Muggins Mountains
Encyclopedia
The Muggins Mountains is a mountain range
in southwest Arizona
east of Yuma
, Arizona, northeast of the Gila Mountains (Yuma County)
, and east of the Laguna Mountains
. It contains a wilderness area with the same name.
and Gila River
s, bordering the Gila River Valley
. A small circular range-(7 mi diameter), the Laguna Mountains (Arizona)
abuts the Colorado River and southeastern California
's Chocolate Mountains
-(containing the Little Picacho Wilderness
on the Colorado River across from the Gila Mountains). The north end of the Gila mountains forces the Gila River to run, northwest-west-southwest to meet the Colorado River.
The Muggins Mountains are a triangular block of peaks, with a trending northwest-southeast flank on the southwest that abuts the Gila River as it drains northwest through Dome Valley. The opposite side of the valley is the same ridgeline block faulting, but on the northeast corner of the Gila Mountains.
The southern portion of the Muggins Mountains completes this triangular mountain block, (and is itself a separate triangular block pointing south), and is bordered on the southeast by the agricultural Mohawk Valley (Arizona)
and the Gila River Valley
; to the southwest is Dome Valley and the northwest-flowing Gila River agricultural valley. The Muggins Mountains Wilderness
is in the southwest and borders Dome Valley; two peaks are located in the wilderness, Muggins Peak at 1424 feet (434 m) in the southeast, and the Klothos Temple in center, center west, at 1666 feet (508 m). Morgan Wash flows east on the north of Muggins Peak, then turns southwest towards Dome Valley, and is the southeastern border of the wilderness area. The West Wash-(and actually east) of the Twin Tanks Wash separates Klothos to the northeast from Muggins Peak by a ridgeline; Muggins Wash is southeast and on the northwest side of Muggins Peak.
With the arid southwest Sonoran Desert
climate and rocky, rugged terrain, the mountains are formidable climbing areas. There is a flatland, mesas, and hills between the two northern peaks, but are on the Yuma Proving Ground, and over the mountain from southern hiking access routes. Small alluvial fan
s drain this northern east-west perimeter. The unnamed northwest mountain is separated by the entire southern mountain polygonal block, by a west flowing wash: 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 4 mi west. The fan spreads north, northwest, and west.
Three washes drain the southwest and the Muggins Mountains Wilderness: Twin Tanks Wash in the northwest, Muggins Wash, and Morgan Wash the southeast wilderness border; all drain southwest into the northeast Dome Valley foothills. Muggins Wash is the access route to the wilderness, by way of road, County 7th Street.
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
is in the "Creosote Bush
scrub community". Desert Ironwood, palo verde
, catclaw acacia
, saguaro
s, ocotillo
, Anderson thornbush
, Smoketree (Psorothamnus), and creosote
are some locally adapted tree/bush species. Brittlebush, saltbush, and Bebbia
are some common shrub forms.
, Ligurta, and Wellton
in the Dome and Mohawk Valleys. Yuma, and the Fortuna Foothills
are west and beyond the Gila Mountains.
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
in southwest Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
east of Yuma
Yuma, Arizona
Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of the state, and the population of the city was 77,515 at the 2000 census, with a 2008 Census Bureau estimated population of 90,041....
, Arizona, northeast of the Gila Mountains (Yuma County)
Gila Mountains (Yuma County)
The Gila Mountains is a mountain range in southwestern Arizona in the northwestern Sonoran Desert.The Gila Mountains of Yuma County are a northwest-southeast trending mountain system, about 26 miles long; the fault-blocked mountain range is attached on the south to the Tinajas Altas Mountains...
, and east of the Laguna Mountains
Laguna Mountains (Arizona)
The Laguna Mountains are a small, approximately circular mountain range of extreme southwest Arizona at the northeast of Yuma and east of Winterhaven, California on the Colorado River...
. It contains a wilderness area with the same name.
Description of Dome Valley and the range
The Muggins Range is part of a three range mountain complex at the confluence of the ColoradoColorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
and Gila River
Gila River
The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.-Description:...
s, bordering the Gila River Valley
Gila River Valley
The Gila River Valley is a multi-sectioned valley of the Gila River, mostly in Arizona. The Gila River forms in western New Mexico and flows west across southern-eastern, south-central, and southwestern Arizona; it changes directions across the state, and defines specific areas and valleys...
. A small circular range-(7 mi diameter), the Laguna Mountains (Arizona)
Laguna Mountains (Arizona)
The Laguna Mountains are a small, approximately circular mountain range of extreme southwest Arizona at the northeast of Yuma and east of Winterhaven, California on the Colorado River...
abuts the Colorado River and southeastern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's Chocolate Mountains
Chocolate Mountains
The Chocolate Mountains of California are located in Imperial County and Riverside County in the Colorado Desert in Southern California. The mountains stretch more than 60 miles in a northwest to southeast direction, and are located east of the Salton Sea and south and west of the Chuckwalla...
-(containing the Little Picacho Wilderness
Little Picacho Wilderness
The Little Picacho Wilderness is a wilderness area under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. The wilderness is found in a southeast extension of the Chocolate Mountains adjacent to the Colorado River, in the southeastern part of California...
on the Colorado River across from the Gila Mountains). The north end of the Gila mountains forces the Gila River to run, northwest-west-southwest to meet the Colorado River.
The Muggins Mountains are a triangular block of peaks, with a trending northwest-southeast flank on the southwest that abuts the Gila River as it drains northwest through Dome Valley. The opposite side of the valley is the same ridgeline block faulting, but on the northeast corner of the Gila Mountains.
Muggins Mountains
The Muggins Mountains is a triangular block about 13 miles (21 km) per side. The northern half of the mountain range has the two high peaks of the range: the unnamed northwest at 1908 feet (582 m)-(the highest point of the range, by 3 foot (0.9144 m)), and the northeast, Red Bluff Mountain at 1905 feet (581 m); this northern half is part of the southern border of the US Army Yuma Proving Ground.The southern portion of the Muggins Mountains completes this triangular mountain block, (and is itself a separate triangular block pointing south), and is bordered on the southeast by the agricultural Mohawk Valley (Arizona)
Mohawk Valley (Arizona)
The Mohawk Valley is a valley in the lower regions of the western Gila River Valley in southwestern Arizona in the western Sonoran Desert....
and the Gila River Valley
Gila River Valley
The Gila River Valley is a multi-sectioned valley of the Gila River, mostly in Arizona. The Gila River forms in western New Mexico and flows west across southern-eastern, south-central, and southwestern Arizona; it changes directions across the state, and defines specific areas and valleys...
; to the southwest is Dome Valley and the northwest-flowing Gila River agricultural valley. The Muggins Mountains Wilderness
Muggins Mountains Wilderness
The Muggins Mountains 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 made up of the highest peak in the southern section of...
is in the southwest and borders Dome Valley; two peaks are located in the wilderness, Muggins Peak at 1424 feet (434 m) in the southeast, and the Klothos Temple in center, center west, at 1666 feet (508 m). Morgan Wash flows east on the north of Muggins Peak, then turns southwest towards Dome Valley, and is the southeastern border of the wilderness area. The West Wash-(and actually east) of the Twin Tanks Wash separates Klothos to the northeast from Muggins Peak by a ridgeline; Muggins Wash is southeast and on the northwest side of Muggins Peak.
With the arid southwest Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
climate and rocky, rugged terrain, the mountains are formidable climbing areas. There is a flatland, mesas, and hills between the two northern peaks, but are on the Yuma Proving Ground, and over the mountain from southern hiking access routes. Small alluvial fan
Alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped deposit formed where a fast flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain. A convergence of neighboring alluvial fans into a single apron of deposits against a slope is called a bajada, or compound alluvial...
s drain this northern east-west perimeter. The unnamed northwest mountain is separated by the entire southern mountain polygonal block, by a west flowing wash: 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 4 mi west. The fan spreads north, northwest, and west.
Three washes drain the southwest and the Muggins Mountains Wilderness: Twin Tanks Wash in the northwest, Muggins Wash, and Morgan Wash the southeast wilderness border; all drain southwest into the northeast Dome Valley foothills. Muggins Wash is the access route to the wilderness, by way of road, County 7th Street.
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
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 is in the Salton basin. The desert contains areas of sparse vegetation and has notable areas of sand dunes. With an average rainfall less than 8 inches each...
is in the "Creosote Bush
Creosote bush
Larrea tridentata is known as Creosote bush as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and as "gobernadora" in Mexico, Spanish for "governess," due to its ability for inhibiting the growth of nearby plants to have more water. In Sonora, it is more commonly called "hediondilla." It is a flowering...
scrub community". Desert Ironwood, palo verde
Palo Verde
-Botany:*Palo Verde trees, several species of the genus Parkinsonia **Mexican Palo Verde **Blue Palo Verde **Yellow or Foothill Palo Verde gay-Places:...
, catclaw acacia
Acacia greggii
Acacia greggii is a species of Acacia native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, from the extreme south of Utah south through southern Nevada, southeast California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas to Baja California, Sinaloa and Nuevo León in...
, saguaro
Saguaro
The saguaro is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in the U.S. state of Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, a small part of Baja California in the San Felipe Desert and an extremely small area of California, U.S...
s, ocotillo
Ocotillo
Fouquieria splendens Engelm. is a desert plant of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Common names include ocotillo, desert coral, coachwhip, Jacob's staff, and vine cactus, although it is not a true cactus...
, Anderson thornbush
Lycium andersonii
Lycium andersonii is a perennial shrub of the family Solanaceae, the Nightshades. It is commonly known by such names as Anderson Thornbush, Anderson Wolfberry, Anderson Lycium, Anderson Desert Thorn, Anderson Boxthorn, and more ambiguously as "tomatillo", Desert Tomato or "wolf berry"...
, Smoketree (Psorothamnus), and creosote
Creosote bush
Larrea tridentata is known as Creosote bush as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and as "gobernadora" in Mexico, Spanish for "governess," due to its ability for inhibiting the growth of nearby plants to have more water. In Sonora, it is more commonly called "hediondilla." It is a flowering...
are some locally adapted tree/bush species. Brittlebush, saltbush, and Bebbia
Bebbia
Bebbia is a genus of plants in the daisy family; it is often considered monotypic, but it is sometimes treated as a genus of two or more species if Bebbia juncea is divided. The common name of B. juncea is sweetbush. It is an aromatic shrub of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico...
are some common shrub forms.
Communities near Muggins Mountains
The nearest communities to the Muggins Mountains are DomeDome, Arizona
Dome is a ghost town located in Yuma County, in southwestern Arizona, United States. Originally Swiveler's Station, 20 miles east of Fort Yuma, on the Butterfield Overland Mail route, a post office was established here in 1858...
, Ligurta, and Wellton
Wellton, Arizona
Wellton is a town in Yuma County, Arizona, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town is 1,862. It is part of the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Wellton is located at ....
in the Dome and Mohawk Valleys. Yuma, and the Fortuna Foothills
Fortuna Foothills, Arizona
Fortuna Foothills is a census-designated place in Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The population was 20,478 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
are west and beyond the Gila Mountains.
See also
- List of mountain ranges of Yuma County, Arizona
- List of mountain ranges of Arizona
- List of LCRV Wilderness Areas (Colorado River)
- Muggins Mountains WildernessMuggins Mountains WildernessThe Muggins Mountains 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 made up of the highest peak in the southern section of...
- Muggins Mountains Wilderness floraMuggins Mountains Wilderness floraThis is a list of Muggins Mountains Wilderness flora. The Muggins Wilderness covers about 15-20 percent of the Muggins Mountains, , and is on the southwest of the triangular mountain region; the southwest mountain flank is block faulted and parallels the northwest-southeast Dome Valley and the...
External links
- BLM Muggins Mountains Wilderness site
- Public Lands Muggins Mountains Wilderness site Muggins Mountains map and region: http://www.publiclands.org/explore/quadrant_map.php?id=502&site_name=Muggins%20Mountains%20Wilderness&quad=AZ_Q24&PHPSESSID=23cfeb7c9
- Wilderness Preservation System: Muggins "Mountain" Wilderness site