Santa Catalina Mountains

The Santa Catalina Mountains, commonly referred to as the Catalina Mountains or the Catalinas, are north and northeast of Tucson, Arizona, United States, on Tucson's north perimeter. The mountain range is the most prominent in the Tucson area, near Catalina Foothills, an unincorporated community, with the highest average elevation. The highest point in the Catalinas is Mount Lemmon at an elevation of 9,157 feet (2, 791 m) above sea level and receives 18 inches (460 mm) of precipitation annually. The scenic, 27-mile Catalina Highway winds through the mountain range up to the village of Summerhaven near Mount Lemmon. Originally known by the Tohono O'odham Nation as Babad Do'ag, the Catalinas were later named in 1697 by the Italian Jesuit Eusebio Francisco Kino in honor of Catherine of Alexandria who was the patron saint of Kino's oldest sister. The Catalinas are part of the Santa Catalina Ranger District located in the Coronado National Forest, and also include the Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area. The mountain range is considered a prominent range in the Madrean sky islands, and partially delimits the mountain ranges in the northwest of the sky island region; lower elevation bajadas associated with the Santa Cruz River Valley spread northwestwards towards Phoenix. Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), on Mt. Lemmon, is a project to discover comets and asteroids, and to search for near-Earth objects (NEOs). More specifically, CSS is to search for any potentially hazardous asteroids that may pos

Location: United States.

Mountain range data from Wikidata (CC0). Elevation is the height of the highest peak.