Off Picture Rocks Road, at the base of the Tucson Mountains, a spiral carved into the rock catches a “light dagger” of sunlight at the summer solstice and the equinoxes. This map of Picture Rocks prints Picture Rocks Elementary School, Picture Rocks Park & Community Center, Picture Rocks Fire & Medical District Station 121 and the Picture Rocks Fire & Medical District, with Twin Peaks, Brawley Wash and the Central Arizona Project Canal giving shape to the land.
Picture Rocks is a census-designated place in Pima County, in the Marana Unified School District.
KNOWOL made this map in 2026 and gave it the look of an old atlas. The shaded relief of Twin Peaks comes from United States Geological Survey elevation data, and the streets were drawn from Census Bureau files. The community covers 55.6 square miles, and 9,551 people lived here at the 2020 census.
The petroglyphs
The Picture Rocks petroglyphs hold hundreds of carvings from the Hohokam era and before, and the rock art is believed to have been made by the Hohokam between A.D. 750 and 1350. The glyphs show human-like figures and animals and a range of designs, among them spirals. Historians believe the spirals worked as a kind of calendar during the Hohokam era: at the summer solstice the light dagger forms on the spiral’s outer coil and moves along it until it settles over the center around noon, and at the spring and fall equinoxes it points in toward the center around midday. A 2006 survey by archaeologist Allen Dart, executive director of Tucson’s Old Pueblo Archaeology Center, found an estimated 800 to 1,000 glyphs across the hill, and Old Pueblo leads tours there every summer solstice and fall equinox.
The site lies on the grounds of the Redemptorist Renewal Center, a Catholic retreat, and it’s free and open to the public, though the center asks visitors to check in first. The trail is short and easy. The petroglyphs show best before noon, when shadows give them more contrast, and visitors are asked not to climb on the rocks or touch the carvings, since oils from skin can darken them over time. The center also keeps a labyrinth 55 feet across and a bell dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe that once hung outside the adobe chapel of the Presidio Real de San AgustÃn del Tucson in 1807. Saguaro National Park West is a short drive away.
Click to explore a larger preview. The digital watermark does not appear on printed maps.
Names on this map
These names are printed on this map.
Streets and roads: W Whitewing Way, Lambert Ln, W Prickle Desert Dr, Ghost Ranch Rd, W Arra Valley Rd, W Avra Valley Rd, W Gas Sanders Connection Rd, W Twin Peaks Rd, W Overton Rd, W Emigh Rd, W Silverbell Rd, Clayton Rd.
More street names, A to Z
Agate Rd, Bajada Loop, Casa Grande, Dark Rd, E Fort Lowell Rd, Golden Gate Rd, Hohokam Rd, Lang Rd, Massingale Rd, N Cement Plant Rd, N Golden Gate Rd, N I10 Frontage Rd, N Kinney Rd, N Quarry Boundary Rd, N Van Ark Rd, Quarry Rd, Ranch Rd, Reservation Rd, Signal Hill Rd, Silverbell Rd, W Alibi Dr, W Avra View Rd, W Bama Rd, W Barney Ln, W Cll Pima, W Dally Rd, W Flybuoy Ranch Rd, W Garcia Ranch Rd, W Hideaways Emerald Ln, White Stallion Ranch Rd, W Little Alex Ln, W Manville Rd, W Mars Rd, W Maser Way, W McCain Loop, W McClean Rd, W Memory Ln, W Ocean Front St, W Orange Grove Rd, W Paint Horse Rd, W Polo Ln, W Saddle Trl, W Scrub Brush Rd, W Sunset Dr, W Sunset Rd, W Tucker Rd, W Via Monica, W Yankee Ranch Rd.
Park, wash and canal
Picture Rocks Park, at 5615 North Sanders Road, has a baseball field, a softball field, a lighted basketball court, a skate and BMX park, a swimming pool and splash pad, a sand volleyball court and playgrounds, with multi-use paths around the field and the playground. The Picture Rocks Community Center, at the same address, runs after-school and summer programs for children, teen and active adult programs, congregate meals for people 55 and older, a lending library and public computers, and it hosts the Pima County Library Bookmobile and the Community Food Bank.
Brawley Wash is an ephemeral stream, a tributary of the Santa Cruz River. It rises in the Altar Valley and crosses the Avra Valley between the Roskruge Mountains and the Tucson Mountains, and near the Santa Cruz it’s known as the Los Robles Wash. The Central Arizona Project Canal carries Colorado River water 336 miles from Lake Havasu to a terminus 14 miles southwest of Tucson; the backbone of the system was declared substantially complete in 1993, and Senator Carl Hayden shepherded the project through Congress. Picture Rocks Elementary School, Picture Rocks Fire & Medical District Station 121 and Twin Peaks have their places on the sheet too.
This Picture Rocks map is a good addition to an office, library or den, and it can help teach children the geography and history of the area. It’s made for anyone who calls Picture Rocks home, at the foot of the Tucson Mountains, and KNOWOL created it in 2026 to show the community as it looks today. Zoom in on the preview above to explore the details, then click here to get your copy of the Picture Rocks map.
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