I never knew how much I adored Arizona until I thru-hiked the Arizona National Scenic Trail in 2022. Walking 800 miles from the state’s southern border with Mexico up to the Utah border opened my eyes to the state’s geographic diversity. And I haven’t been quite the same since then.
Traversing the Grand Canyon State on foot allowed me to savor the sky islands in the Sonoran desert. And visit Saguaro National Park. I hiked the Superstition Mountains, the Four Peaks Wilderness, and the Mazatzals. I ascend the Mogollon Rim. I traipsed across the Colorado Plateau through the world’s largest ponderosa pine forest. I hiked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim before following the Kaibab Plateau all way to the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.
After this epic hiking adventure, I hoped to return to Arizona the following spring for one of the state’s other epic long trails – the 500-mile Mogollon Rim Trail. Unfortunately, 2023 was a high snow year, so I had to settle for thru-hiking the Highline Trail – a 58-mile national scenic trail that runs below the Mogollon Rim instead.
During this trek on Highline Trail hike, I spent a good bit of time staring up at Myrtle Point and Promontory Butte on the edge of the Mogollon Rim. These two points are the highest points in Pima County, and looking at them day after day naturally got me pondering one of my other favorite hobbies: highpointing.
I’d already hiked or climbed to the highest point in nearly every state around the US over the prior five years. And I was contemplating a bid for all 36 of the county high points in my home state of Oregon. Was it feasible to do the same thing in Arizona? “How many counties did Arizona even have?” I wondered.
Arizona’s County High Points
After I returned home to Oregon, I started digging into the feasibility of highpointing the state of Arizona. And here’s what I discovered…
In terms of geographic size, Arizona is the sixth largest state in the US – after Alaska, Texas, California, Montana, and New Mexico. In fact, it’s roughly the same size as Italy. If Arizona were a nation instead of a state, it would be larger than 63% of the other countries in the world. So getting to all the high points requires a good bit of travel.
But, there was a silver lining too. Despite its large geographic area, Arizona only has 15 counties! So unlike Texas (with its whopping 254 counties), hiking to the summit of each of Arizona’s counties was a pretty realistic goal!
It wouldn’t be easy, for sure. The county high points range from 4,877 feet elevation to 12,633 feet elevation. But, I’ve already hiked the highest mountain in the state (Humphreys Peak) during my state highpointing quest – so I really only had 14 counties left to conquer. This was a solid and totally attainable goal! And I’d get to see even more of this wondrous state, traveling to places I’d yet to explore.
Here’s the overall list of each Arizona county and their highest natural points:
| County | Highest Point | Elevation | Location |
| Apache Co. | Mt. Baldy | 11,405 | White Mountains |
| Cochise Co. | Chiricahua Peak | 9,759 | Chiricahua Mountains |
| Coconino Co. | Humphreys Peak | 12,633′ | San Francisco Peaks |
| Gila Co. | (tie) Myrtle Point and Promontory Butte | 7,920′ | Mogollon Rim |
| Graham Co. | Mt. Graham | 10,720′ | Pinaleño Mountains |
| Greenlee Co. | Greenlee Co. High Point | 9,441 | White Mountains |
| La Paz Co. | Harquahala Mountain | 5,681 | Harquahala Mountains |
| Maricopa Co. | Browns Peak | 7,657 | Mazatzal Mountains |
| Mohave Co. | Hualapai Peak | 8,417 | Hualapai Moutains |
| Navajo Co. | Black Mesa’s High Point | 8,168 | Hopi-Navajo Mesas |
| Pima Co. | Mt. Lemmon | 9,157′ | Santa Catalina Mountains |
| Pinal Co. | Rice Peak (north ridge) | 7,280′ | Santa Catalina Mountains |
| Santa Cruz Co. | Mt. Wrightson | 9,453′ | Santa Rita Mountains |
| Yavapai Co. | Mt. Union | 7,979′ | Bradshaw Mountains |
| Yuma Co. | Signal Peak | 4,877′ | Kofa Wilderness |
Trivia about Arizona’s High Points
Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper Outdoor Pilgrim summary if I didn’t reveal some of the interesting trivia about the county high points of this diverse state too:
- Arizona’s highest point: Humphreys Peak (12,633′)
- Arizona’s lowest point: Colorado River (72′)
- Number of Arizona CoHPs sitting above 9,000′ elevation: 7
- How many Arizona CoHPs below of 7,000: 2
- Arizona CoHPs sitting between 7,000-9,000′: 6
- Counties where a mountain’s slope, rather than summit is the HP: 1 (Pinal Co.)
- Number where the CoHP is unnamed: 2 (Greenlee Co., Navajo Co.)
- Number of CoHPs located on public lands: 13
- CoHPs where the summit sits on a tribal lands: 2 (Black Mesa & Mt. Baldy)
- Arizona CoHPs adjacent to a national monument: 1 (Chiricahua Peak)
- National Forests or Wilderness Areas containing Arizona CoHPs: 9
- Wildlife refuges or study areas containing CoHPs: 2 (Yuma Co. and Graham Co.)
- Animals protected in the Kofa Wildlife Refuge: Desert Bighorn Sheep
- Animals studied in the Mt. Graham Wilderness: Red Squirrels
- Places tied for the highest elevation in Gila Co.: 2 (Promontory Butte & Myrtle Point)
- Distance between Gila County’s two highest points: 12.5 miles
- CoHPs with the trailhead inside a county park: 1 (Hualapai Peak)
- Cost to enter Hualapai Mountain Park: $10
- Number of CoHPs that require a backcountry hiking permit: 1 (Black Mesa)
- Cost for the permit: $15/day (paid to the Navajo Nation Park & Rec)
- High points with ski slopes on them: 2 (Mt. Lemmon & Humphreys Peak)
Final Thoughts
And so, with this new goal on my horizon, I’m hoping to complete Arizona’s county high points by the end of 2025. Fifteen peaks doesn’t seem like a terribly large or unattainable goal over two years’ time. However, there are a few factors that make it a notable challenge for me.
The first complication is I don’t live in Arizona. I live 900 miles away from the closest Arizona state line. So each high point is going to require a significant bit of travel just to get there and back. And once, I reach Arizona by car or plane, there’s still many, many miles of driving to get out to each far-flung county in this vast state.
Second, nearly all of Arizona’s county high points are above 7,000 feet elevation – making most of them fairly inaccessible during the winter and spring months. Arizona gets a bit of snow at those higher elevations too. So I won’t be snowbirding and peakbagging through the winter. These county high points will still be competing with my other hiking and highpointing adventures from March to October each year.
Finally, I don’t want to turn my Arizona highpointing goal into a handful of lightening fast trips where I try to bag as many peaks as possible in the shortest time. One of the joys of highpointing is the memories I build with each peak. Clustering too many of them in a whirlwind trip (with very long days of driving) doesn’t give me the time to savor each peak for the individual adventure it should be.
And so my countdown clock is ticking… Fifteen peaks in 24 months’ time. Let’s see if I can get them all done!
