The Old Woman Mountains were named by the Piute and Chemehuevi Indians who called the mountains “No-mop-wits” which means “old woman”. The name comes from a granite outcrop on a ridge in the southern part of the mountains that resembles the profile of a veiled old woman making her way up the ridge. The rock outcrop is not definitive when viewed from the north, but is conspicuous when viewed from the south, near Colton Wash in the southern part of the range – Joe de Kehoe photo.