Sentinel Peak
Peak · 884.2 m · Tucson & the Sky Islands
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A 2,897 ft peak in the Tucson Mountains. The name "Tucson" derives from O'odham *Cuk Ṣon*, meaning "the base of the mountain is black." A 160 ft tall concrete "A" was built on the east face in the 1910s by University of Arizona students. The 272-acre park offers views across the city.
Spanish soldiers from the Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón climbed here after 1775 to watch for Apache raiders, and that lookout duty is why "Sentinel" is half the peak's name. Older maps and locals also knew it as Picket Post Butte, after the small stone fort where the lookouts stood. University of Arizona students hauled basalt rock up the east face in 1915 and built the giant block letter after a football win over Pomona, and each fall Blue Key sends freshmen up to whitewash it again for A Day. The color hasn't always held: the A went red, white and blue after the September 11 attacks, turned black in 2003 in protest of the Iraq invasion, then briefly red again in 2018 during Arizona's Red for Ed teacher pay campaign before reverting to white.
What you see
The whitewashed "A" itself comes into view on the peak's own east flank well before the summit, and from the top the Santa Cruz riverbed threads north through downtown as a pale ribbon against the flat valley floor, with the Tucson Mountains rising close behind.
Practical
Cars are banned from Sentinel Peak Road every Monday, leaving it to cyclists and walkers; on other days vehicles run Tuesday-Thursday 2pm-sunset and Friday-Sunday 11am-sunset.
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