Newfoundland Mountains Explained

Newfoundland Mountains
Photo Size:265px
Subdivision1:Utah
Subdivision2 Type:Regions
Subdivision3 Type:County
Settlement Type:Communities
Range Coordinates:41.1861°N -113.3678°W
Length Mi:20
Length Orientation:N-S
Width Mi:3
Width Orientation:(5-mi wide, NE section, (Desert Peak at south))
Highest:Desert Peak
Highest Location:(central-north)-Newfoundland Mountains
Elevation Ft:7005
Coordinates:41.1861°N -113.3678°W
Map:Utah
Map Size:220

The Newfoundland Mountains are a 20miles long[1] mountain range located in southern Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The range is the only 'island' mountain range encircled by the Great Salt Lake Desert salt flat. Other ranges protrude into the desert salt flat, the Silver Island and Dugway Ranges being the premiere examples. Other individual mountains also arise as 'island' peaks, or mountains in the salt flat desert itself, most notably Granite Mountain in the south desert, and Wildcat Mountain to its north. Granite Mountain lies at the north of the Dugway Range.

Description

The Newfoundland Mountains are crescent-shaped, mostly only 3miles wide, and its closest neighboring landform across the salt flats, is 6miles northeast from the northeast range terminus, the Hogup Mountains. The northeast end of the range is a wider section, with the range's highest peak southerly (at the north section). The range is made of one ridgeline, and gets progressively lower in elevation, especially at the very south. The highpoint of the range is Desert Peak, 7005feet.[2] The southern tip of the range lies on the north perimeter of the Utah Test and Training Range. Only one major peak is named in the range, Desert Peak (not to be confused with Deseret Peak or the Desert Peak Formation).

Other ranges located on the perimeter of the Great Salt Lake Desert are: Pilot Range, Silver Island Range, Deep Creek Range, Fish Springs Range, Dugway Range, Cedar Mountains, Grassy Mountains, Lakeside Mountains, Hogup Mountains, and Grouse Creek Mountains; some other, much shorter series of hills/'mountains' exist on the desert's perimeter, and include a group on an alluvial fan region south of the Grouse Creek Mountains, the closest to the Newfoundland range.

Access

The closest access to the range is to the north from the Hogup Mountains. The Union Pacific rail route across the central-north of the Great Salt Lake Desert lies about 2miles north of the range; an unimproved road parallels the route. From the east, at Lakeside, and Hogup, 10miles east of the range, and at the south of the Hogup Mountains, the north of the range can be accessed.

From the west from Lucin, the unimproved route along the Union Pacific Railroad rail is 32miles long.

An unimproved road encircles the Newfoundland Mountains foothills at the salt flat. The route is 40+ miles long. (The southern 2.5miles stretch of the range lies in the Utah Test and Training Range.)

External links

Notes and References

  1. Utah DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, pp. 14-15.
  2. Utah DeLorme Atlas, p. 15.