Tenmile Wash is an

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

wash WASH (or Watsan, WaSH) is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achievin ...

and watercourse about long in the northern

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 Arizona ...

of south-central Arizona. It forms the eastern drainage of a two drainage system of dry washes into the

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...

Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

; both flow northwesterly, and the western drainage is the San Cristobal Wash Drainage of approximately the same length.

Description

Tenmile Wash begins east of

Ajo, Arizona Ajo ( ) is an unincorporated community in Pima County, Arizona, United States. It is the closest community to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The population was 3,304 at the 2010 census. Ajo is located on State Route 85 just from the ...

. The Little Ajo and Growler Mountains are west; a series of mountains form the eastern perimeter, and especially the

Pozo Redondo Mountains Pozo may refer to: People * Alejandro Pozo (born 1999), Spanish footballer * Angelica Pozo, American clay artist * Arnulfo Pozo (born 1945), Ecuadorian cyclist * Arquimedez Pozo (born 1973), Dominican baseball player * Chano Pozo (1915–1948) ...

in the southeast. At this point a

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 ...

occurs with the drainage south actually turning back northwest as part of the San Cristobal drainage through the

Growler Valley The Growler Valley is a valley of south-central Arizona west of Ajo, Arizona. Growler Valley is a 65-mile (105-km) long valley paralleling the Growler Mountains on the east-(attached to the Little Ajo Mountains), and the Granite Mountains on ...

(and is the north end of the Valley of the Ajo). East and north of Ajo, Tenmile Wash flows northwest through the

Childs Valley The Childs Valley is a valley in the Sonoran Desert of south-central Arizona northwest of Ajo. Upstream sections are located in far western Pima County; downstream it merges into the Gila River Valley in southwestern Maricopa County. Upstream, t ...

, on its eastern edge, as the west side of the Childs is drained by the Daniels Wash, again flowing into the San Cristobal drainage to the west. At the downstream north end, Tenmile Wash traverses the western Sentinel Plain and enters the

Park Valley Park Valley is an unincorporated community in north-central Box Elder County, Utah, United States. Description The community lies in the northwestern part of the state, northwest of the state capital at Salt Lake City, and west of the county ...

through the Canyon Diablo; the watercourse then forms its own watercourse flowing southwestwards paralleling the Gila River to the north. They merge downstream. Midway Wash is the eastern portion of the Tenmile Wash drainage; it also drains northwesterly into regions of the southern and central Sentinel Plain.

Access

The north region of the Tenmile Wash traverses

Interstate 8 Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, California, almost at the Pacific Ocean, to the junction with I-10, ...

west of

Sentinel Sentinel may refer to: Places Mountains * Mount Sentinel, a mountain next to the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana * Sentinel Buttress, a volcanic crag on James Ross Island, Antarctica * Sentinel Dome, a naturally occurring grani ...

and 2 miles east of

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

. The southern region is accessed easily in the Ajo region on State Route 85; dirt roads also exit west from the north-south State Route 85 route, to access other parts of Tenmile Wash.

External links

Tenmile Wash Watershed Map

San Cristobal Wash Watershed Map

Lower Gila – Painted Rock Reservoir Watershed Map
– the upstream watershed: Painted Rock Reservoir
Lower Gila Watershed Map
– the downstream watershed (entering the Colorado River) {{Rivers and streams of Arizona Washes of Arizona Rivers of Pima County, Arizona Rivers of Yuma County, Arizona Tributaries of the Gila River

Description

Access

See also

External links