Historic Places Escape • Explore •Experience •Explore Escape Plus: Parker, •Canyon Az Life in the 1940S •The Scenic Route to the Verde River

“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” — WINSTON CHURCHILL FEBRUARY 2014 Faraway Ranch ICONIC ICONIC HISTORIC PLACES ESCAPE • EXPLORE •EXPERIENCE •EXPLORE ESCAPE PLUS: PARKER, •CANYON AZ LIFE IN THE 1940S •THE SCENIC ROUTE TO THE VERDE RIVER

THE TORTOLITA MOUNTAINS AZ •AMERICAN GRIZZ KESTRELS NAMED MAN •A Inn, Hubbell Trading Hubbell Inn, Post Including Hassayampa Most Historic Landmarks, Our Take on the State’s and More ! BY CHARLES BOWDEN BIGHORNS ARE BACK ARE

page 44 page

Vermilion Cliffs Grand Canyon National Park

Ganado Sedona

Prescott Parker Verde River

Florence PHOENIX Pusch Ridge Yuma Wilderness Chiricahua National Monument Dragoon Mountains Tombstone

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www.arizonahighways.wordpress.com Check out our blog for regular posts on just about anything having to do with travel in Arizona, including Q&A’s with writers and photographers, special events, bonus photos, sneak CONTENTS 02.14 peeks at upcoming issues and more. www.facebook.com/azhighways 2 EDITOR’S LETTER > 3 CONTRIBUTORS > 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR > 56 WHERE IS THIS? Join our Facebook community to share your photographs, chat with other fans, enter trivia contests and receive up-to-the-minute information about what’s going on behind the scenes at 5 THE JOURNAL 38 LIFE ON THE EDGE 50 MOTHERING NATURE Arizona Highways. People, places and things from around the state, including a black- In addition to the 4 million tourists who visit the South Rim As director of conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Arizona Highways is on Instagram smith named Grizz; North America’s smallest falcon; and Parker, our every year, there’s a small population of people who actu- Arizona, Holly Richter has spent years bringing together Follow us @arizonahighways to see our travel hometown of the month. ally live there, tucked away from the spotlight of the Grand people with disparate agendas: ranchers, environmentalists, photos from around the state. Canyon. It’s a unique existence today, but in the middle of scientists, politicians and regular people. It’s an arduous task, www.pinterest.com/azhighways 16 HISTORIC PLACES the last century, it was especially so. Back then, residents of but she’ll do whatever it takes to protect the things she finds Join our creative community on Pinterest to share Last year, we took it upon ourselves to start singling out some of the “the village” didn’t lock their cars, going out on a date was a most precious: nature and animals. photo inspiration, outdoors ideas and more. state’s most historic landmarks — El Tovar, Lowell Observatory and a hassle, gas was rationed, and weekend highlights included BY TERRY GREENE STERLING few others were on the list. This year, we’re at it again, and the class $1 horseback rides. As one former resident puts it, life was PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL GRIMES

includes Yuma Territorial Prison, Hubbell Trading Post, the Orpheum “free and easy.” ◗ With the San Francisco Peaks in the background, ponderosa Theatre, Faraway Ranch and the Hassayampa Inn. BY KATHY MONTGOMERY 52 SCENIC DRIVE pines line Ashurst Run, a small waterway in the Coconino National JACK DYKINGA BY NOAH AUSTIN Carefree to the Verde River: This drive, which used to be a Forest. | 44 COUNTING SHEEP route for moving sheep, retraces a portion of the Great West- CAMERA: ARCA-SWISS F-LINE 4X5; FILM: FUJI VELVIA; SHUTTER: 8 SEC; APERTURE: F/45; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 400 MM 28 LINES IN THE SANDSTONE ern Trail and offers a unique look at the Sonoran Desert. For thousands of years, desert bighorns were a common FRONT COVER Faraway Ranch, part of Chiricahua National Monu- Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is located on the Colorado Plateau sight in the Santa Catalina Mountains. By the 1980s, ment, has been an Arizona icon for more than a century. | JEFF KIDA in Northern Arizona. Although its 280,000 acres include the Paria however, their numbers had dwindled to about 200, and 54 HIKE OF THE MONTH CAMERA: NIKON D700; SHUTTER: 1/25 SEC; APERTURE: F/20; ISO: 200; FOCAL LENGTH: 24 MM Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness and contain a variety of diverse in 2005, they disappeared altogether. Last fall, about 30 Wild Burro-Alamo Springs Loop: There’s a lot to see along BACK COVER A bald eagle takes flight at Page Springs, in Central landscapes, the monument doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic. With that in sheep were reintroduced to the area. Will they survive? Or this desert trail in the Tortolita Mountains, including crested Arizona. | JOHN SHERMAN mind, we sent our resident photographer out for a closer look. does it even matter? saguaros, larkspurs, lupines, diamondbacks, bobcats ... you CAMERA: NIKON D700; SHUTTER: 1/1000 SEC; APERTURE: F/8; A PORTFOLIO BY GARY LADD AN ESSAY BY CHARLES BOWDEN might even see a Karmann Ghia. ISO: 500; FOCAL LENGTH: 700 MM

PHOTOGRAPHIC4 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

CHARLES BOWDEN Keep Your Eyes Peeled “I don’t want a FEBRUARY 2014 VOL. 90, NO. 2 mountain without 800-543-5432 www.arizonahighways.com he bighorns aren’t easy to see. about the bighorns middle of nowhere. In bighorns,” Charles PUBLISHER Win Holden Bowden says. He’s Even when you’re looking right at and the mountains Life on the Edge, Kathy EDITOR Robert Stieve Tthem, there’s a good chance you and the need to pre- Montgomery looks MANAGING EDITOR Kelly Vaughn Kramer talking about Pusch won’t see anything. Of all the animals serve those things back on that “halcyon SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kathy Ritchie Ridge, which looms ASSOCIATE EDITOR Noah Austin over Bowden’s in the wild, they’re among the most around us that mean time of innocence, sim- EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Nikki Kimbel camouflaged. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the most, whether it’s plicity and freedom.” PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Jeff Kida childhood home of one on the first take. Did those rocks just a threatened species It was so peaceful that CREATIVE DIRECTOR Barbara Glynn Denney Tucson and once ART DIRECTOR Keith Whitney move? What the ... hey, that’s a sheep. It takes a above Tucson or an old most people didn’t was home to a DESIGN PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Diana Benzel-Rice MARIE BARONNET MARIE double take to see what should have been building in downtown even lock their homes. MAP DESIGNER Kevin Kibsey large population obvious. That is, if you’re lucky enough Phoenix. Although the resi- PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Michael Bianchi of desert bighorn sheep. “The mountain felt closer then because the foothills were to be in the right place at the right time. The Orpheum The- dents aren’t as isolated WEBMASTER Victoria J. Snow largely empty,” he says, “and going there seemed simply a matter of putting one step DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING Kelly Mero Encountering a bighorn is rare, and it’s atre is one of those as they used to be, CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Nicole Bowman ahead of the other.” Despite Pusch Ridge being designated a wilderness area in 1978, getting even more so. At last count, there old buildings. It made they still have to go to FINANCE DIRECTOR Bob Allen human encroachment has robbed the mountain of its bighorns. In Counting Sheep (see were only 6,000 left in Arizona, and in a big splash when it Flagstaff or even Phoe- INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Cindy Bormanis page 44), Bowden discusses the plan to reintroduce bighorns to Pusch Ridge. “I am not

the mountains above Tucson, they’ve dis- opened on Adams MARKOW PAUL nix for certain things. confident the restored herd can survive,” he says. “But I am certain that if the effort is not CORPORATE OR TRADE SALES 602-712-2019 appeared altogether. Street in 1929. However, like a lot of old The flip side, of course, is that they get to SPONSORSHIP SALES made, it means we have given up on the mountain, and to give up on the mountain is to REPRESENTATION Kathleen Hennen abandon the dreams that have captivated people in the area for centuries.” Bowden is “The herd was hurled into oblivion theaters from the golden era, it changed live within walking distance of the Can- Hennen Publishing & by houses dibbling at the very edges of hands — and names — several times over yon and all that it offers, including the Marketing Group an acclaimed author who frequently writes about the American Southwest. He’s also a 480-664-0541 the wilderness area,” Charles Bowden the years, and by the mid-1980s, it was world-famous panoramas, the California contributing editor to GQ and Mother Jones magazines. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] writes in Counting Sheep. “The herd was a mess. That’s when the city stepped in, condors and the occasional sighting of a 2039 W. Lewis Avenue maimed by our hikes with pet dogs that bought it and began a $14 million restora- bighorn sheep. There aren’t a lot of them Phoenix, AZ 85009

terrified the sheep, by the slow but cer- tion. Today, it’s arguably the most beauti- up there, maybe a few hundred, but if GOVERNOR Janice K. Brewer TERRY GREENE STERLING tain encirclement of the mountain by ful theater in the state, and it’s on our list you happen to be in the right place at DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT Terry Greene Sterling met Holly Richter when she was writing OF TRANSPORTATION John S. Halikowski Current Conditions, a story about the San Pedro River that ran in our communities that cut off migration of Arizona’s most historic places. the right time, you might see something ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION routes between the mountain ranges and Faraway Ranch is on the list, too. special. As Chuck says, “to see a bighorn BOARD CHAIRMAN Victor M. Flores the July 2012 issue of Arizona Highways. As you’ll read in Mother- ended any hope of new blood. It was not Along with Yuma Territorial Prison, Hub- almost floating across a cliff face is to VICE CHAIRMAN Stephen W. Christy ing Nature (see page 50), Richter, the director of conservation for a simple thing, or a deliberate thing, or a bell Trading Post and the Hassayampa become for a moment part of the rock and MEMBERS Kelly O. Anderson The Nature Conservancy’s Arizona chapter, has a veritable zoo at Hank Rogers her home along the San Pedro. “It was hard to focus on reporting desired thing. But it was a fatal thing for Inn, a place that was heralded by the desert.” It’s a rare opportunity. Keep your Joseph E. La Rue the sheep.” Prescott Evening Courier as “the first definite eyes peeled. William Cuthbertson the story when so many animals — parrots, donkeys, horses, MARIE BARONNET MARIE It’s been almost 10 years since the last step towards a greater Deanna Beaver lizards, toads, birds — vied for my attention in such a cool setting,” bighorn was seen in the Santa Catalina Prescott.” That heady Sterling says. A donkey named Louie figures prominently in the story, and Sterling says Mountains. However, there’s new hope. review was published Arizona Highways® (ISSN 0004-1521) is published monthly by the Arizona Richter clearly has a soft spot for that species: “She believes donkeys can learn dressage.” Department of Transportation. Subscription price: $24 a year in the U.S., $44 In November, the Arizona Game and Fish on November 19, 1927, outside the U.S. Single copy: $4.99 U.S. Call 800-543-5432. Subscription Sterling is a frequent contributor to Arizona Highways. Her other recent writing credits correspondence and change of address information: Arizona Highways, P.O. include Newsweek, Slate and The Atlantic. She’s also the writer-in-residence at Arizona Department reintroduced about 30 sheep and as you’ll see in Box 8521, Big Sandy, TX 75755-8521. Periodical postage paid at Phoenix, AZ, into the Catalinas. When I learned about this month’s cover and at additional mailing office. CANADA POST INTERNATIONAL PUBLICA- State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. TIONS MAIL PRODUCT (CANADIAN DISTRIBUTION) SALES AGREEMENT NO. the plan last summer, I reached out to story, the old hotel 41220511. SEND RETURNS TO QUAD/GRAPHICS, P.O. BOX 875, WINDSOR, ON N9A 6P2. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Arizona Highways, P.O. Chuck, whose attachment to that moun- hasn’t changed much Box 8521, Big Sandy, TX 75755-8521. Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Depart- tain range is as powerful as anyone’s since then. The same ment of Transportation. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission CRAIG SMITH is prohibited. The magazine does not accept and is not responsible for — it’s his Walden Pond. I asked about is true of El Tovar, unsolicited mater ials. Craig Smith photographed most of Historic Places his thoughts on the reintroduction, and the iconic lodge on PRODUCED IN THE USA (see page 16), our second-annual roundup of iconic whether the return of the sheep would the South Rim of the Arizona landmarks. Smith shot the 2013 edition as even matter. Then I asked whether he’d Grand Canyon. well, and he says he looked forward to reprising that like to write something for us. He said he The lodge is the role for this year’s story. “The great thing about doing JACK DYKINGA JACK would, but he didn’t give any specifics. hub of what’s known this particular assignment,” he says, “is that it affords He just said he’d brood on it. as the Grand Canyon Village Historic COMING IN MARCH ... If you like what you see in this me an opportunity to see things in our state that I That’s how it is with Chuck. I never District. About 4 million people pass Our annual portfolio of desert wild- magazine every month, check out might not have had the chance to see otherwise.” know for sure what I’ll get. But it doesn’t through there every year, most of whom flowers. Plus, a profile of Bigfoot, a rug- Arizona Highways Television, an Smith says Arizona has an “embarrassing” number matter. It’s enough to know that his don’t realize there’s another village, a ged survival expert who lives off the grid Emmy Award-winning program of beautiful and historic locations. “Through photo hosted by former news anchor Robin words will be compelling, passionate literal village, hidden a half-mile from the in the Superstition Mountains. assignments like these,” he adds, “a photographer Sewell. For broadcast times, visit can get the time to visualize a location and, hope- and graceful. This piece is no excep- spotlight of the natural wonder. Living our website, www.arizonahighways. tion. It’s beautifully written, and it will there today is a unique existence, but in ROBERT STIEVE, EDITOR com, and click the Arizona Highways fully, realize an excellent photo.” Smith is a regular LINDA VANDERBEEK make you think. It will make you think the middle of the last century, it was the Follow me on Twitter: @azhighways BARNES ELLEN Television link on our home page. contributor to Arizona Highways. — NOAH AUSTIN

2 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 3 letters to the editor [email protected] THE JOURNAL 02.14

hometowns > local favorites > history > photography > odd jobs WITH FLYING COLORS dining > nature > lodging > things to do I’ve lived in Arizona three times and have taken Arizona Highways on and off for 40-plus years. Never has there been such an exquisite issue expounding the glories of Arizona [December 2013]. Every time I move, I reluctantly toss all the back issues of Arizona Highways collected while living in that place ... but this issue will never see the “round file,” no matter how many more times I move. Now I have an album of perfection to peruse when I am lonely for Arizona. A “box of crayons”: What a beautiful, accurate description of Arizona. Charlotte Singleton, Arroyo Grande, California

December 2013

MIXED FEELINGS cooling shade, unique rock formations nine locomotives built that year for them. I just opened your current magazine and more serenity than much of Red Eric Hartzell, Columbus, Ohio [December 2013] and thumbed through it Rock Country. Unfortunately, as Robert in five or 10 minutes. Then I threw it away. Stieve points out, Forest Road 152, the EDITOR'S NOTE: Not strange at all. We're happy I’ve subscribed for 30 years, and it was only access road to these wonderful to have the information. Thanks, Eric. one of the worst. Not to mention there’s trails, provides extremely rough travel- no mention of Christmas or even the holi- ing, even in a high-clearance vehicle. As HONORABLE MENTION day season — just the season. But it was a consequence, many great trails there Thank you for remembering the Granite the content that I found extremely boring. are now underutilized, while other Mountain Hotshots on the cover of your Not all of your readers are photographers. less-varied and less-interesting ones September 2013 issue. The loss of these Beautiful pictures are a hallmark, but not are overcrowded. Even five years ago, men has hit our community hard, and we just photography itself. You’ve also lost FR 152 was manageable in a standard appreciate the support. One of the hotshots, a lot of your Western flair. Keep up the automobile, but it has deteriorated badly Andrew Ashcraft, was a friend of mine, good work, but I’d like more content. due to shifting priorities, inadequate and it’s good to see that he is not forgotten. Tim Thompson, Yuma, Arizona maintenance and insufficient U.S. Forest Karl Tenney, Prescott, Arizona Service resources. At this point, it will Even as an unabashed word lover, I was take renewed commitment by the Forest THE EYES HAVE IT completely blown away by your color Service and probably a foundation grant Jill Richards’ portfolio on Bisbee [What portfolio this December. I would have to address drainage issues and restora- Happens in Bisbee, October 2013] was abso- loved watching my own face as I looked tion of this valuable resource. I hope that lutely spectacular on the eyes. The night through the magazine — a shock as I commitment and the necessary resources shot of the motorcycles got me wondering flipped to red, a huge smile lighting up will be found soon. It’s great to have a whether she might have used a flashlight as I opened to orange. It truly was mag- trail all to yourself, but this beautiful or some other hand-held lighting instru- nificent and a feast for the eyes. area should not become exclusive to ment during her long exposure. Will she Nikki Steele, Chandler, Arizona those who can afford or obtain access to give the recipe for this remarkable image? high-clearance vehicles. Maria Nasif, Tucson ROAD WARRIOR Barbara Miller, Bethesda, Maryland I was very glad to see the excellent EDITOR'S NOTE: Good question, Maria. Her description of the Secret Canyon Trail TRAIN OF THOUGHT “recipe” was a flashlight and a long exposure. [Hike of the Month, November 2013]. The I know this might be strange, but the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness train you have pictured in the historic contact us If you have thoughts or com- is one of the most beautiful and varied Grand Canyon spread this month [A ments about anything in Arizona Highways, we’d

love to hear from you. We can be reached at editor@ DERMOTT She's a Butte regions in the Sedona area. Its trails offer Look Back, November 2013] is a Baldwin C arizonahighways.com, or by mail at 2039 W. Lewis challenging climbs, easy hikes for fami- Locomotive Works engine built in 1887 Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009. For more information, The sun highlights the weathered buttes and contrasting colors of visit www.arizonahighways.com. Ha Ho No Geh Canyon, on Hopi tribal land in Northeastern Arizona. The remote lies, brilliant colors, panoramic vistas, for the AT&SF Railway. It was one of SHANE M canyon is a tributary of Moenkopi Wash. Information: www.hopi-nsn.gov 4 FEBRUARY 2014 CAMERA: NIKON D800; SHUTTER: 1/13 SEC; APERTURE: F/11; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH:www.arizonahighways.com 32 MM 5 hometowns � �

local favorites

BUCKSKIN BOUTIQUE PARKER

Buckskin Boutique sits just off the Colorado River, near the Arizona-California border — so close that owner Jennie Crook says you can pull up your boat and walk right into the store. The boutique’s nearby attractions create a family-friendly atmosphere and support Parker’s popularity during the hot summer months. And if you lose a flip-flop in the river, Crook has you covered. How long has Buckskin Boutique been a fixture in Parker? The boutique has been here for many years — probably 25. I bought it from the previous owner five years ago, and she had it for 15 years, at least. What can customers expect to find when they come in? We sell swimsuits, sandals, cover-ups and sunglasses. Pretty much anything you need for the river, we sell it here.

THE JOURNAL What are some of the advantages of having a store on the water? You literally pull up your boat to the dock, get out and walk into the store. If you’re out on the boat and lose your glasses or your sandals, you can come here and it’s easy PARKER access. Summer is our busy time, and people come out with their boats and their FOUNDED EARL H. PARKER WANTED THE TOWN of families, and they take their vacations here. 1909 Parker to become a stop along the Arizona & What kinds of people visit the boutique? California Railroad, so he surveyed it in 1909 POPULATION People come here specifically for the river, 3,181 and segmented it from Colorado River Indian and almost everybody who comes to the tribal lands. While some people contend that AREA area knows Buckskin. If you’re vacationing the town was named for him, others believe 22 square miles here, you’re definitely going to come [to the tiny “West Coast” settlement was actually ELEVATION the boutique]. We’re in a building that has named for Ely Samuel Parker, the first Native 423 feet a restaurant, a market and an arcade. You American commissioner of Indian affairs. get your gas, you get your ice, your kids can COUNTY Regardless, Parker is best known for its epon- La Paz play games. The wives come shopping, and ymous dam. Built between 1934 and 1938, the the guys can go get beers. dam created Lake Havasu, a 648,000-acre- — DANIELLE GROBMEIER foot reservoir popular among hedonists, anglers and boaters. — KELLY VAUGHN KRAMER Buckskin Boutique is located at 5476 State Route www.townofparkerarizona.com 95 in Parker. For more information, call 928-667- 4528. MARK LIPCZYNSKI

6 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 7 history photography � � � � Cross Examination The Chapel of the Holy Cross has been one of Sedona’s most beloved landmarks since 1956. However, had it not been for World War II, the concrete-and-glass structure with the 90-foot cross might have ended up in Hungary. Clear the Air Photo Editor Jeff Kida discusses aerial photography n 1932, sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude was imag- with Sedona’s Ted Grussing. ining a church for modern times when she came across the Empire State Building, still under construction in JK: Ted, you’ve been a professional aerial I New York. To her, the building’s major beams looked like photographer for about 15 years. What a colossal cross — the perfect structure for a church. “It drew you to it? was an image which would haunt me until it became real- TG: I like to say that my airplane is my ity,” she said. tripod. I love exploring Arizona’s beauty Later, in California, Staude collaborated on the design from the air, where there aren’t any rivers, of that church with Lloyd Wright, son of famed architect fences or other boundaries to hold me back. Frank Lloyd Wright. They wanted to build the church in I fly out of Sedona, which is a particularly Los Angeles on land owned by the Catholic Church, but the beautiful part of the state, and I enjoy archbishop rejected the concept as too futuristic. In 1937, sharing what I see from the sky. Hungarian nuns agreed that the church should be built overlooking the Danube, but the plan was abandoned when JK: These two photographs of the Sedona World War II erupted. area were made from roughly the same In 1941, Staude and her husband, Tony, bought Doodle- angle. What makes them so different? NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY CLINE LIBRARY bug Ranch, in Sedona, as a refuge from a possible attack on Sedona's Chapel of the Holy Cross, shown in the 1950s, welcomes millions of visitors each TG: Air quality plays a huge role. Naturally the West Coast, and when Staude’s parents died, she decided year. The chapel's design was inspired by the Empire State Building. | JOSEF MUENCH occurring dust, as well as pollution from to build the church in their memory. nearby cities or smoke from forest fires, can But Staude didn’t want to build it just anywhere, so she from the local diocese, she hired San Francisco architects reduce visibility from 100 miles or more, combed the red rocks for the perfect site. A magnificent out- Anshen & Allen to formally design the chapel. as seen in the first image (right, above), to cropping, more than 200 feet tall, caught her attention. Upon A concrete-and-glass structure dominated by a 90-foot cross, much less than that, as seen in the second THE JOURNAL closer inspection, Staude found a medical symbol, Rx, painted the chapel was truly a feat to build. Workers from the William (right, below). The ideal conditions for on the foot of the rocks. It might have been a sign that this Simpson Construction Co. had to overcome Sedona’s lack of shooting aerially are at the trailing edges of was, indeed, the right location — Staude’s parents had run the material resources — including water and electricity at the site storms, after the rain has washed the dust Brunswig Wholesale Drug Co.. — and the dramatic changes in temperature that affected the and particulates out of the air. Turned out, the land belonged to the U.S. Forest Service, building process. The chapel finally opened to much acclaim in which refused to give Staude the permit she needed to forge 1956, 24 years after Staude first imagined it. JK: Over the course of your career, have ahead. So she flew to Washington, D.C., and described her Today, the Chapel of the Holy Cross is one of Sedona’s most you seen overall air quality get better or dream to Senator Barry Goldwater, who convinced the secretary beloved landmarks and receives international visitors of all worse? of the interior to grant the permit. After Staude got approval denominations. — KAYLA FROST TG: Both. In the mid-2000s, prescribed burns became more commonplace in Arizona and elsewhere, so that created

more smoke. On the other hand, on the days TED GRUSSING (2) ■ In February 1899, The photography, ARIZONA HIGHWAYS this Coconino Sun reports moves with his The February 1964 when a prescribed burn isn’t happening, the These two aerial photographs of the Sedona area, with the San Francisco Peaks that the Atchison, wife to Prescott, 50 Years Ago issue of Arizona air is very clear. in the distance, illustrate the dramatic impact air quality has on photo quality. month Topeka and Santa Fe where they live Highways features Railway has signed until their deaths a look at the Cen- a contract for nine in 1999. tral Arizona Project, in history ARIZONA BILTMORE RESORT horseless carriages that ■ The Arizona describing it as the CALIBRATE your computer moni- brated monitor, you for calibrating each ADDITIONAL will take sightseers Biltmore hotel making Phoenix an embodiment of PHOTO READING between Flagstaff and (pictured), which was incorporated city on “Arizona’s dream YOUR tor for color accuracy. might find it looks machine will be dif- Look for our book the Grand Canyon. designed by Albert February 25, 1881. for water and COMPUTER Color display varies significantly differ- ferent, so be sure to Arizona Highways ■ In February 1935, Chase McArthur, ■ President Woodrow its hopes for the Photography TIP from monitor to ent from what was check your manual Guide, available Italian artist Frederick opens on February Wilson signs a bill mak- future.” The issue One important step monitor, and if you displayed on the for the appropriate at bookstores Sommer, best known 23, 1929. ing the Grand Canyon also illustrates the and www.shop for his masterful ■ Governor John C. a national park on many moods of the when editing an try to print an image screen you edited steps before you get arizonahighways. black-and-white Fremont signs a bill February 26, 1919. Sonoran Desert. image is to calibrate from an uncali- with. The process started. com/books.

8 FEBRUARY 2014 To learn more about photography, visit www.arizonahighways.com. www.arizonahighways.com 9 odd jobs � �

BLACKSMITH Todd “Grizz” Mace, Tombstone

TODD “GRIZZ” MACE WAS JUST LIKE ANY other visitor to the O.K. Corral Museum, in Tombstone — except he took home a job as a souvenir. THE JOURNAL “They had been looking for a blacksmith to show people how it all works,” he says. “I had all the equipment, so the owner [and I] made a deal: He needed a blacksmith; I needed a place to work.” Despite it being a dying art form, Mace has been in the blacksmithing trade since he was a 5-year-old living on his family’s ranch in Idaho. “I would get home from school, change into my work clothes and head over to the blacksmith shop, where my granddad and uncle would teach me the safety part of blacksmithing,” he says. Over the years, Mace has found work plying his trade in Arizona and Cali- fornia. Four years ago, he was offered the job of resident blacksmith in “The Town Too Tough to Die.” Today, Mace hammers iron and steel over a 2,600-degree coal forge for as many as six hours a day, creating classic and custom pieces. And both of his sons are in the business, which gives him the most satisfaction: “It’s pretty much in the genes, you might say.” — KATHY RITCHIE

For more information, call 520-457-3456 or visit www.

ok-corral.com or www.macefamilyblacksmithing.com. BURCHAM JOHN

10 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 11 dining nature � � � � It’s (Almost) All Greek ... Dolmades and baklava are about the last thing you’d expect to find in a town American kestrels have known mostly for Mexican food and steakhouses. But one visit to Mount Athos Restaurant an average and Café will have you thinking twice about London broil and burritos. wingspan of 23 inches.

FLORENCE ISN’T THE FIRST PLACE THAT How the Koulouris family wound up in would be a safe place for the family to re- springs to mind for stuffed grape leaves, Arizona is another story. For years, establish roots. nap-inducing slabs of moussaka or galak- Greece-born George co-owned a diner in The family considered opening a res- toboureko, the custard-like Manhattan, where a young Peter learned taurant as far afield as Tucson or Mesa, florence sweet dessert. The man the business, too. Then came September but they chose the Florence site on the Males have dark serving it, Peter Koulouris, 11, 2001. “We stood in the street and saw main highway by doing what Peter calls a “mustaches” owner of Mount Athos Restaurant and the smoke,” Peter recalls. “We could see “Greek survey”: “We stood on the corner around white cheeks. Café, is just as surprised that a town the tower fall. It was horrifying. As people and counted cars.” known for folksy Mexican and steak res- fled, our restaurant was one of the first They built a 4,300-square-foot restau- taurants has embraced his family’s Greek places where they felt safe. They came in rant with a full bar, done in a woodsy, culinary heritage. to eat and drink, and our freezers and vintage style echoing the architecture of “When we moved here from New refrigerators were emptied by people who the town’s adjacent historic district. York, we had no intention of doing just walked by.” Visit today, and you can start out with a Greek restaurant,” says Peter, who Joanna, also born in Greece, put her an order of saganaki, the flaming Opa! opened the restaurant with his mother, foot down. She wanted her family out of cheese (pictured) done tableside, and sip Joanna Koulouris, and his late father, New York and into Arizona, where she an ouzotini (vodka splashed with ouzo Kestrels are known George Koulouris, in 2005. “We were and George had made several trips for and garnished with a feta-stuffed olive), to fan their going to do a diner with American food, spiritual retreats at St. Anthony’s Greek often served by Peter himself, an affable tails when just like we had in Manhattan — burgers, Orthodox Monastery, a lush, peaceful host. Besides the made-from-scratch they’re BLTs — but our contractor got excited enclave outside Florence. The monastery potato-and-eggplant moussaka, Joanna’s hovering. and put up a sign that read, ‘Greek res- had sparked a burgeoning Greek commu- Greek-style lamb shanks are popular, as taurant coming soon,’ so that was that.” nity in the area, and Joanna felt the desert are other classics, such as the pasta-lay- BRUCE (2) D. TAUBERT ered pastitsio, Greek salads, THE JOURNAL gyros and souvlaki plates. Not in the mood for Greek cuisine? American Kestrel Burgers, grilled pork chops and nature factoid chicken Parmesan also emerge t’s no secret that birds enjoy referred to as a sparrow hawk, the from the Mount Athos kitchen. hanging out on power lines and reddish-brown raptor is prone Now firmly established as fences — and the American to nesting in cavities, such as one of Florence’s go-to eater- Ikestrel is no exception. This crevices in buildings, dead trees ies, Mount Athos had a slow rust-colored bird is most com- and, occasionally, large, hollow start the first few months, monly found sitting on wires in the cactuses. These falcons don’t Peter admits. “We are in a company of other kestrels, and it create their own nesting cavities, small town,” he says, “but idiosyncratically bobs its tail while relying instead on spaces that once everyone figured out it’s resting. have already been hollowed out by we were not bad New York- Found in open areas such as woodpeckers, rodents or natural ers, everyone started to eat meadows, brush fields and desert decay. The American kestrel popu- here. We get tourists, lawyers, grasslands, the American kestrel is lation remains relatively constant; judges, sheriffs ... even people a small raptor and could easily be however, some experts believe that who just got out of prison up mistaken for a common songbird. the diminishing presence of organic the street. They all just want a But don’t let its size fool you. The nesting crevices has created a need PRAYING MANTIS good meal.” American kestrel’s hawk-like preda- for man-made elevated nest boxes The praying mantis is one of the more formidable predators of the insect world. Named for the distinct “praying” position of its front — NORA BURBA TRULSSON tory skills and diet — which includes to sustain the species’ population. legs, the mantis often camouflages itself to attract and devour small mammals, reptiles and birds The American kestrel is found other insects, such as moths and crickets. Mantis reflexes when — distinguish it from other birds of throughout North America, and its ensnaring prey can be so quick that the movement goes undetect- ed by the human eye. The praying mantis is notorious for its unique Mount Athos Restaurant and Café is its size. closest relatives are the peregrine located at 444 N. Pinal Parkway in Flor- mating rituals, which occasionally involve the female mantis eating ence. For more information, call 520-868- Considered North America’s falcon and the merlin. her male partner during or after mating. — DANIELLE GROBMEIER

MARK DURAN MARK 0735 or visit www.mountathoscafe.com. smallest falcon and occasionally — DANIELLE GROBMEIER

12 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 13 lodging � � VACATION WITH FOREVER RESORTS A Travel Partner You’ll Warm Up To

Forever Resorts Vacations • Fully-furnished Houseboat Rentals • Historic National Park Lodging • Scenic River Excursions

MARK DURAN MARK Houseboating Antelope Point Marina, Lake Powell, AZ War II, it served as a place of internment for a Japanese dignitary. Callville Bay Marina, Lake Mead, NV Triangle T Guest Ranch Kelly bought the Triangle T in 2005, and guests visit for relaxation

THE JOURNAL Cottonwood Cove Marina, Lake Mohave, NV TRIANGLE T GUEST RANCH IS ONE OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA’S and a taste of the Old West. The ranch offers half-day and full-day Houseboats: 800.255.5561 best-kept secrets, and that’s something owner Linda Kelly would like horseback-riding, and the area is ideal for mountain-biking, hiking to change. “When people get here, they’re just amazed,” and birding. At night, the 10 well-appointed casitas and cabins give Lodging she says. “There isn’t a picture out there that does this guests a comfortable place to crash after enjoying the outdoors all dragoon Grand Canyon Lodge – North Rim, AZ place justice. You have to experience it.” The ranch is day. There’s something at the Triangle T for movie-history buffs, too: Lodging: 877.386.4383 located just off Interstate 10 between Benson and Will- The 1957 film 3:10 to Yuma was shot on the property, and the original Mormon Lake Lodge 928.354.2227 cox, and the “T” stands for the surname of Metta Tutt, who bought set is still standing. — NOAH AUSTIN the property in the 1920s as a warm, dry haven for his tuberculosis- Rafting stricken daughter. Since then, it’s hosted dignitaries such as President Triangle T Guest Ranch is located at 4190 Dragoon Road in Dragoon. Black Canyon River Adventures, NV John F. Kennedy and General John J. Pershing, and during World For more information, call 520-586-7533 or visit www.azretreatcenter.com. Rafting: 800.455.3490

things to do in arizona � � Travel-Forever.com/14azhf Urban Snowboard Scandinavian Festival non-motorized parade,” has been tion: 480-389-7709 or www. and Ski Festival February 15, Yuma a part of Tucson’s culture since chandlercarshow.com February 8-9, Flagstaff Enjoy lefse, Swedish waffles 1925. Information: 520-294-1280 Watch winter-sports daredev- and other foods, plus art and or www.tucsonrodeoparade.org Photo Workshop: Rafting ils compete in various events live music from the countries the Grand Canyon on downtown Flagstaff’s San of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Car Show May 6-12, Grand Canyon Francisco Street. Attendance Denmark and Iceland. Informa- February 22, Chandler This 188-mile adventure, led is free for spectators at this tion: 928-373-5040 Downtown Chandler show- by Arizona Highways con- event, which also includes cases more than 200 classic tributor Kerrick James, features live entertainment, food and Rodeo Parade cars and hot rods at this event, premier photographic vantage children’s activities. Informa- February 20, Tucson which also features a food points along the Colorado tion: 928-213-2300 or www. This mostly horse-drawn event, court, a beer garden and arts- River. Information: 888-790- flagstaffarizona.org known as “the world’s longest and-crafts vendors. Informa- 7042 or www.ahpw.org facebook.com/travelforeverresorts

Forever Resorts is an authorized Concessioner of the USDA Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Department of Interior to serve the public in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Antelope Point 14 FEBRUARY 2014 Marina is owned and operated by Antelope Point Holdings L.L.C., an authorized Concessioner of the National Park Service, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. HISTORIC PLACES Last year, we took it upon ourselves to start singling out some of the state’s most historic landmarks — El Tovar, Lowell Observatory and a few others were on the list. This year, we’re at it again, and the class includes Yuma Territorial Prison, Hubbell Trading Post, the Orpheum Theatre, Faraway Ranch and the Hassayampa Inn. BY NOAH AUSTIN

The Orpheum Theatre has changed hands several times, but it’s been a fixture of downtown Phoenix since 1929. || CRAIG SMITH

16 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 17 – HISTORIC PLACES –

ORPHEUM THEATRE PHOENIX It all started with Gustav Walter. Walter, a German impresario, dreamed of building a cross- country “Orpheum Circuit” of theaters for vaudeville acts. He opened the first Orpheum in San Francisco in the 1880s, but he didn’t make it out of California before running out of money. To settle a reported $50,000 liquor bill, Walter sold his interest in Orpheum to Mor- ris Meyerfeld, who expanded the chain nationwide. Phoenix’s Orpheum Theatre, featuring

Spanish Baroque architecture, opened in 1929. It changed hands, and names, several times ABOVE, LEFT: The Orpheum before falling into disrepair. The city purchased the building in 1984 and began a $14 million Theatre’s famous elliptical 1929: Orpheum Theatre construction is moldings, is painted black to make it less restoration, which lasted until 1997. Today, the Orpheum hosts a wide variety of performers; staircases were fully restored completed at a final cost of $750,000. distracting while movies are playing. during the theater’s massive this year’s highlights include Man of La Mancha and West Side Story. renovation. || CRAIG SMITH 1949: Paramount Pictures buys the 1984: Phoenix buys the theater building and begins an extensive restoration. ABOVE: The ceiling of the theater and renames it the Paramount. Orpheum’s Lewis Auditorium LOCATION: 203 W. Adams Street, Phoenix 1968: The Nederlander Organization takes 1985: The Orpheum is listed on the depicts a starry sky. || CRAIG SMITH CONSTRUCTED: 1929 ownership of the theater, planning to make National Register of Historic Places. RIGHT: The theater was a it a stop on the Broadway circuit. It becomes ARCHITECT: Lescher & Mahoney The Orpheum, now with a destination for vaudeville acts in Palace West. 1997: INFORMATION: 602-534-5600 or www.phoenix.gov/conventioncenter/orpheum its early years. This photograph seating capacity of 1,364, reopens with a probably was made in the 1940s. 1977: The local Corona family leases the performance of Hello, Dolly! starring Carol || COURTESY OF PHOENIX theater to show Spanish-language films. The Channing. CONVENTION CENTER & VENUES theater’s interior, including its murals and

18 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 19 –

HISTORIC PLACES YUMA – TERRITORIAL PRISON YUMA “Lawless” is one of the first adjectives that come to mind when imagining Arizona and the rest of the Wild West in the second half of the 19th century. But you would have had a hard time telling that to one of the 3,069 people who did time at Yuma Territo- rial Prison between 1876 and 1909, when overcrowding forced the Territory to move all The first seven of Yuma’s inmates to a new facility in Florence. Yuma High School burned down the 1876: inmates enter Yuma next year, and the school leased part of the prison complex, built on a bluff overlook- Territorial Prison and are ing the Colorado River, for the next three years — acquiring its memorable mascot, the locked in cells they built Criminals, in the process. (And you thought your high school felt like prison.) A county themselves. hospital, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, hobos and Depression-era homeless families all 1909: The last inmates spent time on the property before the late 1930s, when Yuma residents began to push are transferred to Florence for the prison’s preservation as a state park. The city gave the prison to the Parks Board after the prison becomes in 1960, and the site was made a state historic park the following year. overcrowded. 1910: Yuma High School LOCATION: 1 Prison Hill Road, Yuma leases four buildings on the complex after the original CONSTRUCTED: 1876 school building burns down. BUILDER: A. Luther INFORMATION: 928-783-4771 or www.azstateparks.com 1924: The Southern Pacific Railroad demolishes part of Prison Hill to build new tracks. 1939: Local residents begin fundraising to preserve the prison complex and build a museum on the site of the mess hall. 1960: Yuma sells the prison complex to the Parks Board for $1. 1961: Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park opens to the public.

LEFT: Being imprisoned at Yuma Territorial Prison was bad enough. Imagine being one of the unlucky early inmates who had to help build their own cells. || CRAIG SMITH ABOVE: In this 1935 photo, the shuttered prison’s gallows can be seen on the left. || ARIZONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, YUMA DIVISION ABOVE, RIGHT: Some of the graffiti in this prison hallway dates back 70 years or more. || CRAIG SMITH

20 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 21 – HISTORIC PLACES –

HASSAYAMPA INN PRESCOTT The November 19, 1927, edition of the Prescott Evening Courier heralded the November 5 opening of what was then called the Hassayam- pa Hotel. Constructed for $300,000, the hotel, the paper said, “rep- resents … the first definite step towards a greater Prescott.” The hotel was built to bring first-class accommodations to Prescott, and it was a true community undertaking: At the urging of the mayor, Morris Goldwater (Barry’s uncle), more than 400 citizens bought $1 shares in the project. A night in one of the guestrooms cost $2. The price has gone up a little since then, and the interior has been renovated, but from the outside, the red-brick building looks much the same as it did in its early days. The Hassayampa has hosted distinguished guests from Georgia O’Keeffe to Clark Gable, but legend has it that one of its first guests — Faith Summers, a newlywed whose groom abandoned her at the hotel — still haunts room 426. (Because she’s still upset with her husband, she appears mostly to female guests.)

LOCATION: 122 E. Gurley Street, Prescott CONSTRUCTED: 1927 ARCHITECT: Henry Trost INFORMATION: 928-778-9434 or www.hassayampainn.com

ABOVE: From the outside, the 1923: The Congress Hotel, on 1979: The Hassayampa Inn is added Hassayampa Inn looks much the same the future Hassayampa Inn site, is to the National Register of Historic as it did when it opened 87 years ago. destroyed in a fire, leading supporters Places. || CRAIG SMITH to push for a new hotel made of brick, OPPOSITE PAGE, ABOVE: Although rather than wood. 1985: The inn undergoes a it’s been renovated, the inn’s main multimillion-dollar renovation. It now lobby maintains its Old World charm. 1927: The Hassayampa Hotel, the features 67 guestrooms, down from || CRAIG SMITH “Grand Jewel of Prescott,” opens. the original 78. OPPOSITE PAGE, BELOW: Cars line the Today, it retains its original covered street outside the inn, then called the passageway and a vintage elevator. Hassayampa Hotel, in the 1930s. || SHARLOT HALL MUSEUM

22 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 23 –

HUBBELL HISTORIC PLACES

– TRADING POST GANADO The Long Walk, the U.S. government’s forced relocation of some 9,000 Navajos in the 1860s, had a lasting effect on the Navajo identity and way of life. When the Navajos returned to Arizona in 1868, they no longer had their crops and livestock, so trading for goods, already a key component of the Navajo economy, became even more vital. Enter John Lorenzo Hubbell, who bought what would become Hubbell Trading Post in 1878. As a link between the Navajo Nation and the rest of the U.S., Hubbell supplied Navajos with many of the items to which they were introduced during their internment in New Mexico, such as flour, sugar, canned goods and tobacco. Hubbell was 23 when he bought the property. He later married a Spanish woman named Lina Rubi, and they raised four children in the house they built at the site. Hubbell eventually created 30 trading posts in Arizona, New Mexico and California, and his descendants operated the original post until it was sold to the National Park Service in 1967. It’s now part of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. The site includes nearby Hubbell Hill, where most of the original Hubbell family is buried.

LOCATION: From Flagstaff, go east on Interstate 40 for 134 miles to U.S. Route 191. Turn left (north) onto U.S. 191 and continue 38 miles to State Route 264. Turn left onto SR 264 and continue 0.5 miles to Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, which is on the left. CONSTRUCTED: 1883 (trading-post building) 1878: John Lorenzo Hubbell purchases what would ARCHITECT: John Lorenzo Hubbell become Hubbell Trading 928-755-3475 or www.nps.gov/hutr INFORMATION: Post from another trader and opens for business. 1902: Congress passes a law excluding Hubbell’s land from the Navajo Nation, which had expanded around it. 1930: Hubbell dies at age 76. His children continue running the trading post.

LEFT: Hubbell Trading Post provided a vital link between the Navajo Nation and the rest of the world when it opened in 1878. It’s still operating today. || GEORGE H.H. HUEY ABOVE: The trading-post building still looks much the same as it does in this photograph from Hubbell’s early days. || ARIZONA STATE LIBRARY ABOVE, RIGHT: Hand-woven rugs are among the items traded at Hubbell today. || JERRY JACKA

24 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 25 –

FARAWAY RANCH CHIRICAHUA NATIONAL MONUMENT The Chiricahua Mountains are a long way from Sweden — and a lot of other places, too. But that’s where Neil and Emma Erickson settled, in a small cabin at the entrance to Bonita Canyon, when HISTORIC PLACES

– they came to the United States in the 1880s. The couple struggled with farming, so Neil worked in Bisbee as a carpenter, often leaving Emma alone at the ranch for months at a time. After Neil found work closer to home, the Ericksons set about expanding their family and their home. By the 1920s, Faraway Ranch had all the modern comforts needed to run a guest ranch, and early visitors paid $2.50 a night to stay there. Hiking and bird-watching were popular activities, and after dinner, the Ericksons’ daughter, Lillian, regaled guests with Wild West tales that were at least partly factual. And what about the ranch’s unique name? It comes from the Erickson children’s complaint that their home was “so god-awful far away from everything.” Including Sweden.

LOCATION: From Tucson, go east on Interstate 10 for 71 miles to Exit 336 (an I-10 business route). Stay straight on the business route and continue 3 miles to State Route 186. Turn right onto SR 186 and continue 31 miles to State Route 181. Turn left onto SR 181 to enter Chirica- hua National Monument (a $5 fee is required). After the entrance station, follow the signs to Faraway Ranch. CONSTRUCTED: 1880s (original cabin), 1915 (two-story structure) ARCHITECTS: Neil and Emma Erickson INFORMATION: 520-824-3560 or www.nps.gov/chir

1886: Emma Peterson buys a two- 1903: Neil becomes the first ranger at the 1923: Lillian marries Ed Riggs, who adds room cabin along Bonita Creek. She marries newly created Chiricahua Forest Reserve, bathrooms, oil heat, electricity and a large Neil Erickson the following year, and the which would eventually become part of the dining room to the ranch. The two continue couple moves into the cabin and rears three National Park Service. to host guests until the 1960s. children there. 1915: Neil finishes construction on the 1979: Two years after Lillian’s death, the 1898: The Ericksons expand the cabin house, now a two-and-a-half-story building Erickson family sells Faraway Ranch to the into a two-story, board-and-batten-style with six upstairs bedrooms. National Park Service. frame house. ABOVE: In its heyday, Faraway Ranch was a destination for those who wanted to get, 1917: Neil is transferred to Flagstaff, and in the words of the Erickson children, “god-awful far away from everything.” the Ericksons leave their eldest child, Lillian, || COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE in charge of Faraway Ranch. OPPOSITE PAGE: Today, the house is part of Faraway Ranch Historic District, and the National Park Service conducts tours of the property. || CRAIG SMITH (2)

26 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 27 LINES IN THE SANDSTONE A PORTFOLIO Vermilion Cliffs National Monument BY GARY LADD is located on the Colorado Plateau in Northern Arizona. Although its 280,000 acres include the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness and contain a variety of diverse landscapes, the monument doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic. With that in mind, we sent our resident photographer out for a closer look.

28 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 29 ABOVE: Diagonal lines reveal the downward dips of ancient sand dunes at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. “Diago- nal lines are often exception- ally pleasing to the eye,” says photographer Gary Ladd, “and at the Vermilion Cliffs, they are a dominant theme.”

LEFT: Monsoon clouds loom over Paria Canyon at sunset. Lees Ferry is located at the far end of the canyon.

PRECEDING PANEL: Navajo sandstone cliffs at the Paw Hole area feature colorful swirls deposited millions of years ago by flowing water. “This little patch of rock recorded the track of mineralized water long before erosion laid the sandstone open to the sun and my camera,” Ladd says.

30 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 31 “Remember, a

line cannot

exist alone; it

always brings a

companion along.

Do remember

that one line does

nothing; it is only

in relation to

another that it

creates a volume.”

— HENRI MATISSE

“I call this little hideaway ‘Finland,’ ” Ladd says. “The fins form where mineralized groundwater has seeped through sandstone, gradu- ally cementing the grains together before being sliced open by erosion.” Cows often use the fins to scratch themselves, he adds, without much regard for preserving them.

32 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 33 “A line is

a dot that

went for

a walk.”

— PAUL KLEE

Although the Vermilion Cliffs are known mostly for their colorful Navajo sandstone, Ladd says the monument’s Chinle formation exposures are impressive, too. “The Chinle is the same rock layer that dominates much of Petrified Forest National Park,” he says, “but without the dense concen- tration of petrified logs.”

34 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 35 ABOVE: As if the rock isn’t colorful enough, lichen can add coun- terpoints of green, black, orange or yellow to photographs. “As always at the Vermilion Cliffs,” Ladd says, “it is not difficult to find photogenic material. It’s only difficult to decide which of the monument’s many charms are most appealing.”

LEFT: This red sandstone cliff appears darker due to a summer downpour, which also rinsed the dust off the sagebrush in the foreground. Iron gives the cliff its red color, but Ladd says sandstone can also be brown, yellow, tan or even green.

36 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 37 HE GROWL OF TWIN-ENGINE PLANES always sent 10-year-old Sammy Turner and his friends scrambling to their feet. “Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, they were,” he recalls. “We could tell when they were coming up from Luke Air Force Base, and we’d all run up to the rim. They’d buzz the village, which the rangers didn’t like. We loved it.” The planes flew out over the Grand Canyon so low, the boys could look down on them. Years later, Turner wrote about them for Arizona Highways. “With a twist and a turn,” he wrote, “they would stand on their tails and spiral up and away, barrel-rolling as they climbed toward the sun.” Memories such as these define the war years at the Canyon for Turner. For administrators, World War II and its aftermath were tough. Depression-era projects wound down just as the conflict heated up. As the park was feeling the loss of Civilian Conser-

vation Corps and Works Progress Administration workers, expe- Toward the end of the war, Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia visited. rienced National Park Service employees went off to fight. Because Several Army groups were using the abandoned CCC complex as of gasoline-rationing and travel restrictions, visitation plummeted a recreational facility and had turned it into a military post. Faisal from 436,500 in 1941 to 64,500 in 1944. commandeered a jeep and took the kids for a ride. By the end of the war, the park’s infrastructure had deteriorated “I got to ride in a tank, too,” Turner says. “That was fun. Those so much, it was ill-prepared for the postwar boom that followed, were things we did toward the end of the war.” with annual visitors surpassing 1 million for the first time in 1956. But, for Turner and other residents of Grand Canyon Village, World AROLINE KENNY’S FAMILY returned to the Can War II and the decade that followed represented a halcyon time of yon after her father got out of the service. Her father, innocence, simplicity and freedom. Virgil Gipson, managed Lookout Studio and was Turner and his family arrived at Grand Canyon Village in 1941, the Fred Harvey photographer. when his father, a rising star with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Kenny remembers walking to Babbitt’s General Store, the only Fe Railway, became its station agent. grocery store in the village, on a little path through the woods. “Grand Canyon Village was absolutely dead,” Turner recalls. “We had coupon books,” she recalls. “We didn’t carry money.” Grand Canyon National Park Before the end of 1942, the Fred Harvey A whistle blew at 8 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. every day. It seasonal rangers pose at Co. began closing its concessions, eventu- was like the village clock. Everybody went by it. Hopi Point, on the Canyon’s ally shuttering all but El Tovar. Santa Fe “Wherever you were when the whistle blew, you knew you had South Rim, in this 1940 photo. Virgil Gipson, whose discontinued its passenger rail service the to come home,” Kenny recalls. daughter contributed this following year. Life felt free and easy, Kenny says, and the Grand Canyon was photo, is the fourth ranger “One time, my dad came down the steps her vast playground. from the left. from El Tovar to our apartment, which was “My father never took the keys out of the car,” she says. “I don’t In addition to the 4 million tourists who visit the South Rim every year, above the railroad station,” Turner recalls. “He said, ‘Well, they think anyone did. And we never locked our doors. I don’t even there’s a small population of people who actually live there, tucked away have three guests at the El Tovar tonight.’ Three! You could sit out know if we had a key.” from the spotlight of the Grand Canyon. It’s a unique existence today, in the middle of the road. You didn’t have to worry about traffic. The Gipsons lived in the Fred Harvey and Santa Fe housing that “And gas was rationed, so you drove 30 miles an hour. It took lined avenues A and B (now Apache and Boulder streets). The Park but in the middle of the last century, it was especially so. Back then, two hours to get to Williams. My dad put a Band-Aid across the Service employees lived on a different hill, Kenny recalls. And the residents of “the village” didn’t lock their cars, going out on a date was a speedometer ... if you could see the needle on the right, you knew teachers lived in a building called the “teacherage.” The Supai kids, hassle, gas was rationed, and weekend highlights included $1 horseback he was going too fast.” who came up from the Canyon during the school year, lived at Residents also planted victory gardens, 60 in all, at the rodeo Supai Camp, a mile or two out on a dirt road. rides. As one former resident puts it, life was “free and easy.” grounds behind the school. “They had horses,” she recalls. “On the weekends, kids would “One of the gardeners there was going to do it all scientifically,” ride their horses into town, to the grocery store. We would pay Turner recalls. “He had it all measured and everything. Then, Por- them a dollar, and they’d let us ride their horses all day, which, to ter Timeche [who managed Hopi House] came out with his Hopi me, was the most exciting thing in the world.” planting stick, and he’d poke holes in the ground. His corn came The schoolhouse was on a nearby hill, so in winter, Kenny would up, it seemed like, overnight. It put us all to shame.” pull her sled to school and sled home for lunch.

38 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 39 “They had a little log building,” she recalls. “Every once in a while, “One day, we were up at the El Tovar and this man said, ‘Would somebody would get too close and knock the building down. You you girls like to have a drink?’ So we went in and sat down at a had to watch when somebody was coming down that street going table, and he came over and said, ‘You know, I’m Senator So-and- fast and get ready to run.” So, and everybody knows me.’ We looked at him real blank. I have Later, Hoover worked as a housekeeper at El Tovar, where she no idea, to this day, who that man was. But he thought he was saw her share of celebrities. important.” “We were told not to bother them,” she recalls. “You could say hello, but you weren’t supposed to get a conversation going. Every HE VERKAMPS OCCUPIED some of the best real once in a while, you’d hit somebody who really wanted to tell you estate in the village, living above their store, which all about their life and the movies they were in. was perched on the rim. “One [celebrity] walked around with his hat pulled over his “We would sit on our roof and watch the tour- eyes. He took the whole wing upstairs, on the second floor, for his ists,” Mike Verkamp recalls. “We saw rainbows and double rain- friends, but he didn’t go out with them. He’d sit on the porch with bows and inversions that went down into the Canyon. The clouds his hat over his eyes.” would fill in the Canyon, and it looked like you could walk across Then, of course, there were politicians. the clouds. “[Barry] Goldwater loved the Canyon,” Hoover recalls. “He liked “We saw powerful storms, and we even saw, in the ’50s, flashes to stay at the Brown Building. They used it mostly for the help or from the atomic blasts in Nevada. It was really something. You’d the Santa Fe, but he’d like to stay there. And he’d get up real early see the flash, and then you’d feel this temblor shake about seven or and go for a walk. so seconds later. It shook the whole building.”

A first-grade teacher conducts class at Grand Canyon School in 1953, the same year an addition to the schoolhouse was completed.

It was a small school, with two grades per classroom, and only “Can you girls work all day and dance all night?” went through the eighth grade. “We looked at one another,” Hoover recalls. “We were just out Steve Verkamp remembers classes in the home-economics room of high school, and we said, ‘I guess we can.’ ” — literally a kitchen. “We actually had desks in the kitchen,” he The girls were assigned rooms in the dormitory. recalls. “Every once in a while, some teacher would come in for a “We were two girls to a room,” Hoover recalls. “We had two cup of coffee or to boil some water.” single beds and a couple of dressers, two closets, a wash basin and When identical twins Harley and Charley Marquis started first a desk. The desks were all metal. I had never seen metal furniture grade, they couldn’t speak English, recalls Paul Schnur, whose father before. And we had a community shower and restroom. was the village doctor. They lived in a remote area at the bottom “I had different roommates. And I had one who used to think I of the Canyon and invented a language only their mother could needed my sleep and she’d turn my alarm clock off. The only time understand. I was late for work was one of the times she did that.” Hoover spent the first three days pining for Kansas. “If some- ARY HOOVER ARRIVED at the Canyon in one had said, ‘Mary, come on home,’ I would have got on the first 1946 on the Grand Canyon Limited. She and train,” she says. a handful of other girls transferred from Ultimately, Hoover stayed more than 40 years. During the ’40s, the Harvey House in Hutchinson, Kansas, she waited on trainmen who sat at the lunch counter at Bright which was closing. One of the first people they met was a supply- Angel Lodge. In those days, the lodge had a beauty parlor and a Grand Canyon Village residents enjoy a banquet at Bright Angel Lodge. The man standing is Jack truck driver who was wearing a woman’s hat on his head. barbershop, and the only park entrance was on Center Street, near Verkamp, the owner of Verkamp’s Curios, and the When they met the manager of Bright Angel Lodge, he asked, a Chevron station. woman standing on the far right is his wife, Mary.

40 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 41 ABOVE: The 1953 Grand Canyon School baseball team poses for a photo. LEFT: General Dwight D. Eisenhower visits the Canyon’s train depot on July 17, 1950. Eisenhower would be elected president in 1952.

UST ABOUT EVERYONE who lived in the village recalls certain events. One in particular is the visit by General Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 17, 1950. Paul Schnur was working for Virgil Gipson and got “wonderful photos.” John Verkamp, with brothers Mike and Steve, ran down to meet Eisenhower’s train. John got the general’s autograph and took pictures of him signing it. Later, park superintendent Dr. Harold Bryant brought Eisen- hower into Verkamp’s Curios. “As he was leaving, my brothers and I picked up a piece of petrified wood and went running across the parking lot,” John recalls. “I said, ‘General Eisenhower, here’s a gift from Verkamp’s.’ ” A couple of days later, John received an Atchison, Topeka and Of course, there were disadvantages to living above the store. Santa Fe Railway envelope forwarded from Bryant. Inside was a “If you had an argument or a fight, it was all transmitted down,” handwritten letter that read: “Dear Red, I hope you know how Verkamp says. much I appreciated your bringing me the piece of petrified wood. And every now and then, tourists would climb the stairs into the I shall keep it as a fine souvenir of my visit to Grand Canyon.” living quarters, asking for permission to take a photo from the roof. The experience deeply impressed John. It followed him through Village residents shovel snow in “By golly, if my dad occasionally didn’t let them do it,” he says. his own career in public service, including 10 years in the Arizona front of Babbitt’s General Store, Things got more interesting as the five Verkamp kids got older. Legislature, where people kidded him that he must have taken his in Grand Canyon Village. The Canyon’s post office is visible in the “You’re essentially locked in at night because you had to secure political direction from Eisenhower. background. the store,” Verkamp recalls. “That became kind of hairy when you’d Life at Grand Canyon Village back then left an indelible mark on go out on a date. And there’d be two or three of us going out. We its residents, though they’ve all since moved on. As Schnur wrote, got to where we’d put the key under the mat in a certain spot so “The current residents are there only temporarily, and they, too, will the other guy could come in.” soon be gone. Only the timeless beauty of the Canyon remains.”

42 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 43 The sun silhouettes several desert bighorn sheep at Willow Beach, along the Colorado River in Northwestern Arizona. BRUCE D. TAUBERT COUNTING SHEEP For thousands of years, desert bighorns were a common sight in the Santa Catalina Mountains. By the 1980s, however, their numbers had dwindled to about 200, and in 2005, they disappeared altogether. Last fall, about 30 sheep were reintroduced to the area. Will they survive? Or does it even matter? An Essay by Charles Bowden HEY WATCHED US FROM THE MOUNTAINS. The peo-

ple drifted in thousands of years ago. The abandoned

Hohokam villages of the valley once hosted tens of thou-

sands. The first mission at San Xavier del Bac went up

in the late 17th century; the presidio that became Tucson

arrived on a Spanish lance in 1775. The railroad came on

March 20, 1880 — the Tohono O’odham noted that on that very day their power- Tful spirit, I’itoi, drove the game away to safety. The modern city spread across the desert after the Second World War, the cre–

44 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 45 ation of a vast migration into the region. And desert bighorns watched all this from their sanctuary on the western reaches of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Now they have vanished. The question is whether we can live with this new emptiness.

HE ANSWER BEGINS for me one evening in a canyon knifing down from the high country to the desert below. My bag spreads out on the ground under a gallery of cottonwoods and sycamores. A narrow ribbon of sky drib- Tbles light between the cliffs, but the sun leaves early here. Toward evening, falling rocks break the silence. The stones come from the hooves of desert bighorns as they work the cliffs towering over me. At that time, I had never seen a desert bighorn outside of a zoo. They were a phantom to me, an animal that could survive intense heat in places of little water, move through hard country, stare out with eyes of massive power, weigh up to 225 pounds and yet remain all but invisible to the rest of us. As a boy I would stare at the palisades and ridges of the Catali- nas and know bighorns roamed up there and that they were looking down at me. Tucson depends on the front range for its emotional well-being. A local paper once ran a doctored photograph of how the city would appear without the mountains. It chilled everyone. Saguaros stud the lower slopes amid scattered jojoba, cholla, paloverde and mesquite. Above, piñon pine, juniper and oak come in with a hint of the cool reaches of the high country. On the western flank, Pima Canyon flows down from Pusch Ridge and at the bottom a gap in the rock wall forms a gateway to the steep world of the bighorns. To go past this point and climb is to enter a world where the wild things linger. I was the kid who found school boring but could look out a classroom window and disappear into imagined wilds. But while I dreamed, the desert bighorns of the mountain were slowly dying. By the ’80s, maybe 200 lingered in the Catalinas, and these survi- vors had abandoned 80 percent of their historic range. The creation of the Pusch Ridge Wilderness in the late ’70s failed to stop this decline. The last sheep was seen in 2005. The mountain fell silent; the clatter of rocks off the cliffs stopped. The herd was hurled into oblivion by houses dibbling at the very edges of the wilderness area, the dream homes we build so we can taste those wilds. The herd was maimed by our hikes with pet dogs that terrified the sheep, by the slow but certain encirclement of the mountain by our communities that cut off migration As a boy I would stare at routes between the mountain ranges and ended any hope of new blood. It was not a simple thing, or a deliberate thing, or a desired the palisades and ridges thing. But it was a fatal thing for the sheep. The mountain changed, and then the wilderness felt hollow. of the Catalinas and North America once held maybe 2 million native sheep, with desert bighorns as an arid-adapted segment. The numbers toppled in know bighorns roamed up the late 19th century. Cattle and domestic sheep took the water and the range and brought in new diseases that ravaged the native big- there and that they were horns. Now, maybe 45,000 sheep survive in the Rocky Mountains, and 20,000 in the hot deserts. Arizona harbors about 6,000. They looking down at me.

At dusk, low clouds shroud Pusch Ridge, part of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The area once was home to a large population of desert bighorns. RANDY PRENTICE

46 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 47 cling to a few hot rocky islands in the sea of our kind and our needs. Years after that evening in the canyon with rocks clattering off the cliff as sheep move over my head, I finally come into their country and meet them face to face. The day is very hot, the heat rides at about a hundred and ten, and I’m 50 miles or so from any paved highway in a desert wilderness. After dark, a coyote crawls near my bedroll and howls briefly each and every night. I sleep under a moonless sky of stars. In the gray light of morning I walk to the water hole. There is a blind, and I count the dozens of bighorns that gather in the inferno of June. For a day or two I bake in the airless chamber and then I decide the sheep are not fooled. So I sit on the rock outside and keep my tally. Rams walk within 15 feet of me as I scrawl notes. They look too big and strong to have come out of this hot world of black rock, ironwood, paloverde and struggling mesquite. The water hole is in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, ground where archaeologists have yet to find any sign of a permanent human settlement. I spend a week or 10 days out there alone. At night I listen to the stars hum; during the day I ABOVE: Desert bighorn sheep appear in petroglyphs in Saguaro National watch the sheep. They soon cease to pay much Park, near Tucson. heed to me and as they move up and down the LES DAVID MANEVITZ rock faces, I am bewitched and kind of hum- bled. I can barely get by during a brief visit to LEFT: Four desert bighorn sheep the heat. They maintain a culture, a nation, and — two males and two females — congregate on a cliffside along the raise young on the same ground. Colorado River. According to some To glimpse a whale is to feel instantly the vast estimates, the nationwide bighorn deeps of the ocean. To see a bighorn almost float- population is only about 10 percent ing across a cliff face is to become for a moment of what it was before the West was part of the rock and desert. settled. BRUCE D. TAUBERT Y LIFE HAS BEEN DESERTS. I have walked for days across ground without a single track of my kind, spent nights on the baked a range now walled off from Pusch Ridge by the highways and There was a time I went to Pusch Ridge. I went up Pima Canyon, OR YEARS I have carried in my head a thought tossed out ground where the temperature hovered over a hun- houses of our kind. This is a growing reality for other species in the then ascended to Table Mountain, which ends in a jagged ridge- by Aldo Leopold. In the early 20th century, he worked for Mdred degrees at midnight. Sometimes, I have made it to the edge Southwest. Desert-tortoise populations, for example, now endure line where the mountain is sawed off and becomes cliffs on the the U.S. Forest Service in Eastern Arizona, and he killed a of my dreams. When I was with the sheep that first time at the in genetically isolated pockets. The pronghorns are caged every- face looking toward Oro Valley. The climb was steep and meant a wolf to protect the cattle and increase the deer. He went water hole, a golden eagle would come in each day to drink and where by their reluctance to face down barbed wire. Critics of the bushwhack across a belt of small agaves that gouged the shins. At Fon to become a pioneer in wildlife management and a leading con- bathe while I watched from rock maybe 50 feet away. After that, re-establishment question whether such a herd can endure. This is the beginning it was a beautiful fall day, sky blue, sun warm. The servationist. He wrote an essay about that killing. He’d decided a red-tailed hawk, then a family of turkey vultures. All this hap- a fair point. State game-and-fish people and various environmental city below receded until it looked like something constructed for that when he’d pulled the trigger and helped remove the wolf from pened like clockwork each day. The world felt fresh then, like the groups think it is worth trying. a model-train set. And then suddenly a storm came up and with the Southwest, he’d made the mountain a lesser place. He said we morning of creation. This country is always torn between preserving the past and it a downpour. I was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. The tempera- had to learn to think like a mountain. Now there is a plan for repopulating the official wilderness on paving it over. The last sheep was seen in the Tucson Mountains ture sank; I got soaked. The shaking began as I slid into a condition I stare into the gate of rock framing the entrance to Pima Can- Pusch Ridge, a place where by law we can visit but never stay. Big- near downtown in the early ’50s; a grizzly bear had been sighted known as hypothermia, where the core temperature of the body yon. The mesquite leaves hang listless in the heat. Underfoot, a bro- horns in other ranges were captured and moved there. The ban- in the Rincon Mountains that form a wall on the eastern side of collapses. This can kill you. I got under a big overhang, shucked my ken field of granite spreads out. Past that stone gate, the freedom ishment of dogs will be sternly enforced. Mountain lions may be the valley as late as 1922. The mountains that cradle the valley have clothes, crawled into my sleeping bag. The shelter was rank with of the Pusch Ridge Wilderness begins. The place feels wanting killed at times in order to bring back the herd. At first, about 30 filled my life with one thought: Up there is where the wild things scent and sign that said it was the sometime lair of a mountain lion. without bighorns watching me. I can’t prove this. But I’ve known sheep have been brought in. If everything works as hoped, the live and our control ends. There are holes in the world created by The storm lifted; the sun came out. it since I was a boy. herd will eventually number a hundred plus and sustain itself. our lives here and this gnaws at me. The initial bill in 1964 creating I looked down and saw the arroyos of Tucson writhing with That’s why we look at the mountains and crave to be near them. This is not a perfect thing. The bighorns will most likely be genet- wilderness areas came from just such a recognition of both things a brown rush of water amid the safe streets and orderly rows of Maybe we can’t think like a mountain. But we can do better than ically isolated from the nearest remnant band in the Silverbells, that had been lost and things that must be regained. houses. On the mountain, I tasted the gales of life. we have. We can bring the bighorns back where they belong.

48 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 49 donkey struggles to lift his head, as though he can read of life, but everyone agrees there is a “prolonged drought.” her mind. When Richter walks away, the donkey lets out Richter says her job is to ask, “So, what are we going to a long, mournful bray. do about it?” and help people come to consensus on how Of course, Holly Richter takes the donkey home. to preserve diminishing water supplies. From her kitchen window, you can see the blue Hua- ON A WARM DAY when I visit, Richter stands outside chuca Mountains out past the grasslands. We’re sitting her new donkey’s corral. His name is Louie, and in the near the 1940s-era stove. Harp music rolls out of the satel- few months he’s been with her, he’s gained weight and lite radio. We’re looking at a red scrapbook her mother put strength. But, like most abused or neglected animals, it’s together. There are pictures of Richter as a baby and small taking him a while to trust humans. What’s more, for child at home in rural New York. Her mom died unexpect- most of his life he’s been a jack, edly when Richter was 9. Her father remarried and forged Holly Richter poses the donkey equivalent of a stal- a blended family that Richter valued and loved; she says with Huckleberry, one lion in the horse world, and al- her “ability to develop productive working relationships of several rescued though Richter’s had him cas- with conservation partners” stems in part from the “val- equines she cares for. trated recently, he might still ues and support I inherited from my family.” be aggressive toward other an- She’s happiest when everyone else is happy with an en- imals — or Richter. Today, she wants to take Louie on vironmental solution — such as when stakeholders forged a little walk, but she won’t push him if he’s not willing. an agreement recently to replenish the San Pedro near Pal- So she assesses the donkey’s mood in what she calls a ominas. The project explores new ways to capture storm “pre-flight check-in.” water so it can sink into the ground and bolster dwin- This pre-flight check-in involves Richter putting Lou- dling groundwater that feeds a river threatened by drought ie’s nose into the halter while she’s still outside the corral. and overuse. He doesn’t mind. She pulls the halter behind his ears. No There is much that’s been done, a lot more to be do- resistance. He allows her into the corral. She gives him a ne and a certain urgency brought on by the “prolonged treat. “Head up, head up,” she says in her measured voice. drought.” But Richter takes action in the face of huge envi- He lifts up his head. Louie’s ready for takeoff. ronmental odds because, she says, if you let the enormity A tall, strong woman with long brown hair and pierc- of a problem overwhelm you, it becomes paralyzing. ing dark eyes, Richter leads Louie out of the corral and She’s not paralyzed. She’s got an office in Tucson, her house onto a dirt road linking the corrals and her house. “Step and her Toyota Prius. She’s relentlessly driven to rescue up, step up,” Richter tells Louie. She walks him, stops what she holds most precious: nature and animals. Before him, walks him, stops him. When she gets Louie com- I leave, I ask her how she sustains her drive, and she says, fortable with his new world, she hopes to hop on his back “That’s hard to answer, but I guess, at the end of the day, one day. But, for now, there is this small walk, with lots you want to know you made a difference.” of treats, and a return to the corral. As director of conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Arizona, Holly Richter Richter lives on a small ranch near Palominas. Her beloved San Pedro A FEW MONTHS LATER, Louie’s out in the pasture with has spent years bringing together people with disparate agendas: ranchers, River, shaded by enormous cottonwood trees, runs behind the house. The Richter’s beloved Huckleberry, a hardworking, gentle don- house is surrounded by grassland, which is home to a lot of snakes, and key she’s owned for years. Out of the blue, Louie attacks environmentalists, scientists, politicians and regular people. It’s an arduous sometimes they come into the garage. In the summer, toads live on the front Huckleberry, who is much smaller. With Louie riding on task, but she’ll do whatever it takes to protect the things she finds most precious: porch and she gets attached to them. his back, Huckleberry runs to the barn for help, and Rich- The living room contains two Southwestern-style couches and a cage in ter has to whack Louie with a rope to get him off Huck- nature and animals. BY TERRY GREENE STERLING • PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL GRIMES which Harley, the African grey parrot, perches. A bookcase in the hallway leberry. holds diverse titles — The Alex Studies (about a parrot), Eckhart Tolle’s A New Huckleberry survives, but Richter’s faced with anoth- Earth, Mammals of Colorado and the Range Plant Handbook. The hallway leads to er internal conflict. Louie is a threat to her other, good- N A RAINY DECEMBER NIGHT in Southern Arizona, Holly Richter faces a conflict. It’s not the her office, which is home to another caged parrot; a display case with a bob- natured equines. She’s forced to make a heart-wrenching cat track in a clump of clay; beaver, pronghorn, javelina and badger skulls; decision. She gives Louie to a friend of a friend, someone usual environmental conflict fueled by competing needs for diminishing water supplies or frail draft-horse and donkey horseshoes; a jade plant; an indoor-outdoor enclo- who has a much larger donkey, named Peacemaker, at a landscapes, the kind of conflict she sees as the Arizona chapter of The Nature Conservancy’s sure that prevents the cat from eating birds and coyotes from eating the cat; ranch near Sonoita. Peacemaker doesn’t put up with Lou- a desk; and several fat Nature Conservancy project binders. ie’s kicks or bites, and Richter says Louie is happy there. director of conservation. On this night, Richter faces a clash within herself, and it centers on She’s worked for The Nature Conservancy since 1987, and now, at 53, she In the end, she says, “rescuing and managing equines” a neglected donkey. ¶ She knows she probably shouldn’t rescue another equine — the corrals oversees all of the nonprofit’s conservation programs in Arizona. She’s got isn’t all that different from tackling complex environmen- on her property bordering the San Pedro River are already full of expensive-to-maintain horses the measured, careful persona of a woman who’s spent years forging con- tal problems. You can’t always make everything perfect, sensus between people with competing needs for Arizona’s depleting water but at least you can make a difference. She rescued Louie, and donkeys she’s either inherited or rescued, and she also owns two dogs, a cat and several supplies and imperiled landscapes. She’s good at working with ranchers, and he’s healthy now. Of course, he’s not living on her parrots. Still, this donkey will surely die or be slaughtered if she doesn’t step in, and she doesn’t scientists, politicians and regular people. That’s partly because she tries to ranch, as she’d hoped, but she knows things don’t always see the world through their filters. A rancher, for instance, might think cli- turn out as expected. “Fix what can be fixed,” she says. know how she could live with herself if she just stood by and let it happen. Weakened by hunger, the mate change is a liberal concoction, and a hydrologist might deem it a fact “Don’t just throw up your hands and sit back.”

50 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 51 scenic drive

This scenic drive, which used to be a route for moving the Civilian Conservation Carefree to the sheep, retraces a portion of the Great Western Trail Corps in 1934. Just up the and offers a unique look at the Sonoran Desert. road, you’ll find the Cave Verde River BY KELLY VAUGHN KRAMER | PHOTOGRAPHS BY GEORGE STOCKING Creek Trailhead. After the recreation area, FR 24 becomes narrower heepherders never much liked Creek Road to the edge of town), a Phoe- Pavement ends at 2.6 miles, and the and a bit more rugged. It the Verde River. In spring and nix suburb characterized by sprawling graded gravel road (now Forest Road climbs again, and at Mile S fall, they had to swim their flocks estates, cowboy-themed bars and plenty 24) enters another riparian area before 14.3, you’ll leave Maricopa across the water, leading them to sum- of antiques stores. As Cave Creek Road climbing again. Come spring, the hill- County and enter Yavapai mer pastures and winter ranges. It was turns into Seven Springs Road after half sides that border the route will likely be County. Almost immedi- dangerous business, and stray sheep a mile, the route, which to this point has awash with the wildflowers that carpet ately, grasses emerge along often were lost to the river’s current. been bordered by mesquites, creosotes the Sonoran Desert — goldpoppies and the roadside, the century Finally, in 1944, the Flagstaff and and the occasional paloverde, dips into lupines among them. plants appear a bit greener, Howard sheep companies completed a riparian area. Here, the green leaves of The drive continues past a few pri- and the datura blooms in construction of the Verde River Sheep sycamores seem to burst out of the des- vate properties and along boulders, abundance here. Lockwood Bridge, minimizing seasonal sheep loss ert landscape. fire-burned trees, prickly pear cactuses, Mesa looms around Mile 16. and providing an easier entry to the At 0.8 miles, you’ll pass the turnoff saguaros and the occasional smattering You’ll notice an unexpected west side of the Mazatzal wilderness. to Sears Kay Ruin, a Hohokam site that of sacred datura for miles. Then, at Mile little grove of dead trees Today, a replica bridge crosses a por- dates to 1500. It’s a focal point along 9.5, it crosses Seven Springs and enters about a mile and a half past tion of the Verde River north of Care- the Great Western Trail, of which this the Seven Springs Recreation Area. Here the mesa. free, and it’s the payoff to this scenic road is part. Notice the power lines that you’ll find a campground constructed by Finally, the road drive. But, like herding sheep across punctuate this route, and you’ll scratch branches at Mile 27.9, and water, getting there takes a bit of work. your head at the strange, sometimes- OPPOSITE PAGE: Saguaros and cottonwoods line a you’ll turn right onto Forest stream along the route to the Verde River. The route begins on the northeast dysfunctional relationship between his- BELOW: A replica of the original Verde River Sheep Road 269. Mesquite trees outskirts of Carefree (just follow Cave tory, technology and nature. Bridge marks the drive’s conclusion. abound, and Tangle Peak rises on the left to an elevation of 3,542 Cordes Junction AGUA FRIA NATIONAL feet. Wind-whipped junipers, groupings r MONUMENT TONTO e of saguaros and random cottonwoods iv R NATIONAL FOREST FR are commonplace now, and they make 26 e 9 d r 17 e

the primitive, winding road more enjoy- N V A I

S g A B able. When you reach a cascade of boul- u Bloody Basin a

Road FR 16

ders on the left side of the road at Mile F Y

r D

i a O

O 39.4, you’ll know you’re almost to the

R L Tangle Peak

i F v B

river. Then, after you pass the foundation e r 2

6 of an old homestead at Mile 39.9, you’ll Lockwood Mesa 4 9 Sheep Bridge 2

Black Canyon R see them — the bridge and the river. F City Here, the road ends. Get out of the

car, walk across the bridge and think of s n Horseshoe Lake i r a e t the sheepherders who came before you. v i n Seven Springs u R Recreation Area To return to Carefree, retrace your route. o w

M e

N Alternately, it’s possible to travel FR 269 New River e e r Camp Creek C

back the way you came, then continue e Lake Pleasant v Bartlett Lake west for another 27 miles through Agua a Sears Kay Ruin C Fria National Monument to Interstate 17. 74 start here 17 Cave Creek If you choose the latter, you’re in for a Carefree stunning trek, but it’s a long one. Once To Phoenix KEVIN KIBSEY you hit pavement again, you’ll be ready to head home. And count some sheep. tour guide for Forest Road 269. This route should not be attempted in inclement weather. Note: Mileages are approximate. WARNING: Back-road travel can be hazardous, so be LENGTH: 39.9 miles one way aware of weather and road conditions. Carry plenty of ADDITIONAL READING: DIRECTIONS: From Carefree, go north on Cave Creek water. Don’t travel alone, and let someone know where For more scenic drives, pick up a Road, which becomes Seven Springs Road (Forest Road you are going and when you plan to return. copy of our book The Back Roads. 24), for 27.9 miles to Forest Road 269. Turn right onto Now in its fifth edition, the book INFORMATION: Cave Creek Ranger District, 480-595- features 40 of the state’s most FR 269 and continue 12 miles until the road ends at the 3300 or www.fs.usda.gov/tonto scenic drives. To order a copy, visit Verde River Sheep Bridge. Travelers in Arizona can visit www.az511.gov or dial www.shoparizonahighways.com/ VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS: A high-clearance vehicle is 511 to get information on road closures, construction, books. required, and a four-wheel-drive vehicle is recommended delays, weather and more.

52 JANUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 53 hike of the month

There’s a lot to see along this desert trail in the Tortolita After several back-and- Wild Burro-Alamo Mountains, including crested saguaros, larkspurs, lupines, forths across the wash, diamondbacks, bobcats ... you might even see a Karmann you’ll arrive at an intersec- tion with the Alamo Springs Springs Loop Ghia. BY ROBERT STIEVE | PHOTOGRAPHS BY RANDY PRENTICE Trail. Veer right and start zigzagging up the slope. The n the interest of full disclosure, you higher you climb, the more should know that the trailhead for lush the desert becomes. I this loop is within a chip shot of the After about 20 minutes, Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain. For hik- you’ll intersect the Lower ing purists, those words will be enough Javelina Trail. Keep right to say, “Eh, no thanks,” but the location and continue to a saddle scouts for the Ritz selected this place that offers great views in near Tucson for the same reason you’ll all directions. From there, want to hike it: the scenic Tortolita the trail meanders up and Mountains. down for a mile or so until Although they’re not as rugged as it arrives at what looks like the Superstitions or as seductive as the a man-made stone wall. The Catalinas, the Tortolita Mountains offer natural feature is known as an easy getaway into the Sonoran Des- “Machu Picchu.” Even in a ert. And thanks to the town of Marana, world defined by interesting Pima County and the state, more than landforms, this one is espe- 5,000 acres have been preserved as a cially unique. T sanctuary for plants, animals, hikers Just beyond Machu Picchu, the uphill orto lita Mo un and bikers. resumes for another half-hour to the Ritz-Carlton Resort ta in To Phoenix s There are several trails in the pre- high point of the trail (3,855 feet) and 77 trailhead TORTOLITA serve, and many of them are linked then begins a steep downhill via switch- MOUNTAIN PARK together. It’s a wonderful network backs to a short spur trail that leads 10 Dove Mountain Blvd. that allows for a variety of short hikes back to Wild Burro, a trail that gets its Exit 240 Tangerine Rd. N A L I and longer loops. This month’s Hike name from the now-nonexistent pack A Marana T S A I N A Thornydale Rd. Oracle Rd. C T of the Month combines the Wild Burro animals that escaped from area min- N A U T O and Alamo Springs trails, a route that ers in the early 19th century. If you’re N M Oro Valley A winds for about 7 miles over and around short on time, you can take the spur S 600-million-year-old piles of metamor- and shave a couple of miles off the hike. CORONADO phic granite rock. Otherwise, stay right for another mile NATIONAL FOREST Ina Rd. The loop begins at the Wild Burro to Alamo Springs, where the loop recon- Trailhead, which is accessed by a man- nects with the Wild Burro Trail. S a n icured boulevard that also serves the From there, it’s a straight shot t a

C Karmann Ghias driving to the Ritz — through the basin of Wild Burro Can- r u z

don’t disparage it; just appreciate it. yon back to the trailhead. In addition R 10 iv e Within seconds, the Wild Burro Trail to the remains of an old cabin, keep r dips into a wash that’s dotted with your eyes peeled for Gila monsters, chain fruit chollas and saguaros. They’re prairie falcons, gnatcatchers, kit foxes, Tucson

the first of more than 600 plant spe- diamondbacks and bobcats. Despite KEVIN KIBSEY cies you might see in these mountains, the nearby Ritz-Carlton, there’s a lot of Mother Nature along this loop. More including ocotillos, ironwoods, agaves, trail guide DOGS ALLOWED: Yes (on a leash) sotol and jojoba, as well as crested than enough to keep the hiking purists LENGTH: 7.1-mile loop HORSES ALLOWED: Yes, on select trails within the saguaros. At last count, there were 31 of happy. DIFFICULTY: Moderate preserve, including the Wild Burro Trail. USGS MAP: Ruelas Canyon those rare cactuses in the preserve. In ELEVATION: 2,806 to 3,855 feet TRAILHEAD GPS: N 32˚28.549’, W 111˚05.462’ INFORMATION: Town of Marana, 520-382-1950 or www. the spring, you’ll also see wildflowers: marana.com ADDITIONAL READING: DIRECTIONS: From Tucson, go west on Interstate lupines, larkspurs, red penstemons, For more hikes, pick up a copy 10 for 16.4 miles to Tangerine Road. Turn right onto of Arizona Highways Hiking LEAVE-NO-TRACE PRINCIPLES: goldpoppies and more. Tangerine Road and continue 4.9 miles to Dove Mountain Guide, which features 52 of the • Plan ahead and be out all of your trash. state’s best trails — one for each Boulevard. Turn left onto Dove Mountain Boulevard prepared. • Leave what you find. RIGHT: Late-afternoon light warms saguaros and weekend of the year, sorted and continue 4.5 miles to the roundabout. Veer right • Travel and camp on • Respect wildlife and ocotillos along the Wild Burro-Alamo Springs Loop. by seasons. To order a copy, at the roundabout, toward the Ritz-Carlton resort, and durable surfaces. minimize impact. OPPOSITE PAGE: Purple Chinese lanterns sprout visit www.shoparizonahighways. continue 0.8 miles to the trailhead on the right. • Dispose of waste • Be considerate of from beneath a lichen-stained rock along the trail. com/books. VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS: None properly and pack others.

54 FEBRUARY 2014 www.arizonahighways.com 55 where is this?

Win a collection of our most popular books! To enter, correctly iden- tify the location pictured at left and email your answer to editor@ 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 must be

SUZANNE MATHIA SUZANNE postmarked by February 15, 2014. Only the winner will be notified. The Home on the Range correct answer will be posted in our April issue and online at www. If you’ve visited some of the natural wonders along the Arizona-Utah border, arizonahighways.com you might have seen this house on your way to one of them. It’s located along U.S. Route 89A, beginning March 15. and when you spot it from that road, it’s time to head north. — NOAH AUSTIN

56 FEBRUARY 2014