Payson is situated in the geographic center of Arizona, about 75 miles northeast of the Phoenix metro area. Payson is located at the base of the Mogollon Rim, a seven-hundred-mile long and 1000 feet tall escarpment running east across Arizona into New Mexico. Payson is also at the southern edge of the world's largest stand of Ponderosa Pine while perched above Arizona's famous Sonoran Desert. With our unique location under the Rim and at the edge of the desert, on some spring days it is possible to go cross-country snow skiing in the morning on the Rim, water skiing in the afternoon at Roosevelt Lake, and be home in time for dinner.