Tonto National Forest

 

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The Tonto National Forest covers just over 2.8 million acres and is the largest in Arizona and the fifth largest in the US. We were only in the area near Lake Roosevelt. It is stated that this national Forest is the most visited urban forest in the US but it would have been hard to tell that the day we were there because it was pretty empty. Tonto is the Spanish word for "fool".

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We stopped at the visitors center and were talking to the ranger on duty there. She was telling us how they have up 300 volunteers in the winter or busy season. The volunteers only need work 2 days per week and they are given a place to park their RV with full hookups. They can spend the rest of the week fishing and hiking or whatever the want to do. It sounds like a pretty good deal to me. We have been volunteering for the National Forest Service at least one day a month for the last 10 years now.

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Lake Roosevelt is formed by of all things the Roosevelt Dam. It was the tallest masonry dam in the world when it was built. The forest was created in 1905 to protect the water sheds of the Salt and Verde rivers. One of these days we will drive the Apache Trail the goes from the eastern suburbs of Phoenix to Lake Roosevelt.

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