This southwestern Arizona region is on the northern perimeter of the Gran Desierto de Altar.

It includes the northern part of the Pinacate volcanic field.

A separate mountain outlier lies southwesterly, Tordillo Mountain at 2,170 feet (661 m), adjacent to a primitive road paralleling the US-Mexico Border, called El Camino del Diablo.

The range is about 36 miles southeast of the Mohawk Valley (Arizona), and Interstate 8 and is in the west-central Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range.

The Cabeza Prieta Mountains comprise the entire western region of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge—about twenty percent of its total area.