The Sierra Pinta or Sierra Pintas (colloquial

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for 'Painted Mountains') are a narrow remote

block fault Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by relat ...

ed northwest-southeast trending mountain range, about long located in southwestern

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 ...

in the arid northwestern

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

, just north of the Pinacate Reserve of 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 ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The mountains derive their name from visitor descriptions of its multicolored hues when viewed at sunrise and sunset. The north end of the range contains the peak called ''Point of the Pintas'' at , then Bean Pass; adjacent southward is the peak Isla Pinta, at , and Sunday Pass. The Sierra Pinta range is toward the southern end of the

Mohawk Valley The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...

, which also borders the range on the east, and east to the

Bryan Mountains The Bryan Mountains are a small mountain range in the northwestern Sonoran Desert of southwestern Arizona. The range is located in southeastern Yuma County, about southeast of Yuma and about west of Ajo. The range is approximately ten miles ...

. West of the Sierra Pintas is the Tule Desert, and south in northern Sonora is the El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar, the extensive and active volcanic and

cinder cone A cinder cone or scoria cone is a steep, volcanic cone, conical landform of loose pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic ash, clinkers, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are forme ...

field and preserve. The highest peak in the range is Pinta Benchmark at . An early noting of the existence of the Sierra Pinta Range was in the explorations of Anza.Herbert Eugene Bolton et al. 1966

Roads and the region

West of the northwest end of the Sierra Pintas, the north–south ''"Christmas Pass Road"'' goes south from

Interstate 8 Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, California, almost at the Pacific Ocean, to the junction with I-10, ...

and through Christmas Pass, adjacent to the Tule Desert, on the southeast end of the

Cabeza Prieta Mountains The Cabeza Prieta Mountains are a mountain range in the northwestern Sonoran Desert of southwest Arizona. It is located in southern Yuma County, Arizona. The mountain range is amongst an eleven-mountain sequence of north-trending ranges and va ...

(all to the southwest of the Sierra Pintas). The road terminates close by at the US-Mexico Border at an unimproved road called the ''

El Camino del Diablo El Camino del Diablo (Spanish, meaning "The Devil's Path"), also known as El Camino del Muerto, Sonora Trail, Sonoyta-Yuma Trail, Yuma-Caborca Trail, and Old Yuma Trail, is a historic road that passes through some of the most remote and inhospita ...

'', or Devil's Highway, which parallels the border. This is a no man's land region in the high point of summer heat.

Ecology

The Sierra Pintas lie in the central-western portion of the

Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge (CPNWR) is located in southwestern Arizona in the United States, along of the Mexico–United States border. It is bordered to the north and to the west by the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, to the ...

. The closest access point from the north is

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people (Kanien’kehá:ka), an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language (Kanien’kéha), the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a ...

Interstate 8 in Arizona Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay (San Diego), Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, California, almost ...

, through the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range. Ajo, Arizona is 35 air miles eastward beyond two mountain ranges and valleys;

Sonoyta Sonoyta, Sonora, is a town in the northern States of Mexico, Mexican state of Sonora. It stands on the U.S.-Mexico border, facing Lukeville, Arizona, in the United States. It is the municipal seat of the municipality of Plutarco Elías Calles, S ...

, Sonora is slightly southeastward at the south border crossing of the

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a U.S. national monument and UNESCO biosphere reserve located in extreme southern Arizona that shares a border with the Mexican state of Sonora. The park is the only place in the United States where the ...

References

* C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''California Fan Palm: Washingtonia filifera'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg
* Herbert Eugene Bolton, Francisco Palóu, José Joaguín Moraga, Juan Díaz, Pedro Font, Francisco Tomás Hermenegildo Garcés, Tomás Eixarch. 1966. ''Anza's California expeditions'', Published by Russell and Russell

Line notes

{{Mountains of Arizona Mountain ranges of the Sonoran Desert Mountain ranges of Yuma County, Arizona Mountain ranges of Arizona

Roads and the region

Ecology

See also

References

Line notes