| Baboquivari Peak Wilderness | |
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IUCN Category Ib (Wilderness Area)
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View of the east face of Baboquivari Peak |
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| Location | Pima County, Arizona, USA |
| Nearest city | Sasabe, Arizona |
| Area | 2,065 acres (8 km2) |
| Established | 1990 |
| Governing body | U.S. Bureau of Land Management |
The Baboquivari Peak Wilderness is a 2,065-acre (8 km2) wilderness area in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is located in the Baboquivari Mountain Range 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Tucson, Arizona.[1] It is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The United States Congress designated the Baboquivari Peak Wilderness in 1990. It is the smallest such designated wilderness in the state of Arizona. Today, the 2,900,000-acre (12,000 km2) Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation (second largest in the United States) lies to the west. Baboquivari Peak's elevation is 7,730 feet (2,356 m) and is a popular site for many climbers, tourists and other visitors to Arizona. It can be seen in the distance from the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Baboquivari Wilderness can be visited any time of the year, however, summer afternoons being usually too hot for hiking. Winter can bring an occasional snow shower to its higher elevations. It is reported to have some of the best backcountry rockclimbing in Arizona. Sightings of jaguars have been recorded in the Baboquivaris during the last decades.[2]
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Baboquivari Peak is the most sacred place to the Tohono O’odham people. It is the center of the Tohono O’odham cosmology and the home of the creator, I'itoi. According to tribal legend, he resides in a cave below the base of the mountain.
This mountain is regarded by the O’odham nation as the navel of the world -— a place where the earth opened and the people emerged after the great flood. Baboquivari Peak is also sometimes referred to as I’Itoi Mountain. In the native O'odham language, it is referred to as Waw Kiwulik, meaning "narrow about the middle". The O'odham people believe that he watches over their people to this day.
Baboquivari Peak was mentioned in the journals of Jesuit missionary Padre Kino, who made many expeditions into this region of the Sonoran Desert, beginning in 1699 and establishing Spanish Missions in the area.
Baboquivari Peak is a navigational landmark for immigrants attempting to make the dangerous and illegal journey across the Sonoran Desert on foot: as long as you keep Baboquivari to your left, you will know that you are still walking north.
According to O'odham nation legend at the beginning of the Spanish conquest of what is present day Arizona, a certain Spanish officer and his men tried to dig their way into Baboquivari. Suddenly, the ground under them opened and Baboquivari swallowed them. This legend has similarities to Francisco Vásquez de Coronado search for the Seven Cities of Cibola and a place called Quivira, where, he was told, he could get his hands on unlimited quantities of gold.
There are a considerable number of topographic features within the Baboquivari Mountains, one of the most notable being Fresnal Canyon. Numerous flora and fauna species are found in the Baboquivari Peak Wilderness; among these is the desert tree Bursera fagaroides.[3]