The Mazatzal Mountains (MAH-zaht-ZAL, locally Ma-tuh-ZEL) are a mountain range in south central

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 ...

, about 30–45 miles northeast of the

Phoenix metropolitan area The Phoenix Metropolitan Area – also the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, or Metro Phoenix (known by most locals simply as “the Valley”) – is the largest metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States, centered on the city ...

. The origin of the name remains obscure but one possibility is that it is from the

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...

language meaning "place of the deer". The crest of the Mazatzals forms the county line between

Maricopa County Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,420,568, making it the state's most populous county, and the fourth-most populous in the United States. It contains about ...

and

Gila County Gila County ( ) is in the central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,272. The county seat is Globe. Gila County comprises the Payson, Arizona Micropolitan Statistical Area. Gila County contains p ...

. SR 87, the Beeline Highway, traverses the Mazatzals on its way to Payson. The highest peak is Mazatzal Peak at . They also include the

Four Peaks Four Peaks ( yuf-x-yav, Wi:khoba) is a prominent landmark on the eastern skyline of Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix. Part of the Mazatzal Mountains, it is located in the Four Peaks Wilderness in the Tonto National Forest, east-northeast of Phoenix. In ...

, with elevation 7,659 ft, 2,334 m; a prominent mountain and landmark of the eastern Phoenix area. The

Mazatzal Wilderness Mazatzal Wilderness is a wilderness area of about 390 square miles (1,000 km2) in Yavapai and Gila counties in the U.S. state of Arizona. The wilderness is within the Tonto and Coconino national forests. The town of Payson is to the east, ...

Area protects of the

Tonto Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native American (either Comanche or Potawatomi) companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Tonto has appeared in radio and tele ...

and Coconino National forests. Established in 1940 and expanded to its present size in 1984, elevations range from at Sheep Bridge in the southwest to on Mazatzal Peak. The eastern side of the wilderness consists of brush- or pine-covered mountains, sometimes broken by narrow, vertical-walled canyons. On its west side below the steep brush-covered foothills, the

Verde River The Verde River ( Yavapai: Haka'he:la) is a major tributary of the Salt River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is about long and carries a mean flow of at its mouth. It is one of the largest perennial streams in Arizona. Description The ...

flows through the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...

. The Verde was designated by the U.S. Congress as one of Arizona's two

Wild and Scenic River The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

s in 1984.

Great Unconformity, Mazatzal Wilderness region

Pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

, on Arizona State Route 87, at the northeast region of the

, north terminus of the Mazatzal Mountains, the route traverses the contact between two important geologic units. The horizontally laid

Tapeats Sandstone Except where underlain by the Sixtymile Formation, Cambrian Tapeats Sandstone is typically the lowest geologic unit, about thick, at its maximum, of the 5-member Tonto Group. It is famous for being the highly-resistant mostly-horizontal unit ...

,Chronic, Halka (1983). ''Roadside Geology of Arizona,'' 23rd printing, Mountain Press Publishing Co. 322 pages. pp. 171–75, 229–32 (common areal extent in

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

), was deposited on Precambrian granite, the

Zoroaster Granite Zoroaster,; fa, زرتشت, Zartosht, label= Modern Persian; ku, زەردەشت, Zerdeşt also known as Zarathustra,, . Also known as Zarathushtra Spitama, or Ashu Zarathushtra is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. He is ...

. The time between the erosion of the lower unit and deposition of the horizontal sandstone above, is about 1 billion years (1,000 million years), and is named the

Great Unconformity Of the many unconformities (gaps) observed in geological strata, the term Great Unconformity is frequently applied to either the unconformity observed by James Hutton in 1787 at Siccar Point in Scotland,Rance, H (1999''Historical Geology: The ...

. Besides its occurrence in the Grand Canyon, it is also found west, in the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Stat ...

, at

Frenchman Mountain Frenchman Mountain is a mountain located east of Las Vegas, Nevada. Made up of rocks similar to those found on the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Frenchman Mountain formed when Fault (geology), faulting elevated and tilted the rocks followed by e ...

. The Zoroaster Granite and other granites, were intruded into the major unit of the

Vishnu Schist The Vishnu Basement Rocks is the name recommended for all Early Proterozoic crystalline rocks (metamorphic and igneous) exposed in the Grand Canyon region. They form the crystalline basement rocks that underlie the Bass Limestone of the Unkar ...

, the basement paleo unit found in the Inner Gorge region of the Grand Canyon. The neighboring

Sierra Ancha The Sierra Ancha ("broad range" in Spanish, in Western Apache: Dził Nteel - "Wide Flat Mountain") is a mountain range in Gila County, in central Arizona. It lies between Roosevelt Lake to the south, the Tonto Basin to the west, Cherry Creek t ...

range has another occurrence of the Great Unconformity, with a sandstone unit that is an analogue of the Tapeats Sandstone. The Arizona 87 highway section south of Pine is where the north Mazatzal Mountains merge into the western region of the

Mogollon Rim The Mogollon Rim ( or or ) is a topographical and geological feature cutting across the northern half of the U.S. state of Arizona. It extends approximately , starting in northern Yavapai County and running eastward, ending near the border ...

, as the Rim continues northwest into the

Oak Creek Canyon Oak Creek Canyon is a river gorge located in northern Arizona between the cities of Flagstaff and Sedona. The canyon is often described as a smaller cousin of the Grand Canyon because of its scenic beauty. State Route 89A enters the canyon o ...

region.

References

Sources and external links

Mazatzal Wilderness Hikes
at HikeArizona.COM
Mazatzal Wilderness Area
at USFS
Mazatzal Wilderness Area
at wilderness.net
Geology of the Mazatzal Mountains, Central Arizona

Mazatzal Mountains & Wilderness Area Hiking
{{Authority control Arizona transition zone mountain ranges Mountain ranges of the Sonoran Desert Mountain ranges of Maricopa County, Arizona Mountain ranges of Yavapai County, Arizona Mountain ranges of Gila County, Arizona Mountain ranges of Arizona