2018 Map of Malpais Hill

About this map

Crater Range dominates the southern reaches of this landscape, its steep contours rising sharply from the desert floor. To the north, the isolated prominence of Malpais Hill stands as a clear landmark in an otherwise open terrain defined by the intermittent drainage of Midway Wash. This area of Maricopa County reflects the stark, undeveloped character of the Arizona desert in the early 21st century, where land use is primarily organized by the Public Land Survey System. The map documents a territory defined by its geologic formations rather than human settlement, preserving the spatial relationship between the volcanic-named heights and the drainage paths that carve through the basin.