Woods Mountains

The Woods Mountains are found in southeastern California in the Mojave Desert, at the southwestern end of the Lanfair Valley just east of Hole-in-the-Wall. The mountains are located in the Mojave National Preserve north of Interstate 40 and the Clipper Valley in San Bernardino County. The range reaches an elevation of 4600 ft at Tortoise Shell Mountain. The mountain was named in 1971 by Stephen Castagneto due to fragments of shells found atop from birds dropping tortoises so as to break their shells and feed on the inner meat. There are at least two known protected overhangs that show fire scoring as evidence of habitation by pre-contact Chemehuevi Indians.