(upbeat music) - For over the past 60 years, Arizona PBS has told incredible stories of Arizona's distinctive people, beautiful landscapes, and treasured history.

Now relive those memories we've pulled from the vault.

Hello, I'm Alberto Rios.

Take an aerial journey with us over the state's vast deserts, snowy mountains, glistening lakes, and vibrant cities in "Over Arizona."

(light music) - [Narrator] Arizona, green and lush from the winter rains.

Beyond the horizon is a sprawling desert.

Beyond the desert, a forested plateau, snow capped peaks, and more Arizona than many know exists.

(light music) Here there is an honesty in the earth.

Nowhere has nature extracted more beauty from simple stone.

All of it is timeless.

All of it inspiring.

All is Arizona.

(upbeat music) (waterfall splashing) (upbeat music) (water splashing) (upbeat music) (dramatic music) Monument Valley.

In the far reaches of Northeastern Arizona, this corner of the Navajo Reservation has inspired explorers, writers, and Hollywood directors.

With formations named The Emperor, Castle Rock, Mittens, Stagecoach, and The Big Chief, it is no wonder this roughly 100 square miles of land has inspired and delighted so many.

(dramatic music) (intense music) In 1880, Civil War general William Sherman compared Arizona to hell.

All it needed was a little less heat, and more water.

(intense music) (jet ski motors and splashes) Today, the state has more than 100 lakes, and one of the highest number of boats per capita of any state in America.

Where Arizona's rivers have been harnessed for power and irrigation, vast reservoirs stretch for miles behind dams.

(upbeat music) Straddling the Arizona-Utah border, Lake Powell is the second largest manmade lake in North America.

Here you'll find major canyons, and nearly 2000 miles of coastline, more than the entire western coast of the United States.

(upbeat music and boat motor) (dramatic music) Writer Charles F Lummis once said, "I have seen people rave over it.

"Better people struck dumb with it.

"Even strong men who cried over it.

"But I have never yet seen the man or woman "that expected it."

(dramatic music) (dramatic music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (light music) From the shores of the Colorado River, the walls of the Grand Canyon stretch skyward for a mile.

(dramatic music) Southeast from the canyon rim, the terrain continues its climb, to mold these mountains the Hopies call, "High Place of the Snows."

They are the San Francisco peaks, Arizona's highest point.

(dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) The Mogollon Rim marks the center of the state, separating desert from the mountains and mesas of the Colorado Plateau.

Here, and throughout the Colorado Plateau, ruins remind us of ancient cultures, which once inhabited this area, and then mysteriously disappeared.

(dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (upbeat music) Arizona is blanketed with the largest stands of Ponderosa pine in the country, much of it found here in eastern Arizona.

Here, the forests are alive with antelope, deer, turkey, and elk.

The rivers are filled with trout.

The white mountains are home to the Apache, who believe these mountains sacred.

Snows provide winter recreation opportunities, and ultimately, water for Phoenix.

(light music) (light music) It has been called the Mini Grand Canyon.

The Salt River Canyon winds its way from mountain forest to desert, in a mere 100 miles.

(light music) (light music) (light music) (light music) (light music and water splashing) Built in 1911, Roosevelt is the first of four dams creating a chain of lakes on the Salt River, resting place for melted snows from the White Mountains.

(light music) (light music) (upbeat music) A thousand years ago, the valley was home to the Hohokam.

When a new city was to rise on the ruins of this former civilization, it was decided the city should be named Phoenix.

Just as the mythical bird rose from its ashes, Phoenix has risen to become one of the fastest growing cities in America.

(upbeat music) (dramatic music) (upbeat music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) The Superstition Mountains.

The mysterious range where hikers get lost, and gold is found, or so the legend goes.

(dramatic music) The area continues to draw the curious, and those certain they will find the Dutchman's gold.

It lies here somewhere in the shadow of Weaver's Needle.

(dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) Gold, silver, and copper were once king in small towns like Bisbee, where billions of tons of copper were produced.

(dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) Midway between Phoenix and Tucson, Picacho Peak rises from the plain.

Here on April 15th, 1862, a brief Civil War skirmish erupted, when a handful of Confederate lookouts from Tucson opened fire on advancing Union troops.

It wasn't much of a fight.

Both sides lost a few men, and the desert once again was silent.

But history books record the event as Arizona's official Civil War battle.

(light music) (light music) Wandering through the foothills of the Santa Catalina mountains, it is easy to understand why the native people named the city Tucson.

Roughly translated it means, "water at the base of the mountain."

Settled in 1775, Tucson is the oldest city in the state, originally a destination for Spanish explorers and missionaries traveling from Mexico.

(light Spanish music) (light Spanish music) (light Spanish music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (light upbeat music) (light upbeat music) Today, Tuscon's Spanish beginnings are very much alive in missions like San Javier, which is perched outside the city, like a white dove on the desert.

(light music and bell ringing) (light music and bell ringing) Only in the Sonoran Desert can you find the Saguaro cactus.

Sometimes growing to 50 feet, Saguaro have thrived in this climate for over 9,000 years.

At Saguaro National Monument, the oldest and tallest stands of Saguaro in the world command the desert hillsides.

(dramatic music) The Tahono O'oodham tribe believed an ancient god created the Saguaro, and the deity wiped a single bead of sweat from his body, and planted it in the soil.

A bountiful harvest followed, for the tribe, and all of the animals in the desert.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (dramatic music) (light music) (light music) (light music) In the vast desert scapes of Arizona, it feels like you can see forever.

Today, Kitt Peak Observatory is testimony to Arizona's diamond clear air.

Scientists from around the world gather here, to set their gaze light years away.

(light music) (light upbeat music) (light upbeat music) (light upbeat music) (upbeat music and train whistle) Much of Southern Arizona is basin and range country.

Plains and mountains called sky islands.

Occasional creeks, prairie grasses, and wildflowers yield prime land for ranching, a way of life here for generations.

At one time, a working cowboy could ride for days without crossing a single strand of barbed wire.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music and tractor motor) (upbeat music) (train whistles) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (light music) (light music) 27 million years ago, one of the largest volcanic eruptions on the planet occurred right here.

The Turkey Creek Caldera, in the Chiricahuas.

In one furious blast, 100 cubic miles of magma were sent skyward with a force 1000 times that of Mount St. Helens in 1980.

(light music) (light music) (light music) (light music) (light music) (upbeat music) (birds chirping) (light music) (light music and water splashing) (light music) Arizona, it's been called the Wonderland of the Southwest, with its fathomless canyons, its snow covered mountains, its vast deserts, and blooming oases.

It is nothing and everything in one view, in one place, Arizona.

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