The Pilot Range is a mountain range straddling the border of

Box Elder County Box Elder County is a county at the northwestern corner of Utah, United States. As of 2018, the estimated population is 54,950. Its county seat and largest city is Brigham City. The county was named for the box elder trees that abound in the co ...

, Utah and

Elko County Elko County is a county in the northeastern corner of Nevada, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,702. Its county seat is Elko. The county was established on March 5, 1869, from Lander County. Elko County is the fourth ...

, Nevada, United States. Lying 50 miles west of the

Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particula ...

, the range forms part of the north-west border of the Great Salt Lake Desert. The range reaches a maximum elevation of 10,716 feet at the summit of Pilot Peak. Most of the range is public

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

land and thus has no access restrictions. Its principal uses are mining, livestock grazing, and seasonal

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

and deer hunting.

Description

The Pilot Range begins about north of the community of

West Wendover West Wendover is a small city in Elko County, Nevada, United States. The population was 4,410 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Elko micropolitan area. West Wendover is located on the eastern border of Nevada and the western edge of the Gr ...

, and continues north-northeastwards for approximately . The abandoned railroad town of

Lucin, Utah Lucin (also known as Umbria Junction) is an small railroad community in Box Elder County, Utah, United States, located along the western side of the Great Salt Lake, northwest of Salt Lake City. Abandoned in the 1930s by original occupants, the c ...

lay two miles north-east. The range runs SSW to NNE, with various

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

s spurring east and west off a prominent ridgeline. It covers an area of about . Elevation varies from a base of feet to ] to 10,716 foot (3,266 m) Pilot Peak.Nevada Atlas & Gazetteer, p. 14-15. Other significant Summit (topography), summits in the range are Copper Mountain, Bald Eagle Mountain, and Rhyolite Butte. To the east of the range lie Pilot Valley Playa and its springs; beyond that the

Silver Island Mountains Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical co ...

, and the north section of Pilot Creek Valley to the west. Several fresh and salty springs flow from the base of the alluvial fans at the base of the range. The largest is Bettridge Creek, a habitat for the threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout. Vegetation varies from Engelmann Spruce and Limber Pine in the highest elevations, pinyon pine, mountain mahogany, and

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

in the middle elevations, sagebrush and grass in the south-face slopes and ridge-tops, and

rabbitbrush Rabbitbrush is a common name for shrubs, principally of the western United States, in three related genera of the family Asteraceae: * '' Chrysothamnus'' — about seven species in the United States, including Greene's rabbitbrush * ''Ericame ...

, grass, and

greasewood Greasewood is a common name shared by several plants: * ''Adenostoma fasciculatum'' is a plant with white flowers that is native to Oregon, Nevada, California, and northern Baja California. This shrub is one of the most widespread plants of the ...

in the lower elevations. The Pilot Range cinquefoil (''Potentilla cottamii'') is a rare species of plant which can be found in the Pilot Range and a few other ranges nearby.''Potentilla cottamii''.
The Nature Conservancy.

References

External links

* {{commons category-inline, Pilot Range Mountain ranges of Utah Mountain ranges of Nevada Great Salt Lake Desert Mountain ranges of Elko County, Nevada Mountain ranges of Box Elder County, Utah