2021 Map of Big Cottonwood Canyon

About this map

The South Fork Owyhee River carves through this northern Elko County landscape, defining the northern boundary of the Tuscarora Mountains. This high-elevation terrain is characterized by dramatic shifts in relief, most notable in the deep incisions of Big Cottonwood Canyon and Cottonwood Creek Canyon to the south. The river valley provides a brief respite from the surrounding peaks at Swimmers Flat, a rare pocket of level ground in an otherwise formidable geologic province. Public Land Survey System boundaries, including t41n r50e and t42n r51e, frame the topography, which rises toward the prominent summit of Dry Creek Mtn. The intermittent drainage of Dry Cr reflects the arid character of the Great Basin, where water is the primary architect of the canyons and flats encountered across these ranges.