Highland Mountains

The Highland Mountains, or informally the 'Highlands' are a large range of alpine mountains located within the Viery Territory of the human colony, and UNSC fortress world Reach. Located at the center of the northernmost continent Eposz, the mountain range stretches many hundreds of kilometers, comprising thousands or tens of thousands of individual peaks. The Highland Mountains are mostly granite. They were home to a large number of UNSC training complexes and top-secret research facilities.

Topography and ecology
Wild blueberry bushes and cedar trees grew in the mountains. East of the Highland Mountains is the Arany Basin.

Locations

 * Bíbor Cliffs
 * Figyelő Point
 * Lébény district
 * Gönc Canyon
 * Gönc Drifts
 * Scheelite Workings
 * Csongrád Region
 * Vanadinite Mountain
 * Omeiite Mountain
 * Menachite Mountain
 * CASTLE Base
 * Menachite portal complex
 * Big Horn River
 * Camp Hathcock
 * Camp Independence
 * Fairchild Field
 * Reach High Command
 * HIGHCOM Armory Omega
 * Longhorn Valley
 * Military Reservation 01478-B
 * Military Wilderness Training Preserve
 * ODG Facility A-331
 * Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex
 * Naval Officers' Academy

Human-Covenant war
After the Fall of Reach on August 30, 2552, The Highlands were one of the few areas on Reach to escape the Covenant plasma bombardment, though glassing did occur in the area on a small scale. The Covenant concentrated their forces in the region and set up an extensive excavation operation around Menachite Mountain in order to uncover a massive subterranean Forerunner structure.

A flag was recovered from the mountains and put on display at Outpost Discovery.

Post-Covenant war
The Highland Mountains experienced widespread ecological disaster in the wake of much of the planet's glassing. Firestorms from the surrounding plains spread up into the Highlands, burning entire forests and melting through rock. Months of black rain followed, washing the mountainsides bare, and causing landslides the size of cities to wash down into the lower valleys.

By 2559, areas that had once been snow-covered slopes had been replaced by banks of seared dirt and charred stone. Entire meadows still lay blanketed in cinders and ash. Forested areas had been replaced by bare stony wastelands, and valleys were filled in by kilometers-deep bogs of mud and ash. Small areas on the lower slopes however, showed signs of recovery, with foliage beginning to regenerate between the massive scars left by landslides.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Reach
 * Defiant Map Pack
 * Halo: Fall of Reach
 * Boot Camp
 * Invasion
 * Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series
 * Halo: Outpost Discovery
 * Halo: Shadows of Reach