Arizona Tops The List In These 15 Things

Arizonans already know our state is pretty awesome. If you’ve ever wanted more proof, you’re in luck because today we’re going to focus on all the things that Arizona is great at. Check them out.

Arizona is the top producer of copper in the country.

Sam-Cat/Flickr No longer limited to pots and pennies, copper is used today in electrical wiring and goods.

Arizona has 3,928 mountains in the state, making it the largest number in any of the Rocky Mountain states.

Daniel Weinand/Flickr

Arizona has the largest collection of ponderosa pine trees.

Coconino National Forest/Flickr

By the way, Arizona also has the largest municipal park—South Mountain Preserve, which is more than 16,000 acres.

Broderick Delaney/Flickr

Arizona is home to the best preserved meteor crater in the world, all thanks to our relatively dry climate.

Tom Bridge/Flickr

Arizona is also home to largest cactus in the United States—our beloved saguaro cactus.

Bo Insogna/Flickr

The largest soda straw stalactite—measuring 21 feet, 3 inches—is found in Kartchner Caverns.

Robert Shea/Flickr I couldn’t find a photo of it, but the stalactite looks like these, only longer!

About 28 percent of Arizona’s lands are designated reservation lands for the state’s 21 federally recognized tribes. This makes it the largest percentage of reservation land in the country.

Donovan Shortey/Flickr

Arizona is also home to the largest number of speakers of an Indigenous language in the continental U.S. Navajo is the language most widely spoken, with more than 22,500 native speakers.

US Department of Agriculture/Flickr

The largest reservoir in the U.S. is Lake Mead. This is based on the total water capacity; Lake Mead can hold up to 26.12 million acre feet.

Taylor Robinson/Flickr

Speaking of reservoirs, the deepest dam is Parker Dam which extends down 320 feet.

Prayitno/Flickr

Another resource fact: Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, which sits near Tonopah, is a top electricity producer. It generated 32,320,917 megawatthours in 2014, the largest number in the country.

Wikimedia Commons

Arizona is the top producer of winter veggies. Yuma and its surrounding areas produce up to 90 percent of all greens eaten in the winter months.

Peter Haden/Flickr

The largest solar telescope in the world is found in our very own Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Waqas Bhatti/Flickr

And, finally, Arizona is home to the oldest rodeos in the country. Prescott is home to the oldest professional rodeo (1888) and Payson is home to the oldest continuous rodeo (1884).

Dagny Gromer/Flickr

Woo hoo! Let’s give Arizona a round of applause for all these accomplishments! Do you know of any other areas where Arizona receives top marks?

Sam-Cat/Flickr

No longer limited to pots and pennies, copper is used today in electrical wiring and goods.