Carpenter Canyon is a

canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

on the western side of the

Spring Mountains 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 Uni ...

, partially within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, in

Clark County Clark County may refer to: *Clark County, Arkansas *Clark County, Idaho *Clark County, Illinois *Clark County, Indiana *Clark County, Kansas *Clark County, Kentucky *Clark County, Missouri *Clark County, Nevada, containing Las Vegas *Clark County, ...

, southern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

west of the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan St ...

. Carpenter Canyon is accessible via State Route 160 and Carpenter Canyon Road near Pahrump. Carpenter Canyon Road is a minimally maintained dirt road reaching roughly 10 miles into the mountains and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. A clearwater

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

, the Carpenter Canyon Creek, runs through Carpenter Canyon the entire year, supporting a small population of

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

, which is uncommon in the Spring Mountains and Mojave Desert.

Natural history

Geology

The Spring Mountains divide the

Pahrump Valley Pahrump Valley is a Mojave Desert valley west of Las Vegas and the Spring Mountains massif in southern Nye County, Nevada, and eastern San Bernardino County, California. Pahrump, Nevada, is in the valley's center and the Tecopa and Chicago Valley ...

, Mesquite Valley, and upper

Amargosa River The Amargosa River is an waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. The Amargosa River is one out of two rivers located in the California portion of the Mojave Desert with perennial f ...

basin to the west from the

, to the east and which drains into the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

, thus the mountains define part of the boundary of the

Great Basin 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 Californi ...

and

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

ecoregions An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecology, ecological and Geography, geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of la ...

. A number of springs can be found in the recesses of the Red Rock Canyon area which lies on the mid-eastern side of the range. One of the more notable springs feeds Carpenter Canyon Creek.

Plants

In Lower Carpenter Canyon, Creosote bush - ''Larrea tridentata'' and golden native

bunchgrass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennia ...

es dominate the landscape. Moving further up in elevation, Banana yucca - ''Yucca baccata'', Mojave yucca - ''Yucca schidigera'', and the Joshua Tree - ''Yucca brevifolia'' appear more frequently. Small flowering plants also become common. At around 5,000 feet, Utah Juniper -''Juniperus osteosperma'' trees and Single-leaf Pinyon - ''Pinus monophylla'' are introduced, and above this elevation they dominate the terrain. Towards the source of the creek, and the head of the canyon Ponderosa Pine - ''Pinus ponderosa'' and a wide variety of flowering plants are prevalent. This includes the indigenous Desert Columbine - '' Aquilegia shockleyi''.

Riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

plants, such as Fremont Cottonwood - ''Populus fremontii'', flank the creek

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

References

{{reflist

External links

* https://www.nevadawilderness.org/ Spring Mountains Canyons and gorges of Nevada Landforms of Clark County, Nevada Protected areas of the Mojave Desert Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest

Natural history

Geology

Plants

See also

References

External links