Another golf tournament, more interesting topography. Anyone who watched the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, a PGA tournament from Las Vegas, Nevada, this past weekend, could not help but notice the mountains rising in the distance.
This range, northwest of Las Vegas, is known as the Spring Mountains, among the most prominent geographic features of Southern Nevada. Aligned northwest to southeast, this fault-block range tops out at Charleston Peak, elevation 11,918 feet. Known for its biologic diversity, the range harbors the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
Of particular interest to geography buffs, such as myself, the Spring Mountains, named for the numerous springs in the range, rise along the topographic margin of the Great Basin. Streams on the west side of the range flow into the Mojave Desert of the Great Basin while those that drain its eastern flank are part of the Colorado River watershed.
