Warm Springs Wilderness

{{Short description|Protected area in Mohave County, Arizona}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox protected area

| name = Warm Springs Wilderness

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| iucn_category = Ib

| photo = ROUTE 66 Sitgreaves Pass.jpg

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| photo_caption = Sitgreaves Pass

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| location = Mohave County, Arizona

| nearest_city = Oatman, AZYucca, AZ
(Kingman, Bullhead City, Needles, CA)

| coordinates = {{coord|34|53.80|N|114|18.48|W|display=inline, title}}

| area = {{convert|112400|acre|ha|adj=on}}

| established = 1990

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The {{convert|112400|acre|ha|adj=on}}[http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/blm_special_areas/wildareas/warmsprings.html Warm Springs Wilderness Area, blm.gov] Warm Springs Wilderness makes up the entirety of the Black Mesa (western Arizona) and parts of the surrounding foothills, washes, alluvial fans, and valleys. The Black Mesa is the southernmost section of the Black Mountains of western Mohave County, in northwest Arizona. The region is in the east and southeast of the Mojave Desert of Arizona, southern Nevada, and California.

The wilderness is {{convert|30|mi}} southwest of Kingman, Arizona and {{convert|10|mi|abbr=on}} east of Mohave Valley, Arizona and Needles, California. Oatman, AZ lies on its northwest perimeter, adjacent to the Boundary Cone landmark; Yucca, AZ is on its east in the south-central Sacramento Valley on Interstate 40 in Arizona which traverses due-south from Kingman, then turns due west of the Black Mesa and Warm Springs Wilderness perimeter to meet Needles, California, on the Colorado River.

The wilderness is one of the many wilderness areas located in the Lower Colorado River Valley. The Mount Nutt Wilderness is adjacent north across Sitgreaves Pass, just east of Oatman.

Description

The wilderness covers the 10 mi long mesa,Warm Springs Wilderness, blm.gov the stretch of the southern Black Mountains, about {{convert|3600|ft|m|0}} in elevation,Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme, c 2002. Peaks (unnamed): 3789, 3632, 3346 ft. and the mesa is bisected by a central southwest-flowing wash, a tributary of the Sacramento Wash, that flows into Topock Marsh at the Colorado River.

The wilderness has volcanic plugs to the north in the Mount Nutt Wilderness. One example offset on the Warm Springs border northwest, {{convert|4|mi|abbr=on}}4 mi south of Oatman, Arizona is Boundary Cone, a major landmark in Mohave Valley's northeast.

The various springs located on the mesa's perimeter are highest in water volume following wet winters, or periods of high summer monsoonal weather.

Flora and fauna

One of the major fauna elements is the Desert Bighorn Sheep.

See also

References

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