Animas Valley

The Animas Valley is a lengthy and narrow, north-south 85-mi (137 km) long,[1] valley located in western Hidalgo County, New Mexico in the Bootheel Region; the extreme south of the valley lies in Sonora-Chihuahua, in the extreme northwest of the Chihuahuan Desert, the large desert region of the north-central Mexican Plateau and the Rio Grande valley and river system.

Animas Valley
View of Animas, NM looking west-southwest
Animas Valley Animas Valley (north region) in New Mexico
Length	85 mi (137 km)
Width	15 mi (24 km)
Geography
Country	United States
States	New Mexico, Sonora and Chihuahua (state)
Regions	New Mexico Bootheel and Chihuahuan Desert
County	Hidalgo County, NM
Cities	Animas, NM and Lordsburg, NM
Coordinates	31°56′56″N 108°48′26″W

The Continental Divide of the Americas forms the valley's eastern border in a series of mountain ranges. The parallel valley eastwards on the eastern side of the Continental Divide is the slightly shorter, but also long and narrow Playas Valley.

Westwards of the narrow, lengthy and divided Peloncillo Mountains, are the two valleys in Arizona, the San Simon and San Bernardino Valleys, both east of the massif of the Chiricahua Mountains and associated mountain ranges, which anchor the eastern half of Cochise County. Parts of this entire region with its mountain ridgelines, and mountaintops, and associated valleys are part of the sky island region called the Madrean Sky Islands of Arizona–New Mexico, and Sonora–Chihuahua, in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts.