Sawpit Canyon

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Sawpit Canyon is a steep valley or canyon in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California. Its mouth is at an elevation of 3,386 feet / 1,032 meters. Its source is located at 34°14′43″N117°20′56″W / 34.24528°N 117.34889°W / 34.24528; -117.34889 and lies at an elevation of 5,100 feet, just east of Monument Peak. Its creek was a tributary of the West Fork Mojave River, its original mouth now under Silverwood Lake. [1]

Valley Low area between hills, often with a river running through it.

A valley is a low area between hills or mountains typically with a river running through it. In geology, a valley or dale is a depression that is longer than it is wide. The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys. Most valleys belong to one of these two main types or a mixture of them, at least with respect to the cross section of the slopes or hillsides.

Canyon Deep ravine between cliffs

A canyon or gorge is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic timescales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cut through underlying surfaces, eventually wearing away rock layers as sediments are removed downstream. A river bed will gradually reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water into which the river drains. The processes of weathering and erosion will form canyons when the river's headwaters and estuary are at significantly different elevations, particularly through regions where softer rock layers are intermingled with harder layers more resistant to weathering.

San Bernardino Mountains mountain range in Southern California

The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at 11,489 feet (3,502 m) at San Gorgonio Mountain – the tallest peak in all of Southern California. The San Bernardinos form a significant region of wilderness and are popular for hiking and skiing.

History

Sawpit Canyon was part of the route of the Mohave Trail, taken by the Native American traders from the Colorado River and beyond in the southwest to the Pacific Ocean. In 1776, Father Francisco Garcés became the first known explorer to travel on this route and leave a written record of his experiences. Jedediah Smith, in 1826, was the first known Anglo-American to use the Mohave Trail. [2]

The Mohave Trail was a Native American trade route between Mohave Indian villages on the Colorado River and settlements in coastal Southern California.

Colorado River major river in the western United States and Mexico

The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. and two Mexican states. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the river flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora.

Pacific Ocean Ocean between Asia and Australia in the west, the Americas in the east and Antarctica or the Southern Ocean in the south.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.

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Mojave River intermittent river in California

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San Gabriel Valley Council

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Mojave Road

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Glen Helen Regional Park

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Monument Peak (San Bernardino County)

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Crowder Canyon, originally Coyote Canyon, is a valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its mouth was at an elevation of 2,999 feet / 914 meters at its confluence with Cajon Canyon. Its source was at an elevation of 4200 feet at 34°21′02″N117°26′04″W near Cajon Summit. The canyon runs southward just west of the top of Cajon Pass then turns southwestward to meet Cajon Canyon.

Baldy Mesa is a summit whose tallest peaks on its southern extremity, overlook the upper Cajon Canyon in San Bernardino County, California. Its tallest point is an unnamed 4,964 foot high hill on the southwest end of the mesa overlooking the upper Cajon Canyon. The heights that lie along the ridge overlooking the canyon toward the east gradually descend in elevation from one approximately 4,770 feet to the 4,606 foot hill at its far southeastern end at 34°21′34″N117°28′39″W. The mesa descends gradually in elevation to the north, toward the distant Mohave River. it is bounded on the east by the Oro Grande Wash.

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Cajon Canyon, originally named El Cajon De San Gabriel De Amuscopiabit, El Cajon in Spanish meaning "the box" in English, is a long valley ending in a box canyon in the northeastern San Gabriel Mountains, within San Bernardino County, California.

Horsethief Canyon, is a canyon, the upper part of Summit Valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its mouth is at an elevation of 3,123 feet / 952 meters. Its head lies at 34°19′33″N117°25′38″W at an elevation of 3,800 feet just east of the summit of Cajon Pass.

Bryman, is a populated place in the central Mojave Desert, within San Bernardino County, California. It lies along the Mojave River in the northern Victor Valley, at an elevation of 2,526 feet . It is on the historic U.S. Route 66, 5 miles north of Oro Grande, and south of Helendale.

West Fork Mojave River is a tributary stream of the Mojave River in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California. Its mouth lies at an elevation of 2,986 feet / 910 meters at its confluence with Deep Creek, together the source of the Mojave River. The source of the West Fork is at 34°15′52″N117°24′01″W at an elevation of 4,960 feet, on the north side of a saddle between summits on a ridge running west northwest of Sugarpine Mountain. Sawpit Canyon Creek and East Fork of West Fork Mojave River are its tributaries, both of which now feed into Silverwood Lake that was created when the West Fork was obstructed by the Cedar Springs Dam in 1971.

Cable Canyon is a valley on the south slope of the San Bernardino Mountains in San Bernardino County, California. Its mouth lies at an elevation of 2,073 feet / 632 meters. Its source is at 34°13′48″N117°22′19″W, the confluence of West Fork Cable Canyon and East Fork Cable Canyon, at an elevation of 2,671 feet / 814 meters.

Black Draw is a valley, and tributary stream within the San Bernardino Valley of Cochise County, Arizona. Its waters are a tributary of the San Bernardino River and its mouth lies at an elevation of 3,753 feet / 1,144 meters. Its source is at an elevation of 4,740 feet, at 31°34′17″N109°10′12″W on the northwest slope of Paramore Crater in the upper San Bernardino Valley.

Devil Canyon is a 1.5 mile long canyon on the south slope of the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County, California. Its mouth lies at an elevation of 1,759 feet / 536 meters. It heads at 34°12′53″N117°19′43″W, the confluence of East Fork Devil Canyon and West Fork Devil Canyon at an elevation of 2,352 feet / 717 meters.

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Sawpit Canyon
  2. ↑ Nick Cataldo (April 21, 2014). "'Hidden treasures' offer historic secrets". San Bernardino County Sun. Retrieved 2015-09-27.

Coordinates: 34°16′49″N117°20′12″W / 34.28028°N 117.33667°W / 34.28028; -117.33667

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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