The Shoshone Mountains, in west central

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, 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 and a width of about with an area of approximately .''Ione Valley, Nevada,'' 30x60 Minute Quadrangle Topographic Map, USGS 1985 (38117-E1-TM-100)''Smith Creek Valley, Nevada,'' 30x60 Minute Quadrangle Topographic Map, USGS 1985 (39117-A1-TM-100)''Edwards Peak Valley, Nevada,'' 30x60 Minute Quadrangle Topographic Map, USGS 1983 (N3930-W11700/30X60) Named for the Shoshone Indians, the range receives 15 inches or less of precipitation in an average year. About 58% of the mountain range is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, with the Forest Service in charge of almost 42% of the area. A small part of the range is occupied by the Yomba Indian Reservation and private land. The small community of Ione lies to the west of the range, and the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park is situated in the west margin of the range adjacent to Ione Valley just south of the Berlin ghost town. The old mining camp and ghost town of Golden is at the southern end of the range. US Highway 50 crosses the extreme north end of the range just south of Mount Airy and west of Austin. Nevada Route 722 crosses the range at Railroad Pass just north of Iron Mountain after crossing the Reese River Valley southwest from US 50 near Austin. It then continues in the Smith Creek Valley parallel to the range for 13 miles before turning west to rejoin US 50 near Middlegate across the Destoya Range. Nevada Route 844 crosses the Paradise Range northeast of Gabbs and crosses the Ione Valley to the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park area.Nevada 2011-2012 Official Highway Map, Nevada DOT
Basins or valleys surrounding the range include the

Ione Valley Ione may refer to: Places * Ione, California, a city * Ione, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Ione, Nevada, an unincorporated community * Ione, Oregon, a city * Ione, Washington, a town * Ionopolis or Ione, an ancient town near Antioch ...

and the Smith Creek Valley on the west, the Reese River Valley to the east and the

Big Smokey Valley Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

to the south. Surrounding mountain ranges include the

Toiyabe Range The Toiyabe Range is a mountain range in Lander and Nye counties, Nevada, United States. Most of the range is included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The highest point in the range, near its southern end, is Arc Dome (11,788 f ...

to the east, the Ravenswood and New Pass ranges to the north, the Desatoya and

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...

ranges to the west and the Cedar Mountains of Mineral County to the southwest. Named peaks in the range include from south to north: *Mount Ardivey *Buffalo Mountain *South Shoshone Peak *North Shoshone Peak *Iron Mountain *Emigrant Peak *Mount Airy

Ecology

Vegetation is mostly

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus '' Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub '' Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an al ...

scrub and pinon-juniper. The Shoshone Mountains are home to

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whi ...

chipmunks Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia. Taxonomy and systematics Chipmunks may be classified either as ...

, coyote, elk, and many other small animals such as

shrews Shrews (family Soricidae) are small mole-like mammals classified in the order Eulipotyphla. True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews, otter shrews, elephant shrews, West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews, which belong to different ...

and squirrels. At least 21 species of birds can be found in the range during the year, including sparrows,

woodpeckers Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...

and

orioles Oriole or Orioles may refer to: Animals * Old World oriole, colorful passerine birds in the family Oriolidae * New World oriole, a group of birds in the family Icteridae Music * The Orioles, an R&B and doo-wop group of the late 1940s and earl ...

Road to the Shoshone Mountains (19976745465)

References

{{Commonscat * Biological Resources Research Center

Mountain ranges of Nevada Mountain ranges of the Great Basin Mountain ranges of Nye County, Nevada