Box Springs Mountain, the highest peak in its range at 3,083 feet, rises between Riverside and Moreno Valley as one of the Inland Empire’s most recognizable landforms. Much of it is protected in county and university reserves that preserve a transitional ecotone and important wildlife habitat, even as the summit supports telecommunication towers. Its name is traditionally linked to an 1880s spring where teamsters watered animals and boxed in the water source. Two prominent hillside letters define its public identity: Riverside’s “Big C,” built in 1957 by UC Riverside students, and Moreno Valley’s “M,” placed in 1966 and later adopted into the city’s logo.