Raft River Mountains

The Raft River Mountains are a mountain range in northern Box Elder County, Utah, United States.[1][2] The mountains are located in the Raft River Division of the Minidoka Ranger District of the Sawtooth National Forest. The highest point is Bull Mountain, near the Dunn Benchmark, at 9,925 ft (3,025 m), and the ghost town of Yost is on the north-central slopes.[3][4][5] Tributaries of the Raft River drain the northern slopes of the range to the Snake River then Columbia River and Pacific Ocean, while the southern slopes drain to the Great Salt Lake.

Raft River Mountains
A photo of the Raft River Mountains viewed from the southeast
Raft River Mountains from the southeast
Highest point
PeakBull Mountain
Elevation9,925 ft (3,025 m)
Coordinates41°54′42″N 113°21′55″W
Dimensions
Length40 mi (64 km) E/W
Width35 mi (56 km) N/S
Area765 sq mi (1,980 km2)
Geography
CountryUnited States
StateUtah
Parent rangeBasin and Range Province

Geography

Located in the Sawtooth National Forest,[6] the range's montane forest ecoregion is "surrounded by montane steppes and desert".[7] The range is oriented in an east–west orientation, and is a portion of the Great Basin Divide and the Basin and Range Province between the Bonneville Basin of the Great Basin (south).[7]

The Raft River Mountains are the southeast edge of the Columbia Basin (green) in the small northwest Utah portion of the Great Basin Divide. The Great Basin side (tan) of the range is in the Northern Great Salt Lake Desert Watershed (formerly of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville).

Geology

The central mass of the range consists of Precambrian metamorphic rocks.[8] The Elba Quartzite with interlayered schist outcrops along the southern slopes of the range and in the Grouse Creek Mountains to the southwest. Cambrian quartzite outcrops in the west part of the range and in the Grouse Creek range and the Goose Creek Mountains to the west. The thinly bedded quartzites have been quarried for building stone in the area.[9]

Flora and fauna

The range's plants and animals include pines and rodents of the Northern Basin & Range ecoregion of the Columbia Plateau.[7]

Camping and activities

The range's Bull Flat trail leads to Bull Flat, Bull Lake, and Bull Mountain, and passes former mines (the trailhead is near a campground).[10]

Peaks
An old Forest Service Cabin in the Raft River Mountains
Road along a snowbank in the Raft River Mountains
The peaks of the Raft River Mountains[11]
Mountain Peak Elevation Prominence Isolation Location
Bull Mountain 9,925 ft
3025 m		3,725 ft
1135 m		24.3 mi
39.2 km		 41.9117°N 113.3654°W / 41.9117; -113.3654 (Bull Mountain)
George Peak 9,601 ft
2926 m		581 ft
177 m		6.21 mi
9.99 km		 41.8893°N 113.4831°W / 41.8893; -113.4831 (George Peak)
Peak 9,335 9,335 ft
2845 m		515 ft
157 m		3.14 mi
5.05 km		 41.9296°N 113.4211°W / 41.9296; -113.4211 (Peak 9.335)
Peak 8,402 8,402 ft
2561 m		582 ft
177 m		2.03 mi
3.27 km		 41.9143°N 113.5039°W / 41.9143; -113.5039 (Peak 8,402)
Mahagony Peaks 8,340 ft
2542 m		480 ft
146 m		4.93 mi
7.93 km		 41.8809°N 113.5884°W / 41.8809; -113.5884 (Mahagony Peaks)
Peak 8,220 East 8,220 ft
2505 m		320 ft
98 m		2.8 mi
4.51 km		 41.8649°N 113.5384°W / 41.8649; -113.5384 (Peak 8,220 East)
Peak 8,220 West 8,220 ft
2505 m		320 ft
98 m		1.85 mi
2.98 km		 41.8621°N 113.5628°W / 41.8621; -113.5628 (Peak 8,220 West)
Peak 8,140 8,140 ft
2481 m		738 ft
225 m		2.45 mi
3.94 km		 41.8724°N 113.6357°W / 41.8724; -113.6357 (Peak 8,140)
Bally Mountains High Point 8,060 ft
2457 m		671 ft
205 m		3.59 mi
5.78 km		 41.9638°N 113.4737°W / 41.9638; -113.4737 (Bally Mountains High Point)
Peak 7,980 7,980 ft
2432 m		440 ft
134 m		6.32 mi
10.17 km		 41.8976°N 113.2443°W / 41.8976; -113.2443 (Peak 7,980)
Peak 7,875 7,875 ft
2400 m		336 ft
102 m		2.94 mi
4.73 km		 41.8694°N 113.3515°W / 41.8694; -113.3515 (Peak 7,875)
Crystal Peak 7,780 ft
2371 m		354 ft
108 m		1.69 mi
2.72 km		 41.9188°N 113.2278°W / 41.9188; -113.2278 (Crystal Peak)
Bald Knoll 7,484 ft
2281 m		474 ft
144 m		2.84 mi
4.57 km		 41.8643°N 113.2766°W / 41.8643; -113.2766 (Bald Knoll)
Black Hills High Point 7,100 ft
2164 m		400 ft
122 m		2.07 mi
3.33 km		 41.8337°N 113.5503°W / 41.8337; -113.5503 (Black Hills High Point)

References
  1. "Raft River Mountains". PeakBagger. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  2. "Raft River Mountains". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  3. "Sawtooth National Forest - Raft River Division". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  4. U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Sawtooth National Forest". Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  5. Summitpost.org. "Bull Mtn (UT)". Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  6. Mohlenbrock, Robert (2006). This land: a guide to western national forests. Los Angeles: University of California Press. pp. 196. ISBN 0-520-23967-9.
  7. Houseman, R; Baumann, R (31 July 1997). "Zoogeographic affinities of the stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Raft River Mountains, Utah". Western North American Naturalist (The Great Basin Naturalist). 57 (3): 209–219. JSTOR 41713003.
  8. 2448, RAFT RIVER MOUNTAINS FAULT, Utah Geological Survey
  9. Bryce T. Tripp, The Quartzite Building Stone Industry of the Raft River and Grouse Creek, Special Study 84, Utah Geological Survey, 1994
  10. Steadman, Jeffery (2007). The Best in Tent Camping: Utah. Birmingham, AL: Menasha Ridge Press. pp. 92–94. ISBN 978-0-89732-647-6.
  11. Staff. "Box Elder County Summits". Lists of John. Retrieved 29 May 2012.

References

Media related to Raft River Mountains at Wikimedia Commons

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