Welcome to Apache County, Arizona

Home of the White Mountains and the Petrified Forest!

A few of the locals out enjoying a summer day north of Concho, Arizona

The Pioneer, the local newspaper, announced in its August 2005 issue that a California group invested big in Concho, purchasing the 8-unit motel near the country club plus the land around Concho Lake and around the golf course and existing golf course subdivision. Their intent  is to build a master-planned community with all utilities.

The "C" for Concho and Concho Lake on the outskirts of town.

A great park for the kids in Concho Valley!

Downtown St. Johns during Pioneer Days and one of the beautiful valleys on the edge of town!

The Snowflake Temple of the Church of Latter Day Saints and some of the new construction that surrounds the temple in the booming town of Snowflake that lies just to the west of Concho. This has a 27 hole golf course with luxury homes surrounding it! Rumor has it (by my best friend who lives there) that a mini Super Walmart and six new restaurants are coming in 2006.

 This was a precious sight - a Momma and her little one who could barely stand on his legs, trotted off when we got too close.

Two more of the locals we spotted in the tree line - what a tough job this is!

Some of the native plants that grow naturally in the area.  

 One of the longhorned locals out enjoying the hot summer sun in Show Low Pines. The units in Show Low Pines are easy to find from the highway with the signs.

We found this guy hiding under a bush in Show Low Pines and more of the natural vegetation in the area

A petrified log in the Petrified Forest National Park and some of the beautiful colors of the Painted Desert. Be sure and visit this scenic wonder where you will find the world's largest and most colorful concentration of Petrified Wood and 225 milion year old fossils!

More of the locals out enjoying their afternoon near the Arizona Park Estates.

Dinosaurs along the interstate near the Petrified National Forest make great fun for the kids (and adults)!

Apache County encompasses 11,216 square miles. The Apache and Navajo Indian Reservations cover more than 65.4% of the county. Approximately 21 percent is public land and 13.2 is privately owned so majority of the land is not for sale. The county population has grown from 61,591 in 1990 to 70,625 in 2003. The county offers extreme diverse regions with the forested White Mountains and green pastures in the south and high, dry, colorful plateau regions to the north. The Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert that we learn about in our elementary school georgraphy books, offer visitors a spectacular journey into prehistoric times. Click here for an area map. Click here  for a map showing the towns and geography.

The dinosaurs originally came to the banks of the Little Colorado River and then the Indians. Pioneer families arrived from the east in the early 1880's. Scattered over the greater portion of the county and especially along the Colorado Chiquita River are many ruins of a prehistoric people. There is plenty of pure spring water in every town and village in the county, constantly fed by the rains and melting snow in the mountains. Excellent fishing, hunting and skiing make the White Mountains a year-round recreation area for many living in the hot Phoenix sun.

I started traveling to this area a few years ago when my best friend moved to Snowflake, a few miles to the west of Concho in neighboring Navajo County. She sends me newspaper articles discussing the booming property values as developers plan new housing communities. Snowflake was once the county seat before an election moved it permanently to St. Johns. A few years ago this was a sleepy town starting to grow and prosper. An interesting conversation with a county official said that the areas of Show Low and Pinetop were being built out due to the lack of public lands available in those areas. That growth is now spilling over to these once sleepy outlying towns.  A mini Super Walmart is being built in Snowflake!

The area is gorgeous and not what you would typically think of when you think of the desert. With elevation ranging from 4,000 to 10,000 feet, plush green pastures with animals grazing in the plateau region to the north and the snowcapped ski slopes in the White Mountains to the south offer a picturesque setting. The area has four seasons with warm summer months and a few snow days in the wintertime. The snow usually melts in the lower altitudes in a day or two but the White Mountains become a wintertime playground.

The Navajo County Board of Supervisors recently approved PPM Energy's request to install a wind farm along State route 377.  To read the full article, please click here:  Wind Farms Should Be In Place By Late 2007