slgwv's photos with the keyword: Spring Mountains

Lovell Canyon is the prominent drainage coming up to this point. Some of the highest reddish sandstone peaks in Redrock are visible to the left of center. The Las Vegas Valley lies beyond.

The prominent cliffy outcrop on the skyline in the center. Called "the turtle" by early settlers.

Charleston Peak is the prominent bald summit on the skyline to the left.

Griffith Peak is above to the left; Harris Mountain to the right.

From Max Canyon Road off Lee Canyon, in the Spring Mountains southwest of Las Vegas. When I was a small child in the late 1950s we would watch the above-ground nuclear tests from near here. At the time it was a popular activity among Las Vegas residents! There were always a number of other parties also out to see the test. Of course, you can't watch the actual detonation without heavy-duty eye protection--my kid sister and I would have to hide our faces under a blanket--but you certainly can watch the fireball afterward. I still have a small child's memory of mushroom clouds out in the desert. My mom would watch the detonation through welders' goggles my dad had borrowed from the AEC. (My dad typically was at the Test Site for the test.) She says that at the moment of detonation, the inside of those goggles would go completely white--and then immediately go dark again. But, when you took the goggles off it would still be as bright as day as the fireball rose off the desert floor. Just a few photons released at that instant of detonation ... :)

Looking south. Top photo is from the Chester R. Longwell collection (#311-0116) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and was taken ca. 1925. The lower photo is by me, 10 June 2011. Wheeler Pass is the prominent notch to the left of Mt. Wheeler, the peak in the middle. This is only a mile or so beyond Indian Springs, to the north on US-95, but here there are very few changes. The only new cultural feature is the barbed-wire fence! The exact position of the original photo is probably covered by the modern highway. Note that this is NOT the Mt. Wheeler in Great Basin National Park, although it's named after the same explorer.

From Indian Springs looking south. Top photo is from the Chester R. Longwell collection (#311-0117) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and was taken ca. 1925. The lower photo is by me, 10 June 2011. Mt. Wheeler is the skylined peak to the left of center. There has been some development in the intervening 85 years, although this part of Indian Springs seems abandoned. Perhaps it was base housing back around WWII. There's a big air force base behind me (Creech) which is still very active--you can often see Predators flying there--and which dates back to WWII. Note that this is NOT the Mt. Wheeler in Great Basin National Park, although it's named after the same explorer.

Looking west toward Charleston Peak (skylined on the right). The upper photo is from the Chester R. Longwell collection (#311-0035) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and was taken ca. 1925. I took the lower photo on 15 June 2011. The most striking change is that the trees are taller! The Lee Canyon highway is also barely visible to the left of center in the modern photo (outlined). And, of course, there are no animals grazing right now, but I'm sure that you can still see them sometimes. ;)

A deep canyon with overhangs just off Nevada SR 158, in Nevada's Spring Mountains.

Aka Mt. Charleston. Highest point in the Spring Mountains, Nevada, which lie west of Las Vegas. Now the centerpiece of the Mt. Charleston Wilderness, which is within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

Pahrump Valley in the distance.