Rice Valley is a mostly endorheic valley filled with bajadas from neighboring mountain ranges draining into Rice Dry Lake, and sand dune fields formed by northwest and westerly winds.

In the non-endorheic southeast region of Rice Valley the small drainage named Big Wash seasonally flows out between the Big Maria Mountains on the south, and the West Riverside Mountains on the north, to its mouth on the Colorado River on the west side of the Parker Valley.

The endorheic Ward Valley, adjacent on the northwest, has Danby Dry Lake as its low point.

Southwest across neighboring mountain ranges are the endorheic Palen Valley with Palen Dry Lake as its lowpoint, and Chuckwalla Valley with Ford Dry Lake as its lowpoint.

It was the proposed site of the Rice Solar Energy Project, put on indefinite hold in 2014.