Bitter Springs Valley

Bitter Springs Valley trends northwest to southeast of Las Vegas on the west edge of Lake Mead. At 13 miles long, this unusual shaped valley sits on the north-trending Overton Arm of Lake Mead, a natural drainage for the Virgin River and Meadow Valley Wash.

The basin's topography is rather unique and isn't so much a "valley" located between two bordering mountain ranges and dissected by a minor ridge of mountains. The 4-mile long Bitter Ridge arches its way across the southern section of the valley separating it from the northern section. The valley's North Section drains southeast into two washes that meet the South Section, one of these being Bitter Spring Wash, the valley's only major tributary that exits east-northeast into the Overton Arm of Lake Mead at into Echo Bay.

Bitter Springs Valley is accessible mostly by National Park Service Roads. North Shore Road, from Nevada SR 564 runs a wide arc on the eastern side of the valley from Henderson to Echo Bay. The Valley of Fire Highway (SR 169), provides a thru-route from the north at Interstate 15 through the park to Overton Beach. Additionally, an unimproved route named the Bitter Spring Trail traverses the Muddy Mountains and the Bitter Springs Valley from the valley's three paved routes at North Shore Road the Valley of Fire Highway, and Interstate 15.