Chuckwalla Valley

Chuckwalla Valley
Chuckwalla Valley is located in California
Chuckwalla Valley
Chuckwalla Valley
Chuckwalla Valley in southeast California
White lilies and purple verbena in the foreground on sandy dunes with desert landscape in the background.
Flowers in Chuckwalla Valley near Desert Center, CA.
Length48 mi (77 km) WNW-ESE
Width16 mi (26 km)
Geography
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionMojave Desert
CountyRiverside
Communities
Borders on
Coordinates33°38′27″N 115°01′08″W / 33.640856°N 115.0188589°W / 33.640856; -115.0188589

The Chuckwalla Valley is a large valley in eastern Riverside County, California, named for a large lizard, the chuckwalla found in the arid Southwestern United States deserts.

The region of the valley in southeast California, is the low elevation section of the Mojave Desert transitioning into the Colorado Desert, the northwest extension (in California) of the Sonoran Desert. The region is notable for valleys containing bajadas, sand dunes, and intermittent, dry, or saline lakes. Chuckwalla Valley contains Ford Lake (Ford Dry Lake)[1] in the east-southeast; Palen Lake (Palen Dry Lake) occurs in the center-northwest, at the south terminus of the smaller, north-south Palen Valley.

The south end of the valley expands slightly northwest-by-southeast, and contains Danby Dry Lake, a 13-mi (21 km)