mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
in southwest
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
Laguna Mountains
The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System in eastern San Diego County, southern California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately .
The mountains have long been inhabited by the i ...
. The
Castle Dome Mountains
The Castle Dome Mountains (Tolkepaya Yavapai: Wi:hopuʼ) are a mountain range in Yuma County, Arizona, within the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. Castle Dome Peak, the high point of the range, is a prominent butte and distinctive landmark. The p ...
lie to the northeast across the broad Castle Dome Plain. The
Muggins Mountains Wilderness
The Muggins Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is located approximately east of Yuma, Arizona in the Muggins Mountains and adjacent to the agricultural ''Dome Valley'' and Gila River. The wilderness area ...
occupies the southwest portion of the range.''Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer,'' DeLorme, 4th ed, 2001, p. 62
The Muggins Mountains are a triangular block about on the SW and SE sides and on the north side.''Yuma, Arizona - California - Baja California Norte,'' 30x60 Minute Topographic Map, USGS, 1993 The northern half of the mountain range has the two high peaks of the range: the unnamed northwest at and the northeast, Red Bluff Mountain at . The northern of the range is within the
Yuma Proving Ground
Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) is a United States Army series of environmentally specific test centers with its Yuma Test Center being one of the largest military installations in the world. It is subordinate to the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation ...
.
The southern portion of the range is bordered on the southeast by the agricultural Mohawk Valley and the
Gila River Valley
The Gila River Valley is a multi-sectioned valley of the Gila River, located primarily in Arizona. The Gila River forms in western New Mexico and flows west across southeastern, south-central, and southwestern Arizona; it changes directions as i ...
; to the southwest is Dome Valley and the northwest-flowing Gila River agricultural valley. The
Muggins Mountains Wilderness
The Muggins Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is located approximately east of Yuma, Arizona in the Muggins Mountains and adjacent to the agricultural ''Dome Valley'' and Gila River. The wilderness area ...
is in the southwest and borders Dome Valley. Two peaks are located in the wilderness, Muggins Peak at in the southeast, and the Klothos Temple in center west at .''Dome, Arizona,'' 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, USGS, 1976
There is flatland, mesas, and hills between the two northern peaks within the Yuma Proving Ground. Small
alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...
s drain this northern perimeter. The unnamed northwest mountain is separated from the southern mountain block by the west flowing Vinegaroon Wash. The large visible alluvial fan that drains the central Muggins Mountains by way of Vinegaroon Wash sits on the northwest of the range and can be seen from
US 95
US Route 95 (US 95) is a major north–south US Highway in the western United States. It travels through the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho, staying inland from the Pacific Coast. US 95 begins in San Luis, ...
4 mi west.
Several washes drain the southwest and the Muggins Mountains Wilderness including Long Mountain Wash, Twin Tanks Wash and Muggins Wash all drain southwest into the northeast Dome Valley foothills. Morgan Wash drains the southeast wilderness border to the southeast into Mohawk Valley.
Vegetation
Ephemeral water sources only persist in winter-spring and should be considered nonexistent, except during rains, or winter, and standing water only lasts the longest in wetter and cooler years. The elevation of the mountains is such that there are no standing forests, only desert communities of vegetation. This section of the western Sonoran Desert, and local
Yuma Desert
The Yuma Desert is a lower-elevation section of the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern United States and the northwest of Mexico. It lies in the Salton basin. The desert contains areas of sparse vegetation and has notable areas of sand dunes. With ...
is in the
creosote bush
''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of nearby plants. In S ...
scrub community.
Desert ironwood
''Olneya tesota'' is a perennial flowering tree of the family Fabaceae, legumes (peas, beans, etc.), which is commonly known as ironwood, desert ironwood, or palo fierro in Spanish. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Olneya''. This ...
saguaro
The saguaro (, ) (''Carnegiea gigantea'') is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus ''Carnegiea'' that can grow to be over tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountai ...
s,
ocotillo
''Fouquieria splendens'' (commonly known as ocotillo (), but also referred to as buggywhip, coachwhip, candlewood, slimwood, desert coral, Jacob's staff, Jacob cactus, and vine cactus) is a plant indigenous to the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan ...
creosote
Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics.
Some creosote types were ...
are some locally adapted tree/bush species.
Brittlebush
''Encelia farinosa'' (commonly known as brittlebush, brittlebrush, or incienso), is a common desert shrub of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It has a variety of historical uses.
Description
Brittlebush grows up to tall, w ...
,
saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to '' Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...
, and
bebbia
''Bebbia'', common name sweetbush, is a genus of aromatic shrubs in the family Asteraceae.Dome, Ligurta, and Wellton in the Dome and Mohawk Valleys.
See also
*
List of mountain ranges of Yuma County, Arizona
A list of mountain ranges of Yuma County, Arizona. '' Yuma, Arizona Winterhaven, California'' is on the Colorado River in the southern section of the Lower Colorado River Valley.
Adjacent notable towns at this confluence of CaliforniaArizona, and ...
*
List of LCRV Wilderness Areas (Colorado River)
The National Wilderness Preservation System includes 803 wilderness areas protecting of federal land . They are managed by four agencies:
*United States National Park Service (NPS)
*United States Forest Service (USFS)
*United States Fish and Wil ...