The San Luis Mountains are a small, lower elevation mountain range of central-southern

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 adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border, northeast of

Sasabe, Arizona Sasabe () is a small Unincorporated area, hamlet in the Altar Valley of southern Pima County, Arizona, Pima County, Arizona, United States, immediately north of the international border with Mexico. It hosts a minor Mexico–United States border ...

–Sasabe, Sonora. The range is northwest-southeast trending, about in length. The range 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 ...

to the west; both are in the southeast of the

Altar Valley The Altar Valley is a 45-mile (72 km) long north–south valley, trending slightly northeast from Sasabe, Arizona on the Mexico border to the Avra Valley west of the Tucson Mountains. It is delimited by Arizona State Route 86, from east- ...

. The southeast of the range abuts ''Cobre Ridge'', with various peaks, and Cobre Ridge borders the western edge of the Pajarito Wilderness, at the west end of the Pajarito Mountains. The community of Arivaca lies in the valley northeast of the San Luis Mountains at the southeast end of the Las Guijas Mountains; Arivaca Lake lies about 5 mi upstream on Arivaca Wash. The International Border lies less than one mile south of the southern margin of the range in Fresnal Wash. Cumero Mountain Peak at is north of the border.''Sells, Arizona–Sonora,'' 30x60 topographic quadrangle, USGS, 1994''Atascosa Mountains, Arizona–Sonora,'' 30x60 minute topographic map, USGS, 1994 Two mountain ranges, the San Luis in the southwest, and the

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 r ...

northwest lie west of the four-mountain sequence of the ''Tumacacori Highlands'' (of adjacent western Santa Cruz County) of the Tumacacori, Atascosa, Pajarito, and the Sierra La Esmeralda mountain ranges. The Highlands are now part of a

conservancy Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

study of wild cat 'travel corridor' usage between mountains, the study called ''Cuatros Gatos'' (Four Cats), for the

mountain lion The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted Felidae, wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, Central and South America, ...

, and

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

.Arizona Highways Magazine, ''Emerald Isle'', pp. 40–43.

References

Arizona Highways ''Arizona Highways'' is a magazine that contains travelogues and artistic photographs related to the U.S. state of Arizona. It is published monthly in Phoenix by a unit of the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). Background The ...

. ''Emerald Isle'', Terry Greene Sterling, photography, Jack Dykinga, February, 2010, pp. 40–43.

External links

San Luis Mountains at Mountainzone
;Ecology
Euphorbia, (spurge) plants, Universidad de Sonora (DICTUS)
{{Authority control Mountain ranges of Pima County, Arizona Mountain ranges of the Sonoran Desert Mountain ranges of Arizona