The Porilla Mountains form part of the eastern mountain rim of southeastern Arizona’s Sulphur Springs Valley. The book places Linda May’s homesteading site at their foot, connecting the range to her plans for a place of her own in the borderlands.

Regional Setting

The Sulphur Springs Valley runs for nearly a hundred miles through southeastern Arizona and into northern Mexico, between the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. Its lower half is framed by several mountain ranges: the Mule Mountains to the west and the Porilla Mountains among the ranges to the east. The Porillas are thus introduced not in isolation but as part of a broad, arid landscape defined by the valley and its surrounding ranges.

Linda May’s Land

The narrator drives through the valley to visit Linda May’s property, which lies at the foot of the Porilla Mountains. The approach crosses largely uninhabited scrubland, past occasional ranch houses, a small roadside shrine, and a solitary RV. Linda had also mentioned camp-hosting work farther north in the Chiricahua Mountains, within Coronado National Forest; the contrast situates her land within a wider region of remote sites and seasonal work. The Porillas’ narrative significance is grounded in this practical geography: they mark the setting of Linda’s homesteading project and the destination of the journey to see it.