Granite Wash Mountains | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Peak | Salome Peak |
Elevation | 3,991 ft (1,216 m) [1] |
Coordinates | 33°50′22″N113°42′41″W / 33.83949°N 113.71139°W [2] |
Dimensions | |
Length | 8 mi (13 km)NW-SE-(water–divide) |
Width | 5 mi (8.0 km) |
Geography | |
Granite Wash Mountains in Arizona | |
Country | United States |
State | Arizona |
Region | Bouse & Centennial Wash (Maria fold and thrust belt) ((northwest)-Sonoran Desert) |
District | La Paz County, Arizona, USA |
Settlement | |
Range coordinates | 33°50′23″N113°42′43″W / 33.83972°N 113.71194°W Coordinates: 33°50′23″N113°42′43″W / 33.83972°N 113.71194°W |
Borders on | Harcuvar Mountains-NE-(attached) Little Harquahala Mountains-SE Ranegras Plain–Bouse Wash-NW & W |
The Granite Wash Mountains are a short, arid, low elevation mountain range of western-central Arizona, in the southeast of La Paz County. The range borders a slightly larger range southeast, the Little Harquahala Mountains; both ranges form a section on the same water divide between two desert washes. The washes flow in opposite directions, one northwest to the Colorado River, the other southeast to the Gila River.
The range is northwest-by-southeast trending and is in a region of about thirty landforms, plains, valleys, and mountain ranges, called the Maria fold and thrust belt . The region is in the Basin and Range and three mountain ranges are in a parallel, northwest-by-southeast trending thrust belt, with two intervening valleys. The Granite Wash Mountains are attached to the southwest end of the Harcuvar Mountains, the center range of the 3 basin and range-thrusted mountains.
The Granite Wash range is on the same water divide as the Little Harquahala's and at the southwest end of the McMullen Valley; to the east, the range and water divide forces the upland drainage areas of the Centennial Wash to turn from southwest- to southeast-flowing towards the Gila River at the Gila Bend Mountains. To the west of the Granite Wash Mountains, the Bouse Wash flows northwest to the Colorado River, in the Lower Colorado River Valley.
The three mountain ranges and two valleys bordered to the northeast:
The highest elevation in the mountains is Salome Peak at 3,991 feet (1,216 m), [3] in the range's center.
Granite Wash Pass is located at the northwest end of the southern mountain pair, the Little Harquahala's; Hope is west and Harcuvar, Arizona is east. The pass contains the Arizona and California Railroad line, as well as U.S. Route 60 in Arizona form Brenda at Interstate 10 in Arizona, and the route northeast to Aguila, then to Wickenburg, on U.S. 93.
The Granite Wash and Little Harquahala Mountains are on the northwest by southeast water divide between two washes. The Bouse Wash flows northwest to the Colorado River; Centennial Wash (Maricopa County) is east and flows southeast to meet the Gila River at the great Gila Bend, adjacent the Gila Bend Mountains.
The Muggins Mountains is a mountain range in southwest Arizona east of Yuma, Arizona, northeast of the Gila Mountains, and east of the Laguna Mountains. The Castle Dome Mountains lie to the northeast across the broad Castle Dome Plain. The Muggins Mountains Wilderness occupies the southwest portion of the range.
Bouse Wash is one of the larger eastern-bank dry washes that enter the Colorado River in the Lower Colorado River Valley. It is located in La Paz County, extreme western Arizona.
The Growler Mountains is a 23-mile, (37-km) long north-south trending mountain range of far western Pima County, Arizona that lies 12 miles (19 km) west of Ajo, Arizona. This desert region of southern Arizona lies in the north and central Sonoran Desert, and is one of the drier desert areas of North America.
Tyson Wash is one of the larger eastern-bank dry washes that enter the Colorado River in western Arizona. It drains the La Posa Plain south-to-north and is also coincident with the Plain's southern two thirds.
The Plomosa Mountains are a mountain range in La Paz County, Arizona, running generally south of Bouse, Arizona near the Arizona/California border. Quartzsite lies to the west across the La Posa Plain. The Harcuvar Mountains and Little Harquahala Mountains lie to the east across the Ranegras Plain. The New Water Mountains lie to the southeast beyond Black Mesa.
Lonesome Valley is a 23-mile (37 km) long valley located in central-north Yavapai County, Arizona; the valley is an extension southeastwards from Chino Valley (Arizona), the location of the Big Chino Wash, which becomes the Verde River at Paulden, Arizona; Paulden is located at the northwest terminus of Lonesome Valley. A small sub-valley is located on the northeast perimeter of Chino Valley, Arizona, located in the center-northwest of Lonesome Valley. The valley is named Little Chino Valley, and is the small valley link between Chino Valley, northwest, and Lonesome Valley, southeast.
The Harcuvar Mountains are a narrow mountain range in western-central Arizona, United States. The range lies just east of the north-south Colorado River, and south of the east-west, west-flowing Bill Williams River, from Alamo Lake.
The Buckskin Mountains is a mountain range in La Paz County, Arizona, United States. The range lies just east of the north–south Colorado River, and borders south of the east–west, west-flowing Bill Williams River.
Butler Valley is a valley of the Maria fold and thrust belt in western Arizona, USA. It lies east of the Colorado River, and is south of the west-flowing Bill Williams River.
The Rawhide Mountains are a mountain range of western Arizona, in the southwest of Mohave County. It is part of a block of mountain ranges on the north of an insular region called the Maria fold and thrust belt, containing mountain ranges, valleys, and plains. The Rawhide Mountains border the much smaller Artillery Mountains southeast, bordering on Alamo Lake State Park and the south-flowing Big Sandy River.
The Little Harquahala Mountains are a small, arid, low-elevation mountain range of western-central Arizona, in the southeast of La Paz County.
The Gila Bend Mountains are a 35-mile (56 km) long mountain range of the north-central Sonoran Desert southwest of Phoenix, Arizona and in southwest Maricopa County.
Vidal Valley is a 20-mile (32 km) long valley in the far eastern Colorado Desert bordering the Colorado River. Most of the valley is in eastern San Bernardino County, California, but the outfall on the Colorado River is in northeast Riverside County. Vidal Valley forms the large border of the south side of the east-west block of the Whipple Mountains massif, the landform that forces the Colorado to flow southeast, then back southwest. The southeast exit of the valley into Parker Valley on the Colorado River skirts the north end of the Riverside Mountains. The Colorado River Aqueduct crosses the midpoint of the valley at Vidal Junction, California. The Vidal Valley also lies due east of the Danby Dry Lake landform.
The Belmont Mountains are a 25 mi (40 km) long, arid, low elevation mountain range about 50 mi west of Phoenix, Arizona in the northern Sonoran Desert, north of the Gila River. The range is in the south of a region of two parallel washes; the Bouse Wash flows northwest to the Colorado River, and the Centennial Wash flows southeast to meet the Gila River.
The Tonopah Desert is a small desert plains region of the Sonoran Desert, located west of Phoenix, Arizona. It is adjacent north of Interstate 10 and lies at the southwest intersection of the Hassayampa River with the Gila River. The Tonopah Desert is also just north of the Gila Bend Mountains massif which create the Gila Bend of the river.
The Date Creek Mountains are a short, arid range in southwest Yavapai County, Arizona. Congress is on its southeast foothills, and Wickenburg lies 15 mi (24 km) southeast.
The Colorado River is a major river of the western United States and northwest Mexico in North America. Its headwaters are in the Rocky Mountains where La Poudre Pass Lake is its source. Located in north central Colorado it flows southwest through the Colorado Plateau country of western Colorado, southeastern Utah and northwestern Arizona where it flows through the Grand Canyon. It turns south near Las Vegas, Nevada, forming the Arizona–Nevada border in Lake Mead and the Arizona–California border a few miles below Davis Dam between Laughlin, Nevada and Needles, California before entering Mexico in the Colorado Desert. Most of its waters are diverted into the Imperial Valley of Southern California. In Mexico its course forms the boundary between Sonora and Baja California before entering the Gulf of California. This article describes most of the major features along the river.