The few rivers run inwards, with no outlet to the ocean their waters ultimately either sink below ground or evaporate. All this land is characterized by long, thin, parallel mountain ridges running north-south, separated by wider valleys, often containing dry lake beds (playas) or salt basins. The Great Basin Desert is largest in area, covering southeast Oregon, a small portion of northeast California, most of west Utah, part of southeast Idaho, and the majority of Nevada - all except the southernmost 150 miles which are within the Mojave Desert, and some northern mountain ranges bordering Idaho. Additionally there are several places named as a desert that again do not strictly qualify such as the Red Desert of southwest Wyoming, the Painted Desert of Arizona or the Escalante and San Rafael deserts of south Utah, while other named deserts fall within the larger regions, for example Black Rock Desert in the Great Basin, or Lechuguilla Desert in the Sonoran. ![]() Outside these four large areas are other regions sometimes considered to be a desert but receiving too much rainfall to match the strict definition, and these include the Colorado Plateau of north Arizona and south Utah. The other three are hot for most of the year and more closely resemble a desert of popular imagination, containing large areas with very little plant life, just sand and barren rocks, or sparse grassland, often mixed with many types of cactus. Of these, the former is a predominantly cold desert, receiving much snow in winter, and many parts are not much different in appearance to some of the adjoining lands. ![]() Map of the Southwest USA DesertsThere are four true deserts in the US (see map below) Great Basin, Mojave, Sonoran and Chihuahuan, all conforming to the basic definition of a desert as being a place of very low rainfall and restricted plant life.
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