The Chino Valley of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

is a large, 70-mi (113 km) longArizona Road & Recreation Atlas, Benchmark Maps, 1998, pp. 67–69,

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

, centered on

Seligman, Arizona Seligman () is a census-designated place (CDP) on the northern border of Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. The population was 446 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is one of the stops on Historic U.S. Route 66 (Arizona), hi ...

in northwest

Yavapai County Yavapai County ( ) is a county near the center of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 236,209, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arizona. The county seat is Prescott. Yavapai County comprises the Pr ...

and southwest

Coconino County Coconino County is a County (United States), county in the North Central Arizona, North-Central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff, Arizon ...

. The valley is located at the southwest of the

Coconino Plateau The Coconino Plateau is found south of the Grand Canyon and north-northwest of Flagstaff, in northern Arizona of the Southwestern United States. Geography The Coconino Plateau lies south of Grand Canyon Village and the South Rim of the Grand ...

and lies in the extreme northwest of Arizona's transition zone. Big Chino Wash drains the valley's center, and is one of the major northwest watersheds feeding into the

Verde River The Verde River ( Yavapai: Haka'he:la) is a major tributary of the Salt River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is about long and carries a mean flow of at its mouth. It is one of the largest perennial streams in Arizona. Description The ri ...

, which drains southeast, then due south to meet the

Salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

and

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of ...

s at Phoenix.

Chino Valley, Arizona Chino Valley is a town in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, the population of the town is 13,020. History Chino Valley is the site of the first Territorial Capital of Arizona. The capital moved ...

and Paulden lie at the southeast terminus of the valley's southern section, and is the common named beginning region of the Verde River.

Description

Chino Valley has a 23-mi (40 km) long north-south section, north of Seligman. The southern section leaves the mesas and flatlands of the southwest Coconino Plateau, and begins a southeast trending route between foothills of mountain ranges to the west, and southwest; Big Black Mesa and an

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

borders the lower southern section on its northeast, with Big Chino Wash, paralleling 4 mi southwest. The southeast terminus of the southern section ends at Sullivan Lake, an intermittent lake of Big Chino Wash. It is also the beginning of a small canyon section of the

. Paulden is located at Sullivan Lake and the lower watershed region of Chino Valley's south section. The townsite of Chino Valley lies 9 mi due south of Paulden at the north and west section of a separate, north-trending valley,

Little Chino Valley Lonesome Valley is a 23-mile (37 km) long valley located in central-north Yavapai County, Arizona; the valley is an extension southeastwards from Chino Valley (Arizona), the location of the Big Chino Wash, which becomes the Verde River a ...

Arizona State Route 89 State Route 89 (SR 89) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is part of the former route of U.S. Route 89 (US 89) throughout the state. Route description The southern terminus of SR 89 is located at an intersectio ...

, a north-south stretch from

Prescott Prescott may refer to: People Given name * Prescott E. Bloom, American lawyer and politician * Prescott Bush, American banker and politician * Samuel Prescott Bush, American industrialist * Prescott F. Hall, American lawyer, author and eugenicist ...

Ash Fork Ash Fork is a census-designated place in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. Its population was 396 at the 2010 U.S. Census, down from 457 in 2000. History Ash Fork has proclaimed itself "The Flagstone Capital of the World", due to the lar ...

, goes through Chino Valley and Paulden; the Little Chino Valley lies east of the route at Chino Valley, AZ, and the route climbs into the higher elevations of the southwest Coconino Plateau, 5 mi northeast of Paulden at the east end of the Big Black Mesa.

Flora

Trees

The valleys and lower elevation mountain slopes in northwest Arizona are often covered with

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

s and pinyons as part of the pinyon-juniper woodland

ecotone An ecotone is a transitional area between two plant communities, where these meet and integrate. Examples include areas between grassland and forest, estuaries and lagoon, freshwater and sea water etc. An ecotone may be narrow or wide, and it ma ...

. The

Colorado Pinyon ''Pinus edulis'', the Colorado pinyon, two-needle piñon, pinyon pine, or simply piñon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group native to the Southwestern United States, used for its edible pine nuts. Description The piñon pine (''Pinus edulis'' ...

and

Utah juniper ''Juniperus osteosperma'' (Utah juniper; syn. ''J. utahensis'') is a shrub or small tree native to the southwestern United States. Description The plant reaches , rarely to 9 m, tall. The shoots are fairly thick compared to most junipers, in ...

–(''

Juniperus osteosperma ''Juniperus osteosperma'' (Utah juniper; syn. ''J. utahensis'') is a shrub or small tree native to the southwestern United States. Description The plant reaches , rarely to 9 m, tall. The shoots are fairly thick compared to most junipers, i ...

''), found here in sections of Chino Valley are partially located in the

Prescott National Forest The Prescott National Forest is a 1.25 million-acre (510,000 ha) United States National Forest located in north central Arizona in the vicinity of Prescott. The forest is located in the mountains southwest of Flagstaff and north of Phoenix ...

. Juniper trees are often harvested for firewood, by federal permit.

References

* Lucchitta, 2001. ''Hiking Arizona's Geology;'' Part 2, ''Arizona Transition Zone'', Graphic, w/text, Hikes 18–26. Ivo Lucchitta, 2001, Mountaineers's Books. 272 pages, 41 Hikes. (Transition zone: Hikes 18–26, pp. 143–82.) (softcover, {{ISBN, 0-89886-730-4)

External links

Big Black Mesa, (South Butte)
Landforms of Yavapai County, Arizona Landforms of Coconino County, Arizona Prescott National Forest Valleys of Arizona