The Eagletail Mountains Wilderness is part of the
Eagletail Mountains of central-west
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, about 65 mi west of
Phoenix. The wilderness is of moderate size, with the Eagletail Mountains forming its northeast perimeter, and the much shorter Cemetery Ridge section, forming its southwest border. The wilderness covers nearly all of the Eagletail Mountains and the plains on its southwest. The wilderness lies at the southeast of the
Ranegras Plain, the headwater region of
Bouse Wash
Bouse Wash is one of the larger eastern-bank dry washes that enter the Colorado River in the Lower Colorado River Valley. It is located in La Paz County, extreme western Arizona.
Geography
Bouse Wash is located on the north rim of the La Posa P ...
, and lies adjacent to the northwest border of the extensive
Gila Bend Mountains, the mountain range causing the great Gila Bend excursion of the
Gila River
The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of ...
, in
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
.
The Eagletail Mountains Wilderness lies in extreme southeast
La Paz County, and is also at the intersection of
Maricopa County
Maricopa County () is a county in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census the population was 4,420,568, or about 62% of the state's total, making it the fourth-most populous county in the United States and ...
to the east, and
Yuma County to the southwest.
[Arizona Road & Recreation Atlas, Benchmark Maps, c 1998, pp. 78–79.]
Access
The Eagletail Mountains, and the wilderness parallel a slightly southeast-trending stretch of
Interstate 10 in Arizona
In the U.S. state of Arizona, Interstate 10 (I‑10), the major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States Sun Belt, runs east from California, enters Arizona near the town of Ehrenberg, Arizona, Ehrenberg and continues through Ph ...
. The region lies to the south; Centennial, Arizona is the closest exit, only 5 mi north.
Tonopah is further east on I-10, at about 20 mi. The wilderness can be accessed from the south by unimproved roads from
Hyder Hyder can refer to:
Places
*Hyder, Alaska, U.S.
** Hyder Seaplane Base
* Hyder, Arizona, U.S.
** Hyder Valley
* Hyder Creek, is a river in New York, U.S.
Other uses
*Hyder (defunct company), a former Welsh utility company
**Hyder Consulting, a su ...
, about 25 mi away.
See also
*
List of U.S. Wilderness Areas
The National Wilderness Preservation System includes 806 wilderness areas protecting of federal land . They are managed by four agencies:
*National Park Service (NPS)
*United States Forest Service (USFS)
*United States Fish and Wildlife Service ...
*
List of Arizona Wilderness Areas
The National Wilderness Preservation System includes 806 wilderness areas protecting of federal land . They are managed by four agencies:
*National Park Service (NPS)
*United States Forest Service (USFS)
*United States Fish and Wildlife Service ...
*
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act of 1964 () is a federal land management statute meant to protect U.S. Wilderness Area, federal wilderness and to create a formal mechanism for designating wilderness. It was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Socie ...
References
External links
Eagletail Mountain Wilderness Area, BLM
{{authority control
Protected areas of La Paz County, Arizona
Protected areas of Maricopa County, Arizona
Protected areas of Yuma County, Arizona
Wilderness areas of Arizona
IUCN Category Ib
Bureau of Land Management areas in Arizona
Protected areas established in the 1990s
1990s establishments in Arizona