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Coconino National Forest
Arizona

The Coconino National Forest is a landscape of stark contrasts — desert suddenly gives way to ponderosa pine; flatlands and mesa coexist with alpine tundra and ancient volcanic peaks. The terrain is visceral and alive with color — red rocks, sandstone buttes, crimson cliffs, stone spires, and river-sliced gorges overwhelm the eyes. City dwellers in Phoenix often make the two-hour pilgrimage north to escape the furnace blast of the Sonoran Desert. The forest's oasis of green mountains, situated several thousand feet higher than the Valley of the Sun, functions like a central air-conditioner — San Francisco peaks blow cooler air down through the Oak Creek Canyon on to the southern expanse of the Colorado Plateau. Sedona's energy vortexes lure New Agers from all over the world.

View from Ashurst Lake campground
View from Ashurst Lake campground


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