The Little Rincon Mountains are a small

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

of mountains, lying to the east of the

Rincon Mountains The Rincon Mountains ( O'odham: Cew Doʼag) are a significant mountain range east of Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, in the United States. The Rincon Mountains are one of five mountain ranges surrounding the Tucson valley. The other ranges includ ...

, at

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

, of eastern

Pima County Pima County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 List of counties in Arizona, counties in the state. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1 ...

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 range is located in northwest

Cochise County Cochise County ( ) is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after Cochise, a Chiricahua Apache who was a key war leader during the Apache Wars. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county ...

and is part of the western border of the San Pedro River and

Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

, the major valley and river of western Cochise County. The river is northward flowing to meet the

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of ...

; its headwaters are south of the US-Mexico border in northern

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de 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 divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

. A small part of the Little Rincon range's southwest lies in

Description

The Little Rincon Mountains are a 15 mi long range, that trends southwest to northeast. It is a linear range, about 8 mi wide and is created by a canyon that separates it from the eastern flank of the mostly north–south, central block of the

. The canyon is named Paige Canyon, and the major peaks of the range lie near its headwaters in the southwest. The peaks from south to north are: San Juan Hill, at , North Star Peak at , Forest Hill, at , Bald Mountain, at , and Wildhorse Mountain. The highest point of the range is Forest Hill (peak) at . located at Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer, p. 88–89.

San Pedro Valley

In the

San Pedro Valley The San Pedro Valley starts 10 miles (16 km) south of the United States–Mexico border and extends 140 miles (230 km) north through Arizona. The San Pedro River flows from the state of Sonora, Mexico, through Cochise, Pima, Graham, and Pinal Co ...

, the Little Rincon's lie directly on the course of the San Pedro River, and force an excursion of the river around the mountain range's southeast, east, and northeast flank. To the north the valley narrows between mountain ranges; to the south, the San Pedro River flows mostly due north from the Mexican border, though trends northwesterly. The San Pedro Valley also widens extensively in some locales associated with perimeter mountain ranges, or low hill regions. Various tributary

wash Wash or the Wash may refer to: Industry and sanitation * WASH or WaSH, "water, sanitation and hygiene", three related public health issues * Wash (distilling), the liquid produced by the fermentation step in the production of distilled beverages ...

es enter this wider valley region. The largest tributary enters from the southwest, the Babocomari River, from north of the

Huachuca Mountains The Huachuca Mountains are part of the Sierra Vista Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, approximately south-southeast of Tucson and southwest of the city of Sierra Vista. Included in this ...

and south of the Whetstone's. The Babocomari drains from the

Canelo Hills The Canelo Hills are a range of low mountains or hills in eastern Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The range consists of a series of northwest–southeast trending ridges extending from the Sonoita Creek valley southwest of Sonoita to the Parker Ca ...

between the northwest Huachuca's and the eastern, high-elevation

Santa Rita Mountains The Santa Rita Mountains ( O'odham: To:wa Kuswo Doʼag), located about southeast of Tucson, Arizona, extend from north to south, then trending southeast. They merge again southeastwards into the Patagonia Mountains, trending northwest by sout ...

References

External links

Forest Hill (peak), trails.com, (coord)
{{Mountains of Arizona Mountain ranges of Cochise County, Arizona Mountain ranges of Pima County, Arizona Madrean Sky Islands mountain ranges San Pedro Valley (Arizona) Mountain ranges of Arizona