Arizona’s Northern Mountains and Canyons
Arizona’s Northern Mountains and Canyons ranks 1st on the list of best extreme outdoor adventures in America. While Arizona is rightly world-famous for the Grand Canyon, the entire northern Arizona region, from Flagstaff to the Utah border, features a wide range of adventure opportunities. This area includes the bucket-list trifecta of rafting, mule riding, and hiking within the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered one of the Wonders of the World. The park, which covers 1,217,262 acres of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties, received more than six million recreational visitors in 2017, which is the second-highest count of all American national parks after the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Four of the North Rim points are close to the road (Bright Angel, Cape Royal, Point Imperial, and Roosevelt Point), of which the best is probably Cape Royal. A further three may be reached by maintained paths (Cape Final, Uncle Jim, Widforss), though this latter needs a half-mile hike over the steep ground at the end of the official trail. The others (Atoko, Honan, and Naji) require an off-trail walk through the forest; Honan provides the best views of the three. The Phoenix Mountains are a mountain range located in central Phoenix, Arizona. With the exception of Mummy Mountain, they are part of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. They serve as a municipal park and offer hiking, mountain biking, and equestrian trails at a variety of different access points. Helicopter rides give visitors a bird’s-eye view of the majesty of the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas, while deep within the canyon, whitewater rafting trips need to be booked far in advance but are worth the wait. For an alternate canyon activity, visiting the blast zone of Meteor Crater, outside of Flagstaff, makes for a good excursion.
Location: Coconino and Mohave counties, Arizona, United States
