Pinaleno Mountains

Mountain range running for 56 km/35 mi in the southeast of Arizona. The mountains form part of the Coronado National Forest, and reach a high point of 3,267 m/10,720 ft at Mount Graham.

Mount Graham is home to numerous subalpine plants and many animals, including a unique species of red squirrel. Plans to construct a new observatory on the summit have raised many concerns about its detrimental environmental impact. Heliograph Peak (3,055 m/10,022 ft) takes its name from a signal station built there in 1886. To the northwest are the Santa Teresa Mountains, which rise to 2,524 m/8,282 ft at Mount Turnbull, on the San Carlos Indian Reservation. The prehistoric Cochise and Hohokam peoples lived in the area; Pinaleno comes from an Apache word meaning ‘deer people’.