Uinta Mountains
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Image:Kings Peak with Henry's Fork Basin.jpg
The Uinta Mountains are a high chain of mountains in northeastern Utah in the United States. A subrange of the Rocky Mountains, they are unusual for running east to west, approximately 100 mi (160 km) east of Salt Lake City. The peaks range in height from 12,000-13,500 ft (3,700-4,100 m), with the highest being Kings Peak at 13,528 ft (4,124 m), the highest point in Utah.
Formed by the Uinta Mountains uplift and consisting primarily of quartzite and slate, many of the peaks are ringed with bands of cliffs, rising to broad or flat tops. In between the summits and ridgelines are wide level basins, with some 500 small lakes.
The south and east sides of the range are largely within the Colorado River watershed. The Green River, the principal tributary of the Colorado, flows in a tight arc around the eastern side of the range. The Bear River, the largest tributary of the Great Salt Lake, rises on the northern side of the range. Large portions of the mountain range receive over 500 in (1,250 cm) of snow and 60 in (150 cm) of precipitation annually. The high Uintas are snowcapped year-round except for late July through early September.
Nearly the entire range lies within Wasatch-Cache National Forest (on the north and west) and Ashley National Forest (on the south and east). The highest peaks of the range are protected as part of the High Uintas Wilderness.
References
- Mel Davis, High Uinta Trails (Salt Lake City: Wasatch Publishers, 1974)
| Image:Flag of Utah.svg |
State of Utah | Image:UTmap.GIF |
|---|---|---|
| State Capital: | ||
| Regions: |
Cache Valley | Dixie | Great Salt Lake | Great Salt Lake Desert | Uinta Mountains | Wasatch Back | Wasatch Front | Wasatch Range | |
| Metropolitan Areas
(with constituent cities): |
Ogden-Clearfield - Bountiful | Kaysville | Layton | Roy Provo-Orem - American Fork | Lehi | Pleasant Grove | Spanish Fork | Springville Salt Lake City - Cottonwood Heights | Draper | Holladay | Midvale | Murray | Park City | Riverton | Sandy | South Jordan | Taylorsville | Tooele | West Jordan | West Valley City | |
| Micropolitan Areas: |
Brigham City | Cedar City | Heber | Price | Vernal | |
| Counties: |
Beaver | Box Elder | Cache | Carbon | Daggett | Davis | Duchesne | Emery | Garfield | Grand | Iron | Juab | Kane | Millard | Morgan | Piute | Rich | Salt Lake | San Juan | Sanpete | Sevier | Summit | Tooele | Uintah | Utah | Wasatch | Washington | Wayne | Weber | |
