Mt. Hicks

Mt. Hicks is a 15,698-acre Inventoried Roadless Area on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Mineral County, Nevada, occupying the northern Bodie Mountains where the eastern Sierra escarpment grades into the Great Basin. The terrain is montane and structurally rugged: fault-block ridges rise from broad alkaline valleys, and the mountain itself climbs above 9,000 feet from sage and salt flats below. Water in this country is scarce and locally precious. The area sits in the Alkali Lake-Alkali Valley watershed (HUC12 180901010101), a closed Great Basin basin where drainages move inward rather than to the sea. Snowmelt and infrequent thunderstorms feed Five Mile Spring, gather in Burkham Tank, and run out across the playa of Alkali Lake, where evaporation rather than outflow ends the journey of every drop.

Vegetation is arranged in concentric bands following moisture and elevation. The lowest reaches are Intermountain Salt Desert Scrub and Intermountain Greasewood Flat, opening to Great Basin Big Sagebrush Shrubland and Great Basin Dry Sagebrush Shrubland dominated by big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa), and spiny hop-sage (Grayia spinosa). Mid-elevation slopes carry Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, with green Mormon-tea (Ephedra viridis), antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), and wax currant (Ribes cereum) under a sparse canopy. Higher, drier ridges support Intermountain Mountain Mahogany Woodland, and the highest exposed shoulders hold isolated stands of Great Basin Subalpine Bristlecone Pine Woodland and limber pine (Pinus flexilis). Where snowmelt seeps to the surface, narrow ribbons of Rocky Mountain Subalpine Streamside Woodland and Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest break the otherwise dry palette with western blue iris (Iris missouriensis) and woolly mule's-ears (Wyethia mollis).

Sagebrush structure organizes the wildlife community. Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), listed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List, depend on the continuous canopy of big sagebrush for nesting and winter forage, and sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) shares that same shrub layer. Pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) caches and disperses pine seed throughout the pinyon-juniper woodland, while Lewis's woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) and Cassin's finch (Haemorhous cazsinii) work the upper canopy. Broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) and rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) move through paintbrush and penstemon along the aspen seeps. Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) and mule deer cross the sagebrush flats below, hunted from above by northern harrier (Circus hudsonius). Western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) and common side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana) hold the warm rocks of the lower slopes, where western rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus) is the principal mid-sized predator. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A walk into Mt. Hicks begins on dirt two-tracks rising from Alkali Valley through greasewood and saltgrass, the air heavy with the resin of crushed sagebrush. The grade steepens into pinyon-juniper, where short shade alternates with sun-warmed obsidian underfoot. Higher still, mountain mahogany gives way to scattered bristlecone and limber pine on a wind-cut ridge with views east to the Excelsior Mountains and west across the California line toward the Bodie Hills.

Mt. Hicks rises above the Alkali Lake basin in what is today Mineral County, Nevada, a 15,698-acre Inventoried Roadless Area protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and managed by the Bridgeport Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

Long before the United States drew lines across the Great Basin, Numic-speaking peoples shaped the human history of this country. Mt. Hicks itself was a major prehistoric obsidian source, and Native American groups quarried black obsidian from deposits on the mountain for thousands of years, producing flakes, projectile points, and cutting implements traded across western North America [1]. Archaeological evidence indicates utilization from the Paleoarchaic period, roughly 7000–5000 BCE, onward [1]. Later Numic-speaking peoples, including the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone, continued to use the source [1]. The surrounding country is the traditional homeland of the Mono Lake Northern Paiute, whose affiliated communities include the Bridgeport Paiute Indian Colony [2]. To the north and east, the Agai Dicutta — the Walker River Paiute Tribe — held a homeland encompassing portions of Mineral, Lyon, and Churchill counties [3]. The federal government set aside land around Walker Lake "for Indian purposes" in 1859, and President Ulysses Grant formally established the Walker River Indian Reservation on March 19, 1874 [3].

Euro-American activity arrived with the silver rush. Gold-silver veins were discovered in the Aurora district, immediately east of Mt. Hicks, in 1860 [4]. The mountain itself takes its name from E. R. Hicks, who, with J. M. Corey and James M. Braley, identified rich deposits of gold and silver while on a hunting and prospecting trip near the present site of Aurora in August 1860 [5]. The boomtown of Aurora grew to a population of about 10,000 by 1864 [4]. Prospecting spread into the Bodie Hills around Mt. Hicks during the 1870s and 1880s, but the slopes yielded only small claims and shallow shafts; the mountain saw temporary camps rather than permanent settlement, and activity declined sharply by 1900 as nearby deposits were exhausted [5]. Mineral County was created in 1910 from what was formerly the north part of Esmeralda County, and recorded county gold production from 1910 through 1959 totaled 266,122 ounces [4].

Federal management followed close behind. The Toiyabe National Forest was established in 1907 [6]. The neighboring Humboldt National Forest was established in 1908, and the two units were administratively combined in 1957 to form the present Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest [6]. The name "Toiyabe" is a Shoshone word meaning "mountain," reflecting one of the many Native American groups who lived in this area for centuries [6]. The combined forest contains an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, including obsidian quarries, mining-era ruins, and emigrant trails [6]. Mt. Hicks today is administered by the USFS Intermountain Region within this larger system, its obsidian outcrops and abandoned prospects together preserving more than seven thousand years of human use.

The 15,698-acre Mt. Hicks Inventoried Roadless Area protects a structurally connected slice of Great Basin and montane habitat in the Bodie Mountains. Documented species of conservation concern include yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus, Threatened), greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus, Proposed Threatened with critical habitat, and IUCN Near Threatened), and monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus, Proposed Threatened).

Vital Resources Protected

• Unfragmented Sagebrush-Steppe and Sage-Grouse Habitat: The continuous canopy of Great Basin Big Sagebrush Shrubland, Great Basin Dry Sagebrush Shrubland, and Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe across the area supplies the unbroken cover that greater sage-grouse require for lekking, nesting, and winter forage. Roadless conditions hold these shrub communities in patches large enough to function as habitat rather than as fragments, sustaining shrub-obligate birds such as sage thrasher alongside grouse.

• Closed-Basin Headwater Integrity: Mt. Hicks sits at the head of the Alkali Lake-Alkali Valley closed basin, where Five Mile Spring, Burkham Tank, and the seasonal drainages feeding Alkali Lake are the only reliable surface water for miles. Because no surface outflow exists, sediment and any disturbance to recharge persist on site rather than flushing away, so the undisturbed channels, springs, and Rocky Mountain Subalpine and Great Basin Foothill Streamside Woodland strips that depend on them retain their hydrologic function in place.

• Elevational Gradient and Climate Refugia: The roadless area spans an unbroken transition from Intermountain Salt Desert Scrub and Intermountain Greasewood Flat through pinyon-juniper and Intermountain Mountain Mahogany Woodland to Great Basin Subalpine Bristlecone Pine Woodland near the ridgeline. This continuous gradient lets temperature- and moisture-sensitive species — limber pine, bristlecone, aspen — shift upslope as climate changes, a function lost once the gradient is bisected.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sagebrush Fragmentation and Cheatgrass Invasion: Road construction in big sagebrush and dry sagebrush shrublands cuts the continuous shrub canopy that sage-grouse need and creates disturbed soil corridors along the cut, fill, and shoulder. These corridors are the principal vector for invasive annual grasses such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), which carry fire more readily than native shrubs, raising fire frequency in a system whose dominant Artemisia species do not resprout after burning — once converted to annual grassland, sagebrush steppe rarely returns within a human lifetime.

• Disruption of Closed-Basin Hydrology and Springs: Cut slopes and culverts in mountainous terrain intercept shallow subsurface flow and concentrate runoff at point discharges, altering recharge to Five Mile Spring and the seasonal channels feeding Alkali Lake. Because this is a closed basin with no flushing outflow, fine sediment delivered from roadbeds accumulates in the spring outflows and streamside woodland strips, smothering the substrate that supports the area's only mesic vegetation.

• Fragmentation of the Elevational Gradient and Pinyon-Juniper Erosion: A road cut across the Bodie Mountains' flank severs the continuous transition from greasewood flat to bristlecone woodland, creating barriers to species movement and persistent edge effects in slow-growing pinyon-juniper and mountain mahogany stands. Pinyon-juniper recovers on the order of centuries rather than decades, and the chronic erosion from cut and fill slopes on steep montane terrain continues delivering sediment to drainages long after construction ends.

The Mt. Hicks Inventoried Roadless Area covers 15,698 acres of the Bodie Mountains on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Mineral County, Nevada. The area carries roughly 14 miles of native-surface trail and no developed trailheads or campgrounds. All use here is dispersed — there are no maintained restrooms, water, or staging areas, and access is by high-clearance backroad from the Alkali Valley side. The dominant landscape is sagebrush steppe and Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland rising to mountain mahogany and Great Basin Subalpine Bristlecone Pine Woodland on the upper slopes of Mount Hicks.

Trail Use and Backcountry Travel. The principal route through the area is the LONG VALLEY TRAIL (22205), a 7.2-mile native-material trail that climbs out of Alkali Valley and follows the long sagebrush bench beneath the Mount Hicks ridge. Shorter native-surface trails radiate from this corridor: the ALKALI LAKE TRAIL (22208, 1.9 miles), the ALKALI EAST TRAIL (22203, 1.0 mile), the ALKALI VALLEY TRAIL (22204, 0.6 mile), the NORTH LONG VALLEY (22206, 0.8 mile), the LOWER ALKALI LAKE (22207, 0.3 mile), the ALKALI LAKE CONNECTOR (22209, 0.2 mile), and the short ALKALI TRAIL (22202, 0.4 mile). The MT HICKS trail (22378, 0.5 mile) provides the final approach to the peak. The TRANSMISSION (22366, 0.9 mile), TRANSMISSION SPUR 1 (22367, 0.3 mile), and TRANSMISSION CONNECTOR (22368, 0.1 mile) connect to utility infrastructure along the area's edge. All trails are native material — there are no graded paths or bridged crossings — so hikers, horse packers, and hunters travel on the same tread the wagons and prospectors used a century ago.

Hunting. The area supports pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) on the open sagebrush flats and benches and offers hunting access through the network of native trails. Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are present in the unfragmented Great Basin Big Sagebrush Shrubland and Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe but are protected; hunters in the area should consult current Nevada Department of Wildlife regulations and seasons for all species. Western rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus) is common on warm rocky slopes during summer months.

Birding. The Bodie Hills landscape that surrounds Mt. Hicks is documented as a high-value birding area. The Fletcher Spring eBird hotspot in Mineral County records 130 species across 107 checklists, Bodie SHP records 123 species across 555 checklists, and the Bodie Hills hotspot records 84 species across 50 checklists — all within 24 km of the roadless area. Within Mt. Hicks itself, observers can expect sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) and sage-grouse in the sagebrush canopy, horned lark (Eremophila alpestris) and western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) on the open flats, western kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) and Say's phoebe (Sayornis saya) at sagebrush edges, and western screech-owl (Megascops kennicottii) in the pinyon-juniper woodland after dusk.

Photography and Dispersed Camping. Open, unbroken viewsheds across Alkali Lake to the Excelsior Mountains and west toward the Bodie Hills offer wide compositions in early and late light; the upper Mt. Hicks ridge holds isolated bristlecone and limber pine (Pinus flexilis) on exposed rock. Dispersed camping is the only camping option — there are no developed sites — and water is unreliable, with Five Mile Spring and Burkham Tank the only named surface sources.

Why the roadless character matters. Every activity here depends on the area's roadless condition. The continuous sagebrush canopy that supports sage-grouse and pronghorn would fragment with road construction; the bird counts at nearby hotspots reflect habitat conditions that road corridors and the cheatgrass they spread would degrade; and the experience of walking the Long Valley Trail or scrambling the Mt Hicks summit pitch in country without engine noise is itself the recreation, available only because no road has been pushed through.