Arizona is one of the states that meet in the “Four Corners” region, the only place where a person can stand in four states at the same time. Utah borders Arizona on the north, Colorado on the northeast and New Mexico on the east. The Colorado River separates Arizona from California and Nevada on the west. Its southern neighbor is Mexico.
Mention deserts and sun and most people think of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah or Nevada. Add saguaro cactus and the Grand Canyon, and you’ve defined Arizona—at least part of it. The sixth largest state also boasts rugged, forested mountains. At 12,633 Arizona’s highest peak, Humphreys Peak, is hardly cactus country.
It’s geologic diversity and geographic location explain Arizona’s great diversity in plants and animals. Few people realize that grizzly bears and jaguars once rubbed shoulders in Arizona, which was once home to great herds of elk.
But Arizona is best known for its deserts and fabulous geologic wonders, as represented by the nickname Grand Canyon State. Arizona is also home to Petrified Forest National Park, Saguaro and and Organ Pipe Cactus national monuments and other units that preserve geologic spectacles or the habitations of ancient Native Americans. Just ponder their names: Canyon de Chelly, Casa Grande Ruins, Chiricahua, Hohokam, Pima, Montezuma Castle, Navajo, Pipe Spring, Rainbow Bridge, Sunset Crater, Tonto, Tuzigoot, Walnut Canyon, Wupatki.
Then there’s the famous Barringer crater, evidence of a visitor from outer space. Like a giant navel, the crater lies naked on the flat desert.
Three groups of people are found in abundance in Arizona. Arizona is home to one of the largest Indian populations in the U.S., with twenty reservations hosting more than fourteen tribes, including Navaho, Mohave, Apache, Hopi, Paiute, Papago, Pima, Maricopa, Yavapa, Hualapai, and Havasupai.
Arizona’s clean, clear, dry air and warm weather attracts older people from across America looking for a retirement home as well as people with respiratory health problems. The state’s population has tripled in the last thirty years. Today, one out of three Arizonans live in booming Phoenix and Tucson. Other large cities include Mesa, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe, Chandler, Peoria, Gilbert and Yuma.
The third group that’s especially abundant in Arizona are the tourists who flock there to see the Grand Canyon, ancient Indian ruins and other scenic and cultural wonders.
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