The Pajarito Mountains is a small mountain range of western Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States, that extend south into

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 ...

, Mexico. The range is adjacent the Atascosa Mountains at its north, with both ranges in the center of a north-south sequence of ranges called the Tumacacori Highlands. The Highlands have the

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 ...

at the north, and south of the U.S.-Mexico border, 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 (the Emerald Mountains). The Tumacacori Highlands are part of a regional conservancy study of "travel corridors" for cats, called ''Cuatro Gatos'', Four Cats, for mountain lions,

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

, and

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

. The lower elevation

Cerro Colorado Mountains The Cerro Colorado Mountains are a low mountain range in southern Pima County, Arizona, USA. The highest point of the range is Colorado Peak (). The range consists of a NNW–SSE trending ridge with several shorter ridges extending off the main ...

to the northwest, and 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 ...

, west are also part of the Highlands region. At the west of the Pajaritos and adjacent to the San Luis range, and Cobre Ridge peaks, is the Pajarita Wilderness. East of the Highlands is the Santa Cruz River Valley corridor.

Range specifics

The highest peak in the range is Pajarito Peak at due south of

Peña Blanca Lake Peña Blanca Lake is a reservoir in Arizona, United States, located northwest of Nogales. The facilities are maintained by the Coronado National Forest division of the USDA Forest Service. The lake was created in 1957 by the Arizona Game and F ...

; the peak is at the headwaters of Calabasas and Pesquiera Canyons. In the west of the range at the Pajarita Wilderness, a

water divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a singl ...

makes some drainages flow south into northern

. The other drainages flow northeast to the Santa Cruz River, or northwest to the north-flowing Altar Valley. Cobre Ridge at the northwest merges into the southwest San Luis Mountains, and the peaks of Cobre Ridge range from Black Peak, in the northwest, Cobre Mountain, then Bartlett Mountain, and Flat Top Mountain, at the west of the Pajarita Wilderness. Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora lie at the eastern foothills of the range in the upper region of the north-south Santa Cruz River Valley, and in the I-19 corridor. Peña Blanca Lake is a mountainous getaway site, about 8 mi on Ruby Road from I-19. Ruby Road continues about 25 miles, much on unimproved surfaces, through the mountains to the area of the ghost town site of

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 '' ...

, just northwest of the Pajarita Wilderness, and east of Cobre Ridge, and then loops back eastward to I-19 at Amado. Two common trails of the mountain area are the Atascosa Lookout, and the Sycamore Canyon Trail (for the Arizona sycamore, '' Platanus wrightii''). As part of southeast Arizona, southwest New Mexico, Sonora and northwest

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

's Madrean Sky Islands, mountainous sky island region, birdwatching finds these mountain sites as prime locales for bird species ranging north out of the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera. (One sought after example is the

elegant trogon The elegant trogon (''Trogon elegans''), also known as the coppery-tailed trogon, is a near passerine bird in the trogon family. Taxonomy ''T. elegans'' has five recognized subspecies, including the nominate subspecies: *''T. e. elegans'' Gould ...

species.) The highest peak, Pajarito Peak, is located at .

The Tumacacori Highlands

The Tumacacori Highlands is a series of connected mountain ranges in western Santa Cruz County, Arizona. 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. Across the valley eastwards are the tall Santa Rita Mountains 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: #

# Peck Canyon (Peck Canyon Road) # Atascosa Mountains (6 mi x 9 mi) # Ruby Road (to

);

# Pajarito Mountains # Mexico-Arizona border #

(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

which are in the southeast of the Altar Valley, 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.

References

* Arizona Highways. ''Emerald Isle'', Terry Greene Sterling, photography, Jack Dykinga, February, 2010, p 40-43.

External links

*
Pajarito Mountains, at MountainZone

Huachuca">Elegant Trogon locales: Huachuca
, Atascosa, Patagonia, Santa Rita, Chiricahua, and Pajarito Mountains {{Mountains of Arizona Madrean Sky Islands mountain ranges Mountain ranges of Santa Cruz County, Arizona Mountain ranges of Arizona Mountain ranges of Mexico

Range specifics

The Tumacacori Highlands

See also

References

External links