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Picacho Mountains Petroglyph Sites

Arizona, USA

George and Eve DeLange

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Site #1. Picacho Mountains Petroglyph Site, Arizona. Photo February 25, 2010.
Site #1. Picacho Mountains Petroglyph Site, Arizona. Photo February 25, 2010.
Site #1. Picacho Mountains Petroglyph Site, Arizona. Photo February 25, 2010.
Site #2. Picacho Mountains Petroglyph Site, Arizona. Photo February 25, 2010.
Site #3. Picacho Mountains Petroglyph Site, Arizona. Photo February 25, 2010.
Site #3. Picacho Mountains Petroglyph Site, Arizona. Photo February 25, 2010.
Site #4. Picacho Mountains Petroglyph Site, Arizona. Photo February 25, 2010.

This is an easy way to actually visit some very remote, little visited, ancient Hohokam petroglyphs in Arizona. NOTE: Do Not Use A Low Clearance Vehicle!

Picacho Mountains: DO NOT CONFUSE THIS WITH PICACHO PEAK: Note: You must have an Arizona State Trust Land Permit To Enter This Site. This permit can be obtained in person by visiting the Arizona State Land Department at 1616 West Adams Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007. You can also download a permit application and mail order the permit. Your vehicle must always display a valid permit tag, when on the site. Here is a link to the Arizona State Land Department to download the form you need to order a recreational permit. To Get There: From Phoenix: Take the I-10 east towards Tucson approximately 55 miles to exit 211B for Hwy 84/Hwy 87 to Eloy. Merge onto Hwy 87 north towards Florence. Drive approximately 4 miles along Hwy 87 to Houser Road. Turn right onto Houser Road and travel east approximately 5 � miles to Brady Pump Road. Turn left onto Brady Pump Road and travel north approximately 3 miles until the pavement ends at the Central Arizona Project canal. There is a cluster of buildings associated with the CAP including a tall white silo tower. The end of the pavement marks the beginning of State Land Trust property. There will be several dirt roads radiating near the junction with the white silo tower. Choose the dirt road heading due north that crosses a cattle grate with State Trust Land signage. Travel 1 � miles north until you reach a junction with another dirt road heading due east. Turn right onto this road (North Start Road) and travel 1 � miles east until you reach the foot of the Picacho Mountains. There will be a parking lot on the south side of the road at the first rock art site. Rock art will be everywhere on what appears to be a huge pile of dark boulders that completely covers the west side of the hill. Additional rock art sites can be found around the perimeter of the Picacho Mountains. From Tucson: Take Hwy 77 north from Tucson approximately 20 miles to the junction with Hwy 79. Take Hwy 79 northwest towards Florence. Drive approximately 25 miles to East Deep Well Ranch Road. Turn left onto East Deep Well Ranch Road and enter State Land Trust property. Continue southwest on this dirt road about 3 � miles until you reach North Start Road that will head west to the foot of the Picacho Mountains. North Start Road will pass an abandoned mine after about 4 � miles and an active gravel pit after about 4 � miles. The first rock art site will be on the left side of the road after traveling nearly 6 � miles along North Start Road. A Google Earth map shows the location of the first petroglyph site and the parking lot on the south side of North Start Road at about: 32o 50' 02.64" N 111o 23' 01.81" W. Elevation at about 1,756 feet. You will find hundreds of petroglyphs at this location. A Google Earth map shows the location of the second petroglyph site at about: 32o 49' 46.88" N 111o 22' 37.32" W. Elevation at about 1,800 feet. You will find about a hundred of petroglyphs at this location. A Google Earth map shows the location of the third petroglyph site at about: 32o 49' 48.90" N 111o 22' 37.54" W. Elevation at about 1,801 feet. You will find about 50 petroglyphs at this location. A Google Earth map shows the location of the fourth petroglyph site about: 32o 49' 11.58" N 111o 22' 31.01" W. Elevation at about 1,837 feet. You will find about 10 well defined petroglyphs at this location. The Hohokam: It is thought that the Hohokam were the first people to actually settle down in villages with canals along the Gila & Salt Rivers of Arizona. It is known that the ancient Hohokam people once lived and farmed here. Evidence or ruins of their culture have been found in the area. Some date from their late Pioneer Period (AD 350-AD 550). Some villages dating into their Early Colonial Period (AD 550-AD 700) are found towards the north and west of Painted Rock. In addition village ruins of their Sedentary - Classic Period (AD 900-AD 1400) are found to the south and east. According to oral tradition, the Hohokam may be the ancestors of the historic Akimel O'odham and Tohono O'odham peoples in Southern Arizona. The Hohokam culture, which spanned some 1450 years � from 1 A. D. in the first millennium to A. D. 1450 � suddenly appeared and vanished into the darkness of history. During that time, the Hohokam raised new standards in innovation, art, and craftsmanship. They also had trade and cultural connections into Mesoamerica. Based upon the first archaeological evidence, researchers believed that early Hohokam pioneers into northern Sonora and southern Arizona, imported a more advanced Mesoamerican influence into the area, founding the Hohokam culture, around the beginning of the first millennium. Based upon later archaeological evidence, other researchers believed that local descendants of the ancient hunting and gathering traditions of the desert, responded to influences from Mesoamerica and emerged as the Hohokam. Yet other students have suggested that the Hohokam immigrants arrived from an unknown Mesoamerican region and swept across the deserts of southern Arizona and northern Mexico. It is thought by those researchers that the Hohokam immigrants probably over ran the hunter/gatherers in the region of southern Arizona, sometime in the second half of the first millennium. Yet other investigators say that the Hohokam region was nothing more than a Mesoamerican frontier outpost. And others believe that the Hohokam culture represented nothing more than a local cultural development with a Mesoamerican tint. In any case, not much is known about their origins. The Hohokam occupied a geologically and ecologically diverse region, which extended from the basin and range and the low desert country of northern Sonora and southern Arizona northward into the Mogollon Rim escarpment and onto the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau. The Hohokam people had many settlements in the Gila and Salt River valleys of southern Arizona. They built rectangular pit houses from earth, rather than stone, and lived in small villages. They cremated their dead and placed the ashes in a specially prepared pit Although the Hohokam relied a great deal on hunting and gathering, they also were skilled farmers and excellent engineers. They were a peaceful people who cooperated to build large canal networks. Some of their canals were over ten miles long and used gravity to control water flow and to flush out the silt. Between the 7th and 14th centuries they built and maintained these extensive irrigation networks along the lower Salt and middle Gila rivers that rivaled the complexity of those used in the ancient Near East, Egypt, and China. These were constructed using relatively simple excavation tools, without the benefit of advanced engineering technologies. These highly successful agricultural techniques produced a surplus of food. Villages and populations grew. Over the next 1500 years the Hohokam expanded their settlements into the Tucson Basin, then to the Phoenix area, and as far north as present-day Flagstaff.

If you are planning to visit the Picacho Mountains Petroglyph Sites, Arizona. And if you are coming from outside of Arizona, you could fly into the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and then rent a high clearance vehicle. There are many hotels and motels in the area. We have some links to Priceline.com on this page since they can arrange all of your air flights, hotels and high clearance vehicle. We also have some links to Altrec.com on this page since they are a good online source for any outdoor camping gear and clothing that you may need. We of course, appreciate your use of the advertising on our pages, since it helps us to keep our pages active.

Site #1. Picacho Mountains Petroglyphs.	Site #1. Picacho Mountains Petroglyphs.
Site #1. Picacho Mountains Petroglyphs.	Site #1. Picacho Mountains Petroglyphs.

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