Three Lakes Valley is a 25 miles (40.2 km) long, partially endorheic

Endorheic

An endorheic basin is a closed drainage basin that retains water and allows no outflow to other bodies of water such as rivers or oceans...

 valley in southwest Lincoln County

Lincoln County, Nevada

Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 4,165. Its county seat is Pioche.-History:...

 and northwest Clark County

Clark County, Nevada

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,375,765 people, 512,253 households, and 339,693 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 71.6% White , 9.1% Black, 5.7% Asian, 0.8% American Indian and 12.8% of other or mixed race. 22.0% were Hispanic of any race...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

. The southwest of the valley has a narrowing with washes that flow south into the watershed of the Las Vegas Valley, a tributary to Lake Mead

Lake Mead

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States. It is located on the Colorado River about southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, in the states of Nevada and Arizona. Formed by water impounded by the Hoover Dam, it extends behind the dam, holding approximately of water.-History:The lake was...

–Colorado River

Colorado River

The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...

 watersheds.

Description

Three Lakes Valley is short, only about 25 mi long, mostly north-south trending. The valley exits southwestwards between the foothills of perimeter mountains.

The bordering mountain range

Mountain range

A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...

s are the Pintwater Range

Pintwater Range

The Pintwater Range is a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada....

, arc-shaped and north-south trending, on the west. The eastern borders of the valley are mostly the East Desert Range

East Desert Range

The East Desert Range is a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada.-Description:The range is northwest-southeast trending around the Three Lakes Valley where Dog Bone Lake is the large landform in the valley flatlands...

 in the east and northeast; in the extreme southeast lies the northern areas of the Desert Range

Desert Range

The Desert Range is a mountain range in Clark County, Nevada....

, where washes exit on the west to flow into the northwest-by-southeast Las Vegas Valley.

The Dog Bone Lake lakebed comprises about half the valley. Short washes mark the east and west valley perimeter; a longer string of washes extend northwest into a narrowing watershed source, between the convergence of the northern Pintwater Range and the northwest of the East Desert Range.