The Toiyabe Range is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in Lander and Nye counties,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, United States. Most of the range is included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The highest point in the range, near its southern end, is Arc Dome (11,788 feet, 3592 m), an area protected as the Arc Dome Wilderness. The highest point in Lander County, Bunker Hill, is also located within the Toiyabe Range. The range starts in northwestern Nye County north of

Tonopah, Nevada Tonopah ( , Shoshoni language: Tonampaa) is an unincorporated town in, and the county seat of, Nye County, Nevada, United States. It is located at the junction of U.S. Routes 6 and 95, approximately midway between Las Vegas and Reno. In the 2 ...

and runs approximately 120 miles (190 km) north-northeast into southern Lander County, making it the second longest range in the state.

Geography

Although the Toiyabe Range is in the rain shadow of the higher

Sierra Nevada (U.S.) The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

range to the west and is too arid to support forests except for scattered pines, the climate was cold and snowy enough during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

to develop alpine

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

s in several places, with

cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

s, and other glacial features still apparent. There are numerous hiking routes in the Toiyabes, including one along the crest. The Toiyabe Range is separated from the

Shoshone Mountains The Shoshone Mountains, in west central Nevada, make up one of the longest mountain ranges in the state. The range runs in a general north-south direction in Nye and Lander counties. The range has a length of about and a width of about with ...

to the west by the Reese River Valley, although they intermingle at their southern extremes. On the east the Toiyabe Range is separated from the

Toquima Range The Toquima Range is a mountain range, located primarily in Nye County with a small extension into Lander County, in Nevada, United States. Most of the range is included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The range reaches a maximu ...

by the

Big Smoky Valley The Big Smoky Valley is a landform of the Tonopah Basin between the Toiyabe and Toquima mountain ranges. It is about 100 miles (160 km) in length. Big Smoky Valley was so named on account of haze which frequently settles there. It is known ...

. The historic mining community of

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

is located on the western slope of the Toiyabe Range, about midway along its length.

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...

, the "Loneliest Highway in America", runs through Austin and then crosses the range at Austin Summit at an elevation of 7,484 feet (2,281 m).

U.S. Route 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to P ...

passes to the south of the range between Tonopah and

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formal ...

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

The Toiyabe Range is in the Austin Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

Toiyabe Crest Trail

The National Recreation Toiyabe Crest Trail runs through the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in the Toiyabe Range, consisting of over of trail atop the ridge, of which travel through the Arc Dome Wilderness. The Army Corps of Engineers constructed the trail and its many "feeder" trails in the 1930s. It travels through one of the longest roadless areas in the state,Nevada Backcountry
/ref> and sits atop the longest mountain range in Nevada at over long. It is the longest continuous maintained trail in Nevada.

Trailheads

Its northern terminus, with an elevation of approximately , is the trailhead on Kingston Creek Road and its southern terminus, with an elevation of approximately is the trailhead on Twin River Road (

Forest route Forest Highways or Forest Routes are a category of roads within United States National Forests. They are built to connect the national forests to the existing state highway systems, and to provide improved access to recreational and logging area ...

080); both of which are roads off SR 376.

References

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of the Great Basin Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest Mountain ranges of Nye County, Nevada Mountain ranges of Lander County, Nevada Mountain ranges of Nevada Protected areas of the Great Basin