I have in my pile a fair number of volcano questions that have come in over the months. I never seem to get around to answering them, usually because they involve terms such as “Cenozoic Laramide gneiss,” and I get tired just thinking about stuff like that.

However, there was pie for breakfast today, so with firm purpose and cheerful mien we shall now take up this matter of theMcDowells. According to one of my favorite books, Roadside Geology of Arizona by Halka Chronic, the McDowells are “rocky hills (that) protrude through the gravel,” so I guess that means they are not mountains or volcanoes, just rocky hills. I suppose we should call them mountains anyway because the McDowell Rocky Hills wouldn’t be much of a name.