Mohave Mountains

Mohave Mountains

View looking southwest from Lake Havasu City area — south portion of Mohave Mountains
Highest point
Peak Crossman Peak (center-south (see text))
Elevation 5,103 ft (1,555 m)
Dimensions
Length 18 mi (29 km) NW-SE
Width 6 mi (9.7 km)
Geography

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Mohave Mountains
in Arizona

Country United States
State Arizona
Regions (southeast)-Mojave Desert
(northwest)-Sonoran Desert
County Mohave
Communities Lake Havasu City, AZ, Franconia, AZ and Lake Havasu Heights
Range coordinates 34°38′N 114°23′W / 34.64°N 114.39°WCoordinates: 34°38′N 114°23′W / 34.64°N 114.39°W
Borders on Colorado River w/ Lake Havasu-W
Sacramento Valley & Wash-NNE & NE
Dutch Flat (Arizona)-NE & E
Bill Williams Mountains-SE

The Mohave Mountains are a small 18-mi (29 km) long[1] mountain range of northwest Arizona. The range is a northwest trending range in southwest Mohave County that parallels a southeast-flowing stretch of the Colorado River, the Arizona-California border. The range also forms the southwest border of a flatland region to its east and north, namely, Dutch Flat which lies east, at the south end of Sacramento Valley. Lake Havasu City, AZ on the Colorado, lays opposite the southwest flank of the range, where the London Bridge was reconstructed at Lake Havasu

Interstate 40 traverses east from Needles, California adjacent the north of the range through the flatland region, and turns north through the Sacramento Valley to Kingman, Arizona.

The northwest terminus of the range merges into hills and a rocky region on the east shore of the Colorado River called The Needles.[2] The Topock Gorge of the Colorado and The Needles lay at the east border of the Chemehuevi Mountains of California; both the Chemehuevi and Sacramento Mountains force the Colorado River to flow southeasterly.

Range description

The Mohave Mountains are mostly northwest-trending with a slight curve to the east at the south terminus, into the southwest region of Dutch Flat. There is no central ridgeline; instead the northwest becomes lower elevation hills, bordering The Needles region. The center and south of the range is centered around a massif which contains the range highpoint, Crossman Peak, at 5,103 feet (1,555 m).[3]

Since the elevation of Lake Havasu City is 602 feet (183 m),[4] the height of the range from the surrounding countryside is 4000–4500 ft.

Access

Arizona State Route 95 borders the Colorado River's east bank and allows access to the range. Unimproved roads from Arizona 95 access the northwest; the north also, where Lake Havasu Heights is located at the northwest range foothills.

An unimproved road from Arizona 95 traverses northeasterly at the range's southeast. The route reaches Dutch Flat, from where the complete northeast flank of the range is met with unimproved access roads. A dirt route from Franconia Wash, (northwest Dutch Flat, Franconia on I-40), accesses the northeast of Crossman Peak; one other dirt road directly from Arizona 95, accesses the west area of Crossman Peak.

The unimproved roads into Dutch Flat, the range's northwest flank, and also the range's north, can be accessed from Intersate 40. I-40 lays 7-mi[5] due-north of the range's north terminus.


References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mohave Mountains.
  1. ↑ Arizona Road & Recreation Atlas, Benchmark Maps, c. 1998, pp. 72-73, 38-39.
  2. ↑ Arizona Atlas, Benchmark, p. 72.
  3. ↑ Arizona Mountain Ranges
  4. ↑ Arizona Atlas, Benchmark, p. 72.
  5. ↑ Arizona Atlas, Benchmark, p. 72.

External links