Are you still here? Alright, I may have exaggerated a bit. It's actually not that deadly. Quite pleasant, even beautiful. Just bring a little moleskin and multiple extremity amputations may not be needed.

As long as you're here then, you may as well come along into one of the great riparian ecosystems of southwestern North America.

The geology, and therefore the landscape of Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness is dominated by the Galiuro Volcanics, bedded volcanic ash falls and eroded ash deposits that erupted from a series of linear fissures in what is now southeastern Arizona 25-30 million years ago. Rock formations in the canyon are carved from Galiuro Volcanics.

Later on, these formations were caught up in the tectonic processes that created the Basin and Range of the American West. The western half of the North American Plate rafted westward away from the eastern half, pulling the crust apart and causing great slumps and blocks that became river valleys and mountain ranges. The Galiuro Range slowly rose by default as the San Pedro basin to the west and the Sulphur Springs basin to the east fell. Drainages to each direction gradually merged and formed Aravaipa Canyon.

Today, water coming off the western slopes of the Pinaleno Mts., and the eastern slopes of the Galiuro Mts. migrate into the deep alluvium of the upper Sulphur Springs Valley groundwater basin. These subterranean waters are forced to the surface as they enter the eastern (upper) entrance to Aravaipa Canyon encountering bedrock just below the surface. Surface water flows are maintained through the whole length of the canyon (about 15 miles) until the bedrock drops away into deep alluvium in the western end.