The Pinto Mountains are found in southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, USA, at the north-central part of

Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is an American national park in southeastern California, east of San Bernardino and Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs. It is named after the Joshua trees (''Yucca brevifolia'') native to the Mojave Desert. Origin ...

. The range reaches an elevation of southeast of the city of Twentynine Palms. The range is made up of dark

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

, and the

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of nearby plants. In S ...

is the dominant plant in the area.

Wilderness

Established in 2009 by the U.S. Congress, the Pinto Mountains Wilderness protects the rugged mountain range to the north of Joshua Tree National Park. The 24,348 acre desert

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

is managed by the U.S.

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 ...

as part of the

National Wilderness Preservation System The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the Na ...

References

External links

Pinto Mountains Wilderness
- BLM Mountain ranges of Southern California Mountain ranges of Riverside County, California Joshua Tree National Park Wilderness areas of California {{RiversideCountyCA-geo-stub