Saguaro National Park - Tucson Mountain District
Managed by National Park Service
21 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dogs usually limited
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
BOutdoors
Outdoors in Picture Rocks
20% of Picture Rocks’ land is conserved: 9,155 acres
84 miles of mapped trail cross Picture Rocks, 1.2 per square mile of land. The biggest trail networks: Saguaro National Park - Tucson Mountain District (0.5 mi). 23% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 59% of U.S. towns · #83 of 140 in Arizona. What drives it
Conserved land
20%
9,155 acres · of 70.8 sq mi of land
Trails
84 mi
1.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
44 ac
4.6 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
23%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.4 mi
0.8 mi paths
Highest peak
2,762 ft
Twin Peaks
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Picture Rocks?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Picture Rocks have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Picture Rocks is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #83 of 140 in Arizona. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Picture Rocks’ overall grade.
Conserved land20% of the land · typical AZ town 14% · U.S. 4%ATrails1.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (84 mi) · AZ 1.1 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land4.6 acres of park per 1,000 residents (44 acres) · AZ 8 · U.S. 13CParks close to home23% of residents within a half mile of a park · AZ 56% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 59%
LessMore
Arizona towns of 2,500+ (140)Ahead of 41%
Arizona towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 14%; the U.S., 4%), so Picture Rocks’ 20% is ahead of 57% of Arizona towns, while its trails per square mile lead 55% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Saguaro National Park - Tucson Mountain District, with 0.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Tumamoc Globeberry Preserve
Nature preserve
754 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Picture Rocks Park
Managed by Pima County
36 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Los Morteros
Nature preserve
33 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 6 parks & preserves
Saguaro National Park - Tucson Mountain District21 acres · 0.5 mi of trail · National Park Service
Tumamoc Globeberry Preserve754 acres
Picture Rocks Park36 acres · Pima County
Los Morteros33 acres
Saguaro National Park21 acres · National Park Service
Saguaro Wilderness8 acres · National Park Service
Who protects it
9,155 conserved acres
20% of Picture Rocks’ land. Who manages Picture Rocks’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State Department of Land7,330 ac
Bureau of Reclamation1,011 ac
County772 ac
National Park Service42 ac
Other or Unknown Federal Land26 ac
State Resource Management Area · 7,330 acFederal Other or Unknown · 1,011 acLocal Conservation Area · 736 acConservation Easement · 55 acLocal Recreation Area · 36 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 29 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 4 of 10 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Trust Land State Resource Management Area | State Department of Land | 7,330 | Restricted |
| Usbr Federal Other or Unknown | Bureau of Reclamation | 1,011 | Unknown |
| Brawley Wash/Manville-Garcia Local Conservation Area | County | 390 | Unknown |
| Flap Local Conservation Area | County | 320 | Unknown |
| Picture Rocks District Park Local Recreation Area | County | 36 | Open |
| Los Morteros Local Conservation Area | County | 27 | Unknown |
| Saguaro National Park National Park | National Park Service | 13 | Open |
Things to do
5 places to go in Picture Rocks
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Picture Rocks
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
2 named trails and 1 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 35.4 mi
Saddle Trail1.0 mi
North Dakota Plains Trail0.3 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
1.4 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.8 mi
off-road bike paths
0.6 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
3Basketball
2Baseball
1Skate park
1Tennis
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
April is the best month for walking in Picture Rocks
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 10.2 | 11.0 | 11.9 | 12.9 | 13.8 | 14.3 | 14.1 | 13.3 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.4 | 10.0 |
| High (°F) | 68 | 71 | 77 | 85 | 94 | 103 | 103 | 102 | 98 | 88 | 77 | 66 |
| Rain (in) | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 |
June is the driest month (0.2 in) and the warmest (highs of 103 °F). 2.1 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 103 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Picture Rocks →
Next door
Picture Rocks and its neighbors
Picture Rocks has the second most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Picture Rocks | 20% | 1.2 | 5 | 23% | B |
| Marana | 47% | 1.5 | 32 | 80% | A |
| Avra Valley | 18% | 0.5 | under 1 | under 1% | C |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Picture Rocks
Where can I hike in Picture Rocks?
The longest trail networks: Saguaro National Park - Tucson Mountain District, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Picture Rocks is conserved land?
20% of its land, against a typical 14% for an Arizona town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Picture Rocks’ trails?
Saguaro National Park - Tucson Mountain District and Tumamoc Globeberry Preserve don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Picture Rocks?
1.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.8 of off-road paths and 0.6 of shoulders and shared lanes.
Is there public land near Picture Rocks?
39,962 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Picture Rocks or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 119 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Picture Rocks have?
Ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #83 of 140 in Arizona. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Picture Rocks neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →