Coconino National Forest

Located in central Arizona, lies the Coconino National Forest. Northward lies the Colorado Plateau, a high, cold desert of flat-lying rocks and sheer-walled canyons. Southward lie hot desert basins and rugged mountains - the "basin and range province" which includes the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona. From the snow-frosted San Francisco Peaks to desert highlands along the Verde River, Coconino National Forest's 1.8 million acres drop 10,000 feet in elevation and cover a remarkable variety of landscapes. Here you can climb the highest mountain in Arizona, fish in crystal-clear lakes, swim in desert creeks under red rock cliffs and magnificent sycamore trees, float suspended under a hang glider from the crest of a cinder cone, or ski through parks and meadows and ponderosa pines.

The forest is easily accessable from Flagstaff via Interstate Highways 40 and 17.