Kachina Peaks Wilderness is a

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally ...

about north of Flagstaff within the

Coconino National Forest The Coconino National Forest is a 1.856-million acre (751,000 ha) United States National Forest located in northern Arizona in the vicinity of Flagstaff, with elevations ranging from 2,600 feet to the highest point in Arizona at 12,633 feet (H ...

in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

state of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. The wilderness encompasses most of the upper reaches of the

San Francisco Peaks The San Francisco Peaks (Navajo: , , Hopi: ''Nuva'tukya'ovi'', Western Apache: ''Dził Tso'', Keres: ''Tsii Bina'', Southern Paiute: ''Nuvaxatuh'', Havasupai-Hualapai: ''Hvehasahpatch''/''Huassapatch''/''Wik'hanbaja'', Yavapai: ''Wi:mun Kwa'', ...

including

Humphreys Peak Humphreys Peak (, "its summit never melts") is the highest mountain and the second most prominent peak after Mount Graham in the U.S. state of Arizona. With an elevation of , it is located within the Kachina Peaks Wilderness in the Coconin ...

, Arizona's highest point at . The area is named for the Hopi spirit beings, or

Kachinas A kachina (; Hopi: ''katsina'' , plural ''katsinim'' ) is a spirit being in the religious beliefs of the Pueblo people, Native American cultures located in the south-western part of the United States. In the Pueblo cultures, kachina rites are p ...

, some of whom according to Hopi mythology live here from July to December. In mid-summer kachinas can bring clouds and rain from the top of the peaks to the Hopi mesas during the seasonal monsoons. These peaks are sacred to tribes including the

Havasupai The Havasupai people (Havasupai: ''Havsuw' Baaja'') are a Native American people and tribe who have lived in the Grand Canyon for at least the past 800 years. Their name means "people of the blue-green water", referring to Havasu Creek, a t ...

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

, and Zuni. Several religious shrines have been identified in the wilderness, some of which are still in use.

Geology

Kachina Peaks Wilderness is part of a large

composite volcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a ...

that last erupted roughly two million years ago. Some of the area's trails lead to the top of the Kachina Peaks: Humphreys Peak, Doyle Peak (11,460 ft),

Fremont Peak Fremont Peak can refer to one of several peaks. In the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. s ...

(11,969 ft), and

Agassiz Peak Agassiz Peak is the second-highest mountain in the U.S. state of Arizona at . It is located north of Flagstaff, Arizona in the San Francisco Peaks. It is in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness on the Coconino National Forest. The peak was named in honor ...

(12,365 ft). These mountains form the rim of the volcano's inner basin, a huge

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

which was formed during its last eruption. Kachina Peaks Wilderness features Arizona's best examples of

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate be ...

, found in lateral and medial

moraines A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...

and abandoned stream beds.

Climate

Snowslide Canyon is a

SNOTEL 300px, Data from a SNOTEL site in Elko County, Nevada SNOTEL is an automated system of snowpack and related climate sensors operated by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the United States Department of Agriculture in the Weste ...

weather station in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness, located within the inner basin of the

. Snowslide Canyon has a dry-summer subalpine climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dsc''), bordering on a dry-summer humid continental climate (

''Dsb'').

Vegetation

The only Arctic-Alpine vegetation in Arizona is found in a fragile zone on the peaks of Kachina Peaks Wilderness. This is the only place where the

threatened A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

San Francisco Peaks groundsel ''(Packera franciscana)'' is found.Kachina Peaks Wilderness
– GORP

Recreation

Common recreational activities in Kachina Peaks Wilderness include hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and hunting. Forest2

References

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External links