The Atascosa Mountains is a mountain range in western
Santa Cruz County,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, United States.
It is sandwiched between the larger
Tumacacori Mountains
The Tumacacori Mountains is a mountain range in Santa Cruz and Pima counties in southern Arizona, United States. The highest peak in the range is an unnamed summit with an elevation of .
Tumacacori Highlands
The Tumacacori Highlands is a series ...
to the north, and a small east–west border range to the south, the Pajarito Mountains; the Pajaritos are on the U.S.–Mexico border and abut the
Sierra La Esmeralda
The Sierra La Esmeralda range, (Emerald Mountains) are a mountain range in northern Sonora, Mexico at the northern region of the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera. The region contains sky island mountain ranges, called the Madrean Sky Islands, ...
range in northern
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
.
Description
The Pajarito and Atascosa Mountains are the central ranges in the ''Tumacacori Highlands''.
['']Arizona Highways
''Arizona Highways'' is a magazine that contains travelogues and artistic photographs related to the U.S. state of Arizona. It is published monthly in Phoenix by a unit of the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT).
Background
The mag ...
''. "Emerald Isle", Terry Greene Sterling, photography, Jack Dykinga, February 2010, pp. 40–43
The highest peak is Atascosa Peak at ; adjacent to the northeast is Ramanote Peak, .
Pena Blanca Lake on Ruby Road, arising from the lowest elevations of Calabasas Canyon–(tributary to the Santa Cruz River) are part of the Atascosa's southern border. Ruby Road continues beyond the west of the Atascosa's and Peck Canyon Road borders the north, but accesses highest elevations in the ranges' center and north.
Tumacacori Highlands
The Tumacacori Highlands is a series of connected mountain ranges in western Santa Cruz County. The Highlands are northwest of
Nogales and are bordered on the east by the ''
Santa Cruz River Valley'', that is traversed north–south by
Interstate 19
Interstate 19 (I-19) is a north–south Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Arizona. I-19 travels from Nogales, roughly from the Mexican border, to Tucson, at I-10. The highway also travels through the cities of ...
. Across the valley eastwards are the tall
Santa Rita Mountains
The Santa Rita Mountains (O'odham language, O'odham: To:wa Kuswo Doʼag), located about 65 km (40 mi) southeast of Tucson, Arizona, extend 42 km (26 mi) from north to south, then trending southeast. They merge again southeastw ...
in the northeast, and the smaller
San Cayetano Mountains, east and adjacent to Nogales's northeast. The sequence of the north-to-south Tumacacori Highlands is as follows:
North to south:
#
Tumacacori Mountains
The Tumacacori Mountains is a mountain range in Santa Cruz and Pima counties in southern Arizona, United States. The highest peak in the range is an unnamed summit with an elevation of .
Tumacacori Highlands
The Tumacacori Highlands is a series ...
# Peck Canyon–(Peck Canyon Road)
# Atascosa Mountains – (6 mi × 9 mi)
# Ruby Road-(to
Ruby, Arizona
Ruby is a ghost town in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. It was founded as a mining town in Bear Valley, originally named Montana Camp, so named because the miners were mining at the foot of Montana Peak.
History
Mining started '' ...
);
Pena Blanca Lake
#
Pajarito Mountains
#
Mexico-Arizona border
#
Sierra La Esmeralda
The Sierra La Esmeralda range, (Emerald Mountains) are a mountain range in northern Sonora, Mexico at the northern region of the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera. The region contains sky island mountain ranges, called the Madrean Sky Islands, ...
– (the Emerald Mountains)
A Santa Cruz county-border "bootheel" extends southwest; the bootheel contains ''Cobre Ridge'', and it is connected northwest to a small range, the
San Luis Mountains
The San Luis Mountains are a small, lower elevation mountain range of central-southern Pima County Arizona adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border, northeast of Sasabe, Arizona–Sasabe, Sonora.
The range is northwest-southeast trending, about in len ...
which are in the southeast of the
Altar Valley
The Altar Valley is a 45-mile (72 km) long north–south valley, trending slightly northeast from Sasabe, Arizona on the Mexico border to the Avra Valley west of the Tucson Mountains. It is delimited by Arizona State Route 86, from east-to-w ...
, and borders the
Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge
Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (Buenos Aires NWR) provides of habitat for threatened and endangered plants and animals. This refuge, in Pima County, Arizona, was established in 1985.
Natural history
The semidesert grassland supports the r ...
.
Historical mission communities, at
Tumacacori National Historical Park, in
Tumacacori, lie at the southeast foothills of the Tumacacori Mountains.
See also
*
List of mountain ranges of Arizona
There are 210 named mountain ranges in Arizona.This list also includes mountain ranges that are mostly in New Mexico and Sonora, Mexico, that extend into Arizona.
Alphabetical list
The southeast of Arizona, with New Mexico, northwest Chihu ...
References
External links
from "BirderNaturalist", ''Bartolo Canyon'', Atascosa Mountains*
{{Authority control
Madrean Sky Islands mountain ranges
Mountain ranges of Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Mountain ranges of Arizona