2014 THEN & NOW: A PORTFOLIO Oh, my, how things have changed. NOVEMBER
ESCAPE • EXPLORE • EXPERIENCE SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN — JOYCE CAROLJOYCE — OATES THE WORLD’S BEST DESERT [No Offense to the Mojave, but Take a Look Inside]
TK “Night comes the desert“Night to once, as at someone if all turned off the light.”
The Sonoran Desert, Four Peaks Wilderness
PLUS: NATALIE BENCH: HELI-FIREFIGHTER • COPPA CAFÉ • LAZULI BUNTINGS ENCANTO PARK • KELSEY-DORSEY LOOP • NOGALES • A ’72 BLAZER IN NAVAJOLAND CONTENTS 11.14 Navajo Nation Grand Canyon National Park Flagstaff 2 EDITOR’S LETTER > 3 CONTRIBUTORS > 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR > 56 WHERE IS THIS? Kingman Jerome Cottonwood 5 THE JOURNAL 48 SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN 52 SCENIC DRIVE Springerville People, places and things from around the state, including a look There are several ways to see St. Nick this time of year. You can Cottonwood Road: Although Lake Mohave, Cottonwood PHOENIX back at the beginnings of Encanto Park in Phoenix; mistletoes; go to the mall or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Or, better Cove and the Black Mountains are the scenic highlights of lazuli buntings; and Nogales, our hometown of the month. yet, you can head to Flagstaff, where the North Pole Experience this drive, daredevil goats might catch your eye, too. Tucson offers kids of all ages a chance to wander Santa’s workshop and Nogales 16 54 ARIZONA: THEN & NOW meet the jolly old elf. HIKE OF THE MONTH POINTS OF INTEREST IN THIS ISSUE Oh, my, how things have changed. BY JACKI MIELER Kelsey-Dorsey Loop: Northern Arizona has some great hikes. A PORTFOLIO EDITED BY NOAH AUSTIN & JEFF KIDA This one, located in “a continuous stretch of country pre- 50 FLYING IN THE FACE OF DANGER served in the natural state,” is on the list. 28 THIS OLD HOUSE Natalie Bench isn’t what most people think of when they think GET MORE ONLINE On July 8, 1953, a massive mudslide plowed into the home of John of wildland firefighters. Yet, at 24, the petite helitack crew- www.arizonahighways.com Riordan. Although it wasn’t completely destroyed, the house member is in her sixth season of firefighting, and she’s sat vacant for the next six decades. That’s when Glenn Odegard risen rapidly through the ranks of a field that’s tradi- Visit our website for details on weekend getaways, bought it, restored it and furnished it with push-button lights, a tionally dominated by men. hiking, lodging, dining, photography workshops, slideshows and more. Plus, check out our blog for 1917 Victrola phonograph and an 1881 wood-burning stove. If you’re BY KELLY VAUGHN KRAMER regular posts on just about anything having to do interested, he’s taking reservations. PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL MARKOW with travel in Arizona, including Q&A’s with writers BY KATHY MONTGOMERY and photographers, special events, bonus photos, sneak peeks at upcoming issues and more. 30 THE DESERT, BY GEORGE www.facebook.com/azhighways We make a bold statement on our cover — that the Sonoran Desert Join our Facebook community to share your is the best desert in the world. It’s not a knock on the Mojave, but photographs, chat with other fans, enter trivia contests and receive up-to-the-minute informa- once you see George Stocking’s photos in this month’s portfolio, tion about what’s going on behind the scenes we think you’ll agree with our declaration. at Arizona Highways. A PORTFOLIO BY GEORGE STOCKING Arizona Highways is on Instagram Follow us @arizonahighways to see our travel 42 TWO MEN AND A TRUCK photos from around the state. In a 1969 print ad, Chevrolet described its new Blazer as “the only car/truck combination of its kind.” Tom Gamache bought one of those Blazers, a 1972 model, and started hitting the road. A lot. To date, the old truck has more than 1.5 million miles on it, and recently, Tom added a few more when he and our writer took a road ◗ A pronghorn guards her fawn at Las Cienegas National trip to Navajoland, a place where trucks are treated with reverence. Conservation Area near Sonoita. | EIRINI PAJAK BY MATT JAFFE CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MARK II; SHUTTER: 1/2000 SEC; PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM GAMACHE APERTURE: F/14; ISO: 1250; FOCAL LENGTH: 400 MM FRONT COVER Saguaros dominate the Sonoran Desert landscape below the iconic Four Peaks northeast of Phoenix. | GEORGE STOCKING CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MARK II; SHUTTER: 1/8 SEC; APERTURE: F/11; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 50 MM BACK COVER Snow falls on tall grass and a tree sapling at Bismarck Lake near Flagstaff. | JOHN BURCHAM CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MARK III; SHUTTER: 1/2500 SEC; APERTURE: F/4; ISO: 1000; FOCAL LENGTH: 145 MM
PHOTOGRAPHIC2 JANUARY 2013PRINTS AVAILABLE Prints of some photographs in this issue are available for purchase. To view options, visit www.arizona highwaysprints.com. For more information, call 866-962-1191. www.arizonahighways.com 1 editor’s letter contributors
TOM GAMACHE Photographer Tom Gamache has been taking road trips with writer Matt Jaffe Barren? Lifeless? Hardly. NOVEMBER 2014 VOL. 90, NO. 11 for more than 20 years. For our story Two 800-543-5432 www.arizonahighways.com imodal precipitation. It sounds space as it can get. It was Matt, one of Men and a Truck (see page 42), the two PUBLISHER Win Holden like something you’d overhear in It’s one of the natural our best writers, who explored the Navajo Nation in Gamache’s EDITOR Robert Stieve old Chevy Blazer. As you’ll read, that truck B the basement of the science build- wonders of Southern pitched the idea of tak- MANAGING EDITOR Kelly Vaughn Kramer ing, but those two words are what set Arizona, along with ing Tom’s high-mileage ASSOCIATE EDITOR Noah Austin has carried Gamache a long way, and the Sonoran Desert apart from the other the Santa Catalina truck on a road trip to EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Nikki Kimbel his respect and reverence for his vehicle three deserts in the United States. And Mountains. Although the Navajo Nation, a PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Jeff Kida GAMACHE NANCI are evident. In Navajoland, he and Jaffe CREATIVE DIRECTOR Barbara Glynn Denney saw the same admiration and dedication in the Navajos’ relationships to their own trucks. most deserts around the world. There are you won’t see the place where pickups ART DIRECTOR Keith Whitney other elements, but it’s the rain — a one- mountains in George’s are treated with rever- DESIGN PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Diana Benzel-Rice That’s how this month’s story came about. Gamache says his enduring challenge is “to try two punch of low-intensity winter show- collection of work, we ence. “Trucks have MAP DESIGNER Kevin Kibsey to transcend the camera — a device of the hand — to create things of the heart.” Gamache’s ers and violent summer monsoons — that do have something been a part of Navajo PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Michael Bianchi work can be found in public and private collections, and he conducts several landscape- gives our desert so much biodiversity. As from Karen Shell. culture for 100 years,” WEBMASTER Victoria J. Snow photography workshops each year through his company, Wandering Around Outdoors. DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING Kelly Mero unlikely as it seems, our desert is wet by Karen photo- says Harry Walters, CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Nicole Bowman comparison. graphed the “Now” a retired professor of FINANCE DIRECTOR Bob Allen If you’ve ever explored the Salome in this month’s “Then Navajo studies at Diné INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Cindy Bormanis JACKI MIELER
Wilderness, Aravaipa Canyon or the & Now” portfolio. MARKOW PAUL College. “People talk “It’s sort of a big deal when the North Pole opens up CORPORATE OR TRADE SALES 602-712-2019 riparian areas along the San Pedro River, If you’ve been with us for a while, you about them the way they used to talk 2 miles from your house,” writer Jacki Mieler says. Mieler, SPONSORSHIP SALES you’ve seen the effects of the rain. If you might remember that we’ve done a about horses.” REPRESENTATION Kathleen Hennen a Flagstaff resident, wasn’t sure what to expect from haven’t, read the rest of this paragraph couple of these in the past few years. It’s In a style that’s reminiscent of Travels Hennen Publishing & North Pole Experience (see Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Marketing Group carefully, and use it the next time some- always interesting to see how things have With Charley, Matt writes about the road 480-664-0541 Town, page 48), but when she visited with her family, one says: “The desert ... eh, there’s noth- changed, but to get the full effect, the trip. He writes about the people and their LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] she found that the place lives up to the “Experience” ing out there. It’s barren, lifeless ... a lot new images must be made from the exact questions and the stop in Monument Val- 2039 W. Lewis Avenue part of its name. “It’s not just about sitting on Santa’s Phoenix, AZ 85009 of sand.” In fact, the Sonoran Desert is same spots as the historic shots. That’s ley, where the Blazer became an improb- lap and downloading your wish list on him,” Mieler says.
home to at least 60 species of mammals, not always easy, especially when the ref- able attraction — “truckloads of tourists GOVERNOR Janice K. Brewer “You feel like you really ‘know’ the big guy by the time more than 350 different birds, 20 am- erence point no longer exists. turned their cameras away from some of DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT you see him.” Mieler also came away impressed by the
OF TRANSPORTATION John S. Halikowski RUSTY LENNERS phibians, 100 reptiles, about 30 species of That’s what Karen faced in the Cata- the world’s most iconic rock formations attention to detail at NPX and by its contrast to rushed, ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION native fish and more than 2,000 kinds of linas, where she was shooting the back to make pictures of us.” BOARD CHAIRMAN Stephen W. Christy crowded places like Disneyland. “You stick with your small group the entire time and never plants — in a single square yard, ecolo- road to Mount Lemmon. The sign in It’s hard to imagine something like VICE CHAIRMAN Kelly O. Anderson really see anyone else,” she said. “We had our own time to take everything in and enjoy it gists have counted as many as 20 differ- the 1945 photograph is long gone, which that, but so is a desert with 60 species of MEMBERS Joseph E. La Rue from beginning to end.” Mieler is a regular contributor to Arizona Highways. ent wildflowers. meant she had to match the horizon — a mammals and 2,000 kinds of plants. Bar- William Cuthbertson Deanna Beaver Barren? Lifeless? Hardly. According to needle-in-a-haystack endeavor. It took a ren? Lifeless? Hardly. There’s a lot going Jack W. Sellers the National Park Service, our landscape lot of research before she went on loca- on out there, and November is a good KAREN SHELL rivals any other terrestrial ecoregion on tion, and when she got there, she needed time to take a look. Arizona Highways® (ISSN 0004-1521) is published monthly by the Arizona This month, we’re revisiting Then & Now (see page 16), our look at how some iconic Arizona Department of Transportation. Subscription price: $24 a year in the U.S., $44 Earth, and it includes nearly all of the a laptop, an iPad, probably a handheld outside the U.S. Single copy: $4.99 U.S. Call 800-543-5432. Subscription locations have changed over the years. Karen Shell made the “Now” photographs in that port- correspondence and change of address information: Arizona Highways, P.O. planet’s biomes. There’s a lot going on out GPS, a compass, a pair of good binoculars Box 8521, Big Sandy, TX 75755-8521. Periodical postage paid at Phoenix, AZ, folio, and she spent a lot of time finding the exact locations where the “Then” photos had been there, thus our cover line: “The World’s and maybe even a protractor. But she got and at additional mailing office. CANADA POST INTERNATIONAL PUBLICA- made. Some were tougher than others: “In some locations, modern obstacles block the original TIONS MAIL PRODUCT (CANADIAN DISTRIBUTION) SALES AGREEMENT NO. Best Desert.” It’s not a knock on the the shot. Just as she did in Crown King, 41220511. SEND RETURNS TO QUAD/GRAPHICS, P.O. BOX 875, WINDSOR, ON view,” she says. “In others, though, I was surprised how little things had changed in the past 40 to N9A 6P2. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Arizona Highways, P.O. Mojave — Joshua Tree is spectacular — Tombstone, Williams, Sedona, Oatman ... Box 8521, Big Sandy, TX 75755-8521. Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Depart- 100 years.” That applied to Oatman and Williams, two places Shell hadn’t visited before taking ment of Transportation. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission this assignment. “They’re both extremely scenic,” she says, “and the original charm and history but we have science on our side. We also As you’ll see, Karen put a lot of effort into is prohibited. The magazine does not accept and is not responsible for have George Stocking, who recently went our story. She also put on a lot of miles. unsolicited mater ials. were so amazingly intact that I felt I had traveled back in time.” Shell’s work can also be seen on into the desert with his Canon EOS 5D So did Tom Gamache. PRODUCED IN THE USA the cover of a recent issue of NFL Magazine. — NOAH AUSTIN Mark III. In The Desert, by George, you’ll Tom is a new photographer for us, but see what all the fuss is about. he’s been shooting for years, and racking It’s a beautiful portfolio that show- up the miles — Tom drives a 1972 Chevy cases some of our favorite places, includ- Blazer with more than 1.5 million miles REBECCA WILKS ing the Superstition Mountains and on it. “The Blazer has traveled the equiva- COMING IN DECEMBER ... If you like what you see in this Saguaro National Park. One of the park lent of three round-trips to the moon,” A 40-page portfolio featuring the magazine every month, check out shots, the one with the petroglyphs, Matt Jaffe writes in Two Men and a Truck. snowy landscapes of Arizona. Plus, a few Arizona Highways Television, an almost ended up on our cover, but we “I’ve ridden shotgun for probably 50,000 December excerpts from the ’40s, ’50s Emmy Award-winning program couldn’t make the type work. Turns out, miles of its run. During that time, the air and ’60s. hosted by former news anchor Robin Sewell. For broadcast times, visit it works better as a horizontal image, conditioning has never worked. Nor has our website, www.arizonahighways. without the burden of words. Plus, the AM radio. But while I’ve been hot, ROBERT STIEVE, EDITOR com, and click the Arizona Highways CLAUDIA JOHNSTONE CLAUDIA Saguaro National Park deserves as much I’ve never been bored.” Follow me on Twitter: @azhighways BARNES ELLEN Television link on our home page.
2 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 3 letters to the editor [email protected] THE JOURNAL 11.14 HIGHWAYS ROBBERY Let me start by saying how much we love Arizona Highways. It’s the only magazine we hometowns > local favorites > history > photography > odd jobs ever read cover to cover, and the only one dining > nature > lodging > things to do we look forward to receiving each month — it’s actually the only magazine we subscribe to now. The photographs are so wonderful. While your choice for the grand-prize win- Etched in Stone ner is an amazing photograph [Best Picture The setting sun casts pinkish hues on the 2014, September 2014], and young Chikku Signal Hill petroglyphs at Saguaro National Baiju shows great talent, Peggy Coleman Park northwest of Tucson. The rock art was robbed. We don’t pretend to know was created by the prehistoric Hohokam much about photography, but we know what people, who lived in what is now Arizona we like, and her second-place shot of the between A.D. 200 and A.D. 1450. green heron was the most amazing photo- For more information, call Saguaro graph we have ever laid eyes on. National Park at 520-733-5158 or visit Janice Hawkins & Joey Good-Draeger, Phoenix www.nps.gov/sagu. September 2014 CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MARK II; SHUTTER: 8 SEC; APERTURE: F/16; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 17 MM
FOUND AT SEA reservoirs created with the greatest check it out on my own a couple weeks I’ve just finished reading the September depth, but never deepest dams. ago, and when I got to the parking lot, 2014 edition of Arizona Highways and Duncan Livingston, Bonanza, Oregon I couldn’t find the lake. I went down was enchanted by the beautiful pho- the path a little way and sure enough, tos therein. I especially loved the John Editor’s Note: Good question. Parker Dam there was a lake — way down there! Burcham images of Bismarck Lake [Long extends farther below the riverbed than any other Your article was so inviting that I guess Exposure], which shows that area in all dam in the world. Its structural height is 320 feet, I put words in there that I wanted, and its glory over a year — a very talented but 235 feet of that is below the riverbed. assumed that it was an easy walk to the artist indeed. The “best picture of 2014” lake from the parking area. Not so. I got by Chikku Baiju was also stunning. The HOLLYWOOD ROMANCE halfway down the trail to the lake and story of how we were lucky enough to be This is my first time letting you know wondered if I could get back up. The the recipients of your publication is an how I feel about your magazine. I reason for my concern is that I’m 88 years interesting one. My husband and I were devoured the July 2014 issue — I espe- old with a pacemaker. Although I’m in on a cruise in the Mediterranean last year cially loved the articles about the Grand fairly good shape, this was a lot more and were fortunate to meet a lovely cou- Canyon [On the Edge], the cowboys [Riding than I really was ready for. Unfortunately, ple from Scottsdale, Arizona. We became High] and the oxen farmer [Pulling Their I didn’t catch any fish and it took me a firm friends and, as a result, they visited Weight]. I also want to let you know that long time to get back up the hill, but I us in Auckland, New Zealand. We were Arizona Highways is my favorite magazine, did make it, but will not try it again. It’s able to show them some of our beautiful and your monthly features are something a lovely spot and I enjoyed it while I was country and they in turn offered to show I look forward to. The photographs are there, except for the going down and up. us theirs. Our friends, Cindy and Roman, splendid — they take my breath away and Dale Schonmeyer, Sun City, Arizona have Arizona Highways sent to us every make me itchy to visit Arizona again and month so that we can get some idea of again. Please continue to give camera data Editor’s Note: Dear Mr. Schonmeyer. We sincerely the adventure we are in for. I can’t tell when you can, as I do learn from it. apologize for any inconvenience. Our piece on Bear you how excited we are that we will be Sylvia Jacobs, Hollywood, Maryland Canyon Lake was presented as a hike, not a fishing able to actually see the places we have hole. That said, we’ll be more careful down the read about in your magazine. FISHING EXPEDITION road. Meantime, keep up the great work. At 88, Mary & Ian White, Auckland, New Zealand You folks really got my juices going you’re an inspiration to us all. with the June 2014 issue, and especially THAT’S DEEP the Bear Canyon Lake Trail [Summer On page 8 of the September 2014 issue Hiking Guide]. My wife’s niece is a great contact us If you have thoughts or com- [This Month in History], the sentence states hiker and I’m a devout trout fisherman, ments about anything in Arizona Highways, we’d that Parker Dam is the deepest dam in so I thought that when she comes in love to hear from you. We can be reached at editor@ arizonahighways.com, or by mail at 2039 W. Lewis the world. What does deepest dam in the December, she could hike and I could fish Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009. For more information,
world mean? I’ve heard of tallest dams, and it would be great. Well, I decided to visit www.arizonahighways.com. STOCKING GEORGE
4 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 5 hometowns � �
local favorites Paul Bond Boots NOGALES
As a kid, Paul Bond worked at a saddle and cowboy-boot shop. As a teen, he put his knowledge to work and began handcraft- ing cowboy boots. As an adult, Bond started his own business, crafting custom- ized cowboy boots for a host of clients, including several notable celebrities. Bond died in February 2012, but his legacy lives on through his business, Paul Bond Boots. We spoke to co-owner Jody Bloodworth, Bond’s stepson, and Jody’s daughter, Alex Bloodworth, about Bond’s famous boots. Why does the company maintain “made in America” standards? AB: We want to put out the best-quality boots that we can, and we can’t outsource to do that. We want to make everything here — by our guys — because we have 100 percent faith in our business. How long does the boot-making process take, and how many people are involved? JB: There are about 20 people involved, THE JOURNAL and [each pair of boots] takes about three to six months. Did Paul Bond have a favorite way of wearing boots? JB: He would stuff his pant legs into his boots to show off the tops. He wore them with his pants [tucked] into his boots all the time. The logical reason is to save your pants when you’re riding a horse. The boot leather keeps your pants from tearing off from cactuses, mesquites and things like that. What does the future look like? JB: We’re going to continue making boots just like Paul did for 60 years. Paul Bond was one of the greatest guys; there’s nobody in the shop who won’t say he was MARK LIPCZYNSKI the greatest guy we knew. That’s not just because I’m his stepson; it’s just because THE CITY OF NOGALES has been around Hohokam people. Later, Spanish conquis- border neighbor, Nogales, Sonora. The everyone really loved Paul. — KIRSTEN KRAKLIO NOGALES for more than a century, but the human tadors in search of treasure occupied the cities are collectively known as Ambos history of its Southern Arizona location area. Nogales’ name is derived from the Nogales and rely on each other for tourism Paul Bond Boots is located at 915 W. Paul Bond Drive FOUNDED: 1880 (approximate) | POPULATION: 20,837 dates to long before European settlement. Spanish description of the walnut trees and commerce. Despite being on opposite in Nogales. For more information, call 520-281-0512 AREA: 20.8 square miles | ELEVATION: 3,779 feet | COUNTY: Santa Cruz Thousands of years ago, it was part of a that once were prominent in the area. It sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, the cities’ or visit www.paulbondboots.com. www.nogalesaz.gov migration and trade route used by the shares that name with its south-of-the- relationship remains strong. — NOAH AUSTIN
6 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 7 history photography � � � � Encanto Park Listening to music at the band shell, dancing in the clubhouse, strolling in the emerald-green oasis ... that’s how Phoenicians enjoyed Encanto Park when it was completed in 1938. Eight decades after construction began, they’re showing up for some of the same reasons.
ucked away just minutes from looking for inexpensive entertainment. den Center (1809 N. 15th Avenue), which downtown Phoenix is Encanto As George and Leigh Conrad write, was built in 1939 and served as a commu- Park, a 222-acre oasis in the des- “Listening to music at the band shell, nity garden during the Great Depression. T ert with fishing, golf courses, dancing in the clubhouse and strolling in Today, the center is a gathering space picnic areas, a nature trail and a lagoon. the emerald green oasis, [visitors] came for gardening and horticulture clubs. Inspired by Golden Gate Park in San to enjoy the variety of free acts offered at George believes what makes Encanto Francisco and Balboa Park in San Diego, the park.” Park so special is the fact that it has the park, which now is in its 80th year, Encanto Park is still a popular destina- changed with the times. “There are some was designed to be a great park in a great tion for Phoenicians, and even though it’s landmarks that always stay the same,” city, according to G.G. George, a preser- transformed over the years, echoes of the she says. “But the important thing is it’s vation activist and the co-author of the park’s early days remain in the surround- an evolving park. It’s not static.” book Phoenix’s Greater Encanto-Palmcroft ing neighborhood. One is the Valley Gar- — KIRSTEN KRAKLIO Neighborhood. “The movers and shakers in Phoenix at that time had come from many places — as many of us do — and they knew what made a city work,” George says. In 1933, a bond election helped cre- ate the Phoenix Parks Board, later called the Parks and Recreation Board. With funding from the bonds, plus a $900,000 grant from the Public Works Administra-
tion, land acquisition for the park began LONNA TUCKER
THE JOURNAL Paddleboarders on Watson Lake in Prescott CAMERA: NIKON D800; SHUTTER: 1/250 SEC; APERTURE: F/11; ISO: 400; FOCAL LENGTH: 50 MM in 1934. Construction began in 1935 and was completed in 1938. The park was a haven for families who Price Points faster buffer speeds and so on. Those new end cameras, but it outperforms all of them in lived in the neighborhood, and according cameras can be pricey, and often, people DxOMark’s rankings. to George’s book, it also served as a desti- People often equate equate higher price with higher-quality photos. The DxOMark website (www.dxomark.com) nation for World War II service members higher-priced cameras with But that’s not always the case. is worth checking out. It drives home the point better photos, but thats not Photographer Lonna Tucker (her image of that it’s not always about spending more Swans swim in the Encanto Park lagoon Watson Lake is pictured above) recently told money or getting a larger camera body. Even
during the park’s early days. COURTESY OF PHOENIX AND PARKS RECREATION DEPARTMENT always the case. me about DxOMark, an independent website a camera like the D810 is a big investment for that objectively and scientifically rates photo most people, so do your research and figure out INCREASINGLY, TECHNOLOGY IS DRIVING what we quality for different combinations of camera which combination of camera and optics will do in the photography profession. Every six sensors and lenses. The results might surprise give you the most bang for your buck. Then, get ARIZONA HIGHWAYS this ■ Unknown perpe- Watts Kearny, who ■ On November 11, The November 1964 months, it seems, there’s a hot new camera you: For example, Nikon’s recent introduction, out and take it for a spin. trators ambush and camps in the area on 1899, The Coconino issue of Arizona body hitting the market — more megapixels, the D810, is a fraction of the cost of some high- — PHOTO EDITOR JEFF KIDA rob a stagecoach November 7, 1846, on Sun announces that 50 Years Ago Highways featured month near Wickenburg on his way to California Sheriff T.J. Wattron Sonora, Mexico, our November 5, 1871, during the Mexican- of Navajo County is neighbor to the south. in history murdering six people American War. printing invitations In his column, Editor Taking your camera Just let the camera on board. This inci- ■ The First Ter- for a “cheerful hang- ADDITIONAL Raymond Carlson PHOTO WINTER dent is often referred ritorial Legislature ing” of a murderer. from a warm vehicle sit and cool off for READING said, “A journey to IS COMING to a cold environ- a while, and the Look for our book to as the “Wicken- founds the Arizona ■ The Cactus Derby Arizona Highways burg Massacre.” Historical Society on — an automobile race Sonora, which we take Falling tempera- ment can cause condensation will Photography ■ Kearny, a small November 7, 1864. from Los Angeles you to this month, is a TIP tures can present moisture to form dissipate on its own, Guide, available journey into yesterday challenges for pho- on the lens. It’s not leaving you ready to at bookstores town in Pinal County, The society is Arizo- to Phoenix — zips and www.shop is named after na’s oldest historical through Prescott on and is a journey into tographers, includ- usually harmful, but photograph a winter arizonahighways.
General Stephen organization. November 11, 1914. dynamic today.” ing condensation. it can be alarming. landscape. RANDY PRENTICE com/books.
8 NOVEMBER 2014 To learn more about photography, visit www.arizonahighways.com. www.arizonahighways.com 9 odd jobs � � TELESCOPE TECHNICIAN Ralph Nye, Flagstaff
RALPH NYE ENJOYS SOMETHING many people these days don’t: job security. “We don’t have a lot of people doing what I do,” he says. And what he does, he’s been doing a long time. Since 1976, Nye has worked at Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory, where he designs and builds the instrumentation equipment used on several telescopes there. He also maintains THE JOURNAL and repairs nine of the telescopes, including the 118-year-old, 7-ton, 24-inch Alvan Clark refract- ing telescope used by Percival Lowell. That telescope was recently taken out of service and is undergoing a major rehabilitation — accord- ing to Nye, “a gung-ho fundraiser guy” raised $236,000 to pay for the project. For Nye, whose official title is mechanical engineer, the job is a dream come true. After all, he has been inter- ested in telescopes since he was 12 years old. And his enthusiasm hasn’t waned: A telescope that dates to 1907 sits in his backyard, and according to Nye, it was used to make the first (unofficial) photograph of Pluto. He refurbished it and put it back together, part by part. “It’s my hobby,” he says. “How many people are allowed to work on their hobby and get paid for it? To me, coming up here and working on a 118-year- old telescope — and to be trusted to take the thing apart, fix it and put it back together — is pretty neat.” — KATHY RITCHIE
Lowell Observatory is located at 1400 W. Mars Hill Road in Flagstaff. For more information, call 928-774-3358 or
DAWN KISH DAWN visit www.lowell.edu.
10 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 11 dining nature � � � � Coppa Café When two chefs with impressive international pedigrees eschew the popular restaurant scene Lazuli in downtown Flagstaff for a more low-key strip-mall location, they do the unthinkable — create an amazingly European experience while remaining true to local ingredients and inspiration. Buntings
azuli buntings are named for the In winter, the buntings IT’S ON FLAGSTAFF’S BUSIEST STREET, tucked wife, pastry chef and co-owner Paola embodies everything Coppa is about — gemstone lapis lazuli. Males are fly to various locations in between a chain pizza joint and a nail Fioravanti, have adopted since opening the aged beef is flanked by a quail-egg easily recognized by their bright-blue Southern Arizona. salon in a nondescript strip mall. Those Coppa Café three years ago. emulsion and bursts with flavor from Lheads and backs. They have white aren’t exactly the direc- If a culinary gem whose owners are Konefal’s homegrown “micro-mountain bellies, rust-colored breasts and white wing flagstaff tions you’d expect to a dedicated to foraging and serving fresh celery.” Chillier months call for entrées bars that distinguish them from other North restaurant with a Euro- and local ingredients seems implausible such as a hearty wild-venison shank, American buntings. pean ambience so comforting you feel a in a strip mall, consider the fact that both while warmer weather warrants a deli- The females have grayish-brown color- need to flash a passport at the door. Konefal and Fioravanti were classically cate halibut confit with preserved lemon. ing on their heads, napes and backs, and Their songs The rush-hour din fades as diners trained in Europe and have worked in The glass pastry case is the devil on the ends of their backs and shoulders are sound similar enter Coppa Café, greeted by warm yel- some of the top kitchens around the world. your shoulder throughout the meal, but often tinted blue. They also have a faint rust to those of indigo low walls, pressed-tin ceiling tiles and How did two globetrotting chefs with in this instance, you’ll be rewarded for band across their breasts, which blends to buntings. bustling chefs with armfuls of fresh enviable kitchen credentials wind up giving in to temptation. Fioravanti stocks lighter brown lower on the belly. Their wings herbs. The herbs, the work of executive in a small mountain town? Konefal is a the case with her homemade macarons, and tail feathers are brown with slightly chef and co-owner Brian Konefal, are graduate of Northern Arizona Univer- seasonal tarts, and classics such as tira- blue-tinged edges. grown indoors alongside edible flowers sity, and the couple knew that Flagstaff misu and crème brûlée. Lazuli buntings can be found throughout in a makeshift prep kitchen — the same would be the perfect backdrop for show- Dinner is where Coppa shines, but rest the summer in most of the western United kitchen where an old cooler serves as the casing a base of classic European tech- assured that lunch and Sunday brunch States. In Arizona, they’re common up north, aging location for the restaurant’s name- niques and creating a tremendous sense are also worthy of ditching preconceived but they can also be seen in other parts of sake coppa, or Italian cured meat. of place. notions about strip-mall cuisine. the state during the buntings’ winter migra- Lazuli buntings eat “Coppa is as refined and sophisticated This marriage is evident from the onset, — JACKI MIELER tion to South America. seeds, fruits and as prosciutto, but more approachable,” as a fresh baguette and fragrant ponder- The birds, which prefer to live near grassy insects. Konefal says of both the house-cured osa-pine butter preface the seasonally Coppa Café is located at 1300 S. Milton Road in Flagstaff. places, are generally secretive. Neverthe- meat and the philosophy that he and his changing menu. The beef-tartare starter For more information, call 928-637-6813. less, the males sing persistently from THE JOURNAL exposed perches. Each male sings only one song, and each song is unique to that individual. However, “copying” by young males can produce song “neighborhoods” in which songs of neighboring males are — KIRSTEN KRAKLIO similar. BRUCE D. TAUBERT
nature factoid
DESERT MISTLETOES Desert mistletoe plants probably won’t be responsible for any love where they grow. The leafless twigs, which hold white berries with red seeds, are considered parasitic shrubs. The invaders are often found growing from the branches of certain trees. If enough of the plants become attached to a host tree, the tree may die. Often, birds eat the berries of desert mistletoes, then regurgitate them onto branches of host trees. There, the mistletoes germinate and establish a root system. The plants can also be identi- fied by their tiny greenish-yellow flowers, which emit a strong perfume from late January to March. — KIRSTEN KRAKLIO EIRINI PAJAK EIRINI JOHN BURCHAM JOHN
12 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 13 lodging � � Photographers Emery and Ellsworth Kolb lived life on the edge. Literally. In 1904, they built their studio and home on the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, and it since has become as much a part of history as their groundbreaking works of art. We need your help to keep the history alive. MARK DURAN MARK Cottonwood Hotel
IF YOU WANT TO SOAK in the shooting Angel and the Bad- another of its rooms, the Krazy historic district, and owner claw-foot bathtub John Wayne man in nearby Sedona. West Kat Speakeasy, is a nod to its and innkeeper Karen Leff has used, book the Mae West is rumored to have stayed at Prohibition-era past. Today, added modern touches such THE JOURNAL Room at the original hotel, which was the Cottonwood has five well- as hypoallergenic mattresses cottonwood the Cotton- built in 1916 but burned to the appointed rooms, down and organic bamboo sheets. wood Hotel. ground in the 1925 fire that from the original 10, on its top After all, what good is a relaxing But the hotel also has a suite leveled much of Cottonwood. floor, along with more suites on bath in John Wayne’s tub if you named in honor of the Duke, The rebuilt hotel became a hub the remodeled bottom floor. can’t get a good night’s sleep who stayed there in 1946 while of bootlegging activity, and The hotel is part of the town’s afterward? — NOAH AUSTIN
things to do in arizona � � Día de los Muertos collections of unusual minerals Bluegrass Festival includes performances, craft Celebration and fossils. At the event’s ven- November 14-16, Wickenburg booths, traditional Indian foods November 1-2, Sedona dor marketplace, items will be Now in its 35th year, this event and kids activities. Admission The courtyards of Tlaquepaque available for purchase. Informa- is one of the oldest bluegrass is free. Information: 520-622- host musical performances, tion: www.golakehavasu.com festivals in the Southwest. It 4900 or www.usaindianinfo. fire dancers and offerings to features food vendors, activi- com the dead in recognition of this Nature Lecture ties for kids and plenty of live traditional Mexican holiday. November 12, Mesa music by bluegrass bands. Photo Workshop: Admission is free. Information: The Mesa Arts Center presents Information: 800-942-5242 or Watson Lake 928-282-4838 or www.tlaq.com “Coral, Fire and Ice,” a lecture www.wickenburgchamber.com January 24-25, Prescott by underwater photographer Arizona Highways contributor Gem and Mineral Show David Doubilet and aquatic Indian Craft Market Colleen Miniuk-Sperry shares November 8-9, biologist Jennifer Hayes. This and Social her secrets for photographing Lake Havasu City event is part of the National November 28-30, Tucson the sparkling blue waters and Members of the Lake Havasu Geographic Live Speaker Series. Learn about the culture and jumbled rocks of the Granite Gem and Mineral Society dis- Information: 480-644-6500 or history of several Native Ameri- Dells. Information: 888-790- play their jewelry designs and www.mesaartscenter.com can tribes at this event, which 7042 or www.ahpw.org
14 NOVEMBER 2014 For more events, visit www.arizonahighways.com.
JOB: 5172_Kolb_Print-ArizonaHighways-NationalPark-8.375x10.8125 PUB: Arizona Highways SIZE: 8.375" x 10.8125" COLORS: 4C OUTPUT DATE: 03/13/14 THEN & NOW Oh, my, how things have changed.
A PORTFOLIO EDITED BY NOAH AUSTIN & JEFF KIDA “NOW” PHOTOGRAPHS BY KAREN SHELL
1942 Sedona This dirt road into Sedona has become the paved State Route 179, part of which is known as the Red Rock Scenic Byway. The route begins at Interstate 17 and ends at State Route 89A in Sedona. Several trailheads line SR 179, and the road offers breathtaking views of Bell Rock. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Transportation made the Red Rock Scenic Byway an All-American Road — a designation reserved for the most scenic byways in America. NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY CLINE LIBRARY
16 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 17 1920 Oatman Walk through Oatman today, and you’ll have no trouble finding reminders of the town’s gold-mining origins. Several wild burros roam the town’s streets, happily gobbling up handouts of food from visitors. The burros are the descendants of donkeys turned loose by prospectors after Oatman’s mines closed. More than 3,500 people lived in Oatman during the gold rush, but today, only about 150 call the town home. SHARLOT HALL MUSEUM
1940s Williams Williams’ story wouldn’t be the same without Historic Route 66, a major westward migration path that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. And the town held onto its ties to the historic highway until the bitter end: In 1984, Williams became the last town on Route 66 to be bypassed by Interstate 40. The route’s “historic” designation continues to bring tourists to Williams, as does the town’s importance as the “Gateway to the Grand Canyon.” These photos show the view east from the corner of Route 66 and Second Street. WILLIAMS PUBLIC LIBRARY
www.arizonahighways.com 19 1934 mesa In the 1930s, crews were busy paving Mesa’s Main Street. These days, there’s even more work being done: The Valley Metro light-rail line is being extended through downtown Mesa. Formerly a somewhat sleepy area, Mesa’s downtown has been revitalized by the Mesa Arts Center, a performance and visual-arts complex that opened in 2005. Home to nearly a half- million people, Mesa is Arizona’s third-largest city, behind Phoenix and Tucson. ARIZONA STATE LIBRARY
1890 Crown King The community of Crown King sprang up around the Crowned King Mine, and it was connected to the outside world by a branch of the Bradshaw Mountain Railroad. The branch was known as “Murphy’s Impossible Railroad,” after its chief proponent, mine owner Frank Murphy. The route from Crown King to Mayer was so steep that naysayers said a rail line was impossible, but tight switchbacks, high trestles and a tunnel made it a reality. Today, the main road into Crown King follows the old railroad bed. SHARLOT HALL MUSEUM
20 NOVEMBER 2014 1945 Mount Lemmon This winding, unpaved road used to be the best way up Mount Lemmon, which dominates the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson. The road is still there today and now is designated Forest Road 38. If you have a four-wheel-drive vehicle and a day to spare, you can tackle the climb. These days, though, most people use the paved Catalina Highway, which starts in Tucson and ends in Summerhaven near the summit of Mount Lemmon. ARIZONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
22 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 23 1900 Grand Canyon Bright Angel Hotel, built in 1896, offered the first permanent accommodations at the Grand Canyon’s South Rim. Around the same time, William “Buckey” O’Neill built a cabin just west of the hotel; it’s on the right in these photos. O’Neill was killed in action with the Rough Riders in 1898, but the hotel served Grand Canyon visitors until 1935, when the new, Mary Colter-designed Bright Angel Lodge replaced it. Colter incorporated the Buckey O’Neill Cabin into the lodge’s design, and it’s available to rent today. SHARLOT HALL MUSEUM
1954 Tombst one We had a little trouble figuring out the year this photograph was made, but the movie marquee (The Black Shield of Falworth, starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh) gave it away. The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral made Tombstone famous, and the town’s Wild West history and gunfight re-enactments continue to draw visitors today. Among other events, Tombstone hosts Helldorado Days, which celebrates the town’s mining- boom origins, every October. JOSEF MUENCH
www.arizonahighways.com 25 circa 1950 Paradise Valley The Camelback Inn cost $75,000 to build back in 1936. In its early days, the resort was accessible only via a 12-mile trek down bumpy dirt roads. Early guests included Clark Gable, Bette Davis and J.W. Marriott, who purchased the property in 1967. Paradise Valley has grown up around the inn, but it continues to attract big names, including Oprah Winfrey and Tom Selleck. A 31,000-square-foot spa addition opened in 1989. JOSEF MUENCH
26 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 27 for a little more than $20 a month. was the potential of our house collapsing and sliding down Then, on July 8, 1953, debris clogged a water culvert above upon the meticulously restored and occupied home 25 feet the house during a monsoon storm, causing it to rupture. Neil below. When we poured the concrete, I slept like a baby for the was in the Army, but his older brother, John Jr., was still living first time in two months.” in Jerome and working at the mine. The mine was in the pro- cess of closing down, and John Jr. was preparing equipment to ship to the company’s other operations. THE RIORDAN FAMILY discovered the renovation while pre- John Sr. was supposed to have retired the year before, but paring for John Jr.’s 85th birthday. Looking for a photo of the Phelps Dodge asked him to stay on to oversee the closing of the house to put on her father’s birthday cake, John Jr.’s daughter mine. In April, he suffered a stroke from which he never fully found Odegard’s website and called the number listed. recovered. The Riordans gave Odegard details that helped with the “My mother called my foreman and asked if I could come restoration and filled in missing pieces. Odegard didn’t know home,” John Jr. recalls. He rushed over just in time to carry his a sleeping porch and bathroom had ever existed on the west father to safety before the culvert burst. “It was tremendously loud,” he says. “The water came rush- ing down and started washing my parents’ house away.” The resulting landslide took out the whole west side of the house, including the bathroom and the sleeping porch that had been the boys’ bedroom. John Sr. and his wife stayed with their daughter down the hill before moving permanently to California. They never set foot in the house again. Phelps Dodge didn’t attempt to restore it. “I left when the job was over,” John Jr. recalls. “That’s when the mine finally closed and Jerome became a ghost town.”
IN 1997, a local group bought 11 houses on Society Hill from Phelps Dodge, each member obtaining title to one lot. The THIS OLD HOUSE owner of the John Riordan House put it up for sale but other- wise left it to deteriorate. On July 8, 1953, a massive mudslide plowed into the home of John Riordan. Odegard saw it while on a day trip to Jerome. OPPOSITE PAGE: The John Riordan House sat vacant and decaying for more than a half-century after a devastating landslide. MICHAEL THOMPSON “Sitting at the Haunted Hamburger, I looked up, and I saw Although it wasn’t completely destroyed, the house sat vacant for the next ABOVE: After Glenn Odegard’s extensive renovations, the house reopened the ‘For Sale’ sign on the abandoned house,” Odegard recalls. and is available to rent. GLENN ODEGARD six decades. That’s when Glenn Odegard bought it, restored it and furnished “Curious, I drove up and looked at it.” A fifth-generation carpenter, Odegard had been going to side, but it explained artifacts he found there: a bottle of Old it with push-button lights, a 1917 Victrola phonograph and an 1881 wood- Jerome since 1977 and loved the town. The location of the house, Spice and a shaving mug, medicines and eyedroppers, Army burning stove. If you’re interested, he’s taking reservations. a double lot with expansive views of the Verde Valley, appealed figurines and a toy car. to him. He walked on the roof and saw the siding and exterior Hearing the stories behind these things motivated Odegard BY KATHY MONTGOMERY were still good, the framing still intact. He thought he could to document and preserve the home’s history. He also wanted work with it. But he had little idea what he was getting into. to share it with others, to create a place where people could “No insurance company offers homeowners insurance come, stay and experience life as it was in the late 1800s, when on a building with no foundation or floors on the side of a the home was built. 30-degree-sloped mountain,” Odegard says. He furnished the house with artifacts that people could use: Logistics were another challenge. Large trucks couldn’t push-button lights, a 1917 Victrola phonograph with 78 discs EIL RIORDAN wanders through his childhood home Then, in 2012, a contractor named Glenn Odegard from the make the hairpin turn up the narrow road. Lumber was and an 1881 wood-burning stove with cast-iron pots, among with equal parts nostalgia and wonder. Phoenix area bought the place and set out to do what everyone dropped at the Jerome Grand Hotel and brought up by pickup. other things. “This was the living room, and it’s pretty much the said couldn’t be done. Construction scrap went down the same way. Odegard admits the house is the worst investment he’s ever same,” he says. “Our phone was right on that wall, It took one and a half months to clear out the dirt, which made, but adds that restoring it was the most rewarding thing right where that phone is.” had to be dug by hand. The mudslide had also shifted the he’s ever done. The fact that so much looks the same is remarkable, IN 1898, the United Verde Copper Co. built the 1,000-square- house about 10 inches out of square. It had to be realigned For Neil and John Jr., the project represents the restoration but more remarkable is that Neil can walk through foot house on Jerome’s Society Hill for mining executives. John using a system of straps and come-alongs, with four people of the childhood home where they cast Army figurines, mir- the house at all. Riordan, his wife and their five children moved into the home ratcheting the house into alignment inch by inch. rored sunbeams at their friends from the roof and made target NSixty years ago, his parents escaped just before a landslide in 1934. Neil, the youngest, was just a year old. The next year, The most challenging part was replacing the floor, which practice of the Victorian detailing. filled their home with rocks and mud. Then it sat, vacant and the Phelps Dodge Corp. bought the mine and all its property, involved jacking the entire house up on stilts. At one point, the “We had a wonderful, wonderful life there,” John Jr. says. “It deteriorating, for nearly 60 years. including the house. house shifted 30 degrees and threatened to fall off the blocks. was a great place to grow up.” “Eight or nine years ago, we had a big family reunion in this An employee of the mine since 1903, John was the company’s “That was one of the scariest parts,” Odegard recalls. “A area,” Neil recalls. “We all walked up here by the house. Every- employment agent and safety engineer. His family lived in the mudslide almost wiped out the house in the same month The John Riordan House is located at 34 Magnolia Street in Jerome. one agreed it couldn’t be restored.” home for nearly 20 years, renting it from the mining company 60 years before, and the rainy season was again upon us. There For reservations, call 480-892-0603 or visit www.johnriordanhouse.com.
28 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 29 THE DESERT, BY GEORGE We make a bold statement on our cover — that the Sonoran Desert is the best desert in the world. It’s not a knock on the Mojave, but once you see George Stocking’s photos in this month’s portfolio, we think you’ll agree with our declaration.
A PORTFOLIO BY GEORGE STOCKING
30 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 31 THE DESERT, BY GEORGE
PRECEDING PANEL: After an intense monsoon storm, sunset silhouettes saguaro cactuses, the most well-known symbols of the Sonoran Desert. CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MARK II; SHUTTER: 1/30 SEC; APERTURE: F/13; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 50 MM
ABOVE: Three mature saguaros huddle at Ironwood Forest National Monument northwest of Tucson. The largest cactuses in the United States, saguaros have been known to live for 200 years or longer. CAMERA: CANHAM DLC45; FILM: FUJI VELVIA; SHUTTER: 2 SEC; APERTURE: F/22; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 300 MM
RIGHT: Chollas and prickly pear cactuses are common sights near Central Arizona’s Superstition Mountains. CAMERA: BRONICA GS-1; FILM: FUJI VELVIA; SHUTTER: 2 SEC; APERTURE: F/16; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 65 MM
32 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 33 Description: a clearing summer monsoon leaves hazy light on the desert as seen from Signal Rock. Photo by: George Stocking. D_111434A.tif.
34 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 35 THE DESERT, BY GEORGE
PRECEDING PANEL: A clearing monsoon storm leaves hazy orange light on the Signal Hill petroglyphs of Saguaro National Park West near Tucson. CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MARK II; SHUTTER: 8 SEC; APERTURE: F/22; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 28 MM
ABOVE: Bird nests, such as this one at Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Arizona, can often be found in the crooks of saguaro arms. CAMERA: BRONICA GS-1; FILM: FUJI VELVIA; SHUTTER: 9 SEC; APERTURE: F/11; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 100 MM
RIGHT: Teddy bear chollas reach toward a cloudy sky at sunset at South Mountain Park in Phoenix. The 16,000-acre park is one of the largest municipal parks in the country. CAMERA: CANHAM DLC45; FILM: FUJI VELVIA; SHUTTER: 1 SEC; APERTURE: F/22; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 90 MM
36 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 37 38 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 39 THE DESERT, BY GEORGE
PRECEDING PANEL: Prickly pear cactuses and chollas form a dense thicket near the Peralta Trailhead in the Superstition Wilderness. CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MARK III; SHUTTER: 1/6 SEC; APERTURE: F/22; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 55 MM
LEFT: Ocotillos and saguaros, their flowers visible, mingle at Saguaro National Park. Saguaro flowers bloom between April and June; they open for one night, then close permanently the next day. CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MARK II; SHUTTER: 1/10 SEC; APERTURE: F/22; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 32 MM
ABOVE: Mature saguaros and chollas frame a moonset in the Superstition Mountains. CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MARK III; SHUTTER: 1 SEC; APERTURE: F/22; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 200 MM
40 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 41 TWO MEN
Tom Gamache’s 1972 Chevy Blazer has been through three engines and countless trips TRUCK around the Southwest, including a few visits to Monument Valley. In a 1969 print ad, Chevrolet described its new Blazer as “the only
car/truck combination of its kind.” Tom Gamache bought one of those hecking in at Canyon de Chelly during a road trip through the Navajo Nation, I came to the line on the registration form asking for vehicle make and model. Blazers, a 1972 model, and started hitting the road. A lot. To date, the “Orange Chevy Blazer,” I wrote, which, though accurate, only began to hint at the deeper truths of my friend Tom Gamache’s truck. old truck has more than 1.5 million miles on it, and recently, Tom added “I think you’ll know this truck when you see it,” I said to the hotel clerk from Kay- enta before offering her a few details about the Blazer, most notably its model year a few more when he and our writer took a road trip to Navajoland, a (1972) and mileage (more than 1.5 million). “Oh, I love old trucks!” she said. “Can you take a picture of me next to it?” place where trucks are treated with reverence. Out in the parking lot, Tom and the Blazer were waiting: a boy and his truck. The grill and its reflective blue Chevrolet emblem, recently scrubbed of 900 miles of BY MATT JAFFE smashed bugs at a Chinle gas station, glistened, even on an overcast day, as the clerk posed along the driver’s side. PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM GAMACHE In cities, the Blazer is more a curiosity than an object of desire. But on this trip
42 NOVEMBER 2014 C www.arizonahighways.com 43 RIGHT: Stands selling jewelry and other handmade items are common sights in Monument Valley, where Tom Gamache’s Blazer became an improbable tourist attraction.
and many others in the 20-plus years that Tom and I have traveled together, we’d noticed that the Blazer is treated with reverence in Navajo country. Here, a truck isn’t a fashion statement, and a backup camera is of far less value than the ability to haul wood or plow through deep sand. And unlike our disposable culture, old things, especially functional ones that leave new things quite literally in the dust, command respect. Whatever the Navajo equivalent of “street cred” is, the Blazer’s got it. Harry Walters, a retired professor of Navajo studies at Diné College, drives a 1995 Chevy Silverado with nearly 432,000 miles on it. He likens trucks to horses. “Trucks have been part of Navajo culture for 100 years, but people talk about them the way they used to talk about horses,” Walters said. “I even gave my truck a name. It’s Molly. And when it’s snowing and muddy and I’m sliding going up a hill, I’ll talk to her and say, ‘C’mon, Molly. C’mon, girl. You can do it.’ “With new cars and trucks, there’s no sense of control. But if something goes wrong with Molly, I know exactly what it is. All I need are some pliers and baling wire.”
Tom may refuse to fly, but the Blazer has traveled the equivalent of three round-trips to ld things, the moon. I’ve ridden shotgun for probably 50,000 miles of its run. During that time, the air conditioning has never worked. Nor has the AM radio. But while I’ve been hot, I’ve never been bored, what with endlessly changing landscapes and wildly elliptical conver- especially functional sations with Tom. He has lived a few lives in his 73 years. A New Hampshire native, Tom pioneered free- ones that leave new form FM radio back in Boston during the 1960s while hosting a show called Uncle T’s Free- dom Machine. After moving West, he worked at Warner-Elektra-Atlantic, designing album things quite literally packages and producing records for mostly forgotten groups like power-pop duet Vance or Towers. Haven’t heard of them? They’re the band playing during prom in Carrie (Tom in the dust, command still gets royalties). When the music business and David Geffen’s yelling proved too much for the man, Tom respect. Whatever the turned to landscape photography. So our conversations can veer from early rock ’n’ roll to Coconino sandstone in an instant. Tom is extremely well read, with great recall. And what Navajo equivalent of he doesn’t know, he makes up. But I only realized that after our first 20,000 miles together. On the drive from California, we were trying to figure out which Indiana city was head- “street cred” is, the quarters for Studebaker (whose horse-drawn wagons were popular with the Navajos before trucks became common). Still a few hundred miles from Monument Valley, Tom pulled off Blazer’s got it. Interstate 40 in Yucca to photograph an abandoned motel and its neon sign. The soft light and a truck cab surreally perched 30 feet in the air atop a pole, like something out of René posed Grand Canyon Escalade project near the confluence of the At Navajo National Monument, we pulled into the parking lot next Magritte’s little-known Peterbilt period, proved irresistible to him. Colorado and Little Colorado rivers, and modest homesteads fea- to a 1979 Ford F-150 Ranger, which — by virtue of its age, a white- Across I-40 at the Honolulu Club, the parking lot was full and big rigs roared by as Tom turing a tableau common in Navajo country: a low-slung house or straw cowboy hat on the dash and water barrels anchored in its worked the scene. After making a few photos, I noticed Tom was bent over, improbably trailer with newer trucks parked out front, older trucks in back bed — belonged to a local. We checked out the Betatakin cliff- scooping up cash from a tire half-buried in the sand. This conjured visions of us being pur- and a basketball backboard, typically with netless rim, off to the dwellings overlook, then returned to the visitors center, where sued across the desert by some sinister cartel that had stashed the money. side, sometimes near a hogan. Navajo artist John Bahe Smith was painting in the entryway, Working title: No Country for Old Trucks. In Tuba City, we meandered past long-abandoned stone houses accompanied by a wiry, cowboy-hat-wearing dude named Chad. I was relieved to discover that Tom’s haul was all of seven bucks in singles, plus a pair and the old Indian school while searching for the weekly flea market. “Yeah, we’ve been looking at your truck,” Chad said. “Trying to of religious leaflets promising eternal salvation. While no longer fearing immediate earthly At a stoplight, a guy wearing a Chicago Bulls cap gave the Blazer figure out who it belonged to. And here you are.” retribution, my respect for karma did kick in. So I told Tom to just leave the money behind. a lingering once-over. His eyes moved slowly from bumper to bum- The old Ford belonged to Smith, who kept painting while Chad “No, I’m taking it.” per with a covetous gaze that most men reserve, though inappro- and I reduced our degrees of separation. I’m from the South Side “What for?” priately, for women at the beach and, I suppose, women just about of Chicago, and it turned out Chad is from South Bend, Indiana. “Don’t know. Probably just spend it somewhere.” He put the bills on the dash. everywhere. He clarified that South Bend was in fact the home of Studebaker, You don’t keep a truck running for 42 years without replacing and before long, we also figured out the restaurant that once served The next morning we dropped from the Flagstaff high country along U.S. Route 89 into the parts (the Blazer is on its third engine), and while the digital age seafood and frog legs outside Chicago (Phil Smidt’s, for the record). Painted Desert. The ponderosa-pine forest thinned, then quickly transitioned into stands makes it easier to buy spares for his analog truck, Tom wanted to Tom asked him about a good junkyard, but Chad, who has mar- of piñon and juniper, which in turn gave way to expanses of golden grasslands, ruddy mud see what he might find at the market. But other than some Tupper- ried into a Navajo family, couldn’t think of one. “Go down any hills and banded mesas out of Maynard Dixon. You can forget how big the world really is. ware, there wasn’t a whole lot. So we drove off as one Tuba City dirt road, and you’ll probably find whatever you need,” he said. We passed abandoned souvenir stands with signs and mural art protesting the pro- resident, arms raised in salute, yelled, “Nice, nice, nice!” “People around here keep everything, hoard parts for themselves.
44 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 45 until he could return home. Tom and I drove north the next morn- and she grew up in Monument Valley. She showed us a recent pic- ing and reached a roadblock at a bridge over the San Juan River. torial book of the valley that used photos made of her in the 1960s There were police from all over the region, and a grim-faced sher- as a little girl wearing traditional garb. Of more interest to Tom iff’s deputy, wielding some serious weaponry (I know less about were postcards of Eschan by Josef Muench, the famed photogra- guns than trucks), stood watch as the Blazer was inspected. pher whose photos Harry Goulding used to lure film director John “Sir, we’re going to have to confiscate this vehicle,” he said, star- Ford to shoot his classic Westerns in Monument Valley. ing straight at us, eyes obscured behind mirror sunglasses. Tom, Eschan still lives in the valley, at a spot about 15 minutes away rarely at a loss for words, sat silently. “I said we’re going to have by rugged road near the Mittens. When I asked whether she ever confiscate this vehicle!” Then the corners of the deputy’s mouth gets stuck, she smiled and said, “Well, when you know how to turned up, almost imperceptibly. “You boys go on ahead. She’s a drive in sand, you don’t get stuck.” beauty. What’s the year?” She bought the truck from a family member about seven years ago, after her late-model Mercury Mountaineer kept breaking This trip proved to be considerably less eventful. In the museum down. The Ranger’s radio doesn’t work, but the heater does. The at Goulding’s Lodge, we tried to piece together the evolution of driver’s-side mirror has been missing since one of Eschan’s grand- Monument Valley’s tourist vehicles over the decades. There was daughters sheared it off.
ruckloads of tourists turned their cameras away from some of the world’s most iconic rock formations to make ABOVE: Wispy clouds dot a blue sky above Monument Valley’s striking desolation. Many pictures of us. Navajos living here rely on their trucks to haul water and navigate through sand. OPPOSITE PAGE: Writer Matt Jaffe makes a photo of the Blazer and one of its new fans.
Just be careful about knocking on doors.” visitors getting banged around and mercilessly baked by the sun a 1957 shot of a Dodge Power Wagon with a stubby school-bus Two of her grandchildren were sitting in a late-model black As we got ready to leave, Tom turned to me and asked, “What — could find no purchase. body dropped onto its rear bed, and a picture of Harry Goulding Chevy Silverado parked next to the Ranger. They don’t really ap- do you think? Should I give him the money?” He pointed at Smith’s Out in Mystery Valley, we came upon one such vehicle listing posing next to a Plymouth “woody” from the early 1940s. What preciate her truck, although Eschan said older people always do. tip jar. at a 45-degree angle after getting mired in deep sand, an obstacle most intrigued us was a fleet of GMC Suburbans from probably Much as I tried to get to some deeper understanding of the appeal “What money?” that Tom and the Blazer navigated with barely a pause. Our Navajo the early 1960s that featured the Blazer’s identical color scheme: of old trucks, Eschan didn’t offer any sentimental explanations or “The money. The tire money!” guide’s conclusion? “I want this truck.” orange (although Tom always refers to it as red-orange) body and on-the-fly sociology. She likes the Ranger because she can haul wa- It did seem like an opportunity to right a cosmic wrong, and On that trip, we also inadvertently found ourselves caught in white roof. ter in it and do her own repairs. after a run to the Blazer, Tom handed Smith the cash, plus one of the largest manhunt in the history of the American West. A few After exploring a few back roads, we drove into Monument Val- Late that afternoon, I hiked while Tom edited pictures. When the religious leaflets. Smith looked quizzically at the writings, then days earlier, a police officer had been killed in Cortez, Colorado, by ley, where the Blazer became an improbable attraction. Truckloads I came back to our room, he was on the balcony as night came to smiled as he fanned out the seven desiccated singles before put- three presumed anti-government survivalists. Other law-enforce- of tourists turned their cameras away from some of the world’s Monument Valley. “I’ve been watching her,” he said. “Watching ting them into his tip jar. Karma restored, we continued to Mon- ment members had been injured in separate incidents as the shoot- most iconic rock formations to make pictures of us. And when we her pack up the jewelry and take down the tables and load every- ument Valley. ers fled into the Four Corners. pulled into Artist’s Point, a French tourist approached. “I like the thing into the truck. Then she drove down the road before turn- The region was under siege. Rumors ran wild, including that engine. The sound. Vroom, vroom, vroom,” a pallid, Gallic approxi- ing off. You can still see her.” It was in Monument Valley, 16 years ago, that I began to appreciate the trio planned to blow up Glen Canyon Dam. We were with mation of the 350-horsepower V-8’s imported-from-Detroit growl, The stars were coming out, and in the distance I saw a faint light the Blazer’s allure and the importance of trucks in Navajo coun- Gene Foushee, a geologist and founder of Bluff, Utah’s, Recapture a primal hum somewhere between a rumbling freight train and a moving across the immensity of Monument Valley before the truck try. Back then, it was an old, not-yet-classic truck, albeit one with Lodge, at Eye of the Sun, a 75-foot-tall sandstone alcove with a cir- purring lion. disappeared behind a low rise. more than 900,000 miles. The Blazer boldly went where the val- cular opening. A Navajo friend came over and said, “Gene, another Heading back, we spotted an old truck, a two-toned 1979 Ford “It’s a good work truck,” Eschan had concluded, which, in the ley’s tourist vehicles — those improvised contraptions with old cop just got shot. This time in Bluff. They evacuated the town.” Ranger XLT, at the Mittens overlook. A woman making jewelry in end, is what the Blazer has always been for Tom. And out here, school-bus seats bolted down on a flatbed and a cargo of stunned With the Four Corners on lockdown, Foushee hung out with us the passenger seat stepped out to greet us. Her name was Eschan, that’s all you really need.
46 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 47 once fancied myself an expert in all things elf, having cinema, and generations of children have dreamed about the spent my high-school years donning red-and-green velour magical place where Santa makes his list and checks it twice. At Flagstaff’s North Pole costumes with jingly-toed shoes and snapping photos of As the “400-year-old” wooden doors (Santa’s workshop has Experience, children (and adults) assist Santa’s mesmerized children sitting on Santa’s lap. But it takes me been around for quite a while, you know) to the workshop elves with toy-making and I just three minutes on the trolley to Flagstaff’s North Pole Expe- swing open and Santa’s Toy Hall of Fame is revealed, even the get valuable face time rience to realize that I was playing in the elf minor leagues. most dubious fence-sitters can’t help but think that maybe the with the man in red. These elves have made it to the big show. magic portal has deposited them at the North Pole. Captivated When our trolley elf, Sparkle, engages a busload of wide- children stare at Santa’s favorite toys while their parents soak eyed kids and parents in a round of infectious Christmas car- up the Norman Rockwell-inspired backdrop. ols, I know the North Pole Experience elves could run circles Santa gets top billing at NPX, but most of the 90-minute around their shopping-mall counterparts. journey through the workshop is led by self-named elves with Elf hierarchy aside, the North Pole Experience — or NPX, to monikers such as Mittens and Snickerdoodle. The elves have those in the know — is the brainchild of the former owner of been trained in local theater and choir programs to put on the a toy-manufacturing company. He’s also the father of the best ultimate holiday performance. At the North Pole, most elves focus group around: twin 11-year-old girls. are well into their second century of life, as the spirit of Christ- “I want to go to the North Pole and meet the elves and build mas apparently slows the aging process. toys,” Scott Pace’s daughter Taylor told him several years ago. No one knows this better than Alibaster Snowflake, Santa’s 338-year-old master elf. Alibaster stands guard over Santa’s old workshop and takes pride in keeping the younger elves in line. Even the North Pole isn’t immune to growth, so the old workshop gave way to a new operation, one Santa Claus where children assist the elves with teddy-bear and rocket assembly. Much like any assistance from chil- dren, the toy-making exercise quickly deteriorates into a foam-rocket battleground with parents duck- Is Comin’ ing for cover. The delighted shrieks of toy-making children echoing throughout the workshop tell Pace that NPX is striking the right chord. to Town “We’re entrusted with children’s innocence,” Pace There are several ways to see St. Nick this time of year. says, adding that everyone in the cast of nearly 75 peo- You can go to the mall or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day ple who work at NPX for the five-week season needs to embrace this tremendous responsibility. Parade. Or, better yet, you can head to Flagstaff, where the The road to meeting Santa is filled with snow- North Pole Experience offers kids of all ages a chance to man soup (hot chocolate to the layperson) in Santa’s wander Santa’s workshop and meet the jolly old elf. bakery, a diploma from Elf University for remember- ing that sharing and respect are the fast track to the BY JACKI MIELER “nice” list, and the chance to draft a letter to Santa before the big meeting. “These kids are in a state of astonishment,” Pace says about the reaction to the NPX star. “Santa Claus Not every dad could make this far-fetched wish come true, is still doing something right after all these years.” but Pace, apparently, is no ordinary dad. He brought the North Each family gets personal time and a picture in Santa’s Pole to life six years ago in Greer, and since he moved it to study, a cherished few minutes with a man who clearly wears Flagstaff in 2012, tens of thousands of believers and fence- the red suit and grows an astonishingly realistic beard as a sitters have gotten to share Taylor’s dream of hanging out with badge of honor. NPX is about much more than sitting on San- the elves each year. ta’s lap, but for the kids, this moment is their own North Pole It’s those fence-sitters who are most impacted by NPX. The experience. doubts that had crept into their minds begin slipping away Walking back to the trolley with a treasured picture in hand when they hop onto the trolley at the Little America Hotel. As and holiday spirit penetrating the cold winter air, I straddle the trolley approaches the magic portal, which grants access to the fence of disbelief a little closer to the North Pole side, with the North Pole to only the good boys and girls, the fence-sitters visions of jingly-toed shoes dancing in my head. often are among the loudest reciters of the portal poem: Jingle bells and magic spells, deck the halls with boughs of holly. Portal, please open for our trolley. If you go: The 2014 North Pole Experience season begins November 21 and runs through December 27. Depending on the date and time of your visit, tickets range Bringing a fictitious place to life is a risky proposition. The from $38 to $49 for children and from $44 to $55 for adults. For more information,
North Pole and Santa’s workshop have been immortalized in call 480-779-9679 or visit www.northpoleexperience.com. COURTESY OF NORTH POLE EXPERIENCE (3)
48 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 49 Natalie Bench isn’t what most people think of when they think of wildland FLYING firefighters. Yet, at 24, the petite helitack crewmem- ber is in her sixth season of IN THE firefighting, and she’s risen rapidly through the ranks of a field that’s traditionally FACE OF dominated by men. DANGER BY KELLY VAUGHN KRAMER PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL MARKOW
t’s windy on the helipad at Springerville Municipal Air- office, an old house that doubles as a gym and kitchen, the men stand, port, a one-building terminal and a slip of an airfield — a applaud and burst into guffaws of laughter. place pulled from a scene in some nameless 1960s film about Bench rolls her eyes but isn’t at all embarrassed. crop-dusting or a long-distance love affair. Over the com- “I grew up with three brothers, so this environment isn’t new ing months, the wind will usher clouds and the chance of to me,” she says. “It’s definitely different than hanging out with a a summer monsoon storm over this tiny, rural community in the bunch of girls.” Now in her sixth Ifoothills of the White Mountains. For now, though, it’s just an an- hand crew in Clifton and spent a year on a helicopter crew. I never She works out with the guys every day. She’s season of firefighting, noyance, whipping hair and rattling light diffusers. thought I would like aviation, but I fell in love with it during that been trained to endure long hours, little sus- Natalie Bench is a member of the Round But Natalie Bench is unfazed — in part because she’s more fo- AS A TEENAGER, Bench spent her spare time working as a hand year, so I stuck with it.” tenance and plenty of heat. And she’s earned Valley Helitack crew. cused on the demands of the photographer who’s traveled here to at South Fork Ranch, a 200-acre spread nestled in the Payette Now, she and her team act as initial attackers on wildfires dur- the respect of the firefighters she works with. make her portrait, and in part because she’s experienced far worse National Forest along the south fork of Idaho’s Salmon River. The ing the fire season, which runs March through September. “Natalie can hold her own,” says Pete Tuc- wind on the front lines of wildfires across the West. ranch manager’s daughters were smoke jumpers, and Bench fell “We don’t rappel, but there’s a lot we can do,” she says. “If there’s ciarello, a seasonal firefighter from Oklahoma. “She is, in a word, At 24, Bench is in her sixth season of firefighting. She’s attacked hard and fast for their tales of travel and danger. a fire call, we’re the first people there because the helicopter is the tough.” and helped contain fires in Arizona, California, Colorado, Ore- “It was the adventure part of it all,” she says. “I was interested. fastest route.” But she has a soft spot for her toddler daughter, Ari, and her hus- gon and Texas — sometimes working 16-hour shifts and 30 days I couldn’t let it go.” For each dispatch, three firefighters, plus the pilot, fly to a clear- band, Jeremy, for whom she does the job, and because of whom the at a time. So she didn’t. And at 18, she began applying for work on hand ing near the fire and land. The firefighters deploy, and the pilot -pre job has taken on new meaning. After three years on hand and engine crews in the Apache-Sit- crews. Meanwhile, she studied another passion, horses, in the pares to drop water over the flames. “Every situation now — just the angle I look at it through — is greaves National Forests, backburning and clearing timber, she equestrian-science program at the University of Idaho. When a “Then we’re on the ground and he’s helping us suppress what- a little different,” she says. “Life meant a lot to me before, but now was promoted to Springerville’s Round Valley Helitack crew, the position on a McCall, Idaho, crew fell through, she had a chance to ever we need,” Bench says. “Sometimes we’re called to bigger fires. I’m here for someone. You never know when we’re going to be dis- equivalent of the forest’s first responders. name a second-choice destination to jump-start her career. Then you have more helicopters and a bigger [helicopter base]. Then patched. I think, I might not be going home tonight. Every morning, the Bench is the team’s quiet leader, and she’s risen rapidly through “My now-husband grew up in Lakeside,” Bench says. “The we’re mostly used for reconnaissance operations.” goodbye kiss with my daughter is a little more meaningful because the ranks of a field that’s traditionally dominated by men — she McCall supervisor knew an engine captain there — had some con- Bench worked on one such fire, Wallow, during the summer of I don’t know when I’m going to see her again.” ventures that there are only a handful of female firefighters who fall nections — and it just fit. I got hired on an engine crew in Lake- 2011. Although she worked on the Strayhorse hand crew, rather Bench believes, though, that through educating the public about into the permanent-employee category on the Apache-Sitgreaves. side.” than up in the air, she remembers it as one of the most frightening wildfire prevention and through responsible forest management, The crew — which consists of Bench, seven other firefighters Later, she completed the Wildland Firefighter Apprenticeship fires she’s ever fought. there’s hope for preventing devastating fires. and a pilot — is close. It has to be: Communication, teamwork and Program, a rigorous multiyear course that trains some of the nation’s “That one had a voice, a roar,” she remembers. “There was an “As a firefighter, you see the direct effects of people and the envi- watching out for one another can mean the difference between life best firefighters to become fire and aviation managers. awe factor to it. You could hear it screaming out of the wilderness.” ronment,” she says. “You see how things could have been differ- and death. But that won’t stop the men from giving Bench her fair “It’s a really tough program to get into and complete,” she says. Indeed, wildland fires are mighty. And Bench is tiny. Shy of ent if people had made different decisions. We need to understand share of grief. “I had to complete hundreds of hours on different modules. Luck- 5 feet 6 inches tall, it’s hard to believe that she weighs more than that the forest is a place that’s been around for a long time — lon- As she and the photographer walk through the door of the helitack ily, I had enough hours on an engine; then, I went to work on a 100 pounds, but she can carry a pack that weighs more than 35. ger than us — and we have to protect it.”
50 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 51 scenic drive
Cottonwood Although Lake Mohave, Cottonwood Cove and the Black Mountains are the scenic highlights of this drive, daredevil goats might catch Road your eye, too. BY NOAH AUSTIN | PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEREK VON BRIESEN
here are plenty of reasons to enjoy is a safe bet almost anytime. Around Mile 10, the terrain shifts the 19-mile-long Cottonwood To begin, reset your odometer when abruptly and the road follows suit. It’s TRoad, which begins at U.S. Route you turn onto Cottonwood Road from rougher and more washboard-like from 93, between Kingman and Hoover Dam, U.S. 93. The entire road is dirt, but the here on in, and you’ll be glad you’ve got and ends at serene Lake Mohave. Maybe eastern half is smooth and well traveled. four-wheel-drive. After an initial uphill you’re on your way to Las Vegas for the Yuccas and other high-desert vegeta- section, the road slopes downward as weekend and you’d like a little peace and tion are the norm here, and this is ranch you descend toward Lake Mohave. quiet before you hit the casino floor. Or country, so don’t be surprised to also Your first great view of the lake comes maybe you’re on your way back from a see a herd of cows or goats (yes, goats) at Mile 13. weekend in Vegas, your foolproof rou- ambling across the road. A half-mile from the lake, you’ll reach lette strategy (“Put it all on 36; I’ve got a Soon, on your right, you’ll pass Mount a fork. For the best view, go left to stay feeling about that number”) having left Perkins (5,456 feet), and then you’ll begin on Cottonwood Road. Before long, you’ll you without money for a hotel room, and a gradual climb into the Black Mountains, come to a lakeside clearing with rest- you’re looking for a place to camp. Either which parallel Arizona’s western border way, you’ll find what you need on this with Nevada. The mountains might not BELOW: The shore of Lake Mohave offers views of Nevada’s Eldorado and Newberry mountains. drive, but it doesn’t have to be a Sin City look like much from the east, but ... well, OPPOSITE PAGE: Cottonwood Road crosses the side trip. As you’ll see, Cottonwood Road just wait. Black Mountains as it approaches the lake.
rooms and a few primitive campsites. The clearing is mostly surrounded by wetland vegetation, and don’t be sur- prised to see a turkey vulture or two hanging out in a nearby tree. Like all vultures, they’re mostly scavengers, so they’re probably waiting around to see whether you’re going to drop dead. Don’t take it personally. If you don’t plan to spend the night, at least spend a few minutes taking in the scenery. To the west, on the Nevada side of Lake Mohave, are the Eldorado and Newberry mountains and Cotton- wood Cove Marina. To the east — that is, behind you — the Black Mountains appear much more impressive from this lower vantage point. From its shore, it’s easy to see why Lake Mohave is a popu- lar recreation spot. If you do plan to stay,
there’s a 14-day camping limit. But that KEVIN KIBSEY should be more than enough time to get tour guide over a rough weekend in Vegas. Note: Mileages are approximate. don’t enter them when they’re flooded. LENGTH: 19 miles one way NOTE: Back-road travel can be hazardous, so be aware SCENIC of weather and road conditions. Carry plenty of water. DRIVES DIRECTIONS: From the intersection of Interstate 40 and of Arizona’s Don’t travel alone, and let someone know where you Best Back U.S. Route 93 in Kingman, go north on U.S. 93 for 40 Roads ADDITIONAL READING: 25.5 miles to Cottonwood Road. Turn left onto are going and when you plan to return. For more scenic drives, preorder a Cottonwood Road and continue 19 miles to Lake Mohave. INFORMATION: Lake Mead National Recreation Area, copy of our newest book, Scenic Drives, which features 40 of the Retrace your steps to return to Kingman, or continue 702-293-8906 or www.nps.gov/lake state’s most beautiful back roads. north on U.S. 93 to reach Hoover Dam and Las Vegas. Travelers in Arizona can visit www.az511.gov or dial To order a copy, visit www.shop VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS: A four-wheel-drive vehicle 511 to get information on road closures, construction, Edited by Robert Stieve arizonahighways.com/books. and Kelly Vaughn Kramer is required. Cottonwood Road crosses several washes; delays, weather and more.
52 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 53 hike of the month
10 minutes. This is where you’ll start see- In the woods, the Northern Arizona has some great hikes. This one, located in ing the oaks and make a gradual downhill trees are mostly pon- Kelsey-Dorsey run to Kelsey Spring. As you’d expect, derosas, which range “a continuous stretch of country preserved in its natural state,” it’s surrounded by lush grasses. Listen from pencil-thin to Loop is on the list. BY ROBERT STIEVE | PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM BEAN for canyon wrens and hermit thrushes. bridge pylons. Before To this point, the canyon hasn’t made an long, you’ll intersect the appearance, but it’s getting closer. Dorsey Trail. Veer left, ycamore Canyon is the highlight of were defined as “a continuous stretch of dirt roads, the hike immediately crosses Continuing the loop — counterclock- and within 100 yards this hike, but the trail’s beauty goes country preserved in its natural state ... into the wilderness and begins a steep wise — you’ll come to one of the gnarliest you’ll arrive at Dorsey S deeper than that. The trees stand big enough to absorb a two weeks’ pack descent, past some impressive alligator gators in Arizona. They’re all twisted and Spring. The incline at out, too. Ponderosa pines, Douglas firs, trip.” In 1935, Sycamore Canyon was junipers, to a set of switchbacks. You’ll bumpy, but this one is an extremist. Just this point is moderate, Gambel oaks and alligator junipers are given that protection and designated a see distant mountains to the south and a beyond it, the trail crosses a side canyon, but it steepens as the some of what you’ll see, along with natu- primitive area, the state’s first. In 1984, it thick forest all around. It’s unlike other one of many in the area. If you love trees trail climbs through a ral springs, giant boulders and wildlife — was expanded by 9,000 acres and named pine forests in Arizona, which tend to be — hardwoods and softwoods — this ravine to the upper rim black bears, mountain lions and ringtails a wilderness area. Today, the Sycamore either devoid of undergrowth or over- might be your favorite part of the trail. If of Sycamore Canyon. roam the woods. It’s an alluring ecosys- Canyon Wilderness protects 55,937 acres grown with it. This forest is somewhere you love panoramas, your payoff is about There, the forest is reduced to junipers left and continue a few hundred yards tem that holds the distinction of being the in and around the canyon, from its for- in between. two minutes away. That’s when you’ll get and a few small ponderosas. more to Forest Road 538G, which you’ll oldest “wilderness” area in Arizona. ested rim near Williams to its riparian At the outset, the trail is carpeted with your first good glimpse of Sycamore Can- The rest of trail is a quick trip to the recognize from the drive in. Hang a left A few weeks ago, on September 3, 2014, mouth in the Verde Valley. The Kelsey- pine needles, but it turns rocky after about yon. From there, it’s downhill to Babe’s east, past an intersection with the Hog and make your way back to the trailhead the Wilderness Act celebrated its 50th Dorsey Loop is in the upper half of this Hole Spring, another lush exclamation Hill Trail, and on to the Dorsey Trailhead. — the total trip on FR 538G is 1.4 miles. anniversary. Before there were wilder- magnificent wilderness. BELOW: An overlook near Dorsey Spring offers an point in an otherwise arid forest. You’ll leave the wilderness there and use Although that last stretch isn’t a “continu- expansive view of Sycamore Canyon. ness areas, there were primitive areas, From the trailhead, which is located OPPOSITE PAGE: Watch for large alligator junipers The elevation at the spring is 6,120 forest roads to complete the loop. Initially, ous stretch preserved in its natural state,” which, in the words of Aldo Leopold, deep in the woods at the end of several along the Kelsey-Dorsey Loop. feet, the lowest point of the trail — the you’ll hike a few hundred yards on a nar- it is a pleasant walk among the pines. And, hike never actually goes into the canyon. row jeep road to a second dirt road. Turn who knows? You still might see a bear. Around the corner, you’ll intersect the Little Lo Trail. Keep left to stay on the loop, and keep your eyes peeled for a 40 Flagsta massive but dead ponderosa. Its circum- ference is about 20 feet, and there are Woody Mountain Road 40 others like it. The big trees have died of
old age, and their graveyard marks the Arboretum Rogers Lake beginning of a gentle ascent. After 15 min- Woody Mountain
utes of climbing, the trail arrives at a 1 3 2 bench between the upper and lower rims FR of Sycamore Canyon. Where it levels off, COCONINO NATIONAL SYCAMORE CANYON FOREST there’s another big gator. WILDERNESS FR 5 3 About an hour in, you’ll cross a field of S 5 Y C trailhead boulders and slip out of the woods. To the A 89A A M 7 2 F O 38 right is the trail’s best view of the canyon. F 5 5 R R R 5 R F 36 R E 5 F It’s OK to stand there and look awhile. 3
8 G Fry Lake When you’re ready, the trail continues k e e r C RED ROCK- C through thickets of manzanitas, tall grasses A
8 N SECRET MOUNTAIN e 17 r 3 and other chaparral vegetation. In places, Y To Phoenix o 5 WILDERNESS O
m R
N F the manzanita is so thick it clogs the trail. a c y It doesn’t last long, though. Within 15 min- S KEVIN KIBSEY utes, you’ll be back in the woods, and you’ll say goodbye to the canyon. trail guide VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS: A high-clearance vehicle is LENGTH: 7.3-mile loop recommended. DIFFICULTY: Moderate DOGS ALLOWED: Yes (on a leash) ELEVATION: 6,631 to 6,120 feet HORSES ALLOWED: Yes TRAILHEAD GPS: N 35˚04.465’, W 111˚55.795’ USGS MAP: Sycamore Point ADDITIONAL READING: DIRECTIONS: From the intersection of Milton Road and INFORMATION: Flagstaff Ranger District, 928-526-0866 For more hikes, pick up a copy or www.fs.usda.gov/coconino of Arizona Highways Hiking Historic Route 66 in Flagstaff, go west on Route 66 for Guide, which features 52 of the 2 miles to Forest Road 231 (Woody Mountain Road). Turn LEAVE-NO-TRACE PRINCIPLES: state’s best trails — one for each left onto FR 231 and continue 13.9 miles to Forest Road • Plan ahead and be properly and pack weekend of the year, sorted by 538. Turn right onto FR 538 and continue 5.4 miles to prepared. out all of your trash. seasons. To order a copy, visit Forest Road 538G. Veer right onto FR 538G and continue • Travel and camp on • Leave what you find. www.shoparizonahighways. 1.5 miles to an intersection with Forest Road 527A. Stay durable surfaces. • Respect wildlife. com/books. left on FR 538G and continue 0.3 miles to the trailhead. • Dispose of waste • Be considerate of others.
54 NOVEMBER 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 55 where is this? The Best Ever. Period. Ansel Adams, Edward Curtis, Barry Goldwater, Josef Muench, Jack Dykinga … for almost 90 years, Arizona Highways has been featuring the best work of the best photographers in the world. In our newest coffee-table book, we present the best of the best.
September 2014 Answer & Winner Arizona-Sonora Des- ert Museum, Tucson. Congratulations to our winner, Andrew Kalweit of Potomac Falls, Virginia. SAVE $12.99 PAUL GILL PAUL
Win a collection of our most popular books! To enter, correctly iden- tify the location pictured at left and email your 12" x 9" Hardcover. Item #ABPH3. Was $39.99, now $27.00. Use code P4L5GP to take advantage of this offer. answer to editor@ Offer expires 11/30/14 arizonahighways. com — type “Where Is This?” in the subject line. Entries can also be sent to 2039 W. Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009 (write “Where Is This?” on the envelope). Please include your name, address and phone number. One winner will be chosen in a random drawing of qualified entries. Entries
RANDY PRENTICE must be postmarked by November 15, 2014. Only the winner will be noti- Mural, Mural, on the Wall fied. The correct answer will be posted in our January issue and online This painting appears at an Arizona gallery. The artist designed and built the place after hitching a ride into at www.arizona town with $15 in his pocket. He also attracted attention in the 1970s for burning his paintings to protest highways.com begin- ning December 15. inheritance taxes on works of art. The gallery will mark its 50th anniversary in 2015. — NOAH AUSTIN Order online at www.shoparizonahighways.com or by calling 800-543-5432.
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