Lukachukai Mountains

Landform in Apache County, Arizona

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The Lukachukai Mountains are a mountain range in northeast Arizona, entirely located on the Navajo Nation. The highest point of the range is an unnamed point at 9,466 feet (2,885 meters) above sea level.^[1] While open during the winter, no road maintenance is performed and chains or four wheel drive with good snow tires are essential due to grades of up to 14% in many places.

The Lukachukai Mountain trail gives access to some of the scenic red-rock high country here. The trailhead is located just south of Buffalo Pass on Indian Route 13, a paved highway.^[2] The trail is passable to OHVs in dry weather. A permit is required from the Navajo Nation government.^{[citation needed]}

There is a belt of uranium deposits that crosses the Lukachukai Mountains. The ore belt is within a bed of lenticular sandstone and mudstone that apparently provided sufficient permeable sandstone for the passage of ore solutions, and sufficient impermeable mudstone to restrict movement of solutions to particular sandstone beds. An unusual concentration of organic material (carbonized wood?) served as a precipitation agent.^[3]

Popular culture

The mountains are the opening setting for Tony Hillerman's The Blessing Way.^[4]

References

^ "Lukachukai Mountains High Point, Arizona". Peakbagger.com.
^ Arizona Trails: Northeast, by P. Massey et al., ISBN 978-1930193024 trail guide (2006)
^ John Alan Masters, "Geology of the uranium deposits of the Lukachukai Mountains area, northeastern Arizona." Economic Geology; March 1955; v. 50; no. 2; pp. 111–126; doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.50.2.111 Abstract
^ Hillerman, Tony (1970). The Blessing Way. New York: HarperCollins. p. 3. ISBN 978-0062955593.