El Dorado Mountains
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
El Dorado Mountains | |
Range | |
Country | United States |
---|---|
State | Arizona |
Highest point | Iretaba Peak |
- elevation | 5,060 ft (1,542 m) |
The El Dorado Mountains is a north-south trending mountain range in southeast Nevada bordering the left bank of the south-flowing Colorado River. The range is on the western border of the Black Canyon of the Colorado and El Dorado Canyon on the river. The range is 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada.
The name El Dorado is taken from the name of a legendary gold mine, and the ghost town-mining location of Nelson in Nelson Canyon, transects the central portion of the range. The Nelson Overlook is a viewing point over the Colorado River's El Doroado Canyon.
The mountain range contains the El Dorado Wilderness of 31,950 acres in the north, where the southwest of the wilderness area is in the El Dorado Mountains. In the south, Iretaba Peaks Wilderness of 32,745 acres is composed of the Iretaba Ridge at 5000 feet, that overlooks to the east, the northern portions of Lake Mohave and the El Dorado Canyon. The high point of the El Dorado Mountains is Iretaba Peak at 5,060 feet (1,542 m), which is named for the Mohave Indian guide Iretaba.
Some communities associated with the range, are in the south, Searchlight on US 95 and Cottonwood Cove, on the river. Nelson is in the center of the range, and the nearest community north is Boulder City.