Because Arizona is home to the Grand Canyon -- the most widely known white-water-rafting spot in the world -- the state is known for active, adventure-oriented vacations. For others, Arizona is synonymous with winter golf and tennis. Whichever category of active vacationer you fall into, you'll find information below to help you plan your trip.

Bicycling

With its wide range of climates, Arizona offers good biking somewhere in the state every month of the year. In winter, there's good road biking around Phoenix and Tucson, while from spring to fall, the southeastern corner of the state offers good routes. In summer, the White Mountains (in the eastern part of the state) and Kaibab National Forest (between Flagstaff and Grand Canyon National Park) offer good mountain biking. There's also excellent mountain biking at several Phoenix parks, and Tucson is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the country.

Backroads, 801 Cedar St., Berkeley, CA 94710-1800 (tel. 800/462-2848 or 510/527-1555; www.backroads.com), offers a 6-day, inn-to-inn multisport trip through the red-rock country of central Arizona for $2,398, as well as different trips that take in the Grand Canyon and southern Utah. Western Spirit Cycling, 478 Mill Creek Dr., Moab, UT 84532 (tel. 800/845-2453 or 435/259-8732; www.westernspirit.com), offers a number of interesting mountain-bike tours, including trips to both the North and South rims of the Grand Canyon and through the desert south of Tucson. Each trip is 5 days in duration and costs $895.

If you plan to do much mountain-biking around the state, pick up a copy of Fat Tire Tales and Trails, by Cosmic Ray. This little book of rides is both fun to read and fun to use; it's available in bike shops around the state.

Bird-Watching

Arizona is a birder's bonanza. Down in the southeastern corner of the state, many species found primarily south of the border reach the northern limits of their territories. Combine this with several mountains that rise like islands from the desert and provide an appropriate habitat for hundreds of species, and you have some of the best bird-watching in the country. Birding hot spots include Ramsey Canyon Preserve (known for its many species of hummingbirds), Cave Creek Canyon (nesting site for elegant trogons), Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Sanctuary (home to 22 species of flycatchers, kingbirds, and phoebes, as well as Montezuma quails), Madera Canyon (another "mountain island" that attracts many of the same species seen at Ramsey Canyon and Sonoita Creek), Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (home to masked bobwhite quails and gray hawks), and the sewage ponds outside the town of Willcox (known for avocets and sandhill cranes). To find out which birds have been spotted lately, call the Tucson Audubon Society's Bird Report (tel. 520/798-1005).

Serious birders who want to be sure of adding lots of rare birds to their life lists may want to visit southeastern Arizona on a guided tour. These are available through High Lonesome Ecotours, 570 S. Little Bear Trail, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635 (tel. 800/743-2668; www.hilonesome.com), which charges about $925 per person for a 4-day trip.

Canoeing/Kayaking

Okay, so maybe these sports don't jump to mind when you think of the desert, but there are indeed rivers and lakes here (and they happen to be some of the best places to see wildlife). By far the most memorable place for a flat-water kayak tour is Lake Powell. Wilderness Inquiry, 808 14th Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414-1516 (tel. 800/728-0719 or 612/676-9400; www.wildernessinquiry.org), offers several 6-day trips on the lake each spring and fall. The cost is $750. Arizona Canoe & Kayak Outfitters, 107 E. Broadway Rd., Suite B, Tempe, AZ 85282 (tel. 480/755-1924; www.go-permagrin.com), offers various canoeing and kayaking courses and tours.

There are also a couple of companies that rent canoes and offer trips on the Colorado River south of Lake Mead.

Fishing

The fishing scene in Arizona is as diverse as the landscape. Large and small lakes around the state offer excellent fishing for warm-water game fish such as largemouth, smallmouth, and striped bass. Good trout fishing can be found up on the Mogollon Rim and in the White Mountains there, as well as in the Grand Canyon and the more easily accessible sections of the free-running Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lees Ferry. In fact, this latter area is among the country's most fabled stretches of trout water.

Fishing licenses for nonresidents are available for 1 day, 5 days, 4 months, and 1 year. Various special stamps and licenses may also apply. Nonresident fees range from $13 for a 1-day license (valid for trout) to $52 for a 1-year license ($50 additional for a trout stamp). Keep in mind that if you're heading for an Indian reservation, you'll have to get a special permit for that reservation. For information, contact the Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2221 W. Greenway Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85023-4399 (tel. 602/942-3000; www.azgfd.com).

Golf

For many of Arizona's winter visitors, golf is the main attraction. The state's hundreds of golf courses range from easy public courses to PGA championship links that have challenged the best.

In Phoenix and Tucson, greens fees, like room rates, are seasonal. In the popular winter months, fees at resort courses range from about $90 to $250 for 18 holes, although this usually includes a mandatory golf-cart rental. In summer, fees often drop to less than half this amount. Almost all resorts offer special golf packages as well.

For more information on golfing in Arizona, contact the Arizona Golf Association, 7226 N. 16th St., Suite 200, Phoenix, AZ 85020 (tel. 800/458-8484 in Arizona, or 602/944-3035; www.azgolf.org), which publishes a directory listing all the courses in the state. You can also access the directory online. Golf Arizona, 16508 Laser Dr., Suite 104, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 (tel. 480/837-2184; www.golfarizona.com), also publishes a guide on where to golf in Arizona. In addition, you can pick up the Official Arizona Golf Guide & Directory at visitor bureaus, golf courses, and many hotels and resorts.

Hot Links--You don't have to be a hotshot golfer to get all heated up over the prospect of a few rounds of golf in Arizona. Combine near-perfect golf weather most of the year with great views and some unique challenges, and you've got all the makings of a great game. Phoenix and Tucson are well-known as winter golf destinations, but the state also offers golf throughout the year at higher-altitude courses in such places as Prescott, Flagstaff, and the White Mountains.

State water-conservation legislation limits the acreage that Arizona golf courses can irrigate, which has given the state some of the most distinctive and difficult courses in the country. These desert or "target" courses are characterized by minimal fairways surrounded by natural desert landscapes. You might find yourself teeing off over the tops of cacti or searching for your ball amid boulders and mesquite. If your ball comes to rest in the desert, you can play the ball where it lies or, with a one-stroke penalty, drop it within two club lengths of the nearest point of grass (but no nearer the hole).

Keep in mind that resort courses and daily-fee public courses are not cheap. For most of the year, greens fees, which include cart rentals, range from around $100 to $200 or more. Municipal courses usually have greens fees of less than $40 for 18 holes, with cart rentals costing extra (usually about $20).

It might not seem so initially, but summer is really a good time to visit many of Arizona's golf resorts. No, they don't have air-conditioned golf carts or indoor courses, but in summer, greens fees can be less than half what they are in winter. How does $37 for a round on the famous Gold Course at the Wigwam Golf and Country Club sound?

The Phoenix metropolitan area has the greatest concentration of golf courses in the state. Whether you're looking to play one of the area's challenging top-rated resort courses or an economical-but-fun municipal course, you'll find plenty of choices.

For spectacular scenery at a resort course, it's just plain impossible to beat The Boulders (tel. 480/488-9009), located north of Scottsdale in the town of Carefree. Elevated tee boxes beside giant balanced boulders are enough to distract anyone's concentration. Way over on the east side of the valley in Apache Junction, the Gold Canyon Golf Resort (tel. 800/827-5281) has what have been rated as three of the best holes in the state: the second, third, and fourth holes on the Dinosaur Mountain course. Jumping over to Litchfield Park, on the far west side of the valley, you'll find the Wigwam Golf and Country Club (tel. 800/909-4224 or 623/935-3811) and its three 18-hole courses; the Gold Course here is legendary. The Phoenician (tel. 480/423-2449) is another noteworthy resort course in the area. It has a mix of traditional and desert-style holes. The semiprivate Troon North Golf Club (tel. 888/TROON-US or 480/585-5300), a course that seems only barely carved out of raw desert, garners the most local accolades (and charges some of the highest greens fees in the state). If you want to swing where the pros do, beg, borrow, or steal a tee time on the Stadium Course at the Tournament Players Club (TPC) of Scottsdale (tel. 480/585-4334). The area's favorite municipal course is the Papago Golf Course (tel. 602/275-8428), which has a killer 17th hole.

In recent years, Tucson has been giving the Valley of the Sun plenty of competition when it comes to great golf. Among the city's resort courses, the Mountain Course at the Ventana Canyon Golf and Racquet Club (tel. 520/577-4015) is legendary, especially the spectacular 107-yard, par-3 third hole. Likewise, the eighth hole on the Sunrise Course at El Conquistador Country Club (tel. 520/544-1800) is among the most memorable par-3 holes in the area. If you want to play where the pros do, book a room at the Omni Tucson National Golf Resort and Spa (tel. 520/575-7540), home of the Tucson Open. Randolph North (tel. 520/791-4161), Tucson's best municipal course, is the site of the city's annual LPGA tournament. The Silverbell Municipal Course (tel. 520/791-5235) boasts a bear of a par-5 17th hole, and at Fred Enke Municipal Course (tel. 520/791-2539), you'll find the city's only desert-style golf course.

Courses worth trying in other parts of the state include the 18-hole course at Rancho de los Caballeros (tel. 928/684-2704), a luxury guest ranch outside Wickenburg. Golf Digest has rated this course one of Arizona's top 10. For concentration-taxing scenery, few courses compare with the Sedona Golf Resort (tel. 928/284-9355), which has good views of the red rocks; try it at sunset. Way up in the Four Corners region, in the town of Page, you'll find the 27-hole Lake Powell National Golf Course (tel. 928/645-2023), which is one of the most spectacular in the state. The fairways here wrap around the base of the red-sandstone bluff atop which sits the town of Page. South of Tucson near Nogales, the Rio Rico Resort and Country Club (tel. 520/281-8567) offers a challenging back nine. Along the Colorado River, there are a couple of memorable courses. Lake Havasu City's London Bridge Golf Club (tel. 928/855-2719) offers a view of, you guessed it, the London Bridge. For more dramatic views, check out the Emerald Canyon Golf Course (tel. 928/667-3366), a municipal course in Parker that plays up and down small canyons and offers the sort of scenery usually associated only with the most expensive desert resort courses.

One last tip: If your ball should happen to land in the coils of a rattlesnake, consider it lost and take your penalty. Rattlesnakes make lousy tees.

Hiking/Backpacking

Arizona offers some of the most fascinating and challenging hiking in the country. All across the state's lowland deserts, there are parks and other public lands laced with trails that lead past saguaro cacti, to the tops of desert peaks, and deep into rugged canyons. The state also has vast forests that contain wilderness areas and many more miles of hiking trails. In northern Arizona, there are good day hikes in Grand Canyon National Park, in the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff, near Page and Lake Powell, and in Navajo National Monument. In the Phoenix area, popular day hikes include the trails up Camelback Mountain and Squaw Peak and the many trails in South Mountain Park. In the Tucson area, there are good hikes on Mount Lemmon and in Saguaro National Park, Sabino Canyon, and Catalina State Park. In the southern part of the state, there are good day hikes in Chiricahua National Monument, Coronado National Forest, the Nature Conservancy's Ramsey Canyon Preserve and Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Sanctuary, Cochise Stronghold, and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

The state's two most unforgettable overnight backpack trips are the hike down to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and the hike into Havasu Canyon, a side canyon of the Grand Canyon. Another popular backpacking trip is through Paria Canyon, beginning in Utah and ending in Arizona at Lees Ferry. There are also overnight opportunities in the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff and in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona.

Guided backpacking trips of different durations and levels of difficulty are offered by the Grand Canyon Field Institute, P.O. Box 399, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023 (tel. 800/858-2808 or 928/638-2485; www.grandcanyon.org/fieldinstitute); Canyon Dreams, 135 W Route 66, Williams, AZ 86046 (tel. 888/731-4680 or 928/635-9434; www.canyondreams.com); and Discovery Treks, 6890 Sunrise Dr., Suite 120-108, Tucson, AZ 85750 (tel. 888/256-8731; www.discoverytreks.com).

Backroads, 801 Cedar St., Berkeley, CA 94710-1800 (tel. 800/462-2848 or 510/527-1555; www.backroads.com), better known for its bike trips, also offers a 6-day hiking/biking trip to Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion national parks for $1,998.

Horseback Riding/ Western Adventures

All over Arizona are stables where you can saddle up for short rides. Among the more scenic spots for riding are the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, the red-rock country around Sedona, Phoenix's South Mountain Park, the foot of the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix, and the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains outside Tucson. See the individual chapters that follow for listings of riding stables; see below for information on overnight guided horseback rides.

Among the most popular guided adventures in Arizona are the mule rides down into the Grand Canyon. These trips vary in length from 1 to 2 days; for reservations and more information, call Grand Canyon National Park Lodges/Xanterra Parks & Resorts (tel. 888/297-2757, 303/297-2757, or, for last-minute reservations 928/638-2631; www.grandcanyonlodges.com). Be advised, however, that you'll need to make mule-ride reservations many months in advance. If at the last minute (1 or 2 days before you want to ride) you decide you want to go on a mule trip into the Grand Canyon, contact Grand Canyon National Park Lodges at its last-minute reservations phone number or stop by the Bright Angel Transportation Desk, in Grand Canyon Village, on the chance there might be space available.

It's also possible to do overnight horseback rides. For information, contact The D Spur, Peralta Rd. (P.O. Box 4587), Apache Junction, AZ 85278 (tel. 866/913-7787 or 480/983-0833), which does overnight horseback trips to the Superstition Mountains; or Arizona Trail Tours, 320 Stable Lane, Rio Rico, AZ 85648 (tel. 800/477-0615 or 520/281-4122; www.aztrailtours.com), which offers trips through the backcountry of southern Arizona.

Hot-Air Ballooning

For much of the year, the desert has the perfect environment for hot-air ballooning -- cool, still air and wide-open spaces. Consequently, there are dozens of ballooning companies operating across the state. Most are in Phoenix and Tucson, but several others operate near Sedona, which is by far the most picturesque spot in the state for a balloon ride. See the individual chapters for specific information.

Houseboating

With the Colorado River turned into a long string of lakes, houseboat vacations are a natural in Arizona. Although this doesn't have to be an active vacation, fishing, hiking, and swimming are usually part of a houseboat stay. Rentals are available on Lake Powell, Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, and Lake Havasu. The canyon scenery of Lake Powell makes it the hands-down best spot for a houseboat vacation -- reserve well in advance for a summer trip. No prior experience (or license) is necessary, and plenty of hands-on instruction is provided before you leave the marina.

A few years ago, certain houseboats were linked to numerous deaths due to carbon-monoxide poisoning. Design flaws in some boats trapped carbon monoxide from the engine exhaust in an area at the back of the boat where swimmers and sunbathers often gather. Once the design flaw was recognized, actions were taken to prevent such accidental deaths from happening in the future. However, you should be sure to ask about the safety of any boat you rent.

Skiing

Although Arizona is better known as a desert state, it does have plenty of mountains and even a few ski areas. The two biggest and best ski areas are Arizona Snowbowl (tel. 928/779-1951; www.arizonasnowbowl.com), outside Flagstaff, and Sunrise Park Resort (tel. 800/772-7669 or 928/735-7669; www.sunriseskipark.com), on the Apache Reservation outside the town of McNary in the White Mountains. Snowbowl is more popular because of the ease of the drive from Phoenix and the proximity to good lodging and dining options in Flagstaff. Although Snowbowl has more vertical feet of skiing, Sunrise is our favorite Arizona ski area because it offers almost twice as many runs and the same snow conditions. Both ski areas offer rentals and lessons.

When it's a good snow year, Tucsonans head up to Mount Lemmon Ski Valley (tel. 520/576-1321, or 520/576-1400 for snow reports), the southernmost ski area in the United States. Snows here aren't as reliable as they are farther north. Because of the fire on Mount Lemmon in June 2003, and because snow is so unreliable here, be sure to call first to make sure the ski area is operating.

During snow-blessed winters, cross-country skiers can find plenty of snow-covered forest roads outside Flagstaff (there's also cross-country skiing at Arizona Snowbowl), at Sunrise Park outside the town of McNary, at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, in the White Mountains around Greer and Alpine, outside Payson on the Mogollon Rim, and on Mount Lemmon outside Flagstaff.

Tennis

After golf, tennis is the most popular winter sport in the desert, and resorts all over Arizona have tennis courts. Many resorts require you to wear traditional tennis attire and don't include court time in the room rates. Although there may be better courts in the state, none can match the views you'll have from those at Enchantment Resort, outside Sedona. Just don't let the scenery distract you from your game. Other noteworthy tennis-oriented resorts include, in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, the Phoenician, the Radisson Resort Scottsdale, Copperwynd Country Club & Inn, the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, the Pointe South Mountain Resort, and the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort; and, in Tucson, the Lodge at Ventana Canyon, the Sheraton El Conquistador Resort & Country Club, the Westin La Paloma, the Westward Look Resort, and the Omni Tucson National Golf Resort & Spa.

White Water Rafting

The desert doesn't support a lot of roaring rivers, but with the white water in the Grand Canyon you don't need too many other choices. Rafting the Grand Canyon is the dream of nearly every white-water enthusiast -- if it's one of your dreams, plan well ahead. Companies and trips are limited, and they tend to fill up early.

For 1-day rafting trips on the Colorado below the Grand Canyon, contact Hualapai River Runners (tel. 888/255-9550 or 928/769-2210; www.grandcanyonresort.com). For a half- or full-day float on the Colorado above the Grand Canyon, contact Wilderness River Adventures (tel. 800/528-6154 or 928/645-3279; www.visitlakepowell.com), which runs trips from Lees Ferry.

Rafting trips are also available on the upper Salt River east of Phoenix. Wilderness Aware Rafting (tel. 800/462-7238 or 719/395-2112; www.inaraft.com), Canyon Rio Rafting (tel. 800/272-3353 or 928/774-3377; www.canyonrio.com), and Mild to Wild Rafting (tel. 800/567-6745; www.mild2wildrafting.com) all run trips of varying lengths down this river (conditions permitting).