The Buckskin Mountains is a mountain range in
La Paz County
La Paz County is the 15th county in the U.S. state of Arizona, located in the western part of the state. As of the 2020 census, its population was 16,557, making it the second-least populous county in Arizona. The county seat is Parker. Th ...
,
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 ...
, United States. The range lies just east of the north–south
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 watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
, and borders south of the east–west, west-flowing
Bill Williams River
The Bill Williams River is a river in west-central Arizona where it, along with one of its tributaries, the Santa Maria River, form the boundary between Mohave County to the north and La Paz County to the south.''Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer,'' D ...
.
Description
The range is part of a three-range sequence of mildly arc-shaped ranges, and two intermountain valleys in the
Maria fold and thrust belt, a region in western
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 ...
and southeast
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
, with the Colorado River flowing south through the western part of the belt. The fold-and-thrust-belt region contains numerous plains, valleys, and mountain ranges, about 30 landforms in all.
The Buckskin Mountains also extend west into a section abutting the Colorado River.
Buckskin Mountain State Park borders the south of the Bill Williams River.
Buckskin Mountains: west, central, and southeast
![Parker_Dam_-_Downstream_-_panoramio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Parker_Dam_-_Downstream_-_panoramio.jpg)
The southeast section of the Buckskin Mountains are part of a three-mountain range thrust-faulted system, with the
Harcuvar and
Harquahala Mountains
The Harquahala Mountains ( Yavapai: ʼHakhe:la) are the highest mountain range in southwestern Arizona, United States and are located southwest of the towns of Aguila and Wenden. The name originated from the Yavapai 'ʼHakhe:la", which means "r ...
. The highest peak in the section is Battleship Peak, ,
[Battleship Peak, mountainzone.com] at the southwest end, and directly northeast of
Bouse
Bouse ( ''rhymes with "house"'') is a census-designated place (CDP) and ghost town in La Paz County, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1908 as a mining camp, the economy of Bouse is now based on tourism, agriculture, and retirees. The populati ...
in the
Ranegras Plain, and the
Bouse Wash
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.
Geography
Bouse Wash is located on the north rim of the La Posa P ...
Drainage.
The west end of the mountains abut the north–south
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 watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
. Located here is the
Gibraltar Mountain Wilderness, with
Gibraltar Mountain, at .
The entire north perimeter of the range is the Bill Williams River.
Buckskin Mountain State Park is at its confluence in the northwest at the Colorado River. Abutting the Bill Williams in the center is the
Swansea Wilderness; the northeast contains the
Rawhide Mountains Wilderness on both sides of the river. The northeast of the range borders
Alamo Lake State Park-(
Alamo Lake
Alamo Lake State Park is a state park of Arizona, USA, centered on Alamo Lake, a flood control and recreational reservoir. The park is located in western Arizona about north of Wenden. It is accessed via a paved two-lane road off either U.S. ...
), which also borders the
Rawhide Mountains
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, valley ...
on the lake's northwest.
Another peak in the central-west, away from the range's east–west centerline, at the south is ''Planet Peak'', at . Planet Peak is directly adjacent at the northeast of the
Cactus Plain
Cactus Plain is a plain east of the Colorado River and Parker Valley, in La Paz County, western Arizona, United States.
Geography
Cactus Plain is a landform within the Lower Colorado River Valley. It is adjacent to Bouse Wash, which is on the so ...
and the
East Cactus Plain Wilderness
The East Cactus Plain Wilderness is a wilderness area on the Cactus Plain north of Bouse, Arizona. It is one of twenty-five wilderness areas located in the Lower Colorado River Valley region, south of Lake Mead–Hoover Dam. It is administered ...
. The most easily identifiable Peak is "Black Peak," at to the South East. It is known to locals as "P Mountain" due to the large white "P" painted on its west side by the nearby town of
Parker.
Three major thrust-faulted ranges
The major mountain ranges that are thrusted ''northwesterly'' in the
Maria fold and thrust belt region are, from north to south:
* Buckskin Mountains
*
Butler Valley (Arizona)
*
Harcuvar Mountains
*
McMullen Valley
*
Harquahala Mountains
The Harquahala Mountains ( Yavapai: ʼHakhe:la) are the highest mountain range in southwestern Arizona, United States and are located southwest of the towns of Aguila and Wenden. The name originated from the Yavapai 'ʼHakhe:la", which means "r ...
Some of the thirty landforms in the fold-and-thrust-belt listed in a circular path around these three ranges are: 1. NE,
Alamo Lake State Park, NE Buckskin Mtns; 2. Access roads from
U.S. Route 93, northwest, dirt, and southwest,
Arizona State Route 71
State Route 71 (or SR 71) is a state highway in central Arizona that stretches between its northeast terminus at its junction with State Route 89 at Congress and its southwest terminus at its junction with U.S. Route 60 at Aguila. It primaril ...
terminating at
Aguila, Arizona, at the northeast of the Harquahala's; 3. Southeast of the Harquahalas, three mountain ranges, and the Hassayampa and Harquahala Plains-(
Harquahala Valley); 4. The southwest and west perimeter of the three ranges is the
Bouse Wash
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.
Geography
Bouse Wash is located on the north rim of the La Posa P ...
Drainage; the drainage is in the Ranegras Plain, but two small ranges, and the Bouse Hills abut the perimeter as well; 5. The northwest abuts the
Cactus Plain
Cactus Plain is a plain east of the Colorado River and Parker Valley, in La Paz County, western Arizona, United States.
Geography
Cactus Plain is a landform within the Lower Colorado River Valley. It is adjacent to Bouse Wash, which is on the so ...
and the
Cactus Plain Wilderness; 6. The northwest also has the Buckskin Mountains extending into a ''western section'' at the confluence of the Colorado and Bill Williams Rivers.
Buckskin Mountain State Park is located here. 7. The
Bill Williams River
The Bill Williams River is a river in west-central Arizona where it, along with one of its tributaries, the Santa Maria River, form the boundary between Mohave County to the north and La Paz County to the south.''Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer,'' D ...
downstream from
Alamo Lake State Park is the northern border of the three ranges, as well as the de facto border of fold-and-thrust-belt. The river is also a dividing line between the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily ...
north and northwest, and the
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Ariz ...
, south and southeast; in California, the
Colorado Desert subsection of the Sonoran Desert lies southwest.
See also
*
List of mountain ranges of Arizona
There are 210 named mountain ranges in Arizona.This list also includes mountain ranges that are mostly in New Mexico and Sonora, Mexico, that extend into Arizona.
Alphabetical list
The southeast of Arizona, with New Mexico, northwest Chihua ...
References
External links
Buckskin Mountains, at MountainzoneBattleship Peak, Mountainzona
{{Authority control
Mountain ranges of the Sonoran Desert
Mountain ranges of La Paz County, Arizona
Mountain ranges of the Lower Colorado River Valley
Mountain ranges of Arizona