Camelback Mountain

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Camelback Mountain

Camelback Mountain from Tempe Butte (also known as "A" Mountain)

Camelback Mountain is a mountain of 2,704-foot elevation in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The name is derived from its shape, which resembles the two humps and head of a bactrian camel. A period of missing time amounting to almost a billion and a half years is represented by the division between the two rock formations which comprise the mountain.^{[citation needed]} The higher part of the peak is Precambrian age granite, around 1700 million years old (almost 1/8 of the age of the Universe). The head of the camel is Tertiary age sandstone, approximately 30 million years old.^{[citation needed]}

This mountain is a hiking destination for both locals and visitors to the Valley. It is located in the Camelback Mountain Echo Canyon Recreation Area between the Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix and the town of Paradise Valley.

The peak lends its name to a major east-west street in the Phoenix area called Camelback Road that starts in Scottsdale and goes about 34 miles west past the West Valley suburbs of Goodyear and Litchfield Park. It starts again past the White Tanks.

Serious efforts to protect Camelback Mountain as a natural area began in the early 1910's. In the late nineteenth century Camelback Mountain was set aside for a Native American reservation. Half a century later nearly all of the area was sold to private interests. Federal and state authorities attempted to stop development above the one thousand and six hundred feet level. They failed to halt development and in 1963 efforts to arrange a land exchange failed in the Arizona State legislature.

It wasn't until 1965 that Senator Barry Goldwater took up the cause, helping to secure the higher elevations as a city park for Phoenix in 1968.

Camelback Mountain has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride.^[1]

[edit] Additional photographs

As viewed from a Sky Harbor Airport hotel.	As viewed from Camelback Road.	Typical residence on Camelback Mountain.	Landscaped vegetation found on Camelback Mountain.
Panoramic view from Camelback Mountain.	Another panoramic view from Camelback Mountain.