Geography of Arizona - Mountains

Mountains

Arizona is a fairly mountainous and rugged state, and is home to the world's largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest. Many mountain ranges exceed 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in elevation, and some can hold snow all summer.

Arizona has 194 named mountain ranges. The highest are along the southwest margin of the Colorado Plateau, including the volcanic San Francisco Peaks just north of Flagstaff and the White Mountains of the Mogollon Rim. The Basin and Range region of southern and western Arizona has many rugged ranges existing as sky islands in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts.

Read more about this topic:  Geography Of Arizona

Famous quotes containing the word mountains:

    Fogs and clouds which conceal the overshadowing mountains lend the breadth of the plains to mountain vales. Even the small-featured country acquires some grandeur in stormy weather when clouds are seen drifting between the beholder and the neighboring hills.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    And open field, through which the pathway wound,
    And homeward led my steps. Magnificent
    The morning rose, in memorable pomp,
    Glorious as e’er I had beheld—in front,
    The sea lay laughing at a distance; near,
    The solid mountains shone, bright as the clouds,
    Grain-tinctured, drenched in empyrean light;
    William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

    Here is no water but only rock
    Rock and no water and the sandy road
    The road winding above among the mountains
    Which are mountains of rock without water
    If there were water we should stop and drink
    Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think
    —T.S. (Thomas Stearns)