Sentinel Peak, The A on the Hill

That rocky peak rising above Tucson's west side is Sentinel Peak, the source of the name Tucson, from the O'odham words Chuk Shon, meaning the base of the dark hill. Spanish soldiers posted lookouts here in the seventeen hundreds to watch for Apache raiders approaching the San Agustín valley, which is how it earned the name Sentinel. The peak rises a few hundred feet above the desert floor and offers a full panorama of the Tucson basin.

In nineteen sixteen, University of Arizona students whitewashed a giant block letter A onto the basalt face, and school spirit has kept it painted ever since. The surrounding Sentinel Peak Park opened as a public recreation area and the road spiraling to the summit is a favorite sunrise drive. From the top you can see four mountain ranges at once.