The Mescal Mountains (in

Western Apache language The Western Apache language is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken among the 14,000 Western Apaches in Mexico in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua and in east-central Arizona. There are approximately 6,000 speakers living on the San Carlos Re ...

: Nadah Choh Dasán – "Big Mescal Sitting There") are a series of connected mountain ridges in southern

Gila County, Arizona 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 ...

. Their highest point is El Capitan Mountain, which has an elevation of 6,568 ft ( 2,002 m) and a prominence of 1,828 ft ( 557 m ). The highest point has a

topographic isolation The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and islands as well as for major mountain ...

of 5.98 miles (10 km), with the nearest point of equal or greater elevation being to the north west in the

Pinal Mountains The Pinal Mountains (Yavapai: Walkame – "pine mountains", Western Apache: Dził Nnilchí' Diyiléé – "pine-burdened mountain") are a mountain range located in Gila County, Arizona. They have a maximum elevation of at Pinal Peak and a promine ...

(in Apache: ). The mountain ridges are visible in the east from

Arizona State Route 77 State Route 77 (or SR 77) is a state highway in Arizona that traverses much of the state's length, stretching from its northern terminus at the boundary of the Navajo Nation north of Holbrook to its junction with I-10 in Tucson. Route descriptio ...

between

Globe A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe ...

and

Winkelman Winkelman is a town in Gila and Pinal counties in Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town was 353, all of whom lived in Gila County. History The community was named after Peter Winkelman, a local catt ...

.The range is approximately 10 miles west of

San Carlos Lake San Carlos Lake was formed by the construction of the Coolidge Dam and is rimmed by of shoreline. The lake is located within the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, and is thus subject to tribal regulations. After it was built, the reservoi ...

, which lies in the

San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation (Western Apache: Tsékʼáádn), in southeastern Arizona, United States, was established in 1872 as a reservation for the Chiricahua Apache tribe as well as surrounding Yavapai and Apache bands removed fro ...

; the ridges themselves also mostly fall within the boundary of the reservation, with the exception of the western section and the high point. As such, hiking the ridge may require special permission from San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, although no trails exist on the mountains themselves or leading to them. The ridge's relative proximity to the more visually dominant

, (which are also visible from the same section of the AZ 77 highway) make it an often-overlooked feature. The range is one of many to occur in the

Arizona transition zone The Arizona transition zone is a diagonal northwest-by-southeast region across central Arizona. The region is a transition from the higher-elevation Colorado Plateau in Northeast Arizona and the Basin and Range region of lower-elevation deserts ...

Location

The ranges' high point of El Capitan Mountain is located at the coordinates 33.2001°N, 110.7562°W. The mountains are located in southern Gila County, Arizona, on the southwestern boundary of the San Carlos Indian Reservation, and the nearest towns are

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

and Winkelman to the south.

References

{{coord, 33, 10, 10, N, 110, 42, 48, W, type:mountain_region:US-AZ, display=title Mountain ranges of Gila County, Arizona Arizona transition zone mountain ranges Mountain ranges of Arizona