The San Francisco Peaks, a volcanic mountain range, is located just north of Flagstaff in the Coconino National Forest. At 12,643 feet they are the highest mountains in Arizona and are also known as the Volcanic Highlands. On a clear day the views from the Peaks stretch to the Grand Canyon’s North Rim which is over 80 miles away. In 1692 a group of Spanish Friars in the Franciscan Order founded a mission about 65 miles from the Peaks and named them the San Francisco Peaks to honor their founder St. Francis of Assisi. The Peaks are sacred to 13 Native American Tribes. The Navajo consider them to be the most sacred in all the West and their medicine men use the herbs collected from the mountain top in healing ceremonies. Vincent Randall, the chairman of the Yavapai-Apache, said the Peaks are one of the “sacred places where the Earth brushes up against the unseen world.” |
