Kachina Peaks Wilderness, Mountain wilderness in Coconino County, United States.
Kachina Peaks Wilderness is an 18,616-acre wilderness area about 6 miles north of Flagstaff in Coconino National Forest. It covers most of the upper San Francisco Peaks, including Humphreys Peak, Arizona's highest point at 12,643 feet (3,854 m). The mountains form the rim of a caldera, and the wilderness contains Ice Age glacial moraines and abandoned stream beds.
Kachina Peaks Wilderness lies within the San Francisco Peaks, part of a large composite volcano whose last eruption occurred roughly two million years ago. That eruption formed the inner basin, a large caldera whose rim is made up of Humphreys, Doyle, Fremont and Agassiz peaks. Ice Age glaciers later left lateral and medial moraines and abandoned stream beds in the wilderness.
Several Native American tribes, including the Havasupai, Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni, maintain religious shrines and sacred sites throughout this wilderness, viewing the peaks as spiritually significant places for their traditions. The mountains hold an important role in their ceremonies and spiritual practices.
The wilderness lies about 6 miles north of Flagstaff in Coconino National Forest. Trails from the area lead to Humphreys Peak, Doyle Peak, Fremont Peak and Agassiz Peak. Common activities are hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and hunting.
The only Arctic-Alpine vegetation zone in Arizona lies here, a fragile 2-square-mile (5.2 km2) patch on the summits. Within it grows the threatened San Francisco Peaks groundsel (Packera franciscana), found nowhere else on earth.
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