The Black Mountains of northwest
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 ...
are an extensive, mostly linear, north-south trending long
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 ...
. It forms the north-south border of southwest
Mohave County
Mohave County is in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is the fifth largest county in the United St ...
as it borders the eastern shore of the south-flowing
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
from
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on Se ...
.
The northwest and part of the western areas of the range are located within the
Lake Mead National Recreation Area
Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a U.S. national recreation area in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. Operated by the National Park Service, Lake Mead NRA follows the Colorado River corridor from the westernmost boundary of Gran ...
. Three
wilderness area
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
s are within the range. The historic mining site of
Oatman, 4 miles north of
Boundary Cone
Boundary Cone is a geologic promontory located in the western foothills of the Black Mountains in Mohave County, Arizona. The peak is to the east of the Mohave Valley, northeast of Needles, California, and southeast of Bullhead City. The peak i ...
, is nestled in the southern portion of the range between the
Mount Nutt and
Warm Springs wildernesses.
Description
The mountain range is generally 10-15 mi wide, narrower in the north, and west of the Detrital Valley northeast. The southern end of the range with the two wilderness areas is a larger block and the Warm Springs Wilderness is made of a mountain section called Black Mesa, separated from the north section by Sitgreaves Pass, on the route to Oatman, Arizona.
The high point of the range is Mount Perkins at , located west of the
water divide
A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a singl ...
of the Detrital Valley northeast, and the
Sacramento Valley (Arizona)
The Sacramento Valley of northwestern Arizona is a north–south trending valley west and southwest of Kingman in Mohave County. The valley lies just east of the southern section of the Black Mountains. Interstate 40 in Arizona traverses the val ...
southeast. The
Cerbat Mountains
The Cerbat Mountains ( yuf-x-wal, Ha'emede:) is a mountain range in Mohave County in northwest Arizona immediately north of Kingman. The Cerbat Mountains and the White Hills (Arizona) adjacent north, are the dividing ranges between the Detri ...
border eastwards. Mount Perkins, in the center-north of the range, is located at .
Watersheds
The Black Mountains are in four watersheds. The north and northeast contain the ''Lake Mead Watershed'', and the north-flowing ''Detrital Wash Watershed''. The west along the Colorado River and southern-west contains the ''Havasu-Mohave Lakes Watershed'' where the ''
Sacramento Wash
The Sacramento Wash is a major drainage of northwest Arizona in Mohave County. The wash is east of the Black Canyon of the Colorado and drains into the south-flowing Colorado River 45 mi south of Lake Mohave, and 90 mi south of Hoover D ...
Watershed''
Sacramento Wash Watershed
/ref> flows into the southern Topock Marsh
Havasu National Wildlife Refuge is a U.S. National Wildlife Refuge on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California. It preserves habitat for desert bighorn sheep, the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher, and other animals. The refug ...
, at the southern third of the Havasu-Mohave Lakes region.
File:Boundary Cone from Mohave Valley 1.jpg, Boundary Cone
Boundary Cone is a geologic promontory located in the western foothills of the Black Mountains in Mohave County, Arizona. The peak is to the east of the Mohave Valley, northeast of Needles, California, and southeast of Bullhead City. The peak i ...
, a prominent landmark in the western foothills of the Black Mountains, viewed from Mohave Valley
The Mohave Valley is a valley located mostly on the east shore of the south-flowing Colorado River in northwest Arizona. The valley extends into California's San Bernardino County; the northern side of the valley extends into extreme southeast ...
File:USGS Oatman 1921 rfl01262.jpg, Historic Oatman, AZ, 1921
See also
* Boundary Cone
Boundary Cone is a geologic promontory located in the western foothills of the Black Mountains in Mohave County, Arizona. The peak is to the east of the Mohave Valley, northeast of Needles, California, and southeast of Bullhead City. The peak i ...
* Fortification Hill
Fortification Hill is a prominence adjacent to Lake Mead in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area; it is located at the northwest terminus region of the Black Mountains (Arizona), and specifically the ''north region'' of the Black Mountains. It ...
References
External links
Mount Perkins, mountainzone.com, coord
Watersheds
Detrital Wash Watershed
Havasu-Mohave Lakes Watershed
Sacramento Wash Watershed, in Sacramento Valley
{{Authority control
Lake Mead National Recreation Area
Mountain ranges of Mohave County, Arizona
Mountain ranges of the Lower Colorado River Valley
Mountain ranges of the Mojave Desert
Mountain ranges of Arizona