Forest Menu
  Introduction

  Activities
Top Picks

Biking

  In Depth
More Highlights

Contacts & Links

Index


Related Resources
GORP Arizona

online favorites
Summer's Top Parks
Summer Mountain Festivals
Beach Travel Blog
Parks and Outdoors Guide
2008 Summer Buyer's Guide
from Outside Online
PARKS
Tonto National Forest
Arizona

Near the heart of Arizona, the Tonto National Forest is a cauldron of colliding ecosystems — it is here that desert meets mountain, saguaro cactus succumbs to ponderosa pine, and the earth touches the sky. Slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut, Tonto's 3ee million acres make it one of America's largest national forests. The vertical-walled canyons, steep technicolor cliffs, and scrub-covered hills have changed little since Zane Grey wrote Under the Tonto Rim in 1926. Yucca, cholla, barrel cactus, and agave thrive in the semi-arid hillsides and mesas, while floodplains along the rivers nourish stands of mesquite, black walnut, and sycamore. Here, in the rugged country along the Mogollon Rim, Geronimo led the Apache into several violent clashes with the U.S. Army.

Tonto National Forest
Rocks along entrance to
Fish Creek Canyon


Return to *Top

RELATED GORP LINKS
*GORP Parks and Preserves
*Arizona Resources



Top Trips

Road Trip Guides

National Park Guides

Hiking Guides

Today's Gear Guy

Gear Guides
[from Outside magazine]