Cool Summer Destinations

arizonahighways.com AUGUST 2003

jeromejerome TourTour ItsIts FabledFabled AdobeAdobe MansionMansion

HikeHike aa ShadyShady ForestForest TrailTrail prescottprescott GrandGrand CanyonCanyon DriveDrive anan EasyEasy NorthNorth RimRim ScenicScenic RouteRoute

Baldy PLUS Matthews Baboquivari mystical6 Aztec mountains San Francisco Peaks Graham AUGUST 2003

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55 GENE PERRET’S WIT STOP When you ask if it’s hot enough for our author, you’ll just make him hotter. 44 HUMOR 2 LETTERS AND E-MAIL 46 DESTINATION Jerome Mansion The colorful and offbeat mining town of Jerome traces much of its flavor to James S. Douglas and family, whose home is preserved as a museum and state park. 3 TAKING THE OFF-RAMP Explore Arizona oddities, attractions and pleasures. 54 EXPERIENCE ARIZONA Cowboy poets gather for a reading in Prescott, while rodeo cowboys brace for some riding, racing and roping in Payson; bat lovers go searching for the furry critters in Bisbee; and the Museum of Northern Arizona puts on a Zuni Indian marketplace in Flagstaff. 18 COVER/PORTFOLIO Six of Arizona’s 49 ALONG THE WAY Octogenerian Ernie Escapule, a mining and metals Mystical Mountains consultant who lives near Tombstone, creates useful Look up, look around, what do you see? devices — contraptions, some would say — from Arizona’s great mountain ranges, our defining oddball parts. horizons that contain our history, our lore — 50 BACK ROAD ADVENTURE and maybe treasure. Grand Canyon Drive It can be a “tiring” adventure, but a trip to North Timp ARCHAEOLOGY Point on the North Rim yields superlative views of the 6 Seashell Traders Grand Canyon and night skies. [this page] Late afternoon light 56 HIKE OF THE MONTH of the Desert colors the Ajo Range at Organ A Mountain Forest Trail Pipe Cactus National Monument Ancient people brought their wares from in southern Arizona. Although tough and North Timp the Sea of Cortes to trade for goods in Arizona george h.h. huey steep, the rocky path up Point Matthews and beyond. [front cover] A shaft of sunlight Maverick Mountain Peak breaks through the shadows of south of Prescott leads Grand Canyon San Francisco the San Francisco Peaks’ Inner National Park Peaks Basin to fire the crest of a dense to a scenic ridge that’s JEROME HISTORY stand of golden aspens. See worth the effort. Maverick Mount story, page 18. larry ulrich Mountain Baldy 16 [back cover] Paloverde and Aztec Hotel Elegance, Peak mesquite trees, saguaro cacti, PHOENIX brittlebushes and buckhorn Mount Territorial-style Graham chollas contribute to a profusion TUCSON “C.P.” Sykes’ fashionable Hotel Santa Rita of desert plant life in Organ Pipe POINTS OF Baboquivari INTEREST Peak opened with a grand party in 1882, but the Cactus National Monument’s FEATURED IN TOMBSTONE Grass Canyon. george h.h. huey THIS ISSUE Calabasas railroad left him offtrack and out of business. (former site) and e-mail takingthe

AUGUST 2003 VOL. 79, NO. 8

Publisher WIN HOLDEN Arizona oddities, attractions and pleasures Editor ROBERT J. EARLY Senior Editor BETH DEVENY off-ramp Managing Editor RANDY SUMMERLIN Research Editor MARY PRATT Editorial Administrator CONNIE BOCH Administrative Assistant NIKKI KIMBEL Unnoticed Rock Climbers state. What did I get? Ten pages of baseball! What Ellsworth was joined by his THIS MONTH IN Director of Photography PETER ENSENBERGER The photo on the inside back cover (“Hike of the a disappointment. Shame on you. I know you can Photography Editor RICHARD MAACK younger brother Emery. In Mineral-rich Month,” March ’03) shows a stunted pine on top of do better than that. their first studio, a cave with ARIZONA Art Director MARY WINKELMAN VELGOS Arizona a freestanding sandstone block below Sterling Pass Eileen Nazar, San Luis Obispo, CA Deputy Art Director BARBARA GLYNN DENNEY a blanket over the entrance, Deputy Art Director BILLIE JO BISHOP in Oak Creek Canyon. I also see two rock climbers The last time we wrote a story about spring training they processed pictures of veryone knows that Arizona leads Art Assistant PAULY HELLER U.S. census at the top of the page. Am I right? baseball was in 1992. Judging by the reaction, it Map Designer KEVIN KIBSEY people astride the Grand the country in copper production, 1860 NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY CLINE LIBRARY/KOLB BROTHERS STUDIO E reports Tom Faires, Scottsdale may be more than 10 years before we do the next Arizona Highways Books Canyon mules as they but few realize that the state also leads Arizona’s one, if ever. WitWorks® Books maneuvered their way along the the nation in molybdenum output. population as Editor BOB ALBANO 6,482. Did you realize the climbers were up there? Associate Editor EVELYN HOWELL The Kolbs’ Canyon Bright Angel Trail. This unusual mineral looks similar to Associate Editor PK PERKIN McMAHON Cheryl Plantz, Woodland Hills, CA Baseball in Surprise mery and Ellsworth Kolb’s In 1912, the brothers became graphite, but is a bluer grey. When I have had a second home in Arizona since the Production Director CINDY MACKEY Grand Canyon photographs the first to use a movie camera used as an alloy, it gives steel its Production Coordinator KIM ENSENBERGER Fort Crittenden, JEFFREY A. SCOVIL 1867 The caption says nothing about mountain climbers. early 1970s and eagerly await spring-training Promotions Art Director RONDA JOHNSON in the August 1914 National to document­ riding the rapids on hardness and durability. between the Webmaster E Sonoita and Joe Bolton, Grand Cane, LA games. After scanning the March 2003 cover of VICKY SNOW Arizona also ranks second in Geographic­ were among its earliest the Colorado River. Emery Patagonia There are two rock climbers, and we did not notice Arizona Highways, my eye first caught the words, Marketing Director published Canyon pictures. They ­presented their river movie in the nation in production of settlements, is PATRICIA POWERS-ZERMEÑO them, so there is no mention of them in the “Spring Baseball’s Back.” As usual, the article was hauled water for 7 miles to develop the studio’s small auditorium gemstones; third in perlite; established by Circulation Director LEE FRANKLIN the U.S. Army to caption. Not only does the poor old editor need very interesting on the 10 major league teams their photographs in an abandoned from 1915 until his death in fourth in construction sand protect settlers better glasses, but the whole staff does as well. training in the Grand Canyon State. Finance Director ROBERT M. STEELE mine shaft. For almost a century, 1976 at the age of 95. and gravel, silver and from the Indians. I know they are the “new kids on the block,” Fulfillment Director VALERIE J. BECKETT their 23-room studio has clung to Today the Grand Canyon zeolites; fifth in pumice; and Butterfly Myths but I’m disappointed you didn’t mention my Information Technology Manager the South Rim. The studio, five National Parks Foundation sixth in iron oxide pigments. I was delighted to have an opportunity to read Kansas City Royals (and Mike Sweeney) and the CINDY BORMANIS ­stories high, is on the National ­operates a bookstore in the Gemstones are created from Ten settlers “Butterfly Silent, Butterfly Beautiful” and “From Texas Rangers in their fine new training facility in FOR CUSTOMER INQUIRIES blue azurite and green 1870 ­Register of Historic Places. Kolb Studio, and all gallery near Tucson OR TO ORDER BY PHONE: malachite. les and paula Maiden to Butterfly, in Search of Love,” (March Surprise. Call toll-free: (800) 543-5432 Shortly after arriving at the ­proceeds go directly to studio are killed by presmyk collection Indians in 11 ’03) to my 5-year-old granddaughter. She loved Maurice Walker, Overland Park, KS In the Phoenix area or outside the U.S., Grand Canyon in the early 1900s, restoration costs. Call (602) 712-2000 days. them both, so I had to read them again. Thank Or visit us online at: you for including these wonderful Indian myths in I was shocked and disappointed to see that you arizonahighways.com your beautiful magazine. completely ignored the magnificent new Surprise For Corporate or Trade Sales The Law and Call (602) 712-2050 1873 Herb Nachman, Townsend, TN Recreation Campus as well as the Kansas City Effie’s Gardens Order Society of E-MAIL “LETTERS TO THE EDITOR”: Tucson lynches Royals and Texas Rangers who make it their spring [email protected] n a corner of Heritage four murderers Spring Baseball training home. Not a single word. Shame. Regular Mail: Square in downtown from gallows in Court Plaza on Your magazine has done so much for me, showing Dick Welsh, Surprise Editor Flagstaff lies a very magical 2039 W. Lewis Ave. I Pennington and introducing the sights and beauty of this great The baseball story was based on games played in Phoenix, AZ 85009 place. There, in a lush lakeside Street. state. I am a Michigan transplant, and when I 2002, a year before the Surprise park opened. wood of vibrant acrylic color, Governor Janet Napolitano opened the March 2003 issue and saw that you Director, Department of Transportation curious creatures with large WASTED 10 pages to show baseball, it really ticked Humor Section Victor M. Mendez eyes and round faces peer from 1877John Dunn, a me off. Don’t we get enough of the “sports” (i.e., I can keep quiet no longer. The “Humor” section of ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION BOARD silent breakfast tables. They government Chairman Ingo Radicke, Globe scout, finds the business) on TV, cable and in the paper? I am so your magazine has long been suffering. The stories Vice Chairman Bill Jeffers, Holbrook dip coffeepots into serene first copper ore ticked, I am considering canceling. that are printed are horrible, and actually paying Members Dallas “Rusty” Gant, Wickenburg pools and glance through worn in the Bisbee Richard “Dick” Hileman, Lake Havasu City

JOE SORREN area. John Hudak, Fountain Hills money to the people submitting them is criminal! James W. Martin, Willcox pages of Kerouac and the The March 2003 page was particularly rotten. You Joe Lane, Phoenix Sunday paper. It is The Veridic when he first put paintbrush to Guernica to the likeness of a small Billy the Kid S.L. Schorr, Tucson kills blacksmith My March issue arrived, and as usual I couldn’t put should consider just leaving the “Humor” section Gardens of Effie Leroux, Flagstaff wall in the summer of 1999. For bird that had the misfortune of INTERNATIONAL REGIONAL MAGAZINE ASSOCIATION Frank Cahill at it down until I came to page 22, “Play Ball!” I feel out of your magazine and using the page for more 2001, 2000, 1998, 1992, 1990 Magazine of the Year artist Joe Sorren’s latest mural. The 17 months he arrived at daybreak flying headfirst into the work-in- Fort Grant. cheated that Arizona Highways would devote 10 great stories and photos. WESTERN PUBLICATIONS ASSOCIATION surreal spectacle fills a 15-by-45- and painted in accordance with the progress. Sorren is not about to 2002 Best Overall Consumer Publication pages to baseball. If I wanted sports, I would Jamey Adams, Oro Valley 2002, 2001 Best Travel & In-transit Magazine foot curving wall at the backside of shifting light, often for 10 hours give away all of the subscribe to Sports Illustrated. The other articles 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1995, 1993, 1992 Heritage Square between Aspen straight. mural’s secrets — 1904A downpour deposits 2 were all wonderful. Great Gift Best Regional & State Magazine and Birch streets. On a summer “I wanted a story that there has to be SOCIETY OF AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITERS FOUNDATION inches of rain Mae Duggin, Skull Valley I nearly drove myself crazy trying to think of a gift 2000, 1997 Gold Awards afternoon, the mural’s characters would play out through something left to into the streets for a special friend. So I looked through all of my Best Monthly Travel Magazine of Globe in less blend seamlessly with multiple the viewer’s than one hour. Your March 2003 issue is a real dud. Instead of most recent issues of your wonderful magazine. Arizona Highways® (ISSN 0004-1521) is published the lunch crowd on the viewings,” imagination. Six citizens monthly by the Arizona Department of Transportation. drown 20 your state’s beautiful flowers in your portfolio, you Then it dawned on me: share Arizona with my Subscription price: $24 a year in the U.S., $34 in Canada, cafe’s patio. he says. Prints of Sorren’s , $37 elsewhere outside the U.S. Single copy: $3.99 U.S. businesses are have baseball. What a letdown. Get with it. friend. Thanks for the beauty you send out to us Send subscription correspon­ dence­ and change of address Sorren, whose Details work can be found destroyed and information to Arizona High­ways, 2039 W. Lewis Ave., Linda M. Thomas, Minneapolis, MN each month. Phoenix, AZ 85009. Periodical postage paid at Phoenix, paintings have been give the at the Black Hound numerous AZ and at additional mailing office. POST­MASTER: send railway bridges Carolyn Stober, Tombstone address changes to Arizona Highways, 2039 W. Lewis featured in The New painting life. Close Gallerie or at Sorren’s wash away. Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85009. Copyright­ © 2003 by the Ari-­ As a new subscriber to Arizona Highways, I eagerly The poor old editor is proud to say that about zona Department of Trans­por­tation. Repro­duc­tion in Yorker and Time observation reveals studio in Flagstaff. whole or in part with­­out permission is prohibited. The awaited the March issue, beautiful pictures 100,000 of our subscribers also send gift magazine does not accept and is not responsible for un-­ magazine, didn’t know everything from an Information: (928) 214-9980; and interesting articles about your fascinating subscriptions to their friends. solicited ma­terials provided for editorial con­sideration. what would emerge homage to Picasso’s www.joesorren.com. Produced in the USA

2 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 3 off-ramptakingthe

Cinematic SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SCOTTSDALE Cowboy LINDA LONGMIRE SMoCA’S Magnetic Appeal “It was the days when t all started with a rogue going on at the SMoCA building. the good guys always A 6-Mile Book Made of Tiles magnet, a nondescript Magnets — everything from HOLLYWOOD COWBOY HOLLYWOOD won,” says Michael ou’ll never be at a loss for metaphor and humor to achieve I business magnet barely pictures of kids to homemade Klein, owner of Hollywood Cowboy, a words when visiting Tempe what he calls a “finger snap” or bigger than a half dollar stuck ones — transformed the 400- Cave Creek gallery of vintage Western YTown Lake east of Phoenix. immediate insight. The style just above head height on the sell square-foot wall into a mosaic. movie poster art. A New York native, Six hundred granite tiles line the utilizes the gregueria literary form metal north wall of the Scottsdale magnets At the end of May, the staff Klein relocated to Arizona and has perimeter of the water, creating a created by Spanish writer Ramon Museum of Contemporary Art depicting collected the magnets for students Shop Talk been buying and selling Western “book” 6 miles long. Artists Karla Gomez de la Serna in 1911. (SMoCA). When Ted Decker, works of art of the museum’s Vision Kids Saloons were the movie posters for 26 years. Now a self- Elling and Harry Reese and poet “Fish/in the water/are the river’s/ associate director of development and other educational program to Question most socially active professed cowboy (he writes cowboy Alberto Rios worked together thoughts,” reads another tile by Rios. at SMoCA, reached up to grab the tchotchkes as reminders of incorporate into artwork to sell in of the establishments in poetry and cowboy songs), his to convey the past, present and Fossils, fish, frogs, birds, magnet — ping — the light went on peoples’ visits,” he recalls. “Here the museum store. The money Month 19th-century obsession with the West originated future of the lake through words lightning scenes, leaf patterns and in his creative head. “I started was this big wall waiting for netted from the artwork is donated Arizona. with cowboy movies. and images carved in 8-pound additional images fill other tiles thinking how famous museums attention.” to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. The secret of Barbershops took In earlier days, big movie studios granite tiles. conveying symbolic messages. The Decker’s idea gave birth to But the metal north facade Q “talkative second place, lavished a fortune on poster It takes 2 tons of granite to tell whole collection is based on “SMoCA Magnet Mania” during May didn’t stay empty. The magnets tree rings” was where the campaigns. Striking graphics and bold the story, and each tile reads like memories and stories representing 2002. The museum invited people came back. First a handful, discovered by a proprietor played copy lured ticket buyers in theater its own story, such as: “In the desert/ a sense of history as well as to bring magnets from refrigerators, which the maintenance crew scientist at which host, made his lobbies and on billboards during the water/was the animal/ hunters community unique to Tempe’s desks and drawers, then stick them scrupulously removed. Then more. Arizona? school? customer golden age of the silver screen. tracked first.” Rios combined man-made lake. on SMoCA’s wall. Participants could “It’s become a site that’s very comfortable and Information: (480) 949-5646 add one or take one. much about rituals and personal While working spiced a shave and First the staff put up their exposure, especially at a time A for the haircut with local magnets. Then the media got when we need it,” says Decker. University of news or gossip. wind of the event. Even the mayor “This is the interactivity we like Arizona in Tucson While cleaning up CD Road Trip appeared, wondering what was art to turn into.” during the early the local gentry, a KEVIN KIBSEY 1900s, A.E. Douglass barber created a ne’s destination is never a discovered much-needed place but rather a new dendrochronology, LIFE IN ARIZONA 1900s sense of “ Oway of looking at things,” or the dating of past community in the claimed author Henry Miller. Tour CAIN environmental c Big Birthday Bash Territory’s dusty Guide USA takes this approach to events such as towns. travel in its recently released “Driving heodore E. Litt began his 5&10 business with pharmacy.” climatic changes, EDWARD M EDWARD Audio Adventures” series. The first Tcareer in 1888 as a 17-year- Litt celebrated his birthday through the study tour offered takes road trippers from Man on a Star old pharmacy apprentice in every July 8 by hosting a kids’ of tree rings. the Valley of the Sun past Sedona Stratford, Ontario, Canada. bicycle parade through and Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon, is baskets tell stories. He Six years later he was downtown. He gave out RE MI then loops back through Prescott weaves in the stories with delivering wagonloads of prizes and treated all NG LO Wish Upon a Star at Verde Canyon DA and Wickenburg to west Phoenix. the fibers of the yucca, the medicine from a pharmacy participants to a movie at IN H L The compact disc chronicles the tarry-eyed romantics, excursion along the rambling bear grass, the banana roots and in Prescott to nearby the Fox Theater, just down history, culture, geology, plants and amateur astronomers and Verde River. the devil’s claw. Raymaon Novelto mining camps. the block. Nearly 1,500 wildlife in 14 narrated segments. Swildlife watchers seeking The starlight trips provide a started weaving baskets as a boy, Moving on to Tucson, children cycled or Stops along the way include Jerome, summer skies find the answer to perfect opportunity to see following the ancient example of he set up his own marched in the last

LINDA LONGMIRE LINDA Arcosanti, Sunset Crater and U.S. their dreams on starlight train rides nocturnal wildlife emerge in this his people, the Tohono O’odham, drugstore in 1908 and relocated it birthday parade he held. Route 66. So pull out the map, slip conducted by the Verde Canyon productive cottonwood-willow and the living example of his one year later to the busiest Litt died at age 81, having left in the CD and enjoy the journey. Railroad. Passengers get to see the riparian habitat. As the sun sets, grandmother, mother and aunt. intersection in town, the corner of fond memories for a generation of Information: (480) 446-8500 or Verde Canyon, its nocturnal the purple, gray and pink tones “I just watched and watched,” Stone Avenue and Congress Tucson’s children. www.TourGuideUSA.com. wildlife and a spectacular star that dress the canyon walls deepen he recalls. Street, where he show every Saturday night from into a wild cloak of violet, blue Novelto excels in a field often operated the business May through August. and red. Unhindered by city lights, and erroneously equated as the for the next 30 years. The Verde Canyon Railroad’s 38 stargazers might be able to pick province of females. His trademarks Litt sold sundry miles of track, built in 1912 at the out glittering constellations against include symbols of men, stars and merchandise that no CONTRIBUTORS AMY ABRAMS cost of $1.3 million, were the night sky. With the sunset, turtles incorporated into his baskets. other drugstore SARA COOPER originally built to support the moon and stars, the trip makes a You can see his work at the San carried. In 1952 JANE EPPINGA mining industries of Clarkdale perfect way to spend a celestial Xavier Plaza and the gift shop at he boasted that he GAIL B. FISHER

ARIZONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, TUCSON SOCIETY, HISTORICAL ARIZONA CHRISTINE MAXA and Jerome. Today, the railway summer night. Mission San Xavier del Bac, off was “the first drug [top and above] For Theodore E. Litt, showing CARRIE M. MINER runs as a tourist train, taking Information: toll-free (800) 293- Interstate 19, south of Tucson. man to combine the children a good time was good business. MARY PRATT sightseers on an exclusive 7245 or www.verdecanyonrr.com. Information: (520) 294-2624. KATHLEEN WALKER

4 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 5 Ancient Seashell Traders of the Desert their remnants offer intriguing clues about a lost culture by craig childs

arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 7 n the dappled shade of paloverde trees, a shell liesI abandoned on a sidewalk. I kneel and pick up the polished cowrie, turning it in my hand. The shell is cut so that it can be strung, something that would be found in a bead shop. Tucson vibrates around me with traffic and people teeming along the sidewalk, but for a moment all goes quiet as I examine this shiny ornament. Which ocean surren- dered this shell so that I could find it here in the city? How many miles did it travel, through how many hands? At the moment I am on my way to the Arizona State Museum to research artifacts from an older Arizona. I am interested in the Hohokam Indian culture, as well as the Salado, the Mogollon, the Puebloans — names given to the previous people who a thousand years ago built cities in the Southwest and scattered their belongings across the desert. There were wars here, elaborate canal systems for irrigating and complex trade networks that stretched to Guatemala. Before the many-colored peoples of Europe, Asia and Africa ever imag- ined this country, it was busy with citizens going about their lives. This sidewalk shell reminds me that shells were a fundamental trade item for the ancient people. From a single excavation site in Phoenix, 7,500 shell artifacts were found, most dating back a thou- sand years or so. I remember coming across the remnants of a shell- trade route that once ran between Phoenix, Tucson and the desert western coast of Mexico. The route brought shells up to manufac- turing sites where they were carved and encrusted with turquoise and argillite, then traded into the vast Hohokam settlements where Phoenix and Tucson now stand. I had walked legs of this shell route, finding along the way remnants of a lost civilization in the wilder- ness. I had found shells in this same manner, crouching on my way somewhere, lifting an artifact off the ground.

Walking in a country of sand dunes in northern Sonora, Mexico, I found in the middle of nowhere a shell that had been carried from the sea. Two of us had come with a month’s worth of supplies, set- ting water caches into the far dunes of the Gran Desierto, an erotic and bitter landscape with nothing but sand for 2,000 square miles. Elegant dunes swept 300 feet into the sky, gushing around each other. Backpacking through the baptismal heat of afternoon, we arrived at stony heads of mountains standing out from the dunes. Sand crashed against every side of these mountains so that only a few of

[preceding panel, page 6] Shifting, wind-shaped sands bathed by sunset’s soft light hold secrets of an ancient shell-trading route that extended through Arizona from the Sea of Cortes in Mexico. george h.h. huey [preceding panel, page 7] Decorated shells, like this one etched with fermented saguaro juice, were traded to Hohokam Indian settlements in Arizona. jerry jacka [far left] Carrying their shells to northern markets, traders passed through forests of giant candelabralike cardon cacti. george stocking [left] Indian artisans created mosaics of turquoise and hematite stones on shell pendants. jerry jacka

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 9 their summits stuck out. There was a bit of wind shelter, a little shade. Sand poured like paint through wind-hounded notches in the rock. It was there, crouched and resting, that I reached down and picked up a shell. I turned it in my hand, feeling its sandblasted polish. Someone had brought it here. For thousands of years, shells from the nearby Sea of Cortes had been traded into North America. Carried across these dunes, they had gone as far as Oklahoma. Most of them ended up in Arizona. They were elaborately carved, jeweled with precious stones, then turned into trumpets and pendants. With that shell in my hand, I envisioned the movement of trade goods across the countryside — corn and shell beads and copper bells taken to the edges of the known world, bartered in the loud bustle of markets. Shells were probably treated like diamonds — objects of desire that were gathered, manufactured elsewhere into ornaments and then sold in far-reaching plazas. They reveal in this ancient civilization a complicated network of distribution centers, manufacturing sites and trade markets across the desert. Objects like the shell from the sand dunes fueled ancient econo­ ­ mies, as gift items, passed down as family heirlooms or perhaps worn to mark the lineage of dynasties. I sat for a long time rubbing this dune-lost shell, looking across the sandscape in front of me. On occasion a black beetle would come steaming through on a mission. Even more rarely, two bee- tles would bump into each other and shamelessly wrestle across the beads lie coiled like snakes beside animal figures carved out of sand. That was all. There was nothing else alive. Yet there had been abalone. I recognize many of the shells immediately, species carried people before me, shell traders walking through this wilderness. across those dunes long ago from the Sea of Cortes. One theory asserts that dune traders living in the lower Sonoran Carrying in my pocket the polished cowrie shell, which Desert brought goods to the Hohokam population centers in Tuc- probably originated in the Philippines or the Ivory Coast of Africa, son and Phoenix. In trade, they were able to purchase corn, cotton I walk down a hallway in one of the annex buildings of the Arizona and beans — the sorts of things that would be scarce in dry areas State Museum. Artifacts rest around me, a Hohokam red-on-buff jar farther south. In fact, evidence indicates that most shell manufac- and a platter of Clovis points 10,000 years old. turing was done in these desert sites far away from the irrigated The assistant curator of archaeology leads the way, unlocking a urban cores of the time. door and showing me inside. He strikes a switch and we both stand Worked shells moved on to the rest of the Southwest, and some in the dim of 1930s lights hung from the ceiling. The room is large even slipped through to the Great Plains. Shells that were intricately and filled with shelves, the shelves burdened with old pottery, selec- decorated in turquoise passed farther, and were kept by the mound tions from Zuni and Hopi pueblos. builders living along the Mississippi River, the same way we might I am here to examine artifacts from a Salado ruin near the Mogol- now appreciate an exotic bell from Tibet, or even my faraway cowrie. lon Rim, but instead ask if I could first see some of the shell col- Of course, shell trade changed over time. Ornaments began to be lection. The cowrie has me thinking about shell trade, and I want made in the Phoenix and Tucson areas instead of in the distant deserts. to see where these shells have now come to rest. Pueblos were built atop tall, walled mounds, becoming factories of When he opens the doors to a cabinet, I see blades of Mayan jade shell items that traded less and less with surrounding areas. and the silver grips of Spanish pistols. He pulls a drawer and the I pluck one of the frog shells from the drawer and roll it between shells come into the light like small, dark animals. Some are jew- my fingers, imagining how many hands it had touched. Was it a eled with turquoise, some hollowed into rings of bracelets. Most wedding gift, a burial offering for a child, a familiar charm kept near are carved to look like spadefoot toads, creatures of the Sonoran the bed like a favorite book? I place the object back into the drawer, Desert, characteristic spines raised along their backs. Strings of shell (Text continued on page 15)

[left] Centuries-old sand dollars were once hard-skinned animals, called echinoderms, living on the sea floor. jack dykinga [above] A low tide along the Sea of Cortes reveals a profusion of shells washed up on sandy beaches by the currents. steve gilb [right] Earrings were made from carved shells overlaid with turquoise and hematite. jerry jacka

arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 11

(Continued from page 11) coming to no conclusion, not wanting to invade the privacy of those who once held this.

At the edge of the dunes farthest from the sea, my part- ner and I came to a clearing where a patch of hard desert floor had been revealed. Across it we found an ancient camp surrounded by high wings of dunes. Globes of ceramic vessels lay broken, their broad, curved pieces gathering sunlight. We walked beside tools of basalt worn smooth, grinding stones left where they were last used. Immediately we could see how this remote settlement was orga- nized, small groups of campfires, pottery and shells set into private outposts. This is where the shell traders had slept. I knelt beside one of the fire marks and saw their last meal, the teeth and jawbones of four badgers, and the charred dish of a desert tortoise’s shell. The dunes had preserved this site for hundreds of years. Sand had moved in, sealing each artifact in place, holding it until now. The dunes are migrating, rubbing against one another as the wind pushes them, and here and there, at the far margins of the dune sea, the ground is revealed. Artifacts come briefly to the light. Soon they will again be buried. I imagined this encampment during the height of the shell trade, we have a web of routes defined across the desert, all three of us night fires scattered in the distance, laughter and the rasp of grind- close around the map, excitedly comparing notes. ing stones breaking down meal for morning. I heard the clatter of These shell traders had gathered water in the far mountains, set shells as traders sorted through their goods, tossing out the small base camps along the dune margins and made quick forays to the ones that would not be carried all the way to Phoenix. sea where they gathered shells and crossed back over the dunes, As I walked I saw these unwanted shells, the small ones cast away, returning to their camps. We are two kinds of archaeologists pleased and some larger ones with imperfections and cracks. I looked around, in the sharing of information. They accumulate data about specific seeing that the tide of dunes was coming again. Waves of sand lifted sites and publish papers on the matter. I walk across the land and everywhere, promising to crash down onto these camps and again take note of what I encounter. Between us, we can see more clearly seal their artifacts. these ancient people crossing the desert with their loads. When I leave their offices, I go straight to a bead store a few blocks Still carrying the sidewalk cowrie shell in my pocket, I away. I walk in asking if there are any shell beads, and I am directed travel to Phoenix seeking two archaeologists who once studied the to a table of small boxes of shells. I fish into my pocket and pull Sea of Cortes shoreline nearest the dunes. They had walked the out this smooth cowrie, matching it up to a cache of cowries selling beaches and terraces taking an inventory of ancient camps. Sitting for 25 cents each. in an office, maps spread over the floor and across a desk, they tell Trade to the great desert cities is far from over, I think. In all of me that they found very few signs of long-term habitation along the these hundreds and thousands of years, in the rising and falling of civ- Mexican coast near the dunes. They saw only brief camps where ilizations, we have hardly changed. There are still merchants dis- people had come, gathered shells, made a few fires and turned around playing exotic wares. Shells continue to move so frequently that they with their loads. can be found abandoned in the far dunes or lost on a city sidewalk. When I tell them of the broken pottery and shell scatters I found I am reminded that if I want to know about archaeology, all I at the clearing in the dunes, they perk. We begin tracing our fin- need to do is look at myself to see how I travel the land, where I gers back and forth across the map, and I tell them where in a nearby pause to sleep, what kinds of artifacts I carry. I buy a couple of shells mountain range I had found water holes, while they tell me where from the store and go along my way. along the coast they had found the most campfires. I explain the Author and National Public Radio commentator Craig Childs lives in western­ easiest courses through the dunes to the sea. They answer me with Colorado. His recent books include Soul of Nowhere published by Sasquatch Books and discoveries they had made by digging trenches in the ground. Soon The Desert Cries published by Arizona Highways Books.

[preceding panel, pages 12 and 13] Surrounded by salt flats near the Sea of Cortes, a cottonwood tree takes nourishment from a fresh-water spring that may have been a crucial oasis for shell traders. [left] Ocean waves lap against the Sonoran Desert at the coastline along the Sea of Cortes. [above] Senita cacti guard potsherds and shell fragments marking the path of ancient footsteps on volcanic ash. all by jack dykinga [right] The Arizona State Museum in Tucson houses a collection of unique shells once traded along the route through Arizona. jerry jacka arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 15 An Elegant Hotel A Dream Unfulfilled

‘C.P.’ Sykes’ Grand Southern Arizona Venture Proved Overambitious for Its Time [opposite page] Speculating that the tiny border community of Calabasas would become Arizona’s commercial gateway to Mexico, developer Charles “C.P.” Sykes built the grand Hotel Santa Rita to accommodate the anticipated throngs of

ALL FROM ARIZONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY/TUCSON HISTORICAL ARIZONA ALL FROM businessmen and adventurers. [left] Hotel guests brave the cold to be pictured with a rare southern Arizona snowfall. [above] Jack C. Gale of Tucson, working from historical records and photographs, drew the exterior of the Hotel by KATHLEEN WALKER Santa Rita.

HE HAD THE KIND OF FACE that would dried before full-page advertisements about smoking rooms. The expensive furnishings columns of print. Partygoers began at dawn followed by nothing but empty pages. have looked well engraved on a dollar bill or Calabasas, the English spelling of the Span- came from the East Coast, along with the in Tucson; they headed east to Benson and The simple lack of a home-based railroad imprinted on an investment prospectus. He ish word meaning “pumpkins” or “squash,” women from Boston who served the din- then picked up the southwestern route to hadn’t stopped Sykes. He had organized his had that high brow of intelligence, the matu- began appearing in the East. Appealing to ing room clientele. Cala­basas. own railroad in 1880, and another in 1885, rity of the full beard, the touch of humor investors, the ad in New York’s The Daily However, by the time of the 1882 grand The ladies wore bustles and bows, and both designed to serve Tucson, Phoenix and around the mouth. Charles “C.P.” Sykes of Graphic, October 18, 1878, showed the hold- opening, the railroads had passed by Sykes the gentlemen sported their bowlers. The beyond. Neither ever materialized past the Calabasas, Arizona Territory, looked like a ings of Sykes’ Calabasas­ Land and Mining Co. and Calabasas, heading for the route to the Tucson Brass Band rode along with them, money-raising stage. man you might want to know and, boy, could as including old missions, new mines and a south and the settlement that would become reportedly playing and parading almost Sykes died in 1901 at the age of 77, possi- he throw a party. two-story hotel, “as it will appear when com- the border city of Nogales. Sykes had his lux- nonstop until the wee hours of the next bly of a heart attack. His descendants left Cala-­ On October 5, 1882, C.P. Sykes officially pleted.” urious hotel opening anyway. morning. basas in 1916, moving on to prominence on opened the doors of his new Hotel Santa Rita Born in New York in 1824, Sykes worked The menu alone earned front-page atten- While one reporter extolled the event as both sides of the border. The hotel advertised in Calabasas, 50 miles south of Tucson and as a newspaper editor before his successful tion. Diners started with a mock turtle and opening “an important era in Arizona prog- as “the finest between San Francisco and 10 miles north of the border with Mexico. He career as a miner and mine company devel- tomato soup, proceeded to leg of mutton in ress,” another did mention, “The town has Denver” burned to the ground in 1927. extended an invitation for Tucsonans to travel oper in Colorado City, Colorado. Now he saw caper sauce, chicken in cream sauce, tongue yet but a few permanent buildings.” Today, the site of the town of Calabasas has to Calabasas by train, an all-day adventure on his future in southern Arizona. In addition and ham. Roasts of beef and pork and more The guest ledger from the Hotel Santa been engulfed by a golf course. New homes rails as new as the hotel. to the potential of its mineral wealth, the chicken, followed by lobster and salmon sal- Rita now rests at the Arizona Historical Soci- dot the surrounding hills. International com- Tucson’s Arizona Weekly Star predicted, rolling land of the Santa Cruz Valley could ads. Game included wild turkey, wild pigeon ety in Tucson. Richly bold signatures fill the mercial traffic flows ceaselessly on nearby “This entertainment will excel anything of the support vast herds of cattle. Even better, the and English snipes, with vegetables of sweet opening pages. The entries for October 5, Interstate 19. To the west, the Rio Rico Resort kind ever experienced in Arizona.” most modern of transportation,­ the railroad, corn, tomatoes, potatoes mashed and fried. 1882, show the hotel to be so full that the Hotel reigns from a hilltop perch. C.P. Sykes The host for the event had not been in the would soon serve the area. Calabasas would For dessert, the menu promised puddings 10 members of the well-used band ended had indeed seen the future. He just celebrated Territory very long. A resident of San Fran- become a city, home to the businesses nec and pies, ending with fruits, cheese and nuts. their gig five to a room. a hundred years too soon. cisco, Sykes bought the Tumacacori y Cal- essary to keep trains rolling on the line con- That anyone could walk after such a spread Subsequent pages carry the names of To see the area, drive south on Interstate abazas land grant in 1877. The 50,000 acres necting Arizona with Mexico. Calabasas seems a miracle. But these folks didn’t walk. worldly travelers from cities of power like 19 out of Tucson. Take the Rio Rico exit and south of Tucson had been part of the Spanish would be the centerpiece of international They danced into the night. New York and Chicago. Then, the entries turn east. At Pendleton Road, turn right for a mission system established in the 1700s but commerce. “It could not be equaled,” a reporter wrote become fewer and fewer. By 1885, a sin- short drive through the land where Sykes had become privately owned under inde- Sykes built a hotel to match the dream. in the Arizona Weekly Star. “A brilliant affair,” gle guest might spend the night. By 1887, once dreamed. pendent Mexico. The bedrooms had hot and cold running wrote the scribe for the Arizona Daily Citizen. days would pass with no guests at all. On Kathleen Walker of Tucson enjoys finding the places in The ink on the sale to Sykes had barely water. Gentlemen could enjoy billiards and The train ride to Calabasas garnered December 13, 1893, the last guest signed in, Arizona where the past lingers so near the present.

16 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 17 ARi AS FAR AS YOU CAN SEE ZON ’S A STAND ALMOST ANYWHERE IN ARIZONA, from the streets of downtown Phoenix to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to the U.S.-Mexico border, and lift your eyes to the horizon. Wherever you are, you’re likely to see much the same sight: off in the distance, a shimmering, bluish line of mountains. They stretch from hori- zon to horizon, chain after chain of them, forming the borders between ecological and political regions. They fill the sky with imposing outlines, from the reddish buttes of the Peloncillo Mountains in the southeast to the snaggled Castle Dome range near Yuma, from the giant rise of the San Francisco Peaks above Flagstaff to the grassy Pata­ MOUN gonia Mountains on the border with Mexico, from snowclad Escudilla Mountain flank- ing Apache country to the mellifluously named Music Mountains near Kingman. Numbering in the scores, home to hundreds of plant and animal species, full of lore and history (and perhaps even treasure), those mountains define our state just as surely as do the Grand Canyon, the cactus wren and the saguaro. Here are six of those great mountains, some accessible, some remote, all scenic — and each captivating in its own way. TAINSby Gregory McNamee Mount B A ldy

THE EXTINCT volcano called of bird and mammal species — Mount Baldy is the highest peak golden eagles, black bears and in the White Mountains of east- mountain lions among them. ern Arizona, and second only to Coated in a deep layer of snow, the San Francisco Peaks in the those same trails draw legions state overall. of cross-country skiers and From its most heavily trav- snowshoers­ in winter. eled approaches, Baldy seems “Baldy” may seem too infor- unimposing; it rises from an mal and even too common a 8,000-foot plateau and climbs name for this beautiful peak. Its so gradually that, from some Apache name, Dzil Ligai, “moun­- points of view, it seems scarcely tain of white rock,” means much more than a hill. Attain its the same thing, though, and both higher elevations, though, and terms commemorate the fact Baldy reveals its might, tower- that the mountain’s summit is a ing above the rugged country bare granite head that pokes of the White Mountain Apache well above the treeline, offering Reservation and offering plenty unobstructed vistas all around.

of challenges for the adventure- Baldy Peak, the southern sum-­ ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / MOUNT BALDY bent traveler. mit, whose elevation of 11,403 Visitors to Mount Baldy, most feet is the one recorded on most of which lies in a federally des- maps, lies on the White Moun- ignated wilderness area, enjoy tain Apache Reservation and is two of the best-maintained and closed to non-Apaches. Though most scenic hiking trails in the hikers will need to turn back at state, which intersect at a sad- the marked boundary, they’ll still dle near the summit after climb- obtain extraordinary views that ing a series of short and steep take in the distant San Francisco switchbacks. Peaks and portions of the Col- For most of their distance, orado Plateau to the north and these trails pass through thick west and even the Santa Cata­ groves of aspen, ponderosa and lina Mountains just north of blue spruce trees, and through Tucson. meadows that, in summertime, are covered with wildflowers [preceding panel, page 19] The [above] The White Mountains such as columbines, monkey­ day’s first light glints off the claim the world’s largest flowers and penstemons. surface of Crescent Lake and contiguous forest of ponderosa Both trails follow small illuminates the distant contours of pine trees, here seen crowding the Escudilla Mountain as seen from aptly named summit of Baldy brooks and rivulets that form the summit of Mount Baldy in Peak, which is south of Mount the headwaters of the Little Col- eastern Arizona’s White Baldy. both by robert g. mcdonald orado River, perennial sources Mountains. of water that attract a wide range

20 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 21 ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / MOUNT BALDY MOUNTAINS ARIZONA’S

[above] Snowmelt energizes clear, cool mountain streams like the West Fork of the Little Colorado River in the Mount Baldy Wilderness. larry ulrich [right] A study in texture and form, the rough bark of Douglas fir trees complements the craggy surface of a cliff face along Mount Baldy’s East Fork Trail. robert g. mcdonald

22 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com San Fran cisco Peaks

MOUNTAINS FORM over continued to grumble and rum- face of the tall peaks, providing unfathomably long periods of ble for eons and to send out seis-­ evidence for the familiar obser- time. What were once ancient mic spasms until as recently as vation that mountains make seafloors shed their waters, rise 700 years ago. their own weather. inch by inch, accumulate layers The remaining mountain Challenging weather that can of sand and stone, warp and core, marked by three jagged be, of course, but, as outdoor ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS buckle with the movement of summits instead of one, now enthusiasts have learned through the Earth over millions of years. stood half a mile lower than its the years on the slopes of the What were once ancient high- ancestor, but it was still impres- San Franciscos, the rewards for lands, conversely, slowly weather sive by any standards, rising a braving it are many, whether a away, ground down by the mile above a surrounding high thrilling slalom ride down the forces of wind and water and plateau that was itself nearly a 2-mile run of the Snowbowl ski gravity, their stones washed away mile and a half tall. At 12,633 area; a cross-country tour of the to line the floors of rivers and feet in height, Humphreys Peak spectacular, often snowbound oceans, there to begin the moun- remains the highest point in backcountry; or a leisurely tain-building journey anew. Arizona, followed closely by its climb or horseback ride up the But if mountains take eons to nearby sisters Agassiz Peak, 10-mile-long trail that grazes rise, they can sometimes fall in 12,356 feet, and Fremont Peak, the edge of the Inner Basin the blink of an eye, at least geo- 11,969 feet, forming a rocky before attaining the summit of logically speaking. Forming a crown that is clearly visible Humphreys Peak. giant stratovolcano resembling from more than a hundred Holy to 13 Indian tribes, the Japan’s Mount Fuji or Tanzania’s miles away. San Francisco Peaks are the west­- Mount Kilimanjaro, the San The San Francisco Peaks, ris- ernmost of the sacred mountains Francisco Peaks of three million ing just north of Flagstaff, sup­ bounding the traditional Navajo years ago loomed to a height of port more than 200 bird and world, and, in Hopi belief, the more than 16,000 feet, higher mammal species, and they con- home of the stormy spirits called than all but a few North Amer- tain strikingly diverse assem- kachinas, which usher in rain ican mountains today. blages of plants. Wind-gnarled and ensure the survival of crops That huge mountain erupted groves of juniper and piñon pine and people alike. The lightning in a blast that tore the cone give way to quavering stands of that dances about the summits apart, loosing rivers of lava across aspen and dense forests of pon- of those great mountains is affir- the surrounding countryside. derosa pine, spruce and fir trees, mation of the kachinas’ contin- The explosion­ formed the great which in turn give way, ever ued presence — and remarkable semi­circular crater known as higher, to the treeless tundra testimony to the power, majesty the Inner Basin, smoothed and surrounding the summit. At the and beauty of the living Earth. [left] Autumn brings a shaped by later generations of lower elevations, herds of elk dusting of snow to the San glaciers, while the mountain graze, while far above them, Francisco Peaks and brilliant great birds of prey ride the ther- fall color to the mountain’s golden aspens. paul gill mal winds that whip across the arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 25 ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS MOUNTAINS ARIZONA’S

[above] A gentle mist reflects the warm tones of sunset in a ponderosa pine forest near Hart Prairie on the west side of the San Francisco Peaks. george stocking [right] Sheltered high in the Peaks’ Inner Basin, Lockett Meadow’s aspens create a seasonal symphony of light and shadow. robert g. mcdonald [following panel, pages 28 and 29] Aspens in full display reflect in a quiet pool in Lockett Meadow. tom till

26 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 27 ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS Aztec Peak

DOZENS of Arizona’s moun- north, the Mogollon Rim. tains stand taller than 7,694- This sweeping view enter- foot Aztec Peak, the high­est tained the poet laureate of the point in the Sierra Ancha, a little- Sierra Ancha, the late novelist visited range that rises south- and essayist Edward Abbey, east of Payson. Many are more who worked on Aztec Peak as remote. But few combine Aztec a Forest Service fire lookout for Peak’s essential ruggedness and three summers in the late difficult-access qualities that 1970s. Here, he exulted, “We make it a premier destination for watched the clouds and the outdoor­ enthusiasts who don’t weather. We watched the sun ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / AZTEC PEAK MOUNTAINS ARIZONA’S mind a little tough slogging — or go down behind Four Peaks a four-wheel-drive ride along­­ and the Superstition Mountains, side breathtakingly sheer cliffs that sundown legend retold and — in order to make the top. recurring every evening, day That difficulty of getting after day after day. We saw the there and those fiercely eroded planet Venus bright as radium vertical walls surely must have floating close to the shoulder of made the Sierra Ancha attrac- the new moon. We watched the tive to the ancient Salado peo- stars, and meteor showers, and ple. Protected from enemies in the snaky ripple of cloud-to- the mazelike box canyons of the cloud lightning coursing across range, nourished by an abun- the sky at night. We watched dance of wildlife and flowing the birds.” water, Salado clans built cliff Today a well-marked— but dwellings throughout the moun­- not always well-maintained — tains. The road to Aztec Peak is series of foot trails honeycombs lined with examples of their the Sierra Ancha Wilderness thousand-year-old architecture, and connects its principal peaks. while the country itself is little One of those trails, happily changed from their time. named Abbey’s Way by his fel- As that hairpin road rises low Forest Service workers, through groves of juniper, man- yields magnificent vistas that zanita, mountain mahogany, embrace planets, birds, light- oak and ponderosa pine trees, ning and file after file of moun- it eventually opens onto a view tains. Rugged, austere and that embraces not only some sometimes exasperating, it’s a [above] This view east from the spectacularly forbidding local wholly fitting tribute. summit of Aztec Peak in the Sierra scenery, including the appro- Ancha range reveals portions of priately named Devils Canyon the Salt River basin and the distant ranges of the White and Mystery Spring, but also Mountain Apache Reservation. the more distant peaks of the george stocking Mazatzal Mountains and, to the

30 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 31 ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / AZTEC PEAK

[left] Workman Creek Falls’ six- story plunge over a basalt escarpment graces an autumn scene of bigtooth maple trees changing color in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness. [above] The last rays of sunset outline prickly pear cacti and a lichen-covered boulder at the edge of Parker Canyon in the Sierra Ancha range. both by george stocking

arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 33 Babo quivari Peak

WAW GIWULK ’O AN K:EK does, in great groans of winds WAW GIWULK ’O AN K:EK that whistle through its many “Baboquivari stands there, caves. One of them is said to Baboquivari stands there,” a open onto I’itoi’s subterranean Tohono O’odham song pro- world, and it is marked by eagle claims, honoring the tall dome feathers, animal skins, seashells, of metamorphosed granite that rattles and children’s toys that rises nearly perpendicularly have been left in homage to from the desert floor southwest him. Other caves contain mys- of Tucson. The peak stands like teries of their own, from painted

a beacon to guide travelers rock art to bits of worked stone ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / BABOQUIVARI PEAK through the saguaro forests and that suggest the antiquity of the grasslands of what Europeans human presence in this difficult once called the Pimeria Alta, landscape. and what its original peoples Baboquivari offers magic of called “the stony ground.” another sort to rock climbers, Baboquivari Peak, whose who travel from all over the name means something like world to attempt its sheer east- “mountain that is skinny in the ern face. That climb up the middle,” is the center of the 7,734-foot-tall spire is one of Tohono O’odham world. Accord­- the most difficult in the entire ing to traditional belief, the great Southwest, and by far the most mountain is the home of I’itoi, difficult of any to be found in Elder Brother, the shaman deity Arizona. “who knows everything” and Only the most accomplished who taught the desert people mountaineers, skilled in rope- how to survive in their austere work and unafraid of heights, homeland. The famed Man-in- are likely to last the long day the-Maze basket motif shows that it takes to ascend the 3,000 him inside his mountain strong­- feet from base to peak. It takes hold, offering a powerful sym- only a sturdy pair of legs and a bol for the difficult twists and good pair of shoes, though, to turns that life’s path can take. make the steady ascent through To the willing observer, the stands of oak and walnut trees mountain holds all sorts of pos- to attain the 6,380-foot saddle sibilities of magic, especially northeast of the peak, which when it speaks — and so it offers sweeping views of the Altar Valley and, in good weather, the folded mountain terrain bordering Tucson and the San Pedro River valley.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 35 ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / BABOQUIVARI PEAK / BABOQUIVARI MOUNTAINS ARIZONA’S

[preceding panel, pages 34 and 35] [right] The massive granite fin of Sunset clouds fan like the spokes the Baboquivari Mountains rises of a wagon wheel over Baboquivari abruptly above the surrounding Peak and a rocky desert tableau of desert and extends north in a mesquite trees, desert broom and great metamorphic arc to the prickly pear cacti. Quinlan Mountains, home of Kitt george stocking Peak Observatory. patrick fischer [above] The southern shoulder of Baboquivari Peak commands a view of the Altar Valley and the distant Santa Rita Mountains. peter noebels

36 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 37 Mount Graham

CALLED Dzil Nchaa Si An, or those of their cousins in other Mount Graham’s map, illustrat- “big seated mountain,” in the habitats. ing its importance in the Amer- Apache language, 10,720-foot- Here, mountain lions and ican settlement of Arizona. The tall Mount Graham rises atop black bears speak a slightly dif- mountain’s summit, in fact, for- a massive block of gneiss and ferent dialect, as it were; here, merly served as a station for gran­ite formed nearly one and a certain plants are slightly dis- “heliographic” communication, half billion years ago, marking, tinct from their kin, just as hap- whereby code was transmitted in the words of the geologist pens to the denizens of true by means of sunlight and mir- Halka Chronic, “a Precambrian islands, cut off from the rest of rors; the Mount Graham station version of the Himalayas.” The the world; and here live 18 was part of a network stretch- mountain, the highest point of plant and animal species that ing as far as Texas, which made the tall Pinaleno (“pine-clad”) are found nowhere else. use of other Arizona mountains range, is monumental indeed, Follow the road up Mount that included Baldy Peak and looming up from the surround- Graham from the desert floor Aztec Peak. ing desert floor like a gigantic ice­- to the alpine reservoir called The mountain still provides berg—or, better, like an island. Riggs Lake, climbing nearly a a powerful beacon: A forest of In just that spirit, scientists mile and a half in elevation, and telescopes probes the heavens

have come to think of the moun­- you’ll quickly appreciate the near its windswept summit, sig- ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / MOUNT GRAHAM tains of the basin-and-range immensity and variety — to say naling our presence to the rest provinces of the Southwest as nothing of the steepness — of of the universe while seeking “sky islands,” for they stand in this great sky island. the existence of unknown gal­ax­ rela­tion to the surrounding desert Where agaves and bristling ies, even as the mountain itself as an island does to the sea. cacti hug its lower slopes, tall beckons travelers to escape the In the instance of Mount forests of oak trees and ever- heat of the desert below and Graham, it is the heavily for­ greens rule its higher peaks; take shelter among its forests, ested, stream-laced island that where rattlesnakes warm them- streams and lakes. is wet, the sea that is dry; the selves on rocks at the moun- oasis that the well-watered tain’s base, snow-loving elk range affords attracts scores of browse the steep canyons; and animal and bird species, some everywhere, in season, bloom of which make it their perma- wildflowers in many varieties, nent home, in time, developing notably the columbine that characteristics different from lends its name to so many of the mountain’s places. Military names such as Sol- dier Creek and Hospital Flat also figure prominently on

[left] Under a fiery evening sky in this view from Cluff Pond, Mount Graham, at 10,720 feet, is the second highest peak in Arizona. richard webb arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 39 ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / MOUNT GRAHAM MOUNTAINS ARIZONA’S

[above] Fallen pine needles swirl in a small pool along Mount Graham’s Ash Creek. elias butler [right] A dense carpet of pine tree litter covers the fog-shrouded forest floor along Swift Trail, the road that leads up Mount Graham. jerry sieve

40 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 41 Mat thews Peak

THE NAVAJO TOWN of is one of the least-visited areas ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Chinle, at the mouth of Canyon in the state. San Francisco Peaks: Coconino National Forest, Peaks Ranger de Chelly, takes its name from A few Navajo families keep District, (928) 526-0866; the Navajo words meaning small farms and herds of sheep www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino. “where the water comes out.” Fol- in the rocky hills above Tsaile Mount Baldy: Apache-Sitgreaves low that water, the long stream Creek, a few four-wheel-drive National Forests, Springerville Ranger District, (928) 333-4372; called Chinle Creek, through enthusiasts pass by from time to www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/welcome.htm. the deep, whitewalled canyon time, but a visitor to the moun- Aztec Peak: Tonto National Forest, complex and over the rugged tains is likely to see no one else Tonto Basin Ranger District, (928) escarpment called the Defiance for miles around at just about 467-3200; www.fs.fed.us/r3/tonto. Matthews Peak: Navajo Nation Uplift, and you’ll eventually find any time of year. Parks and Recreation, (928) 871- one of its sources in the Tunit­ Reached by way of a graded 6647; www.navajonationparks.org. cha Mountains, whose name dirt road that threads its way Baboquivari Peak: Bureau of Land Management, Tucson Field Office; ARIZONA’S MOUNTAINS / MATTHEWS PEAK means something like “where through sandstone towers and (520) 722-4289. much water comes from.” red-rock cliffs reminiscent of Mount Graham: Safford Ranger That name fits perfectly, for Sedona, Matthews Peak com- District, (928) 428-4150; not only do the often-snowclad mands a magnificent view of www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/srd. mountains shed water into the eastern Colorado Plateau, abundant creeks feeding into taking in the San Francisco the distant Colorado River and Peaks on the far horizon, Black provide two-thirds of the sur- Mesa and Canyon de Chelly to face water found within the the west and Monument Valley entire Navajo Nation, but to the northwest. 9,512-foot Matthews Peak, the The view makes its own Tunitchas’ highest point, is also name appropriate, for Matthews dotted with natural springs and Peak honors the 19th-century waterholes — all good reason anthropologist Washington for the Navajo novelist Irvin Matthews, who translated the Morris to have described the famed “Navajo Night Chant” area as “an archipelago of well- into English. “May it be beauti- watered islands.” ful before me,” that song con- Arizona’s mountains and all they Lush with tall grasses and clad cludes, “may I walk in beauty.” survey — forests, plateaus, canyons, in ponderosa pine trees, the That hopeful vision is fulfilled rivers, deserts and valleys — are Tunitcha range, a rampartlike here — abundantly. lavishly depicted in a new Arizona extension of the north-south Highways book called The Mountains Gregory McNamee of Tucson is the Know Arizona. The renowned team of oriented Chuska Mountains in author of Blue Mountains Far Away: writer Rose Houk and photographer extreme northeastern Arizona, Journeys into the American Wilderness Michael Collier spent two years and [left] The west-facing basalt cliffs and editor of The Mountain World: A traveled 30,000 miles exploring the of Matthews Peak bear the Navajo Literary Journey, among other books. outback to bring the project to name Tse Binaayoli, which fruition. To order the hardcover book translates as “the place where the ($39.95 plus shipping and handling) wind blows around the rock.” call toll-free (800) 543-5432. 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44 AUGUST 2003 observed that Douglas had a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” character. His eldest son, by MARY PRATT / photographs by DAVID H. SMITH Lewis, recalled that he didn’t destination know anyone who had the sheer power of personality that his father had. While managing mines in northern Mexico, Douglas GROWING FROM CLUSTERS OF CANVAS-WALLED the Copper Queen Consolidated Mine in acquired the name “Rawhide JEROME’S shacks into a prosperous city, then from a ghost Bisbee and of Phelps Dodge Corp. But the Jimmy,” perhaps because Mining-town Spirit town to an artists’ colony, the mining town of younger Douglas made his own way, working the miners found his Jerome still clings tenaciously to the steep up through various Phelps Dodge enterprises unyielding nature as tough is Underscored grades of Mingus Mountain. Crowding the for two decades. He became a shrewd as rawhide. mountain’s folds and rises are brick-and-board businessman in mining and banking, married An insistent taskmaster, by the Colorful buildings dating back to the mining heyday gentle Josalee Williams of Bisbee and raised he imposed profit-making History when Jerome, population 20,000, bustled as two sons. efficiency on marginal the commercial center of the Verde Valley. Through his own venture, the Little Daisy, mining operations and of the JAMES On a hillside at the edge of town stands he became one of the richest men in the applied his convictions as the 8,000-square-foot, two-story adobe state, yet history views Douglas with a law. Once, while inspecting a DOUGLAS Family mansion built in 1916 by James S. Douglas, jaundiced eye. One contemporary railroad bed, Douglas found four years after he opened Jerome’s second remembered that he an unused spike beside the bonanza mine, the Little Daisy. Today, as “could be the kindest, [below] The view track. At the laborers’ camp, Jerome State Historic Park, the mansion most considerate and from the base of he raved on the subject of houses a museum of photographs, artifacts charming of men; then, Cleopatra Hill sweeps waste and carelessness. from the James S. and a video devoted to Jerome’s history, to suddenly, he would Douglas mansion of When the astute foreman mining and to the Douglas family. change into the most Jerome State Historic replied, he thanked Douglas Known from childhood as “Jimmy,” Douglas caustic, abrasive Park across the Verde for finding the spike, then came from a mining heritage. His father, also individual I have ever Valley to Sedona’s red assured the boss that he’d rocks and to the San named James Douglas, served as president of known.” Others Francisco Peaks in the had three men looking for it far distance. for two days. [above] Undermined Douglas insisted from his sons the same hard by miles of tunnels, work and discipline he demanded of his Jerome is slowly employees. Once, to punish his son Lewis, shifting down Cleopatra Hill, Douglas took him to a demolished schoolhouse earning the slogan and ordered him to “take out every last nail “A Town on the Move.” from every last board.” To teach Lewis the [left] Mining meaning of hard work, his father arranged that equipment, like this ore crusher, is he work as a mucker for his first position in the displayed outside the mines, a backbreaking laborer’s job. Douglas mansion. Applying these attitudes in his marriage produced a fragile relationship. Douglas dictated all family decisions, rarely consulting Josalee and chastising her for spoiling his sons. Lewis, as an adult, once refused to see his father until he treated Josalee more kindly. Despite the harsh side of his nature, employees worked to meet Douglas’ demand for excellence. Devoted to him, Josalee wrote in her letters of missing him during the long absences that business required. Lewis and brother Jimmy, younger by five years, developed affection as well as respect for their father. Douglas served as a delegate to the state’s first Constitutional Convention and remained active in state and national politics. In 1904, his good fortune with untold recipients, and the Bisbee Daily Review described him as a he never forgot a friend. In 1947, Douglas “hustling businessman, easy of approach,” received a note from a widow informing him and “with a liberal hand for anything that is of her husband’s death. Douglas recalled that of benefit to the city, county and country.” the man had engineered the train from Douglas willingly and anonymously shared Seligman to Prescott in 1890, had been

arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 47 along the

its panoramic views of Jerome to the south and the Verde Valley to the north, to the state for $10 in 1962, and three years later it opened as by BILL NORMAN / photograph by DAN COOGAN a state park. way Built with 80,000 adobe bricks, the mansion retains the original woodwork, concrete flooring and pale interior colors. Photos line the walls, showing the family homes in New York; Nacozari, Mexico; and Douglas, and allowing glimpses into their lives as young OUT IN THE DESERT A FEW MILES WEST OF welder that they felt he might attempt to sell — Lewis and Jimmy played baseball and shared Meet Tombstone Tombstone, 80-year-old Ernie Escapule leans across the line. rides on horseback. Inventor back in a well-used recliner in front of his Escapule says he sighed and decided to build Off the long hallway are rooms that served mobile home and lets his brilliant blue eyes his own after entering Mexico. Again, necessity as kitchen, pantry and servants’ quarters and ERNIE ESCAPULE, poke a hole into the past. Memories of his birthed another of his inventions. Today, one of which now display the history of Jerome’s unusual inventions inevitably nudge the machine’s cousins reposes at Escapule’s people in photos of unnamed miners, a Master of themselves into the conversation. homesite. He calls it a “salt brine arc welder,” shopkeepers, baseball teams, school choirs USEFUL “Ya know,” Escapule says, “years ago when and it consists simply of a 55-gallon drum “a good egg,” and and the ever-needed firemen. John Wayne was making a movie here, people filled with salt water; a yard-long copper rod sent the widow a Upstairs displays feature mining equipment, CONTRAPTIONS in Tombstone asked me to make a gold and extending down into the center of the drum; a check for $500. mineral samples and, most interesting of all, a silver horsehead dispenser for a very expensive 110-volt power supply; assorted lengths of For $150,000, three-dimensional model depicting the 88 Scotch whisky decanter. They wanted to thank electrical wiring; and a standard arc welder’s Douglas built the miles of shafts, tunnels and passageways the Duke for all the business he brought to town. clamps and welding rods. Jerome mansion as catacombed beneath Jerome. “Most metallurgists will tell you you can’t These days, Escapule and his bride of five a comfortable place Jerome State Historic Park opened on cast mixtures of multiple metals because they years, Charlotte, live on 4 acres of land on which for visiting mine October 16, 1965, with the Douglas brothers have different melting temperatures. But it can snakelike mounds of rusting steel implements officials to stay. One in attendance. Near the entrance to the be done, and I did it. Never got to meet The mingle with greasy engines, chain-driven visitor remembered mansion, they placed a plaque honoring their Duke, though.” conveyor systems, tires, wooden sheds and the Douglas as “a grand heritage from their great-grandfather to their Escapule is in top form, and I’m proud to be glint of cracked, green-hued windshields. host . . . the latch father, whose dichotomy of character proved his audience. I hadn’t heard from him in a Today, Escapule decides to demonstrate his was always out for as extreme as the history of the town, the while, and then I got a phone call: “Bill, this is aluminum can flattener. A decidedly [top] The still his friends.” In a letter to Lewis, an adult by mountain and the state that encompass the your old friend Ernie. I’ve been up in the homemade-looking device, it’s constructed of a headframe of the Little Daisy Mine 1916, Douglas declared the house “a gigantic Douglas mansion and the Little Daisy Mine. Harquahala Mountains on a D-8 makin’ a road.” wheelbarrow tub, a vertically halved 30-gallon and the silent success.” A D-8? One of the biggest bulldozers in the lubricant drum, two automobile tires on multistoried Little The family’s main residence was in the town location: Approximately 110 miles world? This guy will be rompin’ till he’s a hundred, dented rims, a Briggs & Stratton two-cycle Daisy Hotel seem north of Phoenix. quietly resting, just of Douglas, but the mansion in Jerome drew getting there: From Phoenix, take I tell myself. gasoline engine and the front fender off a 1946 beyond the park them on special occasions. Productive mining Interstate 17 north to Exit 287. Take State I shouldn’t have been surprised. Escapule Harley-Davidson motorcycle. And it works. grounds. of the Little Daisy ended in 1938, though Route 260 northwest about 13 miles to its has been a mining and metals-recovery With a quick tug on the engine’s starter rope, [above] Viewed from various mining companies used the house until junction with State Route 89A. Turn left, consultant in many tough outback spots on the the thing comes to life, popping and sputtering. the mansion’s heading up the hill to Jerome. Follow the veranda, today’s the mine closed in 1953. By then, Jerome’s signs directing visitors to Jerome State globe, and along the way he discovered that Immediately, the two tires begin spinning Jerome looks much population had dwindled to about 200. Historic Park, on Douglas Road. improvising often was the only way to get against each other. Above them, several the same as it did In 1957 the Douglas family approached the hours: Daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Christmas. things done. hundred clanking soft-drink and beer cans start when Douglas kept an newly formed Arizona State Parks Board about fees: $4, adults; $1, children 7-13; free, children under 6. Those attributes might seem inevitable, given to cascade down one and two at a time from eye on the bustling additional information: (928) 634-5381; Arizona State making the old mansion into a mining [above] Ernie his family history. His father, who was born in their piled-up storage into the tub and drum. mining town. Parks, www.pr.state.az.us; Jerome Chamber of Commerce, Escapule shows off museum. They deeded the grand home, with (928) 634-2900. an aluminum can 1896 near Escapule’s present-day residence, Thwump-thwump-thwump. Descending cans flattener, one of his continued the tradition of small-scale gold and meet the junction of spinning tires and get many practical silver mining that his grandfather had begun squashed. Gravity drops them into a chute THINGS TO DO NEAR JEROME creations built from near the site in 1890. crafted from the Harley fender and into another throwaway parts. Historic Jerome The town a mining museum and great Indian village built between Escapule’s parents worked literally a mom- waiting tub. They’re ready to be recycled. of Jerome became a places to eat. Many of A.D. 1125 and 1400. The and-pop operation in the late 1960s, when Although he still works part time in the National Historic Landmark Jerome’s attractions are visitors center gives in 1967, recognizing its housed in restored historic glimpses into everyday by themselves they mined a rich vein of silver hydrology department of a large resort ­contribution of copper to buildings. life of the village where at the Red Top Mine— also within 100 yards of development company, Escapule dreams of the nation. A walking tour the people ground corn Ride the Ride Established Escapule’s present home. building a museum . . . “a precious metals and driving tour are for bread, wove cloth to serve the mines, the By the 1960s, Escapule was a world traveler. recovery museum that would demonstrate the ­published in a ­booklet ­ from the cotton they grew Verde Canyon Railroad now giving detailed information or shaped and fired He worked nearly a year in East Malaysia fine- equipment and processes we can use to refine thrills visitors on four- about the buildings­ that pottery. North of Clarkdale tuning the gold-recovery systems of a company ore, once it’s out of the ground, and make it hour round-trip tours along have survived the town’s on State Route 279, (928) ­varied history. “Jerome the Verde River into a located well back in the jungle. into precision components and fine jewelry.” 634-5564. Tourguide” is available­ at red-walled canyon with Bilingual in English and Spanish, Escapule One thing is certain: Place Ernie Escapule the state park. ­spectacular scenery. Fort Verde State Historic days. Walk down Officers’ [above] Fort Verde, found more than a language challenge at the among old pieces of metal and oddball Clarkdale, (800) 320-0718, Shops and Galleries Today’s Park The present post, Row and visit the quarters now a state historic U.S.-Mexico border when he was hired to assay machinery, and he’s apt to concoct some www.verdecanyonrr.com. park, was an essential Jerome, population about ­completed in 1873, of the commanding officer, a potentially rich copper deposit in Sonora. unlikely contraption that performs surprisingly 450, has revived as a tourist Tuzigoot National Monument became the staging area the bachelor officers and the command post during magnet, with gift shops of Tuzigoot National Monument for all military­ action in post surgeon. Camp Verde, Territorial days. Customs officials wouldn’t permit him to bring useful work. And from the gleam in his eye, every kind, plus art galleries, is the remnant of a Sinagua the area during Territorial (928) 567-3275. richard maack some of his equipment — specifically a large arc that’s as much fun as it is challenging.

48 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 49 adventure backroadby SAM NEGRI / photographs by MOREY K. MILBRADT

EVERY SO OFTEN, I ENCOUNTER SOMEONE Don’t Get ‘Stuck’ who believes we are all here for a purpose. or ‘Tired Out’ Frankly, I’ve never believed it. However, toward the end of my excursion to North on Your Visit to Timp Point, an isolated and exhilarating spot on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, I NORTH TIMP had a change of heart. I suddenly had the POINT at the impression of being inside a frame in a cartoon strip, with a “lightbulb” in the little GRAND CANYON bubble over my head, signifying the arrival of a new idea. I realized that I am indeed here for a purpose: I am here to keep tire shops in business. How else can I explain it? When a rear tire suddenly exploded on my truck, I was 27 miles south of Jacob Lake and about the same distance from Timp Point. There is no shoulder on that road (State Route 67), nor is there any cell phone service. The deer and elk far outnumber human beings. I looked at the spare tire, which seemed about the size of Ecuador, and I scratched my head. I must surely exist to keep the tire business alive, I reminded myself again. How else to explain that not only have I regularly destroyed tires in all [above] On the North of my old trucks (destroyed Rim of the Grand two on this same trip two years earlier, in Canyon, North Timp fact), but now I have destroyed a tire on a new Point provides spectacular canyon vehicle, the fanciest truck I’ve ever owned, and vistas. there are only 4,000 miles on the odometer? [opposite page] People stopped and asked if I were stuck. Slanting late- afternoon sunlight Yes, indeed, I said, but was it not a magnificent sharply defines jagged spot in which to cool one’s heels? I stood at rocky outcroppings on the edge of a fresh green meadow on the the southern face of Kaibab Plateau, roughly 50 miles south of the Locust Point across Timp Canyon from Arizona-Utah border. I could see light rain at North Timp Point. the scalloped fringe of the huge clouds in the distance. In the soft breeze I could detect a hint of the fragrance of wet bark. Well, you’ve been stuck in a lot worse places, I thought. Yes, you’re probably not one of them. Besides, really a lake but a small limestone sinkhole on 67, but you’ll turn off the pavement before but never with a brand-new truck. about half of the 43-mile one-way drive to surrounded by ponderosa pine trees. You’ll find reaching the entrance to the national park. Just now you may be thinking you’ll never North Timp Point is paved and the second half accommodations, gas and the Kaibab Plateau Doing so enables you to see the Canyon from head out to this place called North Timp Point is an excellent graded dirt road. Unless there’s Visitor Center at Jacob Lake. State 67, the road an isolated spot in the Kaibab National Forest. because the road must be paved with tire-eating been a wicked storm, the entire road can be adjacent to the visitors center, extends south All by your lonesome. piranhas. That would be wrong thinking. There covered in an ordinary sedan. along the spine of the Kaibab Plateau to the As you begin this drive, keep in mind that are only so many people who have been placed To begin, find your way to Jacob Lake, about North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. there are no accurate road maps of the Kaibab on Earth to keep tire shops in business, and 165 miles north of Flagstaff. Jacob Lake is not The trip to Timp and North Timp Points begins Plateau. Follow this route, or stop at the

50 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 51 [far left] Timp Point and Fire Point (left) and Steamboat Mountain (right) frame Grand Canyon views of Powell Plateau and Granite Gorge. [left] Arizona is home to at least a dozen varieties of Indian paintbrush, a semiparasite that partially derives moisture and nutrients from other plants.

3 miles of trail that connect the points zigzag Warning: Back road through the forest at 7,600 feet elevation travel can be hazardous if you are not prepared for and lead (both at Timp and North Timp) to the unexpected. Whether clearings where you can sit on a rocky traveling in the desert or outcropping amid twisted junipers and in the high country, be watch the buttes and domes in the Canyon aware of weather and road conditions. Make sure you and your change colors all day long. On the hills vehicle are in top shape and you have near the trail, you’ll also find colorful plenty of water. Don’t travel alone, and wildflowers — yellow Mariposa lilies, light- let someone at home know where you’re blue penstemons and bright-red Indian going and when you plan to return. Odometer readings in the story may vary paintbrushes. Look into the distance and see by vehicle. views of Tapeats Amphitheater and Steamboat Additional Information: Kaibab Mountain, among other dramatic landmarks National Forest, North Rim Ranger in Grand Canyon. District, (928) 643-7395; Kaibab Plateau Visitor Center, (928) 643-7298. If you’re going to camp in this area, as I did, there are scenic pullouts between the old-growth trees at Timp Point. This is primitive camping — no water, rest rooms or tables. Because of the absence of light pollution, at night you will see the most glittering star- filled sky imaginable. It takes a little work — not to mention four good tires — to get to these isolated spots on the North Rim, but once there you’ll get to experience the Grand Canyon as few others see it. Jacob 89A Lake

Kaibab Plateau START HERE Visitor Center To Flagstaff

U EA AT PL visitors center for more information. Head make that turn onto the graded road, you’ll and drive 5 miles to the cutoff on your right for B IBA south on 67 for 26.5 miles. The road bisects find yourself in a place where all the slender Forest Service Road 271. KA broad green meadows where you’re likely to aspens are little more than saplings. All of For the next 10 miles, the narrow road 67 see deer, elk, wild turkeys, hawks, turkey the taller trees are rotting in the hills that meanders through a magnificent forest of KEVIN KIBSEY vultures and the unusual looking tassel-eared drop off to the east. A sign in the field to aspens, pines and pink clusters of New FR 22 Kaibab squirrel, which has a fluffy white tail the left explains that this is a rare “timber Mexican locust trees. If you drive straight FR 206 FR 271A with a gray stripe down its middle. blowdown” site. In 1953, tornado-strength on FR 271, the road ends at Timp Point. But, North KAIBAB At 26.5 miles, an unpaved road, Forest winds cut a flat swath across the plateau, 6.7 miles in on 271, you can also take the Timp Point NATIONAL FOREST Service Road 22, appears on the right. On most although the winds didn’t spiral. All the trees right fork onto 271A, which will lead to North Timp Point FR 271

maps, this route is identified as 422, but the fell in one direction. Timp Point. GRAND CANYON route is currently signed as 22. Turn right When you’re 10 miles off 67, turn left Timp and North Timp Points also are NATIONAL PARK and head northwest. About 2 miles after you from FR 22 onto Forest Service Road 206 connected by the Rainbow Rim Trail. The

52 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 53 experience

Festivals,arizona powwows and get-togethers / by CARRIE M. MINER

Poetic Cowboys ABOUT ONE-THIRD OF ARIZONA, chin, you may assume that it’s August 14-16; Prescott My TEMPERATURE including large metropolitan areas and hot enough for me. I used to make money runnin’ wild MARINELLA MUSEUM OF NORTHERN ARIZONA/TONY most of the population, lies in desert country. No need to ask. The Nawetsa Dancers is Okay, cattle pollinator in the from the Edaakie Deserts are hot. Temperatures average in the Maybe I’m using the mind-over-matter In them good old days ’fore the fragile Sonoran family will perform at Thank You, 90s in the summertime. The highest reading technique. To keep cool, I’m thinking of a business went wrong, Desert ecosystem. the Zuni Marketplace ever recorded in Arizona was in Lake Havasu breezy, pleasant spot. Maybe I’m picturing in Flagstaff. When a hot runnin’ iron and a good Join a search for but Your Question City along the Colorado River. In June 1994, myself floating on a raft in the middle of a long reata the nocturnal Has Got Me the mercury there registered 128 degrees. cool lake enjoying the chilly air blowing over Was all that you needed to start pollinator at the Southwest Wings Birding That’s hot. However, even on a normal my exposed skin. I’m thinking chilly, nippy, you along. Festival. Other activities include educational HOTTTT summer day in the low desert, readings brisk, frosty. My imagination is convincing Gail I. Gardner, one of the best-known displays, field trips and lectures. Information: over 100 are not unusual. my body that it’s an almost wintry day. Then cowboy poets, wrote these lines in 1917 and (520) 378-0233 or (800) 946-4777. The desert animals know how to handle you come along and ask, “Hot enough for recited them at the first Arizona Cowboy the extreme heat. They retreat to their burrows you?” Pow . . . phffft. You’ve punctured a Poets Gathering in 1988, just a few months Hearts of Stone or dens midday, when outside ground hole in my raft and dropped me into a lake before his death. Nowadays, cowboys of the August 30-31; Flagstaff temperatures can go as high as 150 of molten lava. I’m hot again and all because RICHARD MAACK RICHARD same sentiment have turned to the “herdin’ The Zuni Indians, one of the Southwest’s degrees. They venture forth only in of your dumb question. Learn the Secrets of words” and will share their original largest Pueblo tribes, create ceremonial charms the early morning, late afternoon Besides, who cares if it’s hot enough for of Arizona Highways poetry as Sharlot Hall Museum hosts the that when blessed have the status of a religious or evening. me or not? What does my input matter to Photographs 16th Annual Arizona Cowboy Poets fetish. The Zuni believe that long ago, after The creatures who handle the heat you? Don’t you know whether you’re hot or Gathering in Prescott, Gardner’s hometown. the great flood, predators attacked the Zuni, least intelligently are you and I — not? Do you need me to tell you that it is This September, join Nine venues around the museum buildings so the twin gods shrank the beasts, trapping we the people. We often play our indeed hot enough? Can’t you feel the sweat Arizona Highways Director of Photography Peter and park will resound with original poetry their spirits in rocks and commanding beasts golf, do our gardening, dribbling down the middle of your back? Ensenberger and readings, old-time cowboy yodeling and to help humans in the form of fetish carvings. take our hikes, ride Can’t you feel the sidewalk burning through Photography Editor Richard foot-tapping Western music. Information: Discover the charm of Zuni fetishes at the our bikes and run the soles of your shoes? Leave me out of the Maack for a classroom session on (928) 445-3122. 17th Annual Zuni Marketplace held at the our errands when equation. This is between you and the sun. photography. Using images they’ve taken throughout their careers, Ensenberger and Museum of Northern Arizona. The event also the sun is at its And how should I answer your inane query, Maack will teach participants how to Best Small Rodeo features Zuni art, a native-plants nature trail, apex. We’re luckier “Is it hot enough for you?” I feel like saying, maximize photographic potential August 15-17; Payson social dance performances and children’s than the kangaroo “No, baby. I wallow in heat. I dig this sultry regardless of their experience or type of In 1884, when this mountain town was still activities. Information: (928) 774-5213. rats, the jackrabbits, climate, man. Hot enough for me? No way. I’m camera. The morning begins with a discussion known as Union Park, citizens gathered to the lizards and snakes. going for the record, pal. I think if we all dig in

of quality of light, proper exposures and watch ranchers compete in riding and R Our dens are air-conditioned. and pull together, we can beat that high mark Other Events IC K filtration to overcome difficult lighting BU roping events during the summer before Gary Ladd Photo Exhibit; June 20-September 28; RR But instead of staying in them, held by Lake Havasu City.” ESS situations. In the afternoon, Maack and Grand Canyon South Rim Village Historic District; (928) Ensenberger show how to compose shots the fall roundup. The gathering has grown we go out and curse the heat. Then I raise both arms with fists closed like over the years and is now recognized as 638-2771. At Kolb Studio, images from Grand Canyon: I know that because I run across other Sylvester Stallone when he reached the top of for maximum impact and how to tell a Time Below the Rim, published by Arizona Highways story photographically. Also covered are the country’s Best Small Rodeo by the Books, and other work by Gary Ladd. people when I’m out gallivanting in oppressive the art museum steps in Rocky, and I shout out, equipment tips that can improve anyone’s Professional Rodeo Cowboy’s Association. “A View from the Mountains” Photo Exhibit; June 28- temperatures. That’s okay, because it’s a “129 degrees or bust . . . 129 degrees or bust . . . photos. September 7; Wickenburg; (928) 684-2272. Michael The workshop is designed for beginners Although the rodeo activities are no free country. You can go out of the house 129 degrees or bust.” I trot off still chanting that longer held on Main Street, you can still Collier’s photography from The Mountains Know Arizona: when you want and I can go out of the mantra, leaving the poor simpleton who asked through experts. Images of the Land and Stories of Its People published by For more information or a free enjoy the 119th Annual World’s Oldest Arizona Highways Books. house when I want. the question shaking his head and muttering, workshop brochure, contact Friends of Continuous Rodeo at the rodeo grounds — Vigilante Days; August 8-10; Tombstone; (520) 457- The heat doesn’t bother me that much. “The heat must have gotten to that young man.” Arizona Highways at (602) 712-2004, complete with bull riding, barrel racing and 3197. Shoot-outs, live entertainment, an 1880s fashion What does bother me are the people I meet No, the heat didn’t get to me. Your dumb toll-free at (888) 790-7042 or visit its Web show and a chili cook-off. In the book site at www.friendsofazhighways.com. calf roping. Information: (928) 474-4515 White Mountain Bluegrass Music Festival; August 9-10; Marriage is when I’m out in the heat who say, “Is it hot question did. or (800) 672-9766. Pinetop-Lakeside; (928) 367-4290 or (800) 573-4031. Forever, Some enough for you?” My best strategy, though, is not to answer OTHER PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS Band performances, jam sessions and family entertainment. Days Longer, What a dumb question. That’s like going the questioner at all. Instead, I’ll just overpower October 30-November 3 Batty for Bats Summer Fine Arts & Crafts Festival; August 9-10; author Gene up to someone who’s just been stung by a and kidnap any neighbors asking, “Is it hot “Day of the Dead” Prescott; (928) 445-2510. Arts and crafts booths, craft Perret notes, November 1-5 August 6-10; Bisbee demonstrations and fair food. “Some day I scorpion and asking jauntily, “Hey, does that enough for you?” I’ll dump them into one of “Fall in the Sky Islands” Unlike many North American bat species, Native American Arts Auction; August 23; Ganado; hope to be as hurt enough for you?” Of course, it hurts. those hot air balloons that you often see in November 4-12 the lesser long-nosed bat feeds almost (928) 755-3475. Baskets, rugs, kachinas, pottery and successful as all It’s like greeting other people as you step the skies over Arizona. I’ll transport them “Copper Canyon” exclusively on the fruit and nectar of several jewelry at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. those guys you onto an elevator and saying, “Hey, is that southward, riding air currents until we reach November 9-12 Apple Harvest Festival; August 30-September 1; tell me you “Flora & Fauna of San Diego” desert plants — most notably the saguaro Willcox; (520) 384-2084. Apple “u-pick,” pancake could have music square enough for you?” It’s like walking Antarctica. Then I’ll dip down to a reasonable and organ pipe cacti and agaves. This breakfast and hayrides at Apple Annie’s Orchard. married.” To up to Vincent van Gogh and saying, “Hey, level, toss them out of the balloon’s basket and preference for desert blooms gives the lesser order this book ($6.95 plus shipping and how’s that ear coming along?” abandon them on a patch of ice with a flock Note: Dates and activities could change. Before planning to handling) or other Perret humor books call long-nosed bat an important role as a crucial attend events, phone for fees and to confirm dates and times. toll-free (800) 543-5432. From Phoenix When you see me trudging along the street, of contented penguins. Then I’ll float upward or from outside the U.S., call (602) sweating profusely, a dazed faraway look in my again, shouting to them as I ride away, “Hey . . . For an expanded list of major events in Arizona, visit our Web site at arizonahighways.com. 712-2000. Or use arizonahighways.com. eyes, and my tongue hanging down past my cold enough for you?”

54 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 55 89 Prescott of the month 69 Valley PRESCOTT

Senator PRESCOTT Highway NATIONAL FOREST Dewey

by LEO W. BANKS / photographs by JERRY SIEVE Humboldt hike 56 89

FR 79

Kendall Camp

FR 79A 56 69 Maverick Mtn. IF YOU EMBRACE THE NOTION TRAILHEAD To Phoenix

A Rocky, that work soothes and hard work KEVIN KIBSEY Mt. Tritle Steep Trail in the outdoors soothes even more, consider the hike to the ridge on Maverick walk between the posts stuck in the ground at Up MAVERICK Mountain in the Prescott National Forest. If intersections, and watch the trees for arrow you find yourself cursing on the steep ascent signs labeled “65.” MOUNTAIN and feel convinced the ridge keeps moving Rocks on the trail make the going rough South of Prescott back with each step, that only makes reaching and necessitate keeping your eyes down to the peak more worthwhile. The views can avoid a sprained ankle. Even so, don’t miss Offers the remains of an old miner’s cabin, three logs high, about 20 feet to the right of the trail. DAZZLING Whoever lived there survived on canned food VIEWS and left the cans to rust in the grass. Judging by the twisted metal in the corner of the foundation, he or she also used a cook stove. Farther on, just past the trail’s lone maple tree, a mineshaft yawns on the left. A flashlight [right] Fungi and algae in a symbiotic would help to inspect the interior, but the relationship make up contents of the dark hole, big enough to hundreds of species of accommodate a person on hands and knees, lichen, some of which should be left to the imagination. For safety’s grow on boulders along Trail 65 south of sake, do not enter any mine shaft. Prescott. The trail angle steepens toward the peak [opposite page] Visible and, depending on your conditioning, might to the north beyond require rest stops. Even a cool day feels like Maverick Mountain’s ponderosa pine trees, summer as you struggle uphill. Thumb Butte and The hike of less than 2 miles takes about 90 Granite Mountain form minutes and deposits you 700 feet higher than part of the distant horizon. the starting point. But the ridge, at 7,443 feet, affords tremendous views, especially to the south, Location: Approximately where the lower mist-shrouded Bradshaw 9.9 miles south of Mountains layer back in green, black and fog- Prescott. Getting There: The white all the way to Crown King. Senator Highway, also Carry a light jacket because at that elevation, marked County Road 56, dazzle, depending on the weather and cool temperatures are not unusual. “We’re begins at the top of Mount ­available light. lucky the wind isn’t blowing today, or it’d Vernon Street, on the east end of downtown Prescott. Drive south on the After parking near the intersection of Forest knock us right off this ridge,” Johnston said. Senator Highway to a sign pointing left Service roads 79 and 79A, the first place of After lunch and a rest, some hikers head toward Crown King. Turn left. Follow the road interest for hikers is at Kendall Camp, a 15- east along the ridge to the peak of Mount to a right fork and a sign pointing toward the minute walk from that intersection. In the days Tritle, more than 300 feet higher, another Whispering Pines Camp. From there, continue .3 of a mile and turn right onto Forest when men with picks and dreams roamed uphill struggle. But there the view opens Service Road 79. Drive 1.1 miles to a bridge these mountains, prospectors processed gold considerably, providing a striking panorama. across the Hassayampa River and another ore at this place. Today the site holds an apple The rocky, ankle-testing march down from .4 of a mile to FR 79A. Park roadside and orchard surrounded by a rail fence. the ridge requires extra caution in watching begin the hike by walking up the hill along 79A to Trail 65. The total distance from “You always hear old-timers in town talk the trail. This makes it tougher to see the top of Mount Vernon Street to where about coming here to pick apples,” said Don deer and other wildlife, but rest assured, you park and walk is 9.9 miles. Johnston, a retired teacher and Prescott they’re watching you. After all, it’s their Additional Information: Prescott National Forest, Prescott Ranger District, resident. job, and they work hard at it. If you make (928) 443-8000. Continue walking on 79A a short distance to it to the bottom, you’ve worked hard at its meeting with Trail 65. To stay on the trail, your job, too.

Before you go on this hike, visit our Web site at arizonahighways.com for other things to do and places to see in the area.

56 AUGUST 2003 arizonahighways.com