The Salt River is a river in Gila and Maricopa counties in Arizona, United States, that is the largest tributary of the Gila River. The river is about 200 miles (320 km) long. Its drainage basin is about 13,700 square miles (35,000 km2) large. The longest of the Salt River's many tributaries is the 195-mile (314 km) Verde River. The Salt's headwaters tributaries, the Black River and East Fork, increase the river's total length to about 300 miles (480 km). The name Salt River comes from the fact that the river flows over large salt deposits shortly after the merging of the White and Black Rivers.
The Tonto National Forest, encompassing 2,873,200 acres, is the largest of the six national forests in Arizona and is the fifth largest national forest in the United States. The forest has diverse scenery, with elevations ranging from 1,400 feet in the Sonoran Desert to 7,400 feet in the ponderosa pine forests of the Mogollon Rim. The Tonto National Forest is also the most visited "urban" forest in the United States.
The Coconino National Forest is a 1.856-million acre United States National Forest located in northern Arizona in the vicinity of Flagstaff. Originally established in 1898 as the "San Francisco Mountains National Forest Reserve", the area was designated a U.S. National Forest in 1908 when the San Francisco Mountains National Forest Reserve was merged with lands from other surrounding forest reserves to create the Coconino National Forest. Today, the Coconino National Forest contains diverse landscapes, including deserts, ponderosa pine forests, flatlands, mesas, alpine tundra, and ancient volcanic peaks. The forest surrounds the towns of Sedona and Flagstaff and borders four other national forests; the Kaibab National Forest to the west and northwest, the Prescott National Forest to the southwest, the Tonto National Forest to the south, and the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest to the southeast. The forest contains all or parts of ten designated wilderness areas, including the Kachina Peaks Wilderness, which includes the summit of the San Francisco Peaks. The headquarters are in Flagstaff. There are local ranger district offices in Flagstaff, Happy Jack, and Sedona.
Gila Wilderness was designated the world's first wilderness area on June 3, 1924. Along with Aldo Leopold Wilderness and Blue Range Wilderness, the 558,014 acres (225,820 ha) wilderness is part of New Mexico's Gila National Forest. The wilderness is approximately 27 miles (43 km) from north to south and 39 miles (63 km) east to west. U.S. Wilderness Areas do not allow motorized or mechanized vehicles, including bicycles. Camping, hunting, and fishing are allowed with proper permit, but no roads, buildings, logging, or mining are permitted. Wilderness areas within National Forests and Bureau of Land Management areas allow hunting in season.
Mount Baldy is a mountain in eastern Arizona in the United States. With a summit elevation of 11,409 feet (3,477 m), the peak of Mount Baldy rises above the tree line and is left largely bare of vegetation, lending the mountain its current name. The Mount Baldy Wilderness occupies the eastern slope of the mountain and is managed by the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.
The Mazatzal Mountains are a mountain range in south central Arizona, about 30–45 miles northeast of Phoenix and the Phoenix metropolitan area. The origin of the name remains obscure but one possibility is that it is from the Nahuatl language meaning "place of the deer". The crest of the Mazatzals forms the county line between Maricopa County and Gila County. SR 87, the Beeline Highway, traverses the Mazatzals on its way to Payson. The highest peak is Mazatzal Peak at 7,903 feet (2,409 m). They also include the Four Peaks, with elevation 7,659 ft, 2,334 m; a prominent mountain and landmark of the eastern Phoenix area.
The Kofa Mountains of Yuma and La Paz counties in Arizona is the central mountain range of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. The range lies about 60 miles northeast of Yuma in the southwestern part of the state. Kofa Wilderness takes up 547,719 acres of the refuge, making it the second largest wilderness area in Arizona. The equally extensive Castle Dome Mountains comprise the southern refuge border; the western end of the Tank Mountains are in the southeast of the wildlife refuge, and the New Water Wilderness in the New Water Mountains ends the extension of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge to the north. Scenic "King Valley" is south of the Kofa Mountains between the Castle Dome Mountains.
The Muggins Mountains is a mountain range in southwest Arizona east of Yuma, Arizona, northeast of the Gila Mountains, and east of the Laguna Mountains. The Castle Dome Mountains lie to the northeast across the broad Castle Dome Plain. The Muggins Mountains Wilderness occupies the southwest portion of the range.
The Muggins Mountain Wilderness is a 7,711-acre (31.21 km2) wilderness area in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is located approximately 38 miles (61 km) east of Yuma, Arizona in the Muggins Mountains and adjacent to the agricultural Dome Valley and Gila River. The wilderness area is made up of the highest peak in the southern section of Muggins Mountains, Klothos Temple at 1,666 feet (508 m). Muggins Peak is adjacent to the peak southeastwards, at 1,424 feet (434 m). Three deeply cut washes drain the southwest border of the wilderness, Twin Tanks Wash, Muggins Wash, and Morgan Wash. Muggins Wash is the access point to the wilderness, by way of County 7th Street.
The Bill Williams River is a 46.3-mile-long (74.5 km) river in west-central Arizona where it, along with its tributary, the Santa Maria River, form the boundary between Mohave County to the north and La Paz County to the south. It is a major drainage westwards into the Colorado River of the Lower Colorado River Valley south of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, and the drainage basin covers portions of northwest, and west-central Arizona. The equivalent drainage system paralleling the east–west lower reaches of the Bill Williams is the Gila River, which flows east-to-west across central Arizona, joining the Colorado River in the southwest at Yuma. The confluence of the Bill Williams River with the Colorado is north of Parker, and south of Lake Havasu City.
Needle's Eye Wilderness is an 8,760-acre (35.5 km2) wilderness area located approximately 20 miles (32 km) southeast of the town of Globe in Gila County in the U.S. state of Arizona.
Salt River Canyon Wilderness is a 32,101 acres (12,991 ha) wilderness area located within the Tonto National Forest in the U.S. state of Arizona.
The Pajarito Mountains is a small mountain range of western Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States, that extend south into Sonora, Mexico. The range is adjacent the Atascosa Mountains at its north, with both ranges in the center of a north-south sequence of ranges called the Tumacacori Highlands. The Highlands have the Tumacacori Mountains at the north, and south of the U.S.-Mexico border, the Sierra La Esmeralda range. The Tumacacori Highlands are part of a regional conservancy study of "travel corridors" for cats, called Cuatro Gatos, Four Cats, for mountain lions, ocelot, bobcat, and jaguar.
The Harcuvar Mountains are a narrow mountain range in western-central Arizona, United States. The range lies just east of the north-south Colorado River, and south of the east-west, west-flowing Bill Williams River, from Alamo Lake.
The Buckskin Mountains is a mountain range in La Paz County, Arizona, United States. The range lies just east of the north–south Colorado River, and borders south of the east–west, west-flowing Bill Williams River.
The Rawhide Mountains are a mountain range of western Arizona, in the southwest of Mohave County. It is part of a block of mountain ranges on the north of an insular region called the Maria fold and thrust belt, containing mountain ranges, valleys, and plains. The Rawhide Mountains border the much smaller Artillery Mountains southeast, bordering on Alamo Lake State Park and the south-flowing Big Sandy River.
The Gila Bend Mountains are a 35-mile (56 km) long mountain range of the north-central Sonoran Desert southwest of Phoenix, Arizona and in southwest Maricopa County.
The Belmont Mountains are a 25 mi (40 km) long, arid, low elevation mountain range about 50 mi west of Phoenix, Arizona in the northern Sonoran Desert, north of the Gila River. The range is in the south of a region of two parallel washes; the Bouse Wash flows northwest to the Colorado River, and the Centennial Wash flows southeast to meet the Gila River.
Mazatzal Wilderness is a wilderness area of about 390 square miles (1,000 km2) in Yavapai and Gila counties in the U.S. state of Arizona. The wilderness is within the Tonto and Coconino national forests. The town of Payson is to the east, and the Verde River is to the west. During summer, temperatures in the wilderness often exceed 110 °F (43 °C).
Pine Mountain Wilderness is a protected wilderness area managed by the Prescott National Forest in the U.S. state of Arizona. Pine Mountain is the high point of the Verde River Rim at 6,814 feet and provides an excellent viewing to the northeast of the Wild and Scenic Verde while surrounded by ponderosa pine and Douglas fir.
