Buffington Pockets

Services, Getting There

Supplies: Vegas is 20 miles to the SW

Hikes & Trails

Related Areas

Map Information

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BuffingtonPockets_kkuznicki_4387.jpgWilderness Area Status

Lands with Wilderness Characteristics

Year Designated: 
                                                            
Act or Law: 
Acres: 34738 
State Region: Southern Nevada

County Regions: Clark   

Management

Managing Agency: Bureau of Land Management
Local District: Las Vegas Field Office
Contact Info: (702) 515-5000
4701 N Torrey Pines Drive  Las Vegas, NV89130
Visit the website (will open a new window)

Area Description

The Muddy Mountains section on the west and north sides of this unit towers to an extremely rugged, knife-edge ridge climbing to more than 1,000 feet over the surrounding steep canyons and washes.  The Longwell Ridge Complex, on the east side of the unit, soars to prominences more than 2,000 feet above the surrounding alluvial plains.  The majority of the unit is characterized by rugged and convoluted landscape offering multiple outstanding opportunities for wilderness users to lose themselves in solitude.  The unit most definitely has topographic relief.

The expansive alluvial outwash plain of the south-central part of the unit offers thousands of acres of natural landscape where visitors can find outstanding opportunities for solitude in this immense space combined with unlimited, 360 degree vistas. 

Recreation
 Hiking, hunting, sightseeing, rock hounding, nature studies, geological sightseeing, orienteering, archaeological sightseeing, outstanding landscape and nature photography, rock scrambling, peak bagging, night sky viewing, burro packing, horseback riding, archeological study, backpacking, journaling, sketching, and painting opportunities of this area are all truly outstanding and all these opportunities are available year around. The degree of challenge and risk of these recreational activities vary with the season of use.  The fact that all of these primitive and unconfined recreational activities are available within a nearly 35,000 acre roadless area where visitors will not be disturbed by motorized vehicles, truly makes these opportunities outstanding.

Flora
The landscape here displays a thriving Mojave Desert habitat of creosote bush, black brush, yucca, Joshua trees and desert willow.

FaunaBuffingtonPockets_kkuznicki_7581.jpg

Geology
About 300 million years ago, the towering mountains of this area lay as flat depositional layers at the bottom the bottom of the sea. Today, this sea floor comprises the limestone peaks that create the rugged and convolute skyline of the area, while scattered fossilized sand dunes add surprising canyons and domes, intricately carved and painted in shades of red, orange and yellow.

To see more photos and explore this Unit on Google Earth, visit Panoramio (will open a new window)