Bristol Mountains
Mountain range in California
title: "Bristol Mountains" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["protected-areas-of-the-mojave-desert", "protected-areas-of-san-bernardino-county,-california", "mountain-ranges-of-southern-california", "mountain-ranges-of-the-mojave-desert", "mountain-ranges-of-san-bernardino-county,-california", "bureau-of-land-management-areas-in-california"] description: "Mountain range in California" topic_path: "general/protected-areas-of-the-mojave-desert" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Mountains" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Mountain range in California ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Bristol Mountains |
| photo | Bristol_mountains.jpg |
| photo_caption | Southeast end of Bristol Mountains as seen from Amboy Crater. The town of Amboy can be seen on the right side of the image |
| country | United States |
| state | California |
| region | Mojave Desert |
| district | San Bernardino County |
| topo_map | East of Broadwell Lake |
| topo_maker | USGS |
| range_coordinates | |
| elevation_m | 1030 |
| length_mi | |
| width_mi | |
| map | California |
| map_relief | yes |
| map_size | 220 |
| map_caption | Location of the Bristol Mountains in California |
| :: |
| name = Bristol Mountains | native_name = | other_name = | etymology = | photo = Bristol_mountains.jpg | photo_caption = Southeast end of Bristol Mountains as seen from Amboy Crater. The town of Amboy can be seen on the right side of the image | country = United States | state = California | region = Mojave Desert | district = San Bernardino County | topo_map = East of Broadwell Lake | topo_maker = USGS | border = | range_coordinates = | highest = | elevation_m = 1030 | coordinates = | length_mi = | length_orientation = | width_mi = | width_orientation = | area_mi2 = | geology = | orogeny = | period = | map = California | map_relief = yes | map_size = 220 | map_caption = Location of the Bristol Mountains in California The Bristol Mountains are found in the Mojave Desert of California, USA, just west of Mojave National Preserve. The range, which reaches an elevation of 3,874 feet (1,181 m), is located in San Bernardino County, and crosses Interstate 40 between Ludlow and the Granite Mountains. At the southern end of the range lies the town of Amboy, the Amboy Crater, and Bristol Dry Lake.
Bristol Mountains Wilderness Area
Most of the Bristol Mountains is in a Federally designated Wilderness and lies within either the Bristol Mountains Wilderness Area or the Kelso Dunes Wilderness Area.
The remainder of the range is designated for Wilderness status in the proposed California Desert Protection Act of 2010.
Project Carryall, proposed in 1963 by the Atomic Energy Commission, the California Division of Highways (now called Caltrans), and the Santa Fe Railway, would have used 22 nuclear explosions to excavate a massive roadcut through the Bristol Mountains, to accommodate construction of Interstate 40 and a new rail line. The project was part of Operation Plowshare.
References
- Official Bristol Mountains Wilderness Area website
- Official Kelso Dunes Wilderness Area website
- BLM Bristol Mountains Wilderness Area Map
- Bristol Mountains Wilderness photographs
- BLM Kelso Dunes Wilderness Area Map
- Kelso Dunes Wilderness photographs
Notes
References
- {{cite gnis
- http://www.blm.gov/ca/pa/wilderness/wa/areas/bristol_mountains.html {{Webarchive. link. (2010-09-13 . accessed 6/20/2010)
- "Kelso Dunes Wilderness".
- "United States Senator for California".
- "United States Senator for California".
- (2011-09-01). "The Off-Site Plowshare and Vela Uniform Programs: Assessing Potential Environmental Liabilities through an Examination of Proposed Nuclear Projects, High Explosive Experiments, and High Explosive Construction Activities".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::