From Phoenix, Along the Mogollon Rim...
Leaving Phoenix, you'll travel up along Highway 87 (known locally as the "Beeline Highway".) Recently completed as a four-lane expressway with scenic views and award-winning transportation structures, Highway 87 will lead you into Payson (home to one of the oldest rodeos in the country.)
You begin your climb up into the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, along the famous "Rim Road"-State Route 260- at an elevation of close to 7,000 feet. Following State Route 260 into Show Low, an early settlement named for a famous poker hand that determined ownership of the surrounding ranch.
Show Low is the first community you'll enter in the White Mountains, where a wealth of recreational activities, cultural events, shopping and dining await you!
From Phoenix, Through Globe-Miami
(known as the Cobre, or "Copper" Valley)...
An alternative route from Phoenix takes visitors through the communities of Globe and Miami, (the Cobre, or copper valley) where the heart of Arizona's rich copper mining began.
You'll travel through the Salt River Canyon, where large boulders the size of homes still lay as a testament to the time when mile-wide, violent prehistoric rivers sculpted the landscape. Continuing through the desert and into the Fort Apache Indian Reservation along U.S. Route 60, you'll climb up into the tall pines, entering Show Low, the first community in Arizona's White Mountains.
Continue north for 20 minutes to Snowflake's historic homes, golf, and a multitude of summer events, or continue east to Pinetop-Lakeside, Hon Dah, and the communities of Springerville and Eagar. Each of the communities in the White Mountains are known for exciting entertainment and a wealth of outdoor activities in the cool pines.
