Editing SPOILER: Hopewell Facility (section)

== Geography ==
[[Image:Area 51.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Simulated aerial view of Area 51, made using [[Landsat]] imagery]]
Area 51 is a section of land of approximately 60 [[square mile|sq. mi.]] / 155 [[square kilometre|km&sup2;]] in [[Lincoln_County%2C_Nevada|Lincoln County]], [[Nevada]], [[United States|USA]].  It is part of the vast (4687 sq. mi. / 12139 km&sup2;) [[Nellis Air Force Range]] (NAFR).  The area consists largely of the wide Emigrant Valley, framed by the Groom and Papoose mountain ranges (to the North and South respectively) and the Jumbled Hills to the East.  Between the two ranges lies Groom Dry Lake ({{coor dms|37|16|05|N|115|47|58|W|}}), a dry [[endorheic|alkali lake]] bed roughly three miles (5 km) in diameter. A large air base exists on the southwest corner of the lake ({{coor dm|37|14|N|115|49|W|}}) with two concrete runways, at least one of which extends onto the lake bed, and two unprepared runways on the lake bed itself.

Area 51 shares a border with the Yucca Flats region of the [[Nevada Test Site]] (NTS), the location of many of the U.S. [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy's]] [[nuclear weapons]] tests.  The [[Yucca Mountain]] nuclear storage facility is approximately 40 miles (64km) southwest of Groom Lake.

The designation "Area 51" is somewhat contentious, appearing on older maps of the NTS but not newer ones, but the same naming scheme is used for other parts of the Nevada Test Site.

The area is connected to the internal NTS road network, with paved roads leading both to Mercury to the northwest and west to Yucca Flats.  Leading northeast from the lake, Groom Lake Road (a wide, well-conditioned dirt road) runs through a pass in the Jumbled Hills.  Groom Lake Road was formerly the track leading to mines in the Groom basin, but has been improved since their closure. Its winding course takes it past a security checkpoint, but the restricted area around the base extends further east than this (visitors foolhardy enough to travel west on Groom Lake Road are usually observed first by guards located on the hills surrounding the pass, still several miles from the checkpoint).  After leaving the restricted area (marked by numerous warning signs stating that "photography is prohibited" and that "use of deadly force is authorized") Groom Lake Road descends eastward to the floor of the Tikaboo Valley, passing the dirt-road entrances to several small ranches, before joining with [[Nevada State Route 375]], the "Extraterrestrial Highway", south of [[Rachel, Nevada|Rachel]].