The Red Mountains of
Washington County,
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
, United States, is a mostly circular long mountain range.
[''Utah Atlas & Gazetteer,'' DeLorme, 9th ed., 2014, p. 56 ]
Description
The small
massif
A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...
of the mountains is surrounded by two large ranges, northwest and northeast, the
Bull Valley and
Pine Valley Mountains. Bordering southwest is the smaller
Beaver Dam Mountains. Between the Beaver Dam and Bull Valley Mountains, are river courses, streams, or washes, and encircling the west and northwest foothills is the
Santa Clara River. It has multiple source streams, but the river arises off the southeast,
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...
-type flank of the Bull Valley Mountains, that lies northwest and north of the Red Mountains.
The southeast portion of the Red Mountains contains
Snow Canyon State Park
Snow Canyon State Park is a state park in Utah, located in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. The park features a canyon carved from the red and white Navajo sandstone of the Red Mountains, as well as the extinct Santa Clara Volcano, lava tubes, ...
, which extends south and southeast beyond the mountains. The park is also about 7-mi in length.
[
The small Red Mountains are nearly circular except on its southeast where Snow Canyon and West Canyon merge into Snow Canyon.
The highpoint of the range is unnamed, but is about .][
]
Access
The Red Mountains are surrounded by communities and roadways.
The west and northwest of the range is bordered by the Santa Clara River. Gunlock Road follows the river and the mountain foothills from Veyo at the north, through Gunlock on the northwest flank, and south to the west of Shivwits. From Shivwits at the south foothills of the Red Mountains, Highway 91, (former U.S. 91), leaves Ivins at the mountain's south foothills and connects to Utah State Route 18
State Route 18 (SR-18) is a state highway in southern Utah, running for in Washington County, Utah, Washington and Iron County, Utah, Iron Counties from Saint George, Utah, St. George to Beryl Junction, Utah, Beryl Junction. It forms part of ...
at St. George, Utah
St. George or Saint George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George metropolitan statistical area (MSA). The cit ...
, about 5-mi from Ivins.[
Utah Route 18 follows the entire east side of the mountains. At the range's southeast, a route exits to ]Snow Canyon State Park
Snow Canyon State Park is a state park in Utah, located in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. The park features a canyon carved from the red and white Navajo sandstone of the Red Mountains, as well as the extinct Santa Clara Volcano, lava tubes, ...
; east and northeast, Utah 18 traverses Diamond Valley, with unimproved access routes to the northeast and north of the Red Mountains; also unimproved routes exit northeasterly to the southwest flank region of the Pine Valley Mountains.[
]
See also
* List of mountain ranges of Utah
The named mountain ranges of Utah.
Alphabetical
* Abajo Mountains
* Antelope Range (Iron County, Utah)
* Antelope Range (Juab County, Utah)
* Antelope Range (Sevier County, Utah)
* Aquarius Plateau, (''* Boulder Mountain'')
* Bear River M ...
References
External links
Red Mountains, at lat-long.com (coordinates)
Mountain ranges of Washington County, Utah
Mountain ranges of Utah
{{Utah-geo-stub