The White Mountains

With elevations climbing to more than 11,000 feet, the White Mountains of east-central Arizona are a winter wonderland and a summer haven from the desert heat. In the 1870s, U.S. soldier and diarist John Gregory Bourke labeled the White Mountains region "a strange upheaval, a freak of nature, a mountain canted up on one side; one rides along the edge and looks down two or three thousand feet into.. a weird scene of grandeur and rugged beauty." The area is still grand and rugged, carved by deep river canyons and tall cliffs covered with ponderosa pine. It's also much less remote than it was in Bourke's time, with a full-scale real-estate boom now under way.

Winter travelers in the White Mountains should be aware that weather conditions can change without notice. Call for weather information before heading out on area highways.