[citation needed] 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 eastern borders of the valley are mostly the East Desert Range in the east and northeast; in the extreme southeast lies the northern areas of the Desert Range, 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.