Sierra Madre Occidental Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through Northwestern and Western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica. The Spanish name "sierra madre" means "mother mountains" and "occidental" means "western" in English, with these being the "Western Mother Mountains". To the east, from the Spanish "oriental" meaning
Peloncillo Mountains (Hidalgo County) safe haven ranges of northern Mexico. The highest peak is Gray Mountain at . The region is famous for Skeleton Canyon and the historical events that occurred there. The Baker Canyon Wilderness is located just south in the connected mountain range, the Guadalupe Mountains. Peloncillo Mountains (Hidalgo County) The Peloncillo Mountains of Hidalgo County, (Spanish language "pelo", hair, "pelón", hairless, bald; "peloncillo", Little Baldy), is a major long mountain range southwest of New Mexico's Hidalgo County, and also part of the New Mexico Bootheel region. The range continues to the northwest into Arizona as the Peloncillo Mountains of Cochise County,