The Mohave Mountains are a small 18-mi (29 km) long mountain range 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 ...

. The range is a northwest trending range in 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 ...

that parallels a southeast-flowing stretch of the

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 ...

, the Arizona-

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

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 , photo =Sacramento Riverfront.jpg , photo_caption= Sacramento , map_image=Map california central valley.jpg , map_caption= The Central Valley of California , location = California, United States , coordinates = , boundaries = Sierra Nevada (ea ...

. Lake Havasu City, AZ on the Colorado, lays opposite the southwest flank of the range, where the

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

was reconstructed at

Lake Havasu Lake Havasu () is a large reservoir formed by Parker Dam on the Colorado River, on the border between San Bernardino County, California and Mohave County, Arizona, Arizona. Lake Havasu City sits on the Arizona (eastern) side of the lake with it ...

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...

traverses east from

Needles, California Needles is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert region of Southern California. Situated on the western banks of the Colorado River, Needles is located near the Californian border with Arizona and Nevada. The city is a ...

adjacent the north of the range through the flatland region, and turns north through the Sacramento Valley to

Kingman, Arizona Kingman is a city in, and the county seat of, Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is named after Lewis Kingman, an engineer for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. It is located southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and northwest of Arizona's ...

. The northwest terminus of the range merges into hills and a rocky region on the east shore of the Colorado River called The Needles. The

Topock Gorge Topock Gorge is a mountainous canyon and gorge section of the Colorado River located between Interstate 40 and Lake Havasu. The town of Needles, California, to the northwest, was named for the "needle-like" vertical rock outcroppings. The natural ...

of the Colorado and The Needles lay at the east border of the

Chemehuevi Mountains The Chemehuevi Mountains are found at the southeast border of San Bernardino County in southeastern California adjacent the Colorado River. Located south of Needles, California and northwest of the Whipple Mountains, the mountains lie in a north� ...

; both the Chemehuevi and

Sacramento Mountains The Sacramento Mountains are a mountain range in the south-central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, lying just east of Alamogordo in Otero County (small portions of the range lie in Lincoln County and Chaves County). From north to south, ...

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 In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

which contains the range highpoint,

Crossman Peak Crossman may refer to: People * Abdiel Crossman (1804–1859), U.S. politician in New Orleans * Craig Crossman (born before 1995), American newspaper columnist * Danny Crossman (born 1967), American football coach * Doug Crossman (born 1960), Ca ...

, at . Since the elevation of Lake Havasu City is , the height of the range from the surrounding countryside is 4000–4500 ft.

Access

Arizona State Route 95 State Route 95, also known as SR 95, is a north–south state highway along the western edge of Arizona that is split into two sections. Route description The southern segment begins in Quartzsite, Arizona, Quartzsite at its junction with U ...

borders the Colorado River's east bank and allows access to the range. Unimproved roads from Arizona 95 access the northwest and the north of the range, where Lake Havasu Heights is located. An unimproved road from Arizona 95 (Dutch Flat Rd) traverses northeasterly at the range's southeast flank. The route reaches Dutch Flat, from where the complete eastern side of the range is met with unimproved access roads. A dirt route from Franconia Wash, (northwest Dutch Flat,

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Fr ...

on I-40), accesses the northeast of Crossman Peak. Another unimproved road starts at the end of Bison Blvd in Lake Havasu City and follows Falls Springs Wash to a gate, where it continues up a very steep route to a radio antenna complex along the ridgeline, half a mile from Crossman Peak. The gated portion of the route is open to hikers, and the ridgeline offers views of Dutch Flat and the Lake Havasu valley. The unimproved roads into Dutch Flat, the range's northwest flank, and also the range's north, can be accessed from Interstate 40. I-40 lies 7-miArizona Atlas, Benchmark, p. 72. due-north of the range's north terminus. File:Crossman Peak Arizona.JPG, Crossman Peak, from Arizona 95 File:Topockgorge.jpg, The Needles, at

(view ~southeast on the Colorado)

References

External links

Mohave Mountains Range, (range coordinates)
{{Mountains of Arizona Mountain ranges of Mohave County, Arizona Mountain ranges of the Mojave Desert Mountain ranges of the Sonoran Desert Mountain ranges of Arizona