Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness, Protected wilderness area in northwestern Arizona, United States.
The Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness is a federally protected wilderness area in northwestern Arizona, near the borders with Utah and Nevada. The terrain consists of rocky ridges, deep canyons, and dry valleys that belong to the Mojave Desert region.
The area was designated as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1984. The goal was to keep this remote mountain landscape free from development or industrial use.
The name Beaver Dam comes from the beaver dams once built by animals in the Virgin River nearby. The Mojave Desert landscape holds many Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia), and desert bighorn sheep, the threatened desert tortoise and large numbers of raptors live here. The Paiute Wilderness lies south of Beaver Dam, across the Interstate 15 corridor.
Access to the area is off Interstate 15 at Exit 18, where marked trails lead into the wilderness. Visiting during cooler months is a good idea, as summer temperatures in this desert setting can be very high.
The wilderness holds some of Utah's lowest ground: a 13-mile (21 km) stretch of the Virgin River Gorge, where Interstate 15 runs through the canyon. The area covers 18,667 acres, about 15,000 in Arizona and 3,667 in Utah, and was designated Wilderness by Congress in 1984.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,426 contributors worldwide.
