Avi Kwa Ame National Monument

National Monument (Bureau Of Land Management), Proclaimed 2023; Avi Kwa Ame (Spirit Mountain) Is Sacred To Yuman Speaking Tribes Including The Mojave · Laughlin, Nevada

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument protects a huge sweep of Mojave Desert in the southern tip of Nevada, between Laughlin, Searchlight and the California line, and was proclaimed in 2023 after a long campaign led by tribes. It is often given as about 500,000 acres of desert valleys, granite mountains and some of the largest Joshua tree forests in the world. At its heart stands Avi Kwa Ame, Spirit Mountain, which Yuman-speaking peoples including the Mojave hold as the place of creation; other tribes of the region also treat it as sacred. The monument links other protected land - Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Mojave National Preserve and Castle Mountains - into one corridor for bighorn sheep and desert tortoise. There is almost no development: no visitor centre, few signs, dirt roads and no water. Most visitors see Grapevine Canyon, a short walk to hundreds of petroglyphs near Laughlin, drive the graded Christmas Tree Pass road, or visit the Joshua trees near Searchlight. Go prepared, and treat it as a sacred landscape, not only as scenery.

Christmas Tree Pass Road, Laughlin, Nevada, 89029, United States

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the monument is open all the time, with no gates or fee on the BLM roads; Grapevine Canyon and other Lake Mead NRA areas are open daily, generally around the clock, though parking areas may close at night; Walking Box Ranch is open only on tour days by reservation; Searchlight's museum keeps limited daytime hours. The traps are arriving at Grapevine Canyon at midday in summer, when the rocks are too hot and the heat is dangerous; driving Christmas Tree Pass after a storm has washed it out; turning up at Walking Box Ranch without a tour; and running short of water or fuel far from Laughlin or Searchlight. Confirm current times before relying on them.

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