I am amazed she found a forest in Arizona. Some relatives moved to Phoenix area and there were no trees there!
Drive north on I-17 for about 30 minutes. You'll find them. Eastern AZ has a lot of forest, too. It's just that most folks settled in Phoenix and Tucson, where the trees aren't.
Guess you didn’t see a lot of Arizona, did you. The White Mountains are heavily forested — it is the world’s largest stand of Ponderosa pine. Lots of wild, remote, and rugged country there. Lived there in Pinetop in Winter ‘75 - ‘76. Lots of snow, too.