Painted Rock Mountains The Gila River crosses all of southern Arizona from southwest New Mexico, and is the drainage for about 1/2 of Arizona (the south). The highest elevation in the mountains is "unnamed" at , and is located at the central & east region of the range. (The range has many northwest-by-southeast ridgelines.) Painted Rock Mountains The Painted Rocks Mountains are a short 15-mile (24 km) long mountain range of the north-central Sonoran Desert southwest of Phoenix, Arizona and in southwest Maricopa County. The Gila River flows through the central-north end of the range. The famous Painted Rock Petroglyph Site lies at
Rangipo Desert factors lowering the temperature below zero for days on end. Much of the desert lies at an altitude of over , and a considerable proportion of it is over above sea level. Due to the unproductive nature of the land and the extreme winter climate, the region is largely uninhabited. The town of Waiouru, with its army camp, lies to the south and much of the southern part of the desert is used for training purposes. To the north of the desert lies the Rangipo prison farm. Many of the North Island's largest rivers have their headwaters in the area,