“If it weren’t for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no song.” — CARL PERKINS BEST OF ARIZONA 2012 WILLIAMS •BEAR WALLOW CAF PLUS: ESCAPE • EXPLORE •EXPERIENCE •EXPLORE ESCAPE

HOPI CHIPMUNKS HOPI •THE GRAND CANYON •JIM HARRISON •INDIAN ROAD 8 É •DUTCH TILTS •ASPENS 31 •STRAWBERRY SCHOOL Things Things Yu Die You to Do Do to Before Before

AUGUST 2012 AUGUST

in a 1929 Ford 1929 a in CRUISING AZ CRUISING

CONTENTS 08.12

Grand Canyon National Park Third Mesa 2 EDITOR’S LETTER > 3 CONTRIBUTORS > 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR > 56 WHERE IS THIS? Supai Parks Williams Oak Creek 5 THE JOURNAL 46 THE MAN IN THE CREEK Strawberry Alpine People, places and things from around the state, including Jim Harrison likes water. Actually, he loves water. Ironically, Cave Creek Hank Delaney, the most unique mail carrier in the world; he doesn’t find a lot of it in Patagonia. What he does find is Point of Pines the Bear Wallow Café, a perfect place for pie in the White inspiration for his novels. He also finds camaraderie in some PHOENIX Mountains; and Williams, our hometown of the month. of the characters who live in his neck of the woods.

BY KELLY KRAMER Patagonia 18 31 THINGS TO DO BEFORE PHOTOGRAPHS BY SCOTT BAXTER YOU KICK THE BUCKET 52 SCENIC DRIVE • POINTS OF INTEREST IN THIS ISSUE Everyone needs to see the Grand Canyon before he dies, Point of Pines Road: Elk, pronghorns, bighorns, black bears, but it’s not enough to just see it. It needs to be experi- meadows, mountains, trees, eagles, herons, ospreys ... enced, away from the crowds, at a place like Toroweap. there’s so much to see on this scenic drive, you might have GET MORE ONLINE Or under a cottonwood at Indian Garden. Or in a raft on to do it twice. the Colorado River. In fact, we suggest putting all three www.arizonahighways.com on your bucket list, along with the other 28 things in this 54 HIKE OF THE MONTH Visit our website for details on weekend get- month’s cover story. aways, hiking, lodging, dining, photography Bill Williams Trail: Despite the idyllic nature of this moun- BY KATHY MONTGOMERY workshops, slideshows and more. tain hike, it’s never too busy — even in August, it’s quiet www.arizonahighways.wordpress.com enough to hear a pine needle drop. 30 THE CANYON, BY GEORGE Check out our blog for regular posts The Grand Canyon is one of the few things on Earth that on just about anything having to do with travel in Arizona, including Q&As with can be seen from outer space. It’s breathtaking from any writers and photographers, special events, viewpoint, but the best perspective is from the rim — in bonus photos, sneak peeks at upcoming person, with your own two eyes. Short of that, there are issues and more. photographs, thousands of which have been published in www.facebook.com/azhighways this magazine over the past 87 years. It’s an impressive col- Join our Facebook community to share lection that gets even better with this month’s portfolio. your photographs, chat with other fans, enter trivia contests and receive up-to-the- A PORTFOLIO BY GEORGE STOCKING minute information about what’s going on behind the scenes at Arizona Highways. 42 TRUCKIN’ Arizona Highways is on Instagram There are a lot of great roads in Arizona, including a few Follow us @arizonahighways to see our that’ll take you back in time. One of our favorite routes is travel photos from around the state. the one between Parks and Cave Creek. It’s a trip that’s even better in a 1929 Model A Ford pickup truck. Photographic Prints Available BY IVER PETERSON Prints of some photographs in this issue are PHOTOGRAPHS BY TERRENCE MOORE available for purchase. To view options, visit www.arizonahighwaysprints.com. For more information, call 866-962-1191.

◗ Tall trees stand in silhouette against sunrise over Terry Flat in the White Mountains. | LAURENCE PARENT FRONT COVER Havasu Creek cascades over Beaver Falls on the Havasupai Indian Reservation in the Grand Canyon. | DAVID ELMS BACK COVER Lupines flank an aspen in a grassy meadow along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. | SUZANNE MATHIA

www.arizonahighways.com 1 editor’s letter contributors

SCOTT BAXTER You might recognize photographer

The Banks of AUGUST 2012 VOL. 88, NO. 8 Scott Baxter’s name from the 100 800-543-5432 www.arizonahighways.com Years, 100 Ranchers images we Sonoita Creek PUBLISHER Win Holden recently featured. Although Baxter EDITOR Robert Stieve didn’t photograph a rancher for SENIOR EDITOR Randy Summerlin this month’s issue, he did meet his ottonwoods are edible. The bark, The creek is what Cave Creek, continue MANAGING EDITOR Kelly Kramer in particular. It’s bitter, like a you see on our front south to Sonoita Creek, ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kathy Ritchie subject while visiting a ranch that was C handful of Bayer aspirin, but you cover, and of all the where you might run EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Nikki Kimbel included in the project. “I was going to PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Jeff Kida could make a meal of it, if you had to. The Mother Nature in this into Jim Harrison. Like a ranch outside of Patagonia,” Baxter CREATIVE DIRECTOR Barbara Glynn Denney sap is edible, too. It’s starchy and sweet, issue, that spectacu- the Model A, Harri- ART DIRECTOR Keith Whitney says. “When I drove across the creek, and tastes a lot better than the bark. It lar travertine water son is a classic. If his DESIGN PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Diana Benzel-Rice there was an interesting-looking doesn’t taste good, just better. Nothing is perhaps the most name sounds familiar, MAP DESIGNER Kevin Kibsey man standing in it with his two dogs.” PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Michael Bianchi about a cottonwood tastes good — not unlikely — it looks it should. He’s the WEBMASTER Victoria J. Snow Baxter returned a year later to photo- like the blueberry pie at Bear Wallow Café more like something KRISTIN KBH PHOTOGRAPHY HAYWARD, author of Legends of the DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING Kelly Mero graph that man — author Jim Harrison — but the fast-growing willows serve you’d see in Maui. Fall, the book that was CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Nicole Bowman — for The Man in the Creek (page 46). FINANCE DIRECTOR Bob Allen In addition to Arizona Highways, Bax- a bigger purpose: Arguably, they’re the Unlikely is a good word to describe the made into a movie starring Brad Pitt and INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Cindy Bormanis hardest-working trees in the ecosystem. Desert Bar, too. The place is bizarre, to Anthony Hopkins. It’s Harrison’s most ter’s work has appeared in American Among other things, their canopies say the least, and it’s about the last thing famous work, but it’s hardly the extent of CORPORATE OR TRADE SALES 602-712-2019 Cowboy, True West and the American SPONSORSHIP SALES provide shade for wild roses and coati- you’d expect to see in the rugged moun- his catalogue — he has dozens of novels REPRESENTATION Ernie Mulholland Quarter Horse Association Journal. SUSAN LUSTENBERGER emm media services llc mundis, and help reduce water evapora- tains north of Parker. In fact, a herd of to his name, as well as countless poems. 602-971-6260 tion in desperate streams and rivers; bighorn sheep wearing pantsuits would In her beautifully written piece titled [email protected] their roots create overhanging banks be less surprising. The Man in the Creek, Kelly Kramer profiles LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] 2039 W. Lewis Avenue that provide habitat for Apache trout and As Kathy Montgomery writes: “When the prolific writer, who’s a character not Phoenix, AZ 85009 DAVID ELMS Chiricahua leopard frogs; and the Hopis, you see a copper steeple atop a chapel unlike those in his books. “He writes Photographer David Elms has been leading trips into GOVERNOR Janice K. Brewer Havasu Canyon for years, and he made this month’s who consider cottonwoods to be sacred, welded from steel plates, you’ll know DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT carve kachinas from their roots. The trees you’ve arrived.” But that’s only one OF TRANSPORTATION John S. Halikowski cover photo of Beaver Falls in one of the canyon’s most ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION are also big and beautiful. of the oddities. There’s also a pair BOARD CHAIRWOMAN Barbara Ann Lundstrom remote areas — a full day’s hike from Mooney Falls. One of the biggest I’ve ever seen is on of sheet-metal cooling towers, an VICE CHAIRMAN Victor M. Flores “Photographing nature requires you to embrace nature the east end of Aravaipa Canyon. It’s not outdoor concert stage, and a main MEMBERS Stephen W. Christy fully,” Elms says. “That means sitting all day in the rain; the biggest, though. The giant sequoia barroom with glass refrigerator doors Kelly O. Anderson waiting out a 110-degree afternoon; sunrise shots on a of cottonwoods lives along the banks of for windows. What’s more, the place Hank Rogers cold, snowy morning; and hiking back in the dark.” Elms Joseph E. La Rue Sonoita Creek in Patagonia. Even if you closes down at sundown. Sundown. It’s William J. Feldmeier has been shooting for Arizona Highways since 1986. His are a tree hugger, you’re going to have a different, but if you’re tired of follow- work has also appeared in Sunset and Geo. hard time getting your arms around this ing the plow, a road trip to the Desert Arizona Highways® (ISSN 0004-1521) is published monthly by the Arizona Department of Transportation. Subscription price: $24 a year in the U.S., one. At 100 feet tall and 42 feet around, Bar is a good way to mix things up. And and he smokes,” Kelly writes. “American $44 outside the U.S. Single copy: $3.99 U.S. Call 800-543-5432. Subscription it’s considered the largest Fremont cot- if you can do it in a 1929 Model A Ford Spirits, one right after another. They’ve cor­respon­dence and change of address information: Arizona Highways, P.O. IVER PETERSON Box 8521, Big Sandy, TX 75755-8521. Periodical postage paid at Phoenix, AZ, tonwood in North America. We have pickup, even better. turned his voice to silt and his skin the and at additional mailing office. CANADA POST INTERNATIONAL PUBLICA- As a self-described “car nut,” writer Iver Peterson was in his element as he penned Truckin’ TIONS MAIL PRODUCT (CANA­DIAN DISTRIBUTION) SALES AGREEMENT NO. a shot of it on page 24, but the photo That’s how writer Iver Peterson and color of an old catcher’s mitt, yet he lights 41220511. SEND RETURNS TO QUAD/GRAPHICS, P.O. BOX 875, WINDSOR, ON (page 42) for this month’s issue. Peterson and photographer Terry Moore spent four days doesn’t do it justice. The big tree is one photographer Terry Moore got from N9A 6P2. POST­MASTER: Send address changes to Arizona Highways, P.O. camping in the Arizona backcountry and fixing an oft-broken-down 1929 Model A Ford as them with the longing of a man con- Box 8521, Big Sandy, TX 75755-8521. Copy­right © 2012 by the Ari­zona Depart- of those things you have to see in person. Parks, Arizona, a small town near sumed. Harrison works in longhand and ment of Trans­­por­­tation. Repro­duc­tion in whole or in part with­­out permission they cruised from Parks to Cave Creek at an average of 25 mph. “[Moore] and I have always is prohibited. The magazine does not accept and is not responsible for And so are the other 30 things in this Williams, to Cave Creek, another eschews technology, with the exception unsolicited­ mater­ ials.­ believed you have to put these old machines to work,” Peterson says. “What better way to month’s cover story. small town just north of Phoenix. of the fax machine he uses to send pages do it than to drive PRODUCED IN THE USA As we were putting the collection The Model A belongs to Terry, and as to his longtime assistant.” the old car on the together, we tried to stay away from the Iver writes in Truckin’, it provided an Although people in Paris “treat him kinds of roads it term “bucket list” — my brother Hoss exciting trip back in time: “We knew like Hemingway,” Harrison likes the would have en- says the world doesn’t need anymore that a light car, one that wouldn’t quiet life in Southern Arizona. He also countered when bucket lists — but that’s the gist of the go very fast, was the perfect way to likes Sonoita Creek, and the cottonwoods it was new?” This story. It’s our recommendation of what explore millions of acres of public that grow along its banks. Whether he’s If you like what you see in this is Peterson’s first everyone should see and do in Arizona lands away from the paved roads ... seen the old Fremont upstream — the magazine every month, check out assignment for before they die. We’ll get a lot of feed- We wanted to experience what travel largest in North America — I can’t be Arizona Highways Television, an Arizona Highways. back on the things we didn’t include, was like in the first decades of Arizona’s sure, but it’s something everyone should Emmy Award-winning program His work has also hosted by former news anchor Robin but it’s hard to argue with those we did: statehood ... when car travel was still an appeared in The see at some point. Before it’s too late. Sewell. For broadcast times, visit watching the sun set over Hannagan adventure.” our website, www.arizonahighways. New York Times Meadow, camping at Indian Garden, With or without an old Ford, it’s a trip ROBERT STIEVE, EDITOR com, and click the Arizona Highways and Rolling Stone. ELLEN BARNES ELLEN dangling your feet in Havasu Creek. worth taking. But instead of stopping in Follow me on Twitter: @azhighways Television link on our home page. — MOLLY J. SMITH MOORETERRENCE

2 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 3 letters to the editor [email protected] THE JOURNAL 08.12 BLIND COPY I was intrigued by the article in the June 2012 issue titled The Pole Position — I have a people > local favorites > odd jobs > lodging > photography > history friend who lost her sight in her 20s. She and her husband have hiked with my wife hometowns > dining > nature > things to do and me to Seven Falls in Bear Canyon, and they’re an inspiration to us. I want her to read your story, but wasn’t able to find it online (she has a software program that allows her to “read” online stories, but, of course, she cannot see the printed edition). I rarely go to your website, but it looks like there are only limited articles available. Art Brothman, Salt Lake City

EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks for the letter, Art. By the time you read this, that story should be online. Most of our stories post a month after the issue date. June 2012

TRAIL GUIDANCE Highways from a dear friend living in kind of language in our home. So why It is so great that you put in the trail- Phoenix. The articles and outstanding should we be subjected to it in a high- WEATHER head GPS coordinates for the 10 hikes photography give us immense plea- quality magazine like Arizona Highways. PATTERN [Summer Hiking Guide, June 2012], but sure. Imagine our surprise to see, on Third, Ellen doesn’t need Arizona why-oh-why don’t you do that for the the back cover of the April 2012 issue, Highways to further her career. She does A swirling rain cloud punc- Hike of the Month every month? columbines flowering in The Nature enough “tooting of her own horn” tuates the magnificent skyscape over Hart Prairie Matt Ball, Tucson Conservancy’s Muleshoe Ranch, which without your help. Thanks for allowing is more than 4,000 feet above sea level. me to vent my frustrations. near Flagstaff, its shape and wispy texture mim- EDITOR’S NOTE: Excellent suggestion, Matt. We’ve Our Columbines [in England] are almost Doug Pease, Tempe, Arizona started including GPS coordinates this month. identical in colour, but self-seeded in icking the conifers in the foreground. Information: See page 55. very poor soil some 400 feet above sea EDITOR’S NOTE: We’re happy to let you vent, level. Our cultivated cactuses, however, Doug. We apologize if our use of the word 928-774-9541 or www.flag HIGH PRAISE do not bear the same comparison. H-E-Double-Toothpicks offended you. Also, you staffarizona.org Thank you for the fantastic issue Ann & Don Summers, Grove, Oxfordshire, England should know that our inclusion of Ms. DeGeneres’ [May 2012] highlighting the White quote wasn’t to “further her career.” We used it Mountains and Apache-Sitgreaves WHAT THE HECK? because it’s hilarious, regardless of whether or National Forests. The photos were We moved here from Belen, New not she knows anything about Arizona. stunning, and your editorial was spot- Mexico, 35 years ago. We thought New on. Your efforts are very much appreci- Mexico had a great magazine. But we WEBB GEM ated, and by the looks of your magazine soon learned that Arizona Highways is As a longtime subscriber and resident flying off the newsstands, the feeling one of the best. We subscribed to the of Sun City, I appreciated your short must be mutual in this state. magazine, and have been a continu- article [Browsing the Webb, June 2012] Jim Zornes, Forest Supervisor, Apache-Sitgreaves ous supporter ever since. In 1992, my highlighting the history of our com- National Forests, Springerville wife and I went to Eger, Hungary, to munity. Recently, we celebrated the teach English as a foreign language. 50th anniversary of its founding by Del The White Mountains of Arizona have We met a young couple who planned Webb. Sun City’s future is guaranteed been home to generations of families to open an English language school. to be equally successful, thanks to its during the summer, winter, spring and We subscribed to Arizona Highways for progressive management and core of fall. We were delighted to see Arizona them to use in the language school. volunteers. The active lifestyle and Highways celebrate our rich history. From They find the mix of articles and pho- quality of life of our age 55-and-over fishing to hiking, relaxing or exploring, tos very useful. Thanks for the quality resident members is constantly being the White Mountains are a destination of the magazine. We recently received improved. Del Webb certainly got it treasure found only in Arizona. Thank our June 2012 copy of Arizona Highways, right when he created this outstanding you for your tremendous support and and on page 26 I saw a quote by Ellen addition to the Valley of the Sun. the opportunity to share our story with DeGeneres. I was astounded that you James Brasher, Sun City, Arizona Just Beachy your readers around the world. would stoop to using her for a quote. Mayor J. Fay Hatch, Taylor, Arizona First, what does Ellen know about contact us If you have thoughts or com- Arizona? She is certainly no authority ments about anything in Arizona Highways, we’d FLORAL ARRANGEMENT on the life, culture and environment of love to hear from you. We can be reached at editor@ arizonahigh ways.com, or by mail at 2039 W. Lewis For a number of years, we have been Arizona. Second, she used a common Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009. For more information, fortunate enough to receive Arizona four-letter word. We don’t use that visit www.arizonahighways.com.

4 AUGUST 2012 TOM BROWNOLD TOM people � �

below the rim of the Grand Canyon, ZIP code, which Delaney services along it’s usually about 20 degrees warmer with mule-drivers he hires from the tribe, than the Hualapai Hilltop above. It’s a covers nearly 500 square miles and has local favorites PUSHING THE four-hour walk and a world away from fewer than 500 residents. Sitting within the bleak dirt parking lot and helipad a few miles of some of the world’s most where Delaney parks his F-250 beside the spectacular waterfalls creates a small-scale corrals where mail-carrying mules are tourism operation that supports the tribe’s ENVELOPES loaded with 220-pound packs. modest lifestyle. From the desolate rim, it’s hard to Delaney, a stout and soft-spoken man Like all intrepid mail carriers, Hank Delaney endures rain, snow, sleet and hail. imagine the outlandish beauty crammed with a graying goatee and sturdy boots, But unlike all the rest, he also treks 8 miles and 2,000 feet in elevation to deliver into a nook in the canyon below, includ- lives with his wife and four children 75 ice cream, cattle feed, tools, paper towels, toothpaste and, of course, letters to the village ing five giant waterfalls where jewel-col- miles away in Truxton, an old stop on the ored waters fall down 100 feet of blazing Mother Road that’s increasingly ghostly of Supai, which is located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon on the Havasupai Reservation. red rock. The idyllic village of improvised since the interstate bypassed it. one-story shanties, mesquite trees and Though his father delivered mail there ank Delaney felt sick as wearing his daddy’s black cowboy hat. list of possible cuts. bright-green grass is home to about 200 since the family moved up from Glendale MOLLY J. SMITHMOLLY he picked up the phone. This has been Hank’s routine since the “It’s a great job, and I’d like to do it members of a tribe that used to migrate in the 1970s, Hank had never been to Supai He’d just flipped his dad’s day his father was killed in an automobile until the day I die; but I’m not stupid, I can seasonally between the top and middle until he was an adult. His wife and most of truck — the linchpin of his accident on the job. Hank took over the look around and see what’s going on in the of the canyon before the government told his children still haven’t, though he plans HOSS ROGERS family’s business — on an next day, and he doesn’t plan to stop until world,” Delaney says. “It’s part of the fat them to pick a place and stay put. to take them for a weekend at the lodge. Tempe Hempty highway. He was 17 years old, and the post office stops service. That could be they can cut, but it’s also living history.” The tribe chose splendid isolation for “Everybody ought to see Supai at least he’d hit the brakes on a patch of ice. soon. Pushed to slash its budget, the U.S. Supai is one of the nation’s most iso- a town with a lodge, a general store, a once. It’s like Mayberry from the old Andy Jeweler Hoss Rogers discovered his passion for the art of jewelry-making while in Delaney’s father, Bud, was not the type Postal Service has put this old route on the lated towns. Eight miles and 2,000 feet school, a church and no cars. The 86435 Griffith Show,” he says. “It’s lost in time.” middle school. Drawing on influences from of man you’d want to disappoint. “He The mail he carries is made up of far a childhood spent in the Southwest — and reminded me of John Wayne — he kind more than the postcards hikers send home blending that with silver, turquoise and of looked like him, and he had his same from the general store. Ice cream, cattle found-object art — Rogers creates one-of- mannerisms,” Delaney says. “So I was feed, tools, paper towels, toothpaste and a-kind custom jewelry pieces that are both scared to death.” soda also find their way down the trail sculptural and functional. The truck was carrying U.S. mail, thanks to complex loopholes in postage which the Delaneys delivered to the rates. A private helicopter now carries How did you get started? Havasupai Reservation at the bottom of some of the town’s cargo along with tour- I’ve always done it, though I did take a bit THE JOURNAL the Grand Canyon. A teenage cowboy, ists not up to the trek — business is now of a break when I lived in New Mexico. I Bud Delaney served in Vietnam before back to where it had been when he took never stopped being creative. When my son landing the contract to deliver mail to the over, down from a bubble that required was born, it was a way that I could work at remote village of Supai. His days began hiring on 23 other helpers to handle qua- home and still raise my kids. I wanted to do before dawn, when he pulled into the druple the volume. He’s never sure when something that I really loved doing, and I post office on Historic Route 66 in Peach the pendulum will swing back. “The chop- didn’t want to have to answer to a boss if I Springs. Staying ahead of the sun was pers come and go,” Delaney says. “The could help it. important — mules carry the mail down mail is dependable.” What was your inspiration? a dusty trail. This is now the nation’s last Though he’s a private contractor and It goes back to growing up in the South- Pony Express, bound for an Indian village not a civil servant, Delaney has taken west — all of the old Native American silver surrounded by otherworldly spires of red the mail carrier’s creed to heart. There jewelry and the tin work of New Mexico rock and cascading blue-green water. are only two days when the mail didn’t artists and folk artists. [My style is] kind of As it turned out, Bud was just relieved get down to Supai. On one occasion, the “Southwest pop.” I love Southwest images, his son wasn’t hurt in the accident. Department of Public Safety wouldn’t let and I like adding a bit of humor to my work. “That’s the hardest call I ever made,” Hank brave a blizzard. The other was the Describe your work. Hank says. “He said, ‘Are you all right?’ day Bud Delaney died. It’s mostly custom work for my clients. I and I said, ‘I’m fine,’ and that was the In 1999, Bud was killed in a collision make everything from pendants and big end of it.” They got another truck and with a semitrailer. Hank was working for silver cuff bracelets to a lot of rings, belt delivered the mail that day. a chemical company when he got the call. buckles and more. The pieces I like the He’s 40 now, but Hank still takes it easy “I was the only one who knew how to best are the pieces where I’m given a lot of around sharp curves as he drives down do it, so they called me and asked me if I artistic license and freedom by the client.

Indian Route 18 toward the Hualapai Hill- could do it,” he says. “I was in shock for — MOLLY J. SMITH top. Especially on a December day when a few months, but I did it. I think my dad 480-650-7821 or www.hossrogers.com the ground is dusted with snow and his would be proud.”

4-year-old son, Ryder, is riding shotgun, MARK LIPCZYNSKI — MARTIN CIZMAR

6 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 7 odd jobs � � KACHINA CARVER Kevin Horace-Quannie, Phoenix & Third Mesa, Hopi Indian Reservation

Over the past 32 years, Kevin Horace-Quannie has cut himself 10 times — not bad, considering what he does for a living. He’s a Hopi/Navajo kachina-doll carver, and those nicks are just part of the job. “The knife is so sharp,” he says. “All you have to do when you cut yourself is clean it out and use Super Glue.” THE JOURNAL His award-winning carvings, which sell for between $100 and $10,000, are refined and elegant — his years of experience etched into each masterpiece. “My kachinas are very con- temporary,” he notes. “But they still represent the traditional style.” He makes most of his pieces with cottonwood root, but Horace-Quannie likes to experiment, too. Recently, he’s been creating bronze and glass kachina dolls, and he plans to pro- duce a piece composed of all three materials. “Collectors want to see growth,” he says. “They want to grow with you.” — KATHY RITCHIE

For more information about Kevin Horace-Quannie, call 602-791-9343 or visit www.quannie.net. DAWN KISH DAWN KISH DAWN

8 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 9 lodging photography � � � � Inn a Beautiful Setting The Creekside Inn could easily survive on its Victorian charm and baked brie and egg breakfasts alone, but it comes with so much more, including the magnificent red rocks of Sedona and the soothing waters of Oak Creek.

t’s the dream that very few people can didn’t open a bed and breakfast years late 1800s, including a once-useful pet- turn into reality. How do you escape before they took the plunge in 2001. ticoat mirror. Time stands still on the back the rat race to pursue a slower, more Mark and Tammy see themselves as a deck, as the gentle whisper of Oak Creek Imeaningful life outside the confines of chef and server team, with Tammy creat- provides a relaxing soundtrack. Each of a cubicle? Mark and Tammy Charlesworth ing her three-course “breakfasts with a the six suites has a private outdoor seat- found their reality in the run- flair” in the kitchen while Mark mingles ting area, and if you’re lucky enough to sedona down Creekside Inn bed and with guests, recommends local hiking book the Victorian Suite, you’ll be treated breakfast property on the trails and pours freshly brewed coffee into to a wood-burning fireplace. banks of Oak Creek in Sedona. the delicate Victorian china. It’s not surprising that some guests Maybe it was Sedona’s mystical vor- Carb-loading for the day is easy with don’t want to stray far from Creekside Inn. texes, but the Charlesworths knew the risk Tammy’s lemon or maple cornbread; Thankfully, the Charlesworths are part- was worth it as they left the stress of cor- and the fruit course, featuring selections owners of Dan’s Bistro, and they are happy porate America to raise their children and like baked pears or brandied grapes, is a to arrange a romantic in-room dinner from transform this property into a destination refreshing palate cleanse. Heading out to the restaurant. that rivals the beauty of its surroundings. explore Sedona’s red rocks with a stom- This confluence of Victorian elegance Mark drew upon his experiences grow- ach full of baked brie and eggs or glazed and Oak Creek beauty was the owners’ ing up in England and traveling interna- french toast is all the motivation required escape from the rat race, which they tionally to create a sense of warmth and to make it back and do it all over again the eagerly share with anyone looking for a hospitality that compels everyone who next morning. peaceful break. — JACKI MIELER enters Creekside Inn to curl up in front of The dining room’s Victorian theme Information: Creekside Inn is located at 99 Copper Cliffs BRUCE (4) D. TAUBERT the communal fireplace. Combined with extends throughout the entire property, Drive in Sedona. For more information, call 928-282- Tammy’s culinary skills, it’s a wonder they which is decorated with antiques from the 4992 or visit www.creeksideinn.net. THE JOURNAL

Bruce Taubert’s makeshift studio includes strobes, an umbrella and backdrops, helping him produce hummingbird photos like these.

Flutter Speed

By using a multiple-strobe setup and shading his airborne subjects — hummingbirds — with an umbrella, wildlife photographer Bruce Taubert can outshine the sun and better his fastest shutter speed by using the flash duration of his Vivitar 285 HV strobe lights. Using three or four lights dialed down to 1/16 power, budget strobes will render an exposure of f/16 at ISO 200. Even though the fastest sync speed for most modern DSLRs is 1/250 second, the duration of the flash during the exposure is only 1/10,000 second. In other words, the strobes are dictating the exposure, not daylight. The result? Evenly lighted hummingbirds with wings frozen in flight. In addition to his lighting technique, Taubert prefers to use a medium telephoto lens with an extender instead of a longer lens. The lens allows him to work close to his subjects and fill the entire frame with bird and flower. Taubert also makes his own backgrounds from art board, allowing him to save money and change colors on the fly.— JEFF KIDA, photo editor

straightening of the depending on how the Enter our monthly caption contest Dutch Tilt ADDITIONAL PHOTO horizon during editing, new lines lead the eye by scanning this QR code or visiting http://bit.ly/ahmcaptioncontest. READING Some photographers a deliberately skewed through the image. Look for our book — like contributor Paul angle is referred to as However, this unusual Arizona Highways Markow — have turned a Dutch angle or Dutch perspective is not for Photography TIP the tilted horizon tilt. This technique can everyone, and whether Guide, available into a signature style. add a dramatic quality you experiment with at bookstores and While a slight tilt is to an image or create angles is based on per- www.arizonahigh ways.com/books. often reason for a tension and uneasiness, sonal taste and style. PAUL MARKOW PAUL

10 AUGUST 2012 For more lodging in Arizona, visit www.arizonahighways.com/travel/lodging.asp. To learn more about photography, visit www.arizonahighways.com/photography.asp. www.arizonahighways.com 11 history hometowns � � � � Old School August is when most kids start thinking about going back to school. It’s not always a pleasant thought, but a late-summer visit to the Strawberry Schoolhouse is different. It comes with a lot of history, but no history exams.

chool might be ings and church services. out for good at Attendance over the the Strawberry years varied, and in 1908, S Schoolhouse, the school closed for an which opened in 1886, but entire year because only it still gets its fair share of five students enrolled in visitors during the sum- class. Eight was the min- mer months, when the imum. The schoolhouse classroom opens it doors shut its door for good in to the public. “People 1916 after another school come to see the school- was built in Pine. house and say, ‘I went to Time took its toll on a school just like this,’ ” the building and, even- says Margaret Parker, tually, only the log frame president of the Pine- remained. During the Strawberry Historical 1960s, residents took the Society. “It’s amazing.” first steps toward restor- Residents chose the ing the school’s exterior, site of the one-room and by the late 1970s MARK LIPCZYNSKI building after they took and early 1980s, renova- Cruiser’s Café 66 a rope and measured the tions to the interior were distance between a cabin completed. “It looks and THE JOURNAL

at the far west end of the NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY, CLINE LIBRARY feels like you’re walking valley and a cabin at the Strawberry Schoolhouse photograph by Josef Muench, prior to restoration. into a classroom,” Parker far east end of the valley. says. Today, the histori- WILLIAMS They counted the rope lengths and built Wainscoting and wallpaper were used cal society maintains the structure, which the school dead-center. While the exterior throughout, and instead of benches and is considered “the oldest standing school- OLD BILL WILLIAMS WAS A MOUNTAIN MAN. He was a trapper, a scout and a surveyor, was constructed of logs that were cut and tables, factory-made desks were ordered house in Arizona.” — KATHY RITCHIE too, and he made his way to “The State of Sonora” — Arizona — in the late 1820s. Apaches hauled down from the Mogollon Rim, for the students, who ranged in age from captured him, stripped him of all his belongings and turned him loose in the desert, where he the interior was “elegant,” according to 5 to 20. The school even housed an organ, For more information about the Strawberry School- wandered for 160 miles before being rescued by a band of Zunis. Williams’ story is legendary, the Pine-Strawberry Historical Society. which was used for social events, gather- house, call 928-476-4473 or visit www.pinestrawhs.org. as is the town named in his honor. Founded in 1881, the Northern Arizona destination of Williams is considered the “Gate- way to the Grand Canyon.” It was also the last Route 66 town in America to be bypassed by Interstate 40. Today, it’s known for its Mother Road heritage — thanks to diners and nostalgia ARIZONA HIGHWAYS this ■ Prospector Ed Casa Grande Ruins a ■ Newman Haynes The annual Navajo shops — as well as the Grand Canyon Railway, which runs 130 miles round-trip from Williams Schieffelin stakes his national monument Clanton, a.k.a. “Old 50 Years Ago Tribal Fair at Window to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon each day. month first mining claim on on August 3, 1918. Man” Clanton, is killed Rock was the cover The railway took the first passengers to the Canyon in 1901. It suspended operation in 1968, August 1, 1877, and ■ Camp Crittenden on August 13, 1881, dur- story of our August but reopened in 1989, prompting then Williams Marshal John Moore to say, “If it hadn’t been 1962 issue. The piece, in history names it Tombstone. is established in ing an ambush while for the Grand Canyon Railway, train service to the Grand Canyon would have been perma- which looked at all ■ President Woodrow Southeastern Arizona herding cattle through nently lost.” — KELLY KRAMER aspects of the fair, Wilson proclaims on August 10, 1867, in Guadalupe Canyon in including the exhibits, an effort to protect the Southeastern Arizona. the rodeo, the queen’s settlements of Babo- ■ Prescott dedicates contest and the night FOUNDED AREA ELEVATION COUNTY comari and Sonoita, the Ernest E. Love dances, featured the 1881 43.8 square miles 6,800 feet Coconino as well as the Santa Airfield on August 26, photography of Josef

RICHARD MAACK RICHARD Cruz Valley. 1928. Muench. INFORMATION: Williams-Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce, 928-635-1418 or www. Casa Grande Ruins experiencewilliams.com; Grand Canyon Railway, 800-843-8724 or www.thetrain.com

12 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 13 dining nature � � � � Bear Necessity In Alpine, there’s one place that can cater to nearly any craving, be it for burgers or tacos or chicken-fried steak. And though the menu at Bear Wallow Café is diverse, it does Aspen leaves contain something that you simply shouldn’t overlook. Pie. Delicious, homemade pie. are known to flutter, or quake, in the WOOD-PANELED, FRIENDLY and down- rounded for miles by high-mountain for- wooden lunch counter, antlered walls breeze, earn- to-earth, Bear Wallow Café is just the ests and meadows. and checkerboard-tile floor. Despite its ing the tree kind of place you’d expect to With its giant chain-saw bear and remote location, the café’s green vinyl the name alpine find in Alpine, a tiny White rustic wood siding, Bear Wallow Café is banquettes are usually overflowing with “quaking” Mountains community sur- the very picture of a mountain diner, with locals and lucky travelers who happen aspen. upon it. However you find your way to its doors, you can bet your first visit will not be your last. That’s partly because of the people who work there, who are welcom- ing, good-humored and efficient. If the employees treat the place as if they own it, it’s probably because they do. Three generations of Vada Davis’ family work at Bear Wallow, with her daughters and Aspens are grandchildren pitching in on everything characterized from kitchen duties to bussing tables. by smooth, The menu features American and Mexi- grayish-white can classics, all of them comfort on a plate: New trees sprout from bark. half-pound burgers, tacos, fresh salads, a shallow root system. and house-made chili and soups. The french fries are hand-cut daily. If you’re there at dinnertime, order the chicken- THE JOURNAL

fried steak. Prepared from an old family BROWNOLD TOM recipe, it’s huge, hand-breaded and served with a generous portion of those yummy Whiter Shade of Pale fries, all smothered in thick, creamy gravy. But whatever you order, save room for othing signals fall in Arizona the Kaibab Plateau to the White pie. Bear Wallow is famous for its pies. like the fiery plumes of Mountains. These versatile trees nature factoid And oh, what glorious pies. During the Naspens. Next time you admire also thrive in the volcanic soils of peak months of summer, Davis’ daugh- an autumn aspen grove, notice the the San Francisco Peaks and in ter, co-owner Taani Harper, turns out as differing hues of their round leaves. Southern Arizona’s sky islands. many as 70 pies a week in a dozen variet- Each color represents a group of A pioneer species, aspens ies. Apple is the perennial favorite. But interconnected trees. Aspens cre- colonize areas recently disturbed you might also find peach, pumpkin, blue- ate genetically identical clones by by fire. Aspen stands support a high berry, cherry, apricot, blackberry, mixed sprouting new trees from a shallow level of biodiversity lacking in areas berry, apple-raisin, strawberry-rhubarb, root system. Clones can exceed 100 dominated by conifers. Wildflowers, banana cream, coconut cream or pecan. acres, or about 90 football fields. grouse and black bears benefit from Whatever’s fresh and in season. They’re Look for smooth, grayish-white aspen habitat, and elk and deer eat NEED HI-REZ all made from scratch, with Taani’s bark and leaves that flutter, or their young shoots. magnificent, flaky crust. Enjoy it with quake, in the breeze, earning them Overgrazing by wildlife, com- whipped cream or à la mode, but don’t the name “quaking” aspens. On bined with forest diseases and fire HOPI CHIPMUNK windy days, you can hear their suppression, has led to declining leave Alpine without ordering a slice. While taking an early morning or late-afternoon walk through — KATHY MONTGOMERY tinning chorus. Aspens are the most Western aspen populations. With the forests in Northern Arizona, keep your eyes peeled for the widely dispersed native tree species wildfires predicted to increase in Hopi chipmunk’s long, fuzzy tail slipping into rock crevices. You Information: Bear Wallow Café is located at 42650 U.S. in North America. In Arizona, they the coming decades, aspens will might recognize the small rodents by the red stripes that cover Route 180 (at the junction of U.S. Route 191) in Alpine. their heads and backs and match their red tails. Hopi chipmunks For more information, call 928-339-4310 or visit www. span elevations of 6,500 to 10,000 continue to crown autumn hills with are swift and timid, so any glimpse you catch before they steal

JEFF KIDA bearwallowcafe.com. feet and forests and meadows from a citrine glow. — LEAH DURAN away into their dens will be short and sweet. — RACHEL STIEVE

14 AUGUST 2012 For more dining in Arizona, visit www.arizonahighways.com/travel/dining.asp. www.arizonahighways.com 15 derBride!” “I’m NoMail Or

things to do � � See This!

Grand Canyon Music Festival august August 24-September 8, Grand Canyon MissKitty’sGrandAdventure Now in its 29th season, this three-week music fest brings together world-renowned artists for performances, outreach NoMail OrderBri and educational programs in “I’m de!” rural and underserved Arizona “ communities. Information: www. grandcanyonmusicfest.org Prescott Film Festival August 1-5, Prescott Featuring comedies, documentaries and everything in between, this fam- ily friendly festival will also include Douglas Laura workshops for budding filmmakers and Hallenbeck Nickerson movie buffs. Information: 928-458-7209 writer/director choreographer or www.prescottfilmfestival.com Southern Peaches Nightly Shows August 18-19, Willcox Located 1 Mile South of the Entrance to the Take the entire family to the 15th Annual South Rim of The Grand Canyon National Park Peach Mania Festival, and don’t forget to indulge in peach ice cream and peach (928) 638-0333 pie afterward. Early birds can enjoy an GrandCanyonDinnerTheatre.com all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast starting at 7 a.m. Information: 520-384- 2084 or www.appleannies.com Then

BRUCE D. TAUBERT Navajo Festival of Arts August 4-5, Flagstaff See This! Bird & Nature Festival Immerse yourself in Navajo culture at THE JOURNAL August 1-4, Sierra Vista this annual festival of the arts. With Enjoy self-guided and guided tours, exhibits and presentations about Southern Arizona’s more than 70 Navajo artists, storytell- birds and butterflies at the annual Southwest Wings Birding & Nature Festival. Informa- ers and cultural interpreters from many tion: www.swwings.org clans on hand, visitors can learn about the Navajo “Beauty Way” philosophy of living in harmony. Information: 928-774- 5213 or www.musnaz.org Shoot the Slot Canyons World’s Oldest September 15-19, Continuous Rodeo Northern Arizona August 16-19, Payson Northern Arizona’s slot Featuring bull-riding, calf-roping and canyons are among barrel-racing, plus several other com- the state’s most petitions, this annual rodeo — now in its photographed sub- 128th year — is considered the country’s jects — the vivid tones best small rodeo. Information: 928-474- of red, purple, amber 4515 or www.paysonrimcountry.com and bronze create a kaleidoscope of color. During this workshop, Vigilante Days Tour the majestic Grand Canyon in environmentally friendly Get ready for the adventure of a lifetime on a stunning you’ll learn exposure August 10-12, Tombstone aircraft. Tours include the Dragon Corridor of the South airplane tour of the Grand Canyon or beyond with photo secrets and how to The Wild West comes to life in “the town Rim as well as fl ights over the North Rim. See the Grand opportunities of the Painted Desert, Zuni Corridor, and utilize the light to create too tough to die.” Visitors can take part Canyon at its widest & deepest including the inner gorge. Point Imperial and the North Rim. All day excursions are striking images of these in old-fashioned street entertainment, If you have ever wondered how an eagle would see available daily to Monument Valley & Rainbow Bridge at unique rock formations. including shootouts and hangings, Information: 888-790- enjoy a chili cook-off or catch an 1880s Grand Canyon, this is it! Lake Powell. 7042 or www.friends​of​ fashion show. Information: 520-457-3451

IVAN MARTINEZ IVAN azhighways.com or www.tombstonechamber.com (800) 528-2418 (866) 235-9422 papillon.com grandcanyonairlines.com 16 AUGUST 2012 BEST OF AZ 31 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU KICK THE BUCKET Everyone needs to see the Grand Canyon before he dies, but it’s not enough to just see it. It needs to be experienced, away from the crowds, at a place like Toroweap. Or under a cottonwood at Indian Garden. Or in a raft on the Colorado River. In fact, we suggest putting all three on your bucket list, along with the other 28 things in the next 10 pages.

BY KATHY MONTGOMERY

Camping near the Mittens, Monument Valley | MARK LAVERMAN 18 AUGUST 2012 GET A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW 4 STATEWIDE There are many benefits to exploring Arizona from the ground. Hiking, bik- ing, horseback-riding and road-tripping are great ways to experience the state’s varied landscape. But there’s something particularly spectacular about surveying the state from 700 feet in the air. Thanks to Maria Langer and her R44 Raven II heli- copter, it’s possible to soar over Prescott, Sedona and Lake Powell, then capture a John Ford Point, Monument Valley | DAVE DROST bird’s-eye view of Monument Valley, all within a few hours. “Every man dies. Not every man really lives.” That quote, attributed to William Wallace, comes from As Langer says, “When you’re BEST OF AZ the movie Braveheart, but it underlies the premise of that other popular movie. The one starring flying, you can see things Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The one that got us thinking about our lives, and what we’d that are forgotten,” but you like to look back on someday. Most of us want our time on Earth to have some kind of meaning. We won’t soon forget an aerial want a challenge, a purpose, and to make some great memories. With that in mind, we’ve put together an tour of Arizona. Information: Arizona-based bucket list that combines a little of each. Some of these things you may have done already; Flying M Air, 928-231-0196, others, probably not. Take a look and hit the road. The clock is ticking. www.flyingmair.com

Aerial view of Sedona tographed against the iconic Fe Railway built on the edge | TED GRUSSING CAMP WITH EXPERIENCE backdrop. Information: 928- of the South Rim in 1905, MOTHER NATURE SOMETHING 871-6647, www.navajonation and watch the sun set over 1 MONUMENTAL parks.org the Canyon from the bar’s MITTEN VIEW 2 outdoor patio. Spend your CAMPGROUND JOHN FORD CRASH AT second night at Phantom Longtimers mourn Monu- POINT THE ICONIC Ranch, designed in 1922 by ment Valley’s Mitten View Monument Valley has been REST STOPS Mary Jane Colter. There’s campground, which was the setting for movies as 3 no happier place than the replaced in 2008 by the 90- diverse as 2001: A Space EL TOVAR, air-conditioned cantina after room resort The View. But Odyssey, Easy Rider and PHANTOM RANCH, the long hike down. On your the new campground, just Forrest Gump. But it was INDIAN GARDEN last night, climb to the oasis north of the visitors center, John Ford who first made it CAMPGROUND at Indian Garden and unroll still overlooks some of the famous. In 1939, Stagecoach The Grand Canyon is home your sleeping bag under the most stunning landscape in made stars of John Wayne to some of the state’s canopy of a cottonwood. the West. And there are some and Northern Arizona’s most famous lodging, and Information: 888-297-2757, things a resort can’t deliver, dramatic buttes. It’s fitting, everyone should experience www.grandcanyonlodges. like the feeling of pitching then, that John Ford Point them at least once. Begin at com (lodges); 928-638-7875, your tent directly on hallowed occupies the best overlook in El Tovar (Suite 6492 if you www.nps.gov/grca (Indian ground. The campground is Monument Valley Tribal Park, can get it), which the Santa Garden) currently closed for renova- with views of Sentinel Mesa, tions but will reopen in 2013. Big Indian and the Castle Phantom Ranch, Grand Canyon Though it will be updated, the Rock-Stagecoach group. A | TOM BROWNOLD price of admission will remain Navajo man in traditional low. And watching the sun rise dress often appears on a over the legendary Mittens? well-groomed horse to the That’s priceless. Information: delight of visitors. And, for a 435-727-5870, www.monu​ small fee, guests may also mentvalley.org/camping​ mount a horse and be pho-

20 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 21 GET PEPPERED to five days, passing nesting the petroglyph. The event a year to lobby for his life’s BEST OF AZ BY SALT WATER eagles, ancient cliff dwell- marks the longest day of the dream. Although he didn’t 6 ings and blooming desert year. But it’s also the point live long enough to see the SALT RIVER CANYON landscapes along the way. at which the days begin to trail’s completion in 2011, If the Salt River Canyon Information: www.azroa.org grow shorter — a reminder many have followed in his is called the mini-Grand that our days are waning, footsteps, traveling the Canyon for its stunning, CELEBRATE and to value each one. Infor- trail on foot, mountain bike striated walls, then rafting THE SOLSTICE mation: 928-524-6228, www. and horseback. Some have the Upper Salt might be the 7 nps.gov/pefo tackled a segment at a time, Cliffs Notes of canyon raft- PETRIFIED FOREST taking years, and one man ing. But white-water season NATIONAL PARK EMBARK ON hiked it in 31 days. But all here is as fleeting as desert Nearly every ancient culture AN EPIC describe it as a life-changing wildflowers. From March observed the solstice, and JOURNEY experience. Information: 602- through May, melting snow- solstice markers are found 8 252-4794, www.aztrail.org pack swells the Salt’s course throughout the Southwest. ARIZONA TRAIL leading into Salt River Can- The Petrified Forest has This National Scenic Trail, FLOCK TO yon Wilderness, turning this dozens. The most accessible which extends more than THE BIRDS undammed stretch of river is a small, spiral petroglyph 800 miles across the 9 into the ultimate E-ticket at Puerco Pueblo that marks state from Mexico to Utah, WILLCOX ride. The 52-mile bridge-to- the summer solstice. Each was the dream of a Flag- Each winter, nearly 40,000 ABOVE: White-water-rafting, bridge trip from U.S. Route year around the solstice, staff schoolteacher. Dale sandhill cranes inhabit Salt River Canyon | JEFF KIDA 60 to State Route 188 near rangers admit the public to Shewalter first walked the Southern Arizona’s Sulphur BELOW: Mountain-biking, Sedona | T.C. BADALATO Roosevelt Dam takes three watch a finger of light strike distance, then quit work for Springs Valley. The undu- lating clouds of 5-foot-tall birds heading out in search of food each morning are a magnificent sight. In the GET ON evenings, they return to the YOUR BIKE wetlands around Willcox, AND RIDE where couples sing in 5 synchronized duets and SEDONA dance their running, jumping, Sedona is a great place to flapping jig. Watching them mountain bike (some say reminds us that there’s a it’s even better than Moab) Arizona Trail, Walnut Canyon | TOM BEAN time for work, a time to play, for the same reason it’s and for everything a season. popular with four-wheel- Information: 800-200-2272, ers. Sedona’s famous red www.wingsoverwillcox.com rocks are both beauti- ful and varied, with easy COUNTDOWN trails for casual riders and TO TAKEOFF technical trails to test the 10 mettle of the most expe- VERMILION rienced bikers. Head first CLIFFS NATIONAL to the Bike & Bean in Oak MONUMENT Creek Village. This unusual For 100,000 years or more, bike shop is as serious California condors made the about its coffee as it is Vermilion Cliffs their home. about its bikes. Here, you’ll But by the time Europeans ar- find fellowship, rentals and rived, these birds had mostly customized guided tours. headed for the coast. By the And it’s across the street 1980s, the entire species from Bell Rock Pathway, Sandhill cranes, Willcox | BRUCE D. TAUBERT was headed for extinction, which connects to some saved only by a successful of the area’s best trails. captive-breeding program. the last Saturday in Septem- are large enough to see with- Order up a jolt of java, then Since 1996, scientists have ber. Soaring on their 9.5-foot out an assist from a pair of get on your bike and ride. been reintroducing condors wingspan, the enormous, binoculars. Information: 435- Information: 6020 State to these cliffs every year on prehistoric-looking creatures 688-3200, www.blm.gov/az Route 179, 928-284-0210, www.bike-bean.com 22 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 23 BEST OF AZ bloom in spring. Information: RIDE AN Glen Canyon National Recre- ANCIENT ation Area, 928-608-6200, HIGHWAY www.nps.gov/gcra; Lee’s 11 Ferry Anglers, 800-962-9755, CANYON DE www.leesferry.com CHELLY NATIONAL GET YOUR MONUMENT HANDS DIRTY Most national parks have 16 long been emptied of their SEE GREEN GRAND CANYON Native inhabitants, but 12 FIELD INSTITUTE Canyon de Chelly is a rare EMERALD CAVE, Studies show that service exception. The 900-year- BLACK CANYON contributes to our happi- old ruins belonged to the Sometimes, timing is ness. Lucky for us, the non- Anasazi, but their ancient everything. So it is with this profit Grand Canyon Field

ABOVE: California condor, petroglyphs mix with more unexpected jewel, located Institute offers a whole ros- Vermilion Cliffs contemporary contributions 2 miles from Willow Beach, ter of service-based classes | JOHN CANCALOSI from the Navajos, who have below Hoover Dam on the where students can make a RIGHT: Jeep tour, Canyon de lived there for 300 years — Colorado River. For just a difference by restoring the Chelly | ANN COLLINS BELOW: Fremont it’s still home to some 80 few minutes each after- Canyon’s habitat, conduct- cottonwood, Circle Z Ranch, Navajo families. Take a Jeep noon, the light fills this tiny ing botanical or hydrological Patagonia | DAVE BLY tour led by a guide who grew grotto at just the right angle surveys, or investigating up in the interconnected to bounce off the volcanic archaeological ruins. In last series of canyons. It’s an rock beneath the water, year’s hands-on archaeology intimate, cultural experience creating the feeling that class, a small group worked that transcends history. you’re suspended over a with National Park Service Information: 928-674-5500, giant, glowing emerald. The scientists to excavate a his- www.nps.gov/cach magical, mystical experi- toric site. All of which goes ence is a good reminder of to show you can learn to be HUG A VERY the ephemeral nature of happy. Information: 866-471- BIG TREE beauty and how fleeting is 4435, www.grandcanyon. 13 life itself. Information: www. org/fieldinstitute CIRCLE Z RANCH squidoo.com/hoover-dam- In the Southwest, cotton- float-trips Kayaking Emerald QUENCH Cave, Black Canyon woods are precious. The | KERRICK JAMES YOUR THIRST sight of their bright-green AT A DESERT leaves signals water, and OASIS the western yellow-billed apple-glazed stuffed pork Colorado River between clear and cold along this 17 cuckoo, northern flicker and FEED or salmon with ancho-lime Glen Canyon Dam and the 15.5-mile stretch, where 12- NELLIE E. SALOON turkey vulture depend on YOUR SOUL glaze followed by sumptu- Grand Canyon is one of the to 24-inch rainbow trout are If you see a caravan of cottonwoods for survival. A 14 ous, house-made pies and best trout fisheries in North common. An added bonus is cars driving into the desert cottonwood on the Circle Z GARLAND’S LODGE cobblers incorporating heir- America, with more trout per the beauty of Glen Canyon, north of Parker, chances Ranch in Patagonia is con- Dinner is a highlight at this loom fruits from Garland’s mile than any other Ameri- with its towering sandstone are they’re headed to the sidered the largest in North beautiful, historic lodge in orchards. In the background can river. The water flows cliffs and redbud trees that Nellie E., a.k.a. the Desert America. It’s certainly the Oak Creek Canyon. Each are the rippling sounds of Bar. When you see a copper most magnificent. Nearly 100 menu is assembled with the Oak Creek, from which all steeple atop a chapel weld- Fly-fishing, Lees Ferry feet tall, with a circumference care of a guest list for a din- this goodness flows. Infor- | RORY AIKENS ed from steel plates, you’ll of 42 feet, it would take seven ner party, with attention to mation: 8067 N. State Route know you’ve arrived. The adults touching fingers to how each dish will contribute 89A, Sedona, 928-282-3343, Nellie E. opened on an old circle it. The fortunate guests to the whole. Dinner always www.garlandslodge.com mining claim in 1983. There’s at this historic ranch get to starts with warm, oven- a bar with glass refrigerator ride out to this gentle giant fresh bread, paired with the HOOK UP doors for windows, a music on Sonoita Creek and picnic day’s soup. In the spring and IN THE RIVER stage and sheet-metal under its 108-foot spread. early summer, salads take 15 cooling towers. It’s a funky, Information: 1476 State Route advantage of fresh greens LEES FERRY, jostling, happy place, but it’s 82, Patagonia, 520-394-2525, from Garland’s gardens. GLEN CANYON only open weekends from www.circlez.com The main course might be The famous stretch of the Labor Day through Memorial

24 AUGUST 2012 25 bridge in the world. But by it’s worth finding so you can BEST OF AZ the mid-1990s, it couldn’t see it for yourself. Informa- support modern-day traffic, tion: Ironwood Forest National so a wider bridge was built Monument, 520-258-7200, just downriver. The historic www.blm.gov/az; Saguaro bridge is now a pedestrian National Park, 520-733-5158, crossing, with panoramic www.nps.gov/sagu views of the Colorado River 470 feet below and Califor- LOOK TO nia condors wheeling above. THE SKY Information: 928-355-2319, 21 www.nps.gov/glca GRAND CANYON LODGE To properly enjoy meteor Majestic saguaro, showers, the most impor- Ironwood tant element is a dark sky. Forest That’s why the Grand National Monument Canyon’s North Rim makes | RANDY such a wonderful place to PRENTICE view them. Add the quiet, the spectacular setting and an unobstructed view of the horizon, and you’ve got a front-row seat to two of nature’s most impressive Hart Prairie, near Flagstaff |TOM BEAN displays. In August, the Per- seids take center stage, and Day. In the summer, it shuts In the fall, you’ll love Hart this year’s waning crescent up tighter than a desert Prairie Road, its shimmering moon won’t outshine the Rafting the Colorado River, Grand Canyon | KERRICK JAMES tortoise. Information: Cienega aspens carpeting the gravel stars of the show. Informa- Springs Road, Parker, www. road with golden leaves. And tion: 928-638-7888, www. thedesertbar.com where better to appreci- grandcanyonlodgenorth.com TAKE rim hike of the Grand Canyon Service, however, frowns beer at Phantom Ranch and ate winter than the desert? A RIM-TO-RIM- is a rite of passage. It’s a upon long hikes like that. watching sunset at Plateau TAKE THE Pose in short sleeves with RUN THE TO-RIM SHOT 44-mile challenge, one that Taking it slow, over the Point. Information: 928-638- SCENIC ROUTES one of the stately giants at COLORADO 23 National Geographic writer course of four to six days, 7875, www.nps.gov/grca 18 Saguaro National Park and 22 GRAND CANYON Peter Potterfield ranks as has its own rewards. Like es- OAK CREEK send it to friends back East. FIND AND LEES FERRY TO NATIONAL PARK one of the 15 best hikes in caping the heat of the day at TRAVEL CANYON, KAIBAB Information: Oak Creek: 928- PHOTOGRAPH DIAMOND CREEK In Arizona, a rim-to-rim-to- the world. The National Park Ribbon Falls, enjoying a cold BACK PLATEAU, 203-2900, www.fs.usda.gov/ THIS You can take a day trip on IN TIME HART PRAIRIE, coconino; Kaibab Plateau: the Colorado River, and you 24 INCREDIBLE Hiking rim-to-rim-to-rim, Grand Canyon SAGUARO 928-643-7395, www.fs.usda. SAGUARO even can take it in a motor- | TOM BROWNOLD WALPI NATIONAL PARK gov/kaibab; Hart Prairie: 928- 20 ized boat. But to paddle Perched on the high, narrow Life is too short to spend it 526-0866, www.fs.usda.gov/ NEAR IRONWOOD all 277 miles through the finger of First Mesa, this stuck in traffic when Arizona coconino; Saguaro NP: 520- FOREST NATIONAL Grand Canyon is to glide ancient Hopi village is the has such spectacular back 733-5153, www.nps.gov/sagu MONUMENT through some 2 billion mother of the 11 present-day roads. Crank up Springsteen It’s the arms that give sagua- years of geologic time and Hopi settlements. The Hopis and head out on a drive, one WALK OVER ros their engaging, human- see fern-covered grottoes, have occupied this defensive for each of the four seasons. THE GRAND like character, yet no one ancient granaries and 100- location, built from hand- Start with State Route 89A CANYON really knows why they grow foot waterfalls. It is to test plastered sandstone, since through Oak Creek Canyon 19 them. Some think it’s because yourself against the rapids the 17th century. Its residents in spring, when the creek’s NAVAJO BRIDGE the ends of the arms grow and experience the profound still live as their ancestors cottonwoods sprout their On U.S. Route 89A, two flowers. A cactus with more quiet of the canyons. It is to have for centuries, with- first vibrant leaves and nearly identical bridges span arms has a better chance of remember what it means out electricity and running the apple orchards are in the Colorado River. The reproducing. Yet a 150-year- to work toward a common water, selling the pottery for bloom. Take the high road narrower one, built in 1927 to old saguaro may not have a goal, to travel lightly, test which First Mesa is known. in the summer on the North accommodate automobiles, single arm. On the other hand, your limits and, sometimes, Information: State Route 264, Rim Parkway, with its cool, replaced the boat crossing one in Southern Arizona has surprise yourself. Informa- Milepost 392, 928-737-2262, wildflower-strewn meadows at Lees Ferry. At the time, it 75. We’re not going to tell tion: 800-959-9164, www. www.experiencehopi.com/ and vanilla-scented pines. was the highest steel-arch you exactly where it is, but nps.gov/grca walpi

26 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 27 fall. In the summer, there’s compared to Shangri-La. BEST OF AZ nothing grander than the Over time, minerals in the Grand Canyon. The premier creek have formed travertine trail is Widforss, a beauti- benches and natural dams, ful, forested walk along the creating resort-like swim- North Rim, culminating in ming holes that remain a views of formations named near-constant 70 degrees. for kings and goddesses. The most famous, of course, The Inner Basin in Flagstaff is Havasu Falls. Located is tops for fall color, when 2 miles from the remote golden aspens punctu- Havasupai village of Supai, ate its idyllic route into the Havasu Falls plunges nearly heart of the San Francisco 100 feet into a clear, wide Peaks. Topping all of them, literally, is Humphreys Peak. At 12,633 feet in elevation, it’s the highest point in the state. Lots of people hike it in the summer, but for the hike of a lifetime, tackle it in the winter with a pair of Toroweap Overlook, Grand snowshoes. Information: Canyon | MARK LAVERMAN Backpacking, Hellsgate Wilderness Seven Falls: 520-749-8700, | NICK BEREZENKO www.fs.usda.gov/coronado; Widforss: 928-638-7875, GO TO the Canyon. This route is life- on their honeymoon to buy chirp, coyotes yip. You might GO TO HIT THE TRAILS www.nps.gov/grca; Inner THE FLOW threatening in the summer cigarettes and never came even hear the howl of a wolf HELLSGATE 26 Basin and Humphreys Peak: 28 due to the extreme heat and back. Three days later, Faith as the light shimmering on AND BACK SEVEN FALLS, 928-526-0866, www. TOROWEAP lack of water. Information: hung herself in despair. Since aspen leaves gives way to 25 WIDFORSS, fs.usda.gov/coconino OVERLOOK 928-638-7888, www.nps. then, visitors periodically en- the glitter of stars as bounti- HELLSGATE INNER BASIN, This remote spot is prized gov/grca counter Faith in Room 426. ful as sand on a beach. WILDERNESS HUMPHREYS PEAK LISTEN TO for its rugged, undeveloped Guests report waking up to Information: 928-339-4370, Prepare well for this three- to Hiking is supreme in Arizona. THE BLUES character and solitude, and GET INTO find the TV blaring, the lights www.hannaganmeadow. five-day backpack, or you’ll It’s why many of us live here. 27 getting there takes temerity, THE SPIRIT on or their toothbrushes com (lodge); 928-339-5000, Havasu Falls, Grand Canyon | DAVID ELMS feel like you’ve entered the Creeks flow in the spring, HAVASU CANYON perseverance and a high- 29 missing. The inn’s spirited www.fs.usda.gov/asnf gates of Hell. The name making that the best time As Havasu Creek rushes to- clearance vehicle. But the ROOM 426, Halloween bash makes it (campground) refers to what pioneer set- for the Seven Falls Trail in ward the Colorado River, its swimming hole, surrounded rewards include one of the HASSAYAMPA INN the perfect occasion for a tlers called the confluence of Tucson’s Bear Canyon. It’s all famously turquoise waters by tall, shady cottonwoods. most unique and dramatic One of the first guests at rendezvous with Faith. Infor- CRAWL INTO Tonto and Haigler creeks. In cliffs and high canyon walls, cascade over a series of Call it Paradise Found. Infor- views of the Grand Canyon. this historic hotel in Prescott mation: 122 E. Gurley Street, A CAVE 1984, it became the name of with the ultimate payoff of waterfalls and feed a ribbon mation: 928-448-2121, www. The remnants of lava flows was a young bride named Prescott, 928-778-9434, 31 the surrounding wilderness. an improbable desert water- of greenery that some have havasupaitribe.com that spilled over the canyon Faith whose husband left www.hassayampainn.com KARTCHNER If you follow Tonto Creek, rim are visible here, at one of CAVERNS plan on 10 to 12 swims per Snow-hiking, Humphreys Peak | DAVID WALLACE the narrowest and deep- SETTLE IN A soda straw lives in Kartch­ day, alternating with boulder est parts of the gorge. It’s a FOR ner Caverns — not the kind scrambles to challenge the sheer, 3,000-foot drop to SUNSET you’d expect to find in a most avid hikers. Rewards the Colorado River, with a 30 fountain drink, but an amaz- include some of the most view of its most dramatic HANNAGAN ing, 21-foot-long limestone heavenly scenery in Arizona rapids. For the truly ad- MEADOW stalactite. It hangs from the and a sense of accomplish- venturous, take the nearby Located at the edge of a ceiling in the Throne Room, ment that feels out of this hike down, but beware. The remote wilderness area, one of many remarkable world. Information: 928-474- 1.5-mile Lava Falls Route the historic lodge and areas visitors to the caverns 7900, www.fs.usda.gov/tonto is extremely exposed and campground at Hannagan can explore. The cave, dis- crosses steep, treacherous Meadow offer unspoiled, covered by Randy Tufts and talus slopes on its 2,500- peaceful, high-mountain Gary Tenen in 1974, is now foot plummet to the river at retreats. Sunset is magi- part of Kartchner Caverns Lava Falls Rapid. The route, cal. Elk, turkeys, bobcats State Park, and it’s open for For more great Arizona marked in only a few loca- and bears emerge from tours most days. Information: adventures, scan this QR tions, descends one of the the surrounding forest of 520-586-2283, www.azstate​ code or visit www.arizona Room 426, Hassayampa Inn highways.com/travel.asp. hottest, scariest chutes in | RICHARD MAACK spruce and firs. Crickets parks.com/parks/kaca

28 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 29 THE CANYON, BY GEORGE The Grand Canyon is one of the few things on Earth that can be seen from outer space. It’s breathtaking from any viewpoint, but the best perspective is from the rim — in person, with your own two eyes. Short of that, there are photographs, thousands of which have been published in this magazine over the past 87 years. It’s an impressive collection that gets even better with this month’s portfolio. A PORTFOLIO BY GEORGE STOCKING

30 AUGUST 2012 PRECEDING PANEL: A sunset monsoon paints the east end of the Grand Canyon — as seen from the South Rim’s Navajo Point — in amber light.

LEFT: A sunrise storm overtakes Wotan’s Throne, visible from Cape Royal on the Canyon’s North Rim. RIGHT: Parting monsoon clouds reveal the Colorado River, shrouded in haze.

32 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 33 “We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as Pallid light filters creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” through breaking clouds over a section of the Grand — Wallace Stegner, 1960 Canyon known as the Palisades.

The Canyon’s layers are illuminated by the soft light of sunrise in this photograph, made from Pima Point, on the South Rim.

FOLLOWING PANEL: Rain from a summer monsoon pours into the Canyon.

34 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 35 “When your spirit cries for peace, come to a wonderful world of canyons deep in an old land.” — August Frugé

36 AUGUST 2012 LEFT: First light over Powell Point kisses the Grand Canyon’s distinctive ridges. RIGHT: A rainbow slices gray-blue skies over the Canyon’s South Rim.

38 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 39 The sun sets over Desert View Watchtower on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, causing the sky to explode in shades of pink and purple.

40 AUGUST 2012 TRUCKIN’ Thanks to the Arizona Department of Transportation (yes, that’s an obsequious plug for our parent agency), it’s easy to see the state from the comfort of a convertible. There are a lot of great roads in Arizona, including a few that’ll take you back in time. One of our favorite routes is between Parks and Cave Creek. It’s a trip that’s even better in a 1929 Model A Ford pickup truck. CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: The 1929 Model A Ford crosses Seven Springs Creek; the route from Parks to Cave Creek runs along Garland Prairie near Williams; BY IVER PETERSON a Wickenburg topper adorns the truck’s original PHOTOGRAPHS BY TERRENCE MOORE license plate; a roadside cowboy greets travelers.

OR SOME REASON, the Model A Ford mo- We wanted to experience what travel was like in the first ing east and west, and headed south on the broad, smooth cliff dwellings below the rim. Their golden-red sandstone tor makes a strangely musical note: cheedle decades of Arizona’s statehood, when there were few paved Garland Prairie section of the lower Kaibab National Forest. walls, carefully laid up centuries before, made a joke of our leedle teedle leedle. It’s a song that looped as roads beyond city limits, and when car travel was even more Up here the ponderosa is king, and it was a typical Northern efforts at “time travel” in a vehicle not even a century old. The our soundtrack for a five-day, 230-mile drive of an adventure. And we wanted to see the many beautiful, Arizona spring day — warm in the sun, cool in the shade — boys wanted to camp there, but we’d passed a “no camping” down the bony spine of Arizona, from pon- unspoiled places in the state that few people see anymore: as our little truck spun easily along the dusty roads toward sign coming in, and we save our public lands and their pre- Fderosa-pine forests in the north to desert saguaros in the deep, somber desert valleys guarded by shark-tooth peaks; the south, sometimes approaching the breathtaking speed of cious historical artifacts by obeying the rules. Besides, you south, almost all of it on backcountry dirt roads, and all of forest meadows that open like parklands between stands of 35 miles per hour. can camp just about anywhere else on public lands, so we it in an ancient, often balky 1929 Ford pickup truck. pines and scrub oaks; rivers and streams hedged with mes- Our Forest Service maps showed us our route, and my pressed on to a wide meadow in the slanting evening sun We knew that a light car with good road clearance, one quite and acacia, their branches alive with the songs of wrens smartphone, with its GPS mapping system, showed us where called Pine Flat. that wouldn’t go very fast, was the perfect way to explore and meadowlarks. we were from moment to moment: this is County Road 141, We kept the camping simple: a small tent for the boys millions of acres of public lands away from the paved roads, And to add to the adventure, Terry Moore, who made Forest Road 44 is coming up on the left, and ahead is the and a tarp on the ground for the men. That night, we away from the traffic and the comforts — and discomforts — the photographs, and I took along a couple of fourth-grad- Round Mountain bike loop. fought to stay awake under the sparkling dome of heaven, of modern high-speed travel. ers: Charlie, Terry’s son, and Charlie’s friend Nick. After all, Our first side trip that day was a visit to Sycamore Point, to catch the occasional shooting star and talk about our “Slow down and taste the dust” was our motto as we taking the kids is part of the American travel story, and as where the road ends at a stupendous vista into Sycamore journey’s promising start. But sleep overtook us, and our made our way over old logging roads, Forest Service fire every parent soon learns, it’s easier to travel with two kids Canyon Wilderness, a deep roadless area where the shal- first day was done. We’d covered 38 miles. roads, ranch trails … any rocky track leading south from the than one. low rivers sparkled over gravel bars in the sunlight far below The map may have said Pine Flat, but by the first gray tiny Historic Route 66 town of Parks, near Williams, to Cave We set out in early April from the general store in Parks, us. We climbed down through forbidding outcrops of lumpy light of the next day, I decided to rename it Cold Camp. Our Creek, a remnant of old Arizona on the edge of Phoenix. crossed over Interstate 40, with its blind rivers of steel speed- gray basalt to the haunting stillness of the Sinaguan Indian fire was out, our sleeping bags were covered with heavy

42 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 43 Jim and J.P. Walker of Williams Precision Auto.

Parks Williams CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: Bloody Flagstaff Basin Road winds toward Tangle Creek; GARLAND PRAIRIE writer Iver Peterson replaces washers on the truck’s fan PINE FLAT pulley; the Cordes SYCAMORE Store remains along the Old Black Canyon CANYON Highway; fourth- WILDERNESS graders Charlie Moore and Nick Cansler ride in the Perkinsville back of the Model A.

Jerome

PRESCOTT crusts of frost, and the coffee water, set out the night be- ing bags in the back of our little red truck, where their 21st and to perch on the narrow seat. We Americans are inches NATIONAL FOREST fore, was frozen solid. Sleeping under the open sky might century portable video games were not quite in keeping with taller, and a lot heavier, than we were when the truck was be easy, but waking up at the cold light of dawn takes a bit the early 20th century ethic we were hoping for. designed, after all. We managed with frequent stops for Cherry The Model A of doing. hikes and photography, however, and that night we camped crosses the Our opening destination that second morning was the E CROSSED the Verde River over a on state land by the Agua Fria. The wind that blew all day Verde River via Round Mountain Trail, a 3-mile circuit we’d hoped would handsome 1929 box truss bridge — had swept the night sky clean of clouds. We’d come 187 the Perkinsville make an easy morning hike. But a few miles south, as we listed on the National Register of miles since Monday. Bridge. approached the border with the Prescott National Forest, Historic Places — at Perkinsville, On the last day, Friday, we entered the Tonto National the motor stumbled and died. It caught again, ran for a few and stopped to diagnose the omi- Forest, climbing out of the Agua Fria along the Copper minutes, and then stopped for good. Wnous rattle that was coming from under the hood. The fan Creek road. Now our path frequently narrowed to one Now, in theory, the little Model A Ford motor is so sim- had worked its way loose and was chipping at the radiator, lane, and the faint track painted in the dust by our narrow Cordes Junction ple that it’s easy to fix, but several hours of tinkering were dangerously close to the cooling tubes. A fraction of an inch tires showed that we were once again alone on the road fruitless, and we had to be towed into the town of Wil- farther, and our trip would have been over. But we solved it as we twisted along the crests of low hills, the inadequate AGUA FRIA NATIONAL liams, barely a dozen miles from our starting place, at the with a common crescent wrench, a few spare washers and brakes on the old Ford groaning and complaining with MONUMENT end of a rope. Our travel day was over after only 6 miles of some elbow grease. Before us lay some of the most challeng- each steep drop. The landscape was changing rapidly, too, Bloody driving (and 14 miles of towing), but we counted ourselves ing road we would face, climbing back up to nearly 7,000 from scrub oaks and manzanitas to blooming globemal- Basin Road lucky in finding Jim Walker and his son, J.P. — the resident feet on the twisty trail around Woodchute Mountain, fol- lows and hedgehog cactuses. old-car experts at Precision Auto. After a welcome night in lowing the impossible bends of the old Bradshaw Mountain By noon we were at Seven Springs, celebrated a century a motel, we were back on the road the next day, Wednes- railroad right of way. We rolled into a campsite outside of or more ago as a summer haven for Arizonans in the days day, a broken set of points replaced. As we headed south Jerome, perched on the side of the mountain, just as the sun before air conditioning. As we forded the river at Seven into Yavapai County, the bright sunlight of the day before dropped below the rim of the earth. Springs, we saw our first saguaro cactus, and we knew that was gone, replaced by threatening clouds and an occasion- Any thought that the road from 7,000 feet to 2,000 feet we’d at last arrived at the Sonoran Desert. A few miles later, al rattle of rain. Gone, too, were the wide, easy roads of the would be a straight downhill was put to rest on Thursday, we stopped for our last outing, an easy 1-mile hike up to the Kaibab. Now we were traveling on narrower and rockier when we found ourselves climbing up and down the stair- 900-year-old stone walls of the Sears Kay Hohokam Indian but still easily passable trails. We were descending fast, ways of Mingus Mountain, south of Jerome, and finally village outside of Cave Creek. The truck arrives already 3,000 feet below our starting point, and now, at dropping down to Cherry, Powell Springs and a dirt track The dirt road ended at pavement, and lines of cars, in Cave Creek Cave Creek 4,000 feet, we were tipping over the edge of the Mogollon into Bloody Basin and the 71,000-acre Agua Fria National impatient at our stately progress, muscled past us. We’d after traversing Rim, which marks the southern edge of the Colorado Pla- Monument. We were beginning to meet other vehicles on come 230 miles in five slow days, descended more than a more than 200 teau. Imperceptibly, we had left the ponderosas and were the dirt roads, a new experience after the isolation of the mile to the desert floor, and seen and breathed the heart- miles of dirt road. dropping into the valley of the Verde River and the high higher country, where we’d had the road to ourselves. land of Arizona. We could have covered the same distance desert dotted by piñon pines and junipers. By now the truck was running strong and smooth, but it in a modern car in two and a half hours, but what memo- Phoenix In the cool weather, the boys retreated into a nest of sleep- still took squirming to fit our legs through the little door, ries would we have had then, and what stories to tell?

44 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 45 THE MAN IN THE CREEK Jim Harrison likes water. Actually, he loves water. Ironically, he doesn’t find a lot of it in Patagonia. What he does find is inspiration for his novels. He also finds camaraderie in some of the characters that live in his neck of the woods.

BY KELLY KRAMER PHOTOGRAPHS BY SCOTT BAXTER

46 AUGUST 2012 PRECEDING PANEL: Author Jim Harrison walks his Scottish lab, Zilpha, along Sonoita Creek each day.

N PARIS, HE SAYS, the people treat him like Hemingway. But in Patagonia, Jim Harrison is just Jim. For a man who believes that gods and spirits live in rivers and streams, the lack of moisture in the arid grasslands that encircle the small South- ern Arizona town can be troubling. But after decades of traveling from Livingston, Montana, to this hamlet of artists and nature-seekers, the author has reconciled drought. And he’s relocated his gods and spirits to the stands of bamboo that surround the tiny cottage where he lives with his wife. “All my life I’ve loved thickets,” he says. “There are plenty of them here. The only thing I miss is water.” The birds, though, don’t seem to mind. Hundreds of them buzz and hum around Har- rison on an unusually hot early spring afternoon, their cadence broken only by the kiss of a breeze. Harrison knows them all — both by heart and by name. There are finches and thrushes, countless hummingbirds. He swears that he’s been visited by an elegant trogon. “He came right up to the window,” Harrison says. “Just stayed there for a while. All the birders thought it unjust that he came to me.” Birds, thickets, water and the spirit of simple things pervade Harrison’s work in much the same way that they characterize his existence in Patagonia. Harrison writes at a small desk in a cottage on the Alto Ranch, which is owned by Bill and Bob Bergier. Sonoita Creek runs along Harrison’s property, sustaining the thickets and nourishing the birds. Its easy trickle swells to a roar only occasionally — after a rare downpour, or during a midsummer monsoon. The creek runs west from Sonoita through Patagonia, and it sinks below the surface of the earth in places before running into the Santa Cruz River near Nogales. The words fall to white paper in black ink, poured from Bic of his right eye — the good one — and it’s followed by a story But the creek flows aboveground and wide near the cottage. Harrison walks his Scot- Rolling Writer pens. Harrison works in longhand and eschews about how he went blind in his left. tish lab, Zilpha, through the water each morning. The dog is loyal and lean, her golden technology, with the exception of the fax machine he uses to “It happened when I was 7,” he says. “A girl shoved a bea- coat darker than those of standard labs, her affection for Harrison evident through her send pages to his longtime assistant, Joyce Bahl. She types and ker in my eye.” He adds that the girl attacked him because he easy attentiveness. She splashes while Harrison watches in his thick rubber boots. returns them, and Harrison takes to his edits. He once wrote a wouldn’t stop flirting with her. After, the author sets up the road to a small house on the Alto Ranch. It belongs to Bill novel in nine days and changed but a few lines. He doesn’t, he Though his vision was compromised, his passion for litera- and Bob Bergier, and there, Harrison writes. says, take the “slash-and-burn” approach. ture wasn’t. Harrison first connected with poetry at the age of His table is draped in a white cloth and topped with countless books and papers, a 14, when he read Keats. His own poem followed, and he says water cup, an ashtray, a lamp with a yellowed shade. Light pours from the windows and ORN IN Grayling, Michigan, in 1937, Harrison has that he hasn’t stopped writing since. tumbles over potted cactuses and family ephemera — everything in the house belongs to written often of the Midwest, the place he knows Poetry is his first love, but Harrison began writing novels, as the Bergiers, with the exception of Harrison’s supplies. Though the author doesn’t “want best. His characters are the types of hearty, hum- well, while recuperating from a nasty fall and at the prompt- to think about how much time” he’s spent in that room, he does acknowledge its effect ble men you’d expect to find on tractors and in ing of his friend, Thomas McGuane. Wolf: A False Memoir was on his craft. farmhouses, the kind whose forearms are lithe published in 1971 and was quickly followed by A Good Day to Die “This feels like the right place,” he says. “Writers worry that they’re not in the right and brown from the tending of earth and whose hearts are as (1973) and Farmer (1976). space, but I don’t. Not here. There’s so much wild country, and I have my ideal neighbors. big as their appetites — the kind whose skin smells of diesel Now 74, Harrison has dozens of novels to his name, as well No one.” and dirt. as countless poems. He and his wife, Linda, have been married So he writes and he smokes — American Spirits, one right after another. They’ve turned It’s easy to assume that Harrison models some of the men since 1959, and his two daughters have given him three grand- his voice to silt and his skin the color of an old catcher’s mitt, yet he lights them with the in his stories after himself. He’s quick to reject the claim, but children. One of them “pretends to write.” longing of a man consumed. Harrison himself isn’t an easy read. Denial comes with a wink Harrison’s most famous work is Legends of the Fall, a sprawling

48 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 49 So he writes and he smokes — American

collection of novellas that tracks a Montana family over several Spirits, one right decades. Jack Nicholson financed the project, and Harrison claims to be the only person to have ever paid back the actor. after another. They’ve That was due, in large part, to the story’s success as a major Hollywood film that starred Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and turned his voice to silt Aidan Quinn. “It’s a Midwestern thing,” Harrison says. “You pay your debts.” and his skin the color The story’s success, and the performance of subsequent nov- els, has enabled the author to travel, to do the things he loves, of an old catcher’s like hunting quail, fishing — Montana’s Big Hole River is one of his favorite destinations — cooking and listening to Cubano mitt, yet he lights music. He’s even working on a cookbook with his friend, chef Mario Batali. them with the longing Legends of the Fall may have been Harrison’s largest commer- cial coup — and its artistry is apparent — but his other work of a man consumed. speaks to his own travels. Take, for example, The English Major, which Harrison published in 2008. Its hero, Cliff, explains the diversity of Arizona’s land- scape: “I had begun at dawn driving toward the fabled Flagstaff then dents — some from Newsweek and Time — and news producers. slowly descending five thousand feet in altitude from the for- “Once, Peacock and I were camping in Mexico,” Harrison ests of the north to the hellhole of Phoenix, then turning east says. “I fell down the side of a mountain and had nine different toward Tucson. When I found Sandario Road running through types of cactus stuck in me.” the border of the Saguaro National Park I was stunned as if I He tells stories, too, of encountering immigrants along the had suddenly been transplanted to Mars.” road and of coming home to an unusual roommate. Ultimately, Cliff, an unwilling divorcé who’s embarked on a “I picked up a little Mexican girl who had tried to cross the road trip across the western United States, ends up along the border,” he recalls. “I took her to Nogales — she was a fat little U.S.-Mexico border, and again, the author’s predilection for water thing — and I imagine that she ended up back home. Another reveals itself: time, I went to France and came home to find that my wife had “Suddenly, I saw sheets of rain headed toward me and my left the French doors open. A rattlesnake was on the floor in brain yelled ‘Praise God.’ The rain hit me as if I had been our bedroom, so you know what I did? I’ll tell you what I did slapped by a wet towel. I opened my mouth wide like a bullbat — I shot the bastard.” does for insects. I made a cup of my hands and licked at the The friends — sans Peacock — gather at the Wagon Wheel, gathering water and then took off my shoes so that they would a popular Patagonia bar. The journalists tell tales of Hunter S. catch the rain which they quickly did in the cloudburst which Thompson and Nick Proffitt, stories of the Eritrean War, of -be was so strong that I had to close my eyes.” ing wounded by shrapnel and chased by soldiers. Harrison holds court, drinking vodka-tonics, flirting — “There ARRISON, WHO ADMITS to hating commas, aren’t any attractive women in Patagonia,” he says — and, of first encountered the desert’s rainless, Martian course, smoking. The bartender, Romeo, knows the author’s order. landscape in the 1960s, when he was invited to He fills it without prompting but with a few light-hearted barbs, read his poetry at the University of Arizona. both for Harrison and the men who indulge the author by encour- Something about the state resonated with him, aging him to “tell us about the time …” and he’s visited each winter for decades. But he’s tired, and he’ll shortly be heading back down the “I figure I’m usually ready to head south around November,” highway, toward the creek, toward home. He lights another Harrison says. And he’s not the only Montana outdoorsman who American Spirit and decides to oblige the group with one final migrates to Patagonia — his friend, author and activist Doug Pea- punch line. cock, does the same, as does a group of former war correspon- The table roars, and Harrison turns to go. He pauses, search- ing for something to say. Then he finds what he’s looking for. “I’ll die before I run out of words,” he says. Harrison has dozens of novels to his credit, as well as countless poems. His most famous work Visit www.arizonahighways.com/extras.asp for more information about is Legends of the Fall. Jim Harrison and to view photos from the author’s writing cottage.

50 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 51 scenic drive

Elk, pronghorns, bighorns, black bears, meadows, mountains, Point of trees — lots of beautiful trees — eagles, herons, ospreys … there’s Pines Road so much to see on this scenic drive, you might have to do it twice. BY ROGER NAYLOR | PHOTOGRAPHS BY RANDY PRENTICE

he road to Point of Pines Lake graze the high meadows, and Rocky sprawling backcountry of the San Carlos (Indian Road 8) plucks travelers Mountain bighorn sheep clamber up Apache Reservation. Created by Con- T from brushy desert and leads into impossible cliffs. Black bears prowl gress in 1897, the reservation covers a countryside that’s cracked open and the woodlands, and eagles, herons and 1.8 million acres and shelters seven wide. The road winds through shim- ospreys fish the waters of faraway lakes biotic communities. On this drive, it mering grasslands, where horizons ringed by ponderosa pines. feels as if you pass through every one. spread out and rough hills prop up a sky Indian Road 8 departs from U.S A recreation pass is required for non- of epic proportions. Elk and pronghorns Route 70 east of Globe and crosses the tribal members, so pick one up before you begin. They can be purchased for $10 at the Circle K in Globe, the Bashas’ in Peridot or the tribe’s Recreation and Wildlife Department office. Be sure to specify if you intend to fish or camp. The narrow strip of pavement curls into the soft embrace of the hills, brushing past Mount Triplet, where its distinctive trisummit bulk is graced with the tribal seal. After 6 miles, you’ll Barlow Pass, a mixed woodland of oaks day-use area on a rutted dirt road to

crest a high plateau blanketed by Ante- and pines closes in. At about the 51-mile reach the campsites. The lake makes ADDITIONAL READING: lope Flats. Rolling meadows push the mark, a small sign indicates the left turn a lovely background for a picnic, but For more scenic drives, pick up a copy of our book The Back Roads. hills back from the road. Splashes of to Point of Pines. The 3.5-mile gravel come prepared. There are no tables, Now in its fifth edition, the book wildflowers and clusters of chain-fruit road leads you to the edge of the slender and the vault toilets are not regularly ($19.95) features 40 of the state’s most scenic drives. To order a chollas — a shaggy, forlorn little forest lake, which is cradled by a healthy stand maintained. Of course, you didn’t drive copy, visit www.arizonahighways. — are the only interruption in the sea of of timber. all this way for a few creature comforts. com/books. grama grass. The lake is stocked with rainbow and You came for the magnificent drama, You’ll pass at least a half-dozen stock brown trout, and you’ll need a separate and there seems to be no end of it on tanks along the way, thumbprint ponds, permit to fish. Continue through the this lonely road. often with horses grazing nearby. After another brief climb, you’ll cross Ash Flats, an expansive prairie and the most likely place to spot pronghorns, looking fine and fleet as they stand chest-deep tour guide in the waves of summer grass and sun- Note: Mileages are approximate. flowers. LENGTH: 54.5 miles one way The road makes a final climb along DIRECTIONS: From Globe, drive east on U.S. Route the high shoulder of rocky slopes with 70 for 24 miles to the turnoff for Point of Pines Lake a couple of pullouts to enjoy sweeping (Indian Road 8). panoramas. Pay attention for the resi- VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS: The road is paved except for the last 3.5 miles. This portion can be managed in dent herd of Rocky Mountain bighorn a sedan. sheep amid these stony formations. You TRAVEL ADVISORY: Permits from the San Carlos might also spot small cliff dwellings Apache Tribe are required for recreation and fishing on the reservation. here, but don’t get any closer — they’re WARNING: Back-road travel can be hazardous, so be off-limits without a guide. aware of weather and road conditions. Carry plenty of As you approach the 6,644-foot-high water. Don’t travel alone, and let someone know where you are going and when you plan to return. INFORMATION: San Carlos Apache Tribe Recreation & LEFT: Point of Pines Lake is a noted trout fishery, Wildlife Department, 928-475-2343 or www.scatrwd. requiring a special permit from the San Carlos com Apache Tribe. OPPOSITE PAGE: A heavy stand of fruiting chollas Travelers in Arizona can visit www.az511.gov or dial lines Indian Road 8 in the Antelope Flats area, near 511 to get infor­ma­tion on road closures, construc­tion,

one of many stock tanks found on the reservation. KEVIN KIBSEY delays, weather and more.

52 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 53 hike of the month

Despite the idyllic nature of this mountain hike, it’s never you’re going uphill. Trail and eventually arrives at Bill Williams Trail too busy — even in August, it’s quiet enough to hear a pine After about 15 minutes, the trail Forest Road 111, which serves as passes a grove of alligator juni- an access road to the radio tow- needle drop. BY ROBERT STIEVE | PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM BROWNOLD pers, where long views open up ers on top of the mountain. The to the west. A few minutes later, first road to the summit opened ill Williams was a mountain 30-something from Ash Fork who hikes and oaks dominate the trailhead, and you’ll cross the upper intersec- in 1954 and was exalted as a sce- man, an intrepid explorer cut the route at least once a week. “Unlike within a few minutes you’ll come to an tion with the Clover Springs Loop nic drive in the March 1957 issue B from the same cloth as Jim Humphreys Peak and some of the other intersection with the Clover Springs and a second grove of gators. The of Arizona Highways. Bridger and Zebulon Pike. “Old Bill,” as trails around Flagstaff, I usually have Loop. There’s also a sign that reads, trail at this point transitions from After crossing the road, the he came to be known, traipsed all over Bill Williams all to myself,” she says. “Keep Your Forest Green.” It’s a good rocky to needle-covered, and it trail continues for another half- the West, including Northern Arizona. The most company she’s ever had in a reminder of what’s important. From also levels off for a while. The mile to the top of the mountain, Because he usually traveled alone and day was nine people, but even in the fall, there, the route begins a series of eight summit is 2.5 miles away. and the views up there are left no record of his wanderings, not when the golden aspens and red-orange switchbacks. They won’t take your At the 1-mile mark (there’s impressive. George Wharton much is known about his time in the oaks flare up before the onset of winter, breath away, but you will know that a sign), the trail heads slightly James may have said it best in Grand Canyon State. He did, however, this hike is unexpectedly uninhabited. downhill and passes some large his 1917 book Arizona the Won-

leave an impression. Enough to have a In August, it’s almost a given that it’ll be OPPOSITE PAGE: Morning light catches granite boulders. A few minutes derful: “Imagine standing on a town, a mountain and an excellent hik- quiet enough to hear a pine needle drop. golden leaves along the Bill Williams Trail. later, it’s uphill again as the trail mountain top, a mile and three- ing trail named in his honor. The trail begins at the Williams Dis- BELOW: Bill Williams Mountain rises to crosses West Cataract Creek, quarters above sea level, and an elevation of more than 9,200 feet, The Bill Williams Trail is the favorite trict Ranger Station, about a mile from and its summit reveals sweeping views which will likely be dry. A funky- then looking out over a varied trail of Annette Mason, an adventurous downtown Williams. Ponderosa pines of the surrounding area. looking ponderosa stands out at panorama, with practically unre- the top of the rise. About five min- stricted vision over a radius of utes beyond that pine, you’ll see two hundred miles. It is bewil- the trail’s first spruce. You’ll also dering in its stupendous majesty get a quick glimpse of the summit, and uplifting in its impressive and moments later, the trail’s first glory.” aspen. The tree signals the 2-mile mark After an hour of hiking, the aspens Old Bill couldn’t have said it better of the trail and the first steps in a steep become even more impressive, and the himself. succession of 12 switchbacks — the dirty trail is blockaded in places by fallen dozen. Although your work here is a lit- trees. The woodpeckers are busy leav- tle tougher, the rewards are greater. The ing their marks, too. Keep your eyes ADDITIONAL READING: ponderosas are bigger, the spruce are peeled for those loudmouths, along with For more hikes, pick up a copy of Arizona Highways Hiking Guide, thicker, the aspens seem to quake a little mountain bluebirds, elk, mule deer and which features 52 of the state’s more, the Douglas firs are older, and the maybe a mountain lion. best trails — one for each week- end of the year, sorted by seasons. ground is covered with ferns, grapevines Continuing up the switches, the trail To order a copy, visit www.arizona and wild roses. crosses paths with the Bixler Saddle highways.com/books.

trail guide LENGTH: 7 miles round-trip DIFFICULTY: Moderate ELEVATION: 7,000 to 9,256 feet TRAILHEAD GPS: N 35˚14.254’, W 112˚12.884’ DIRECTIONS: From downtown Williams, drive west on Railroad Avenue for approximately 1 mile and look for the sign marking the Williams District Ranger Station. Turn left at the sign onto the frontage road and continue approximately 0.5 miles to the ranger station. The trailhead is at the north end of the parking lot. VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS: None DOGS ALLOWED: Yes USGS MAP: Williams South INFORMATION: Williams Ranger District, 928-635-8200 or www.fs.usda.gov/kaibab

LEAVE-NO-TRACE PRINCIPLES: • Plan ahead and be out all of your trash. prepared. • Leave what you find. • Travel and camp on • Respect wildlife and durable surfaces. minimize impact. • Dispose of waste • Be considerate of

KEVIN KIBSEY properly and pack others.

54 AUGUST 2012 www.arizonahighways.com 55 where is this? Don’t Just see the Canyon ... ExpEriEncE it!

June 2012 Answer & Winner Wikieup. Congratula- tions to our winner, Elof Granholm of Terjärr, Finland. MARK LIPCZYNSKI

Win a collection of our most popular books! To enter, correctly identify the location pictured at left and email your answer to editor@ arizonahighways. com — type “Where Is This?” in the sub- ject line. Entries can also be sent to 2039 W. Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009 (write “Where Is This?” on the enve- lope). Please include your name, address and phone number. One winner will be chosen in a random drawing of qualified entries. Entries must be postmarked by August 15, 2012. Only the winner will be SCOTT BAXTER rand anyon ield nstitute notified. The cor- rect answer will be From hands-onG archaeology surveysC and backcountryF I On the Fence posted in our Octo- adventures to rim-based day tours and photography ber issue and online workshops, the Grand Canyon Field Institute offers Horses are a common sight at this popular showplace — one of the largest multiuse venues at www.arizonahigh in the state — but you won’t see only horses. During the winter, a large collection of classic ways.com beginning expert insight into the natural and cultural history of cars can also be found on the 400-plus-acre property, which was recently approved for a September 15. the world’s most famous natural wonder. $43 million upgrade. The spectacular new look will debut in January 2014. — MOLLY J. SMITH For a complete list of programs, call 866-471-4435 or visit www.grandcanyon.org/fieldinstitute 56 AUGUST 2012

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