LOWER CARPENTER CANYON

We head south from Pahrump until we get to the Carpenter Canyon road, which goes east into the Spring Range, the mountain range that divides the Las Vegas Valley from the Pahrump Valley.  The Spring Range's highest point is Mount Charleston, which is not quite 12,000 feet above mean sea level.

There are many of us in many 4-wheel drive vehicles, each one is holding from 2 to 5 persons.  We go slow to avoid kicking up too much dust.

The vegetation here is creosote bush and dried grass, mainly.  We are at about 2,400 feet above mean sea level as we start up.  Mount Charleston dominates the range, with its one 'little' patch of snow:

Getting past the hill in the above photo, the vegetation begins to change to include Yuccas and Joshua Trees (a variety of Yucca brevifolia).  It doesn't take much elevation gain to get into a wetter environment, though this is still desert and quite harsh, requiring plants and animals to be specialized in order to survive.  It is still Spring, as these flowers at about 4,000 feet suggest.

Next change in elevation, maybe close to 5,000 feet, introduces Pinyon pine and Utah Juniper trees into the mix.  There is a general greening of the landscape:

Soon these trees dominate, and we are now well above 5,000 feet.

As we get closer to the main mountain range, we see that there is actually a mountain in front of Mount Charleston blocking some of our former view:

Of course we did not just look forward and upward, we also glanced back and down towards Pahrump and saw scenes such as this one, with the mountains surrounding Death Valley in the very faint far distance:

From that same spot, turning around and facing the mountain offered this view:

But it is time to move up into the central portion of the canyon, and that is best done on the next page.  Go to your next page by selecting from the menu below:

1.    Carpenter Canyon, lower portion (This page)

2.    Carpenter Canyon, middle portion

3.    Carpenter Canyon, upper portion

4.    Devils Hole

5.    Ash Meadows, Crystal Springs and Lakes

6.    Ash Meadows, Point of Rocks

7.    Stewart Valley and back to Pahrump Valley


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