By Rob Hallberg
The Tucson area mountains are spectacular and very few US cities can boast they are “surrounded” by them. You can see our mountain ranges from almost any point in the city and in some areas you can see all of them!
Most of us know the names of the ranges but not much else. Here is a quick overview:
The Santa Catalinas are the highest mountains, peaking at Mt. Lemmon (over 9,000’). They blanket our northern views and other notable sites include Pusch Ridge and Finger Rock.
Directly opposite and covering our southern border are the Santa Ritas. Popular with hikers, there are no roads to the peak as in Mt. Lemmon. Mt. Wrightston (9,456’) is the highest point in the Tucson area.
The Tucson Mountains cover our western flank and are much lower in elevation than our other ranges. They are the result of a large, collapsed volcano, which explains the igneous rock and cragged formations. Wasson peak (4,687’) is the highest point and a little know fact is that dinosaur bones were discovered near Gates Pass.
You will find the Rincon Mountains both east and north of Tucson. They wrap around our northeast border and overlap the Catalinas. Reddington Pass separates these two ranges. Mica Mountain (8,664’) is its highest peak followed closely by Rincon Peak (8,482’). Colossal Cave is also located here and is open to the public.
This article would not be complete unless I mentioned the Tortolita Mountains. Found in Northwest Tucson, its peak elevation is 4,696’ and includes Honeybee Canyon, a riparian area with one of the county’s few perennial streams. You will also find Honeybee Village, which are ruins left by the Hohokam, who occupied the area for 700 years.
