The Coronado Cave at the Coronado National Memorial takes you deep inside a majestic wonderland of limestone formations, which began to take shape some 300 million years ago when Arizona was covered by a shallow sea. It’s believed as much as 50,000 gallons of water once flowed through this cave per minute, from east to west.
PHOENIX — More than 50 years ago, the Valley of the Sun was a whole lot of desert sprinkled with a few towns, mostly of them small. Phoenix had the only airport and it was also small and, because it was in the middle of some pretty barren landscape, it was sometimes hard to spot from the air.
Arizona’s outdoors scene draws people from all over the world. Few places on earth are so diverse – dense forests, barren and beautiful deserts, picturesque mountains and canyons. Our state offers plenty of opportunities to explore and connect with Mother Nature. Here are some of our favorites.
Tom’s Thumb Trail, on the north side of the McDowell Mountains, is dotted with curious rock formations, especially this particular boulder bearing a striking resemblance to one of Snow White’s seven dwarfs.
Could this be Tom? Perhaps. The figure appears near one of the final bends leading to the summit (aka Tom’s Thumb). What do you think?
Want to see it for yourself? Tom’s Thumb Trail is ideal for hikers seeking a bit of a challenge. The trail kicks off with a series of steep, somewhat slippery switchbacks. It levels off among classic Sonoran Preserve beauty – granite boulders, numerous cacti species and lots of lizards that liven up the neatly manicured trail. Views of Scottsdale’s urban sprawl are visible at the peak.
Arizona’s most notorious lost treasure story for both believers and otherwise takes place in the mysterious Superstition Mountains.
The rugged range of mountains east of the Salt River Valley encompasses some of the most breathtaking, untouched wilderness recesses in America. There is also an aura of mystical beauty that can possess the soul. They are regarded as religious shrines by both the Pimas and Apaches. They provided the setting for much bloody violence between those warring tribes before the coming of the white man. During the latter part of the 19th century, the mountains became a formidable sanctuary and one of the last vestiges of the Apaches who refused to become reservation Indians. They used the twisting canyons and impenetrable maze of rocks, defying sustained efforts by the military, for over twenty years.
