 species of vascular plants have been reported from the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area alone.

Nikon D3 ,Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/25 ZF
1/100s f/11.0 at 25.0mm iso1400 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Doug Sherman21-Feb-2012 05:12
Nice image depicting the Basin and Range Proviince of the western U.S.. The mountain escarpment and the vegetation on the relatively flat valley floor are wonderful.
Ron Asp16-Feb-2012 14:51
Nice shot Tomasz, thanks for sharing..
Yvonne16-Feb-2012 09:48
Love the wide open spaces... its a gorgeous scene Tomasz! v
Guest 16-Feb-2012 06:07
So beautiful! love those desert pastels.
fotabug16-Feb-2012 06:01
I hope you enjoyed your trip to our beautiful West. How much were you able to visit? Did you get to see Crater Lake in our State of Oregon?
Bryan Murahashi16-Feb-2012 05:36
Beautiful colors in this high desert scene. V
Guest 16-Feb-2012 02:05
Superb vista, extraordinary colors and imposing mountain range
Marcia Rules15-Feb-2012 23:50
real purity here. The West is beckoning. V
Fred Parsons15-Feb-2012 22:16
Beautiful image. Hand held I guess with an ISO of 1400 !! ??