Backpack a Dizzying Descent to the Colorado River

arizonahighways.com SEPTEMBER 2004

Visit Cochise Country Where Even JOHNNY REB Got a Taste of Apache Vengeance

Drop in on Kingman A Family Place view the Little Colorado River Primeval Splendor Boy-artist Phenom of the Navajos {also inside}

SEPTEMBER 2004 46 DESTINATION S an Jose de Tumacacori Mission Some 300 years ago, the mission was a “community” amid turmoil and danger in a primitive land, now southern Arizona. 42 BACK ROAD ADVENTURE COVER/HISTORY PORTFOLIO 34 Northwest of Prescott, a winding route takes visitors to Ambushed by Apaches 20 A Cool, Moist Mountain Place remnants of classic ranch country around Camp Wood. In 1862, Confederate soldiers may have overreached A photographer finds primeval beauty and tranquility 48 HIKE OF THE MONTH for territory into Arizona, where some fell during a along the West Fork of the Little Colorado River. A pleasant journey in the Huachuca Mountains turns a surprise attack by Indians at Dragoon Springs. rattlesnake encounter into a happy-go-lucky memory. FOCUS ON NATURE 2 LETTERS & E-MAIL Rider Navajo Indian ADVENTURE 32 Grand Canyon Canyon Reservation 6 Tracking the Tiger Rattlesnake 3 TAKING THE National Park Rim-to-River Trek Reclusive most of the time, this Sonoran Desert OFF-RAMP Two hardy Grand Canyon backpackers pick their way species gets all worked up and on the move when it’s Camp 40 HUMOR KINGMAN Wood through rocky and difficult Rider Canyon to reach an time to find a mate. West Fork of the isolated, historic spot on the Colorado River. Little Colorado River 41 ALONG THE WAY S O N O Blue River Teaching at a one-room R A PHOENIX N school on the Blue River D Saguaro PEOPLE ES TUCSON led to practical jokes, ERT National Park 28 a skunk episode and San Jose de Dragoon A Boy and His Art Tumacacori Mission Springs fond memories. Huachuca Dustin Rockmen, a 12-year-old Navajo painter, makes Mountains artistic statements in a unique way, using his disability POINTS OF INTEREST for creative expression. FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE {more stories online} 14 CITIES & TOWNS at arizonahighways.com A Visit With Kingman GENE PERRET’S WIT STOP Our writer casts himself as the cowboy hero in his first Wedged among austere mountains, this history-filled Western novel, but his wife-editor is skeptical. desert municipality’s dry landscape has a secret — life-giving springs — not to mention some interesting ONLINE EXTRA resident characters. Guru of Canyon Tourism John Hance was practically the father of Grand Canyon visitation, and many famous sites bear his name today.

WEEKEND GETAWAY Grand Canyon Most visitors see the Grand Canyon from the South and North rims. The Hualapai Indian land offers another point of view — from the less-traveled west side. [this page] The West Fork of the Little Colorado River meanders EXPERIENCE ARIZONA past the fallen skeletons of A listing of major events in the state is available online. streamside pine trees in this view near the headwaters on the flanks of 11,403-foot Baldy Peak in the Mount Baldy Wilderness. For more photos of this high mountain arizona highways on television waterway, see the portfolio on { } page 20. bruce griffin Watch for this independently produced television show inspired [front cover] In a scene virtually by Arizona Highways magazine. The weekly half-hour show airs unchanged since Cochise and his in Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff in both English and Spanish. Chiricahua Apache band roamed Robin Sewell, a veteran television news anchor and the area, sunset lights a soaptree yucca and the grasslands at the reporter, hosts the show. foot of the western Dragoon English show times: 6:30 p.m. Saturdays on Channel 12 Mountains. david muench in Phoenix and on Channel 2 in Flagstaff, and at 4:30 p.m. [back cover] Sycamore, velvet ash Sundays on Channel 9 in Tucson. and cottonwood trees line rocky The show airs in Spanish on Channel 33 in Phoenix, Channel Cochise Stronghold Canyon East in the Dragoon Mountains. 52 in Tucson and Channel 13 in Flagstaff. Check the stations’ jack dykinga listings for times. {letters & e-mail} Arizona Oddities, Attractions and Pleasures {taking the off- ramp }

SEPTEMBER 2004 VOL. 80, NO. 9

Publisher WIN HOLDEN

Editor ROBERT J. EARLY Back Road Across Arizona the rustlers’ vehicle over many miles of dirt roads Senior Editor BETH DEVENY cobalt blue accents, the buildings of THIS MONTH IN Managing Editor RANDY SUMMERLIN Your article, “Crossing Arizona on Back Roads,” (unique tires, not much traffic) and found the Research Editor MARY PRATT the hotel reflect the Spanish Editorial Administrator CONNIE BOCH ARIZONA (April ’04) by Charles Bowden and Jack Dykinga is remains of the rustled steer in the bottom of an Administrative Assistant NIKKI KIMBEL Colonial Revival style popular in one of the best. We all know that Dykinga takes abandoned mine shaft several miles from the the Southwest. Director of Photography PETER ENSENBERGER beautiful pictures, and he certainly did not let us Planet Ranch. Photography Editor RICHARD MAACK Greenway wanted to build a 1872A Prescott down in this issue. They then followed the “trail” to a small ranch Art Director BARBARA GLYNN DENNEY hotel where her guests, including newspaper But my reason for writing is to compliment house of two brothers, employees at the Planet Deputy Art Director BILLIE JO BISHOP the likes of Clark Gable, Eleanor urges an end to Art Assistant PAULY HELLER an exodus of Bowden for a fabulous article. I read the whole Ranch. They checked the flatbed truck parked near Map Designer KEVIN KIBSEY Roosevelt, John D. Rockefeller and Arizonans article with interest, but when I got to the last the house and found the unique tire tread, plus the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, fleeing the Arizona Highways Books Territory for three paragraphs, for some reason I had tears in my bovine hair that ultimately matched that of the WitWorks® Books could enjoy “privacy, quiet and riches in the eyes. I think it was because of the poetry with stolen steer. Editor BOB ALBANO sunshine” — three things the silver mines of Associate Editor EVELYN HOWELL Sonora, which this man writes. No one can describe a place As they approached the house, they noticed the Associate Editor PK PERKIN McMAHON luxurious Arizona Inn offers in Mexico. or a situation any better. dogs that were normally running free outside were Production Director CINDY MACKEY abundance. Judith Schooler, Tucson locked inside the house behind a screen door and Production Coordinator KIM ENSENBERGER To read more about the inn and Promotions Art Director RONDA JOHNSON were scratching frantically to get out. A deputy Webmaster VICKY SNOW other buildings that enliven 1879The Los Angeles Put a poet and an artist together on the back roads approached the house and, during a conversation Arizona’s Heritage in Architecture Arizona’s urban and rural Express Circulation Director HOLLY CARNAHAN newspaper says of Arizona, and the result is the beautiful language with one of the occupants, managed to let the dogs Finance Director ROBERT M. STEELE hen Isabella Selmes a hotel,” says Greenway’s landscape, pick up a new travel about Tucson’s and stunning photography of Charles Bowden and slip out. The dogs immediately raced to the dry Greenway, Arizona’s first granddaughter, Patty Doar. “So guide by Ann Patterson and Mark festival: “Here Fulfillment Director VALERIE J. BECKETT nightly are Jack Dykinga. Having been on some Arizona back riverbed nearby where they began digging in the U.S. congresswoman she did.” Vinson, Landmark Buildings: gathered Information Technology Manager W roads with my sons and grandsons, my memo- sand and soon uncovered several quarters of beef CINDY BORMANIS (1933-36), started a furniture Standing at 2200 E. Elm St., Arizona’s Architectural Heritage, together one to two thousand ries and emotions were stirred and expressed so that had been buried there in the cool, damp sand FOR CUSTOMER INQUIRIES factory for disabled World War I 3 miles from downtown Tucson, published by Arizona Highways people of all wonderfully. to keep from spoiling. A rifle was found under the OR TO ORDER BY PHONE: veterans, she suddenly owned more the 86-room Arizona Inn opened in Books. The volume highlights 45 classes, nations and colors who Jane Sylvester, Whidbey Island, WA front porch of the house, which was the source of Call toll-free: (800) 543-5432 tables and chairs than she knew 1931 and has remained largely of the state’s most arresting In the Phoenix area or outside the U.S., walk, gamble, the bullet that killed the steer. Call (602) 712-2000 what to do with. unchanged since. Constructed of edifices. To order, call toll-free drink, dance Charles Bowden’s “Crossing Arizona on Back Roads” The two brothers were prosecuted for cattle Or visit us online at: “Someone told my grandmother fired clay brick, covered with (800) 543-5432 or visit and howl like a arizonahighways.com pack of left me breathless. His vivid descriptions of the rustling (grand theft). The exhibits were she had enough furniture to build stucco and painted rosy pink with arizonahighways.com. For Corporate or Trade Sales: coyotes.” intricate beauty of each detail of his journey were fascinating, including one of the beef quarters Sales Manager HELEN THOMPSON so clear that one could almost smell and taste the (refrigerated) and the hide that matched up. The Call (602) 712-2050 flavor of what he experienced. Bowden’s ability to jury found the brothers guilty, but the conviction of E-MAIL “LETTERS TO THE EDITOR”: 1898An elderly Nogales woman paint a living picture for the reader just filled my one of the brothers was overturned by the judge for [email protected] Forgotten Land Regular Mail: drowns in her soul with delight. lack of evidence. The Devil was given own bed after Editor storm waters Doris Green, Prescott Wayne C. Benesch, Yuma 2039 W. Lewis Ave. permission one day Phoenix, AZ 85009 flood local To select him a land for his own houses. Charles Bowden’s poetic words moved me to joy- Wild Hog Problem Solved Governor Janet Napolitano special way; Director, Department of Transportation Bisbee’s public filled tears and reminded me of the blessed beauty In regard to “Unwanted and Unloved,” (“Taking the Victor M. Mendez So he hunted around for a school begins of silence in the Sonoran Desert. People suffering Off-ramp,” April ’04) about feral hogs in the Havasu month or more its fall term with ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION BOARD 306 pupils. from heart disease, those suffering from panic National Wildlife Refuge, [I recommend they] buy Chairman Bill Jeffers, Holbrook And fussed and fumed and Vice Chairman Dallas “Rusty” Gant, Wickenburg attacks or facing financial disaster need to read his Louisiana Catahoula “hog dogs.” The Catahoula terribly swore, Fire destroys Members Richard “Dick” Hileman, Jerome, a words: “Nothing that matters moves faster than a leopard dog is the Louisiana state dog. According to Lake Havasu City But at last was delighted a James W. Martin, Willcox booming mining heartbeat and that at this very instant all the legend, they have been hunting hogs since DeSoto Joe Lane, Phoenix country to view camp. Searchers hearts beat as one.” Listening to nature is the best left some Spanish “war dogs” and hogs behind in S.L. Schorr, Tucson Where the recover 12 Delbert Householder, Thatcher bodies. free medicine that exists. the 1500s, and the Catahoula Indians adopted them. prickly pear and Native Apache Trout Swims Again INTERNATIONAL REGIONAL MAGAZINE ASSOCIATION Judy Lyn Sweetland, Seattle, WA When the Kentuckians passed through on their 2001, 2000, 1998, 1992, 1990 Magazine of the Year the mesquite rizona’s Apache trout — the lives only in the streams and lakes Thanks to all those who overwhelmed us with way to Texas, they introduced their hunting dogs WESTERN PUBLICATIONS ASSOCIATION grew first native fish to be placed of eastern Arizona’s high country, The Territorial 2002 Best Overall Consumer Publication 1911 compliments about the Bowden-Dykinga back road into the breed. The Anglo settlers used these dogs And now, no doubt, in some on the federal endangered primarily in waters on the White inspector of 2002, 2001 Best Travel & In-transit Magazine A weights and journey. to bring in livestock out of the swamps. 2003, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1995, 1993, 1992 corner of hell species list — may become the first Mountain Apache Reservation. measures A team of three Catahoulas can round up a feral Best Regional & State Magazine He gloats over the work he has removed from that list within a A hundred years ago, Apache determines that SOCIETY OF AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITERS 30 out of 33 Rustlers Tracked and Caught hog in good time. I raised these amazing dogs when FOUNDATION done so well, few years as a result of a 30-year trout swam in 600 miles of cool scales in “Crossing Arizona on Back Roads” brought back we lived in Louisiana. They are, in my opinion, the 2000, 1997 Gold Awards And vows that recovery effort. streams, but in 1955 all those Tucson give Best Monthly Travel Magazine short weight.

fond memories about the Planet Ranch and the Bill best all-around utility dog. CAIN; PHOTO, GEORGE ANDREJKO; ILLUSTRATIONS, LINDA LONGMIRE Arizona More than half the state’s 36 streams were closed to fishing fol- c Arizona Highways® (ISSN 0004-1521) is published Williams River. In 1972, as a prosecutor in the Yuma Oh, lest I forget, Catahoulas have been known to monthly by the Arizona Department of Transporta cannot be beat native fishes are included in the lowing recognition of the trout’s The Republican tion. Subscription price: $21 a year in the U.S., $31 in campaign County Attorney’s office, I was involved in what had read human minds. I know this for a fact as I had a Canada,­ $34 elsewhere outside the U.S. Single copy: For scorpions, federal listing, but the Apache endangered survival. Now, through $3.99 U.S. Send subscription correspon­ dence­ and headquarters to be one of the most interesting cattle rustling stud that could read my mind. This is true and change of address information to Arizona High­ways, tarantulas, snakes trout is deemed a special entry, as hatchery propagation of on Tucson’s 2039 W. Lewis Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85009. Periodical Meyer Street capers in many years. spooky. postage paid at Phoenix, AZ and at additional mail- and heat . . . much a part of Arizona’s heritage genetically pure strains and ing office. POSTMASTER­ : send address changes to passes out free The “posse” consisting of sheriff’s deputies, Roberta Waldrop, Boerne, TX Arizona High­ways, 2039 W. Lewis Ave., Phoenix, AZ Charles O. Brown, as the Grand Canyon and the restoration of streams to keep liquor to including Ralph E. Ogden, the current sheriff of Unfortunately, the managers at the wildlife refuge, 85009. Copy­right © 2004 by the Ari­zona Department “Arizona: The Land That Sonoran Desert. The colorful away competing species, fishable citizens, of Transpor­­ tation.­­ Reproduc­ tion­ in whole or in part resulting in two with­­out permission is prohibited. The magazine does God Forgot,” 1879 Yuma County; Don Moon, Arizona Game and Fish; who know of the Catahoulas, say the refuge’s terrain not accept and is not responsible for un­solicited ma-­ yellow-gold fish spotted with black populations are returning to a shootings. terials­ provided for editorial consideration.­ and Jack Harold, state brand inspector, “tracked” makes use of the dogs impractical. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PHOTO, EDWARD M can weigh up to 6 pounds and variety of locations.

Produced in the USA 2 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 3 {taking the off- ramp }

A Rare Find for Book-lovers ith numerous large bookstores covering the Wurban landscape, The Antiquarian Shop, 40 years at the same Scottsdale location, offers a unique selection of “rare, unusual and worthwhile books.” Two other Question sellers of out-of-print and limited of the editions, Acluin Books and Charles Month Parkhurst Rare Books, have joined the Antiquarian, creating three What is a dust unusual shops at one location. Qdevil and how Serious collectors can pick up does it differ from a rarities such as a signed, first edition bound in its original red cloth cover, tornado? Granite Creek Mural in Prescott Ties Past to Present of John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle or a 1954 numbered edition of John ager to unite the past with the profile of the creek and the and reaching 11 feet high, the Get a Haircut and for $8,000, or a first edition of Frank Milton’s The Masque of Comus for ?A dust devil present, Prescott artist communities it has served over the colorful mural depicts everything a Fishing Report L. Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of $150. There are treasures galore Aforms from The E Elizabeth Newman pioneered a centuries. from traditional Yavapai basketry Oz for $12,000. Collectors with a and, would you believe, no hot surface air at Henry’s trapped on the Beauty mural project along Granite Creek, This 12-week project of the to an RV caught in a flash flood 40 smaller budget might be intrigued cappuccino machine? which wends through the town Arizona Folklore Society was years ago. Barbershop with finds like Extracts from Adam’s Information: (480) 947-0535, ground beneath of It All that grew up along its banks. unveiled in 2001 and portrays the “I started the project in hopes Diary by Mark Twain, for $350, theantiquarianshop.com. the cooler air Seventh-graders from Mile High Yavapai creation story as the that someday the whole creek or two-thirds of a century, above, while a “Arizona. Mellow, Middle School, armed with interest central theme with pictorial will be lined with murals,” Henry’s Barbershop, on tornado evolves golden, sustaining, and community pride, scoured the storylines of Spanish explorers, said Newman. “It is here to F Springerville’s Main Street from hot air in the beautiful, clean archives at the Sharlot Hall early pioneers and modern-day inspire people to remember their (U.S. Route 60), has kept men’s atmosphere with desert wind. Museum to create a historical Prescott. Stretching 75 feet long stories.” hair looking sharp and served as a trapped beneath . . . I tell you . . . this local social venue. It opened in cooler . . . is a wonderful 1940 as Franklin’s Barber Shop, thunderstorm country.” named for the founder who clouds. LIFE IN ARIZONA 1920s — Zane Grey, always kept a bottle of redeye Dust devils can Lost Pueblo, 1927 Sharlot Hall’s Copper Dress whiskey under his chair to share take off a few with clients. shingles from a roof harlot Hall — pioneer, poet copper mesh handbag and hat Henry Reyes, who began or rearrange the S and historian — chronicled ornamented with cacti were a hit, working for the founder 35 years desert a little. In Arizona Territory and opened a and Hall reported to Hewins with ago, bought the shop after September 2000, a museum to preserve the past on relief that the unusual ensemble Franklin retired and continues to dust devil hit the the old capitol grounds in “. . . is really very pretty and not a cut hair the old-fashioned way, Coconino County Prescott. bit freaky.” Hall wore the copper every Tuesday through Saturday. Fairgrounds and While working on her first creation again at the inaugural Both Henry and sidekick Fine Flagstaff Food in History’s Shadow scattered debris up book of poetry, Hall was asked to ceremonies on March 4 and noted Clement “Clem” Garcia are on nce occupied by the Babbitt used in modern architecture to 300 feet. represent the Republicans in the with pleasure that Mrs. Coolidge top of the latest news, sporting family (of later Arizona around northern Arizona. Electoral College. To long-time also honored Arizona by wearing events, the best fishing spots and O politics fame), Josephine’s Today’s visitors at the house, friend Alice Hewins she wrote: “. . . a silver-and-turquoise necklace where the deer and antelope play Restaurant brings a touch of now a chef-owned eclectic eatery, if the Party does win and I go, it is sent by the Smoki People, an and the elk roam. sophistication to Flagstaff. The start their meals with champagne probable that I will be presented organization dedicated to Long a male bastion, the shop residence was completed in 1911 vinaigrette salads with grapefruit with a gown of Arizona copper preserving Indian ceremonies and now has some female clients and was the home of John Milton and candied pecans. They move on cloth to wear while officiating — Sharlot Hall models the 7-pound Arizona dances. seeking a quick trim. Others Clark, a prominent Flagstaff to ancho-marinated steak with copper dress. CONTRIBUTORS no small ad for Arizona copper The full-length copper come with their partners to join businessman involved in local cheddar polenta, tortilla-crusted NOAH ALESHIRE and also solving the dress problem February 24, 1925, the blue silk overdress weighs 7 pounds and in continuing general politics. halibut with cilantro rice, cedar LEE ALLEN for me in a unique way.” dress and its copper mesh can be in seen in its fully restored conversations. The architecture reflects the pink salmon or lemon-tarragon LEO W. BANKS Indeed, Calvin Coolidge won the overdress arrived just in time for a glory at the Sharlot Hall Museum “See you next year,” said a utilitarian Craftsman Bungalow roasted chicken, accompanied by a RON BUTLER CARRIE M. MINER presidential election a short time luncheon held by the Senate wives in Prescott. summer visitor, pausing at the movement popular near the turn of choice from the wine list. TANYA PAYNE later. Hall traveled to Washington honoring Mrs. Coolidge. Information: (928) 445-3122, door, after getting her Betty Page- the last century. The house was the Find Josephine’s in the historic CHERYL A. SWEET to cast Arizona’s electoral votes. On The copper dress, its matching www.sharlot.org. like bangs trimmed. first in Flagstaff constructed in district at 403 N. Humphreys St. JOHN J.J. WARD CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PHOTO, DALE SCHICKETANZ; PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION, LINDA LONGMIRE; PHOTO, JOSEPHINE’S RESTAURANT; ILLUSTRATION, LINDA LONGMIRE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PHOTO, DALE SCHICKETANZ; PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION, LINDA LONGMIRE; JOSEPHINE’S RESTAURANT; CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ILLUSTRATION, LINDA LONGMIRE; PHOTO, STUDENTS OF MILE HIGH MIDDLE SCHOOL,; PHOTO, SHARLOT HALL MUSEUM, PRESCOTT CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ILLUSTRATION, LINDA LONGMIRE; PHOTO, STUDENTS OF MILE HIGH MIDDLE SCHOOL,; SHARLOT Information: (928) 333-2511. native malpais rock, which is still Information: (928) 779-3400.

4 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 5 OVER THE ROCKS

RIDER CANYON poses a challenge in reaching the Colorado’s HOUSE ROCK RAPIDS Text by KATHLEEN BRYANT Photographs by LARRY LINDAHL DOWN TO THE RIVER W e park our four-wheel drive on a knoll that sweeps down to the edge of Rider Can­- yon in far northern Arizona, its depths shadowy in the late- afternoon light. We hope to set up camp here and hike into the canyon in the morning. A narrow break in the Kaibab limestone is the only hint at the route. Massive boulders lie in a jumble down a dizzying descent; then the trail disappears below a gargantuan chockstone. The thought of wriggling underneath tons of rock makes my stomach clench. This treacherous passage of tumbled stone marks just the begin- ning of nearly 3 miles of steep talus slope, cliffs, pourovers­ and pools leading down to the Colorado River. Even with climbing rope for lowering our packs down cliffs and an air mattress for crossing deep pools, any single obstacle might bar us from our goal, the beach at House Rock Rapids along the Colorado River, 17 miles below Lee’s Ferry. If we make it, our reward will be our own private beach in a remote stretch of canyon, not far from the place where members of a late 19th‑century river expe- dition perished. “We can’t get past that chock­stone wearing our packs,” I say unnecessarily. “We’ll use the rope to lower them from above,” Larry Lindahl, my hiking companion, responds, making it sound easy, although I have my doubts. A thundercloud, foreboding as the prospect of tomorrow’s descent, hangs above as we head back to our truck. A loud buzzing interrupts my thoughts. “I hope that’s not a tire,” I fret. We’ve driven a 12-mile maze of ranch tracks and Bureau of Land Management roads scattered with nasty sharp chunks of limestone that reached for tires like toothy

[preceding panel, pages 6 and 7] The great sandstone walls of Rider Canyon dwarf author Kathleen Bryant as she makes her way through the jumbled boulders near the rift’s confluence with the Colorado River. [left] Rider Canyon meets the Colorado River at river Mile 17 measured from Lee’s Ferry, as all Grand Canyon river distances are calculated. There, a tumbling, churning maelstrom of rock and water known as House Rock Rapids provides a powerful display of the river’s force and an intimidating obstacle to boaters challenging the river. [above] Author Bryant negotiates a talus slope as she begins her descent to the Colorado River through Rider Canyon.

8 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 9 we pick our way down a steep slope fully exposed to the sun. Our loaded packs threaten to tip us as scree skitters out from under our feet. High above, a rock gargoyle grins evilly at our discomfort. A faint trail winds through prickly pear cacti and ephedra (Mormon tea) and around rockfalls. We reach the canyon floor and look up at the rim, 700 feet above, but can’t pick out our route from this perspec- tive. We talk of the men who hauled Nims up this steep slope in a litter made of oars, driftwood and can- vas. While Nims slipped in and out of consciousness, bleeding from his ears and nose and his leg broken, did they scan the rim above, worried about being trapped in this rocky prison? We mark our exit route with a branch, hoping we won’t miss it on our return. The canyon captures and reflects midday heat while we scramble over rocks and around beds of dehy- drating mud. Fossils — a scallop-shaped brachiopod and ancient sea lilies called crinoids — prove that life here has stretched over eons. A female collared lizard zips in front of us like a miniature dinosaur, and hop- tree scents the air with heady sweetness. As we gradually descend toward the river, the canyon floor changes to long stretches of sandstone. Eventually, we settle into an awk- ward rhythm, stopping for photos, jaws. We circle the truck, looking for the leak, then realize the adjusting our packs, when the sand- sound is coming from the vibrating radio antenna. stone ends in an 8-foot drop. We “Weird,” says Larry. decide to climb around, but another “Hmm . . .” I look up. The late-September weather seems sus- drop soon forces us to remove our piciously monsoonlike. Clouds dance over the Kaibab Plateau all packs and lower them with the rope, afternoon, bellies flashing, unfurling sheets of rain along the edge a tedious maneuver that we repeat of House Rock Valley. several times. Nearing the river, we We decide to backtrack to lower ground, then watch, amazed, as encounter small pools. Tracks, from a blazing white bolt strikes our would-be campsite. The highest insect to coyote, surround the ephem-­ point along the rim, the knoll becomes the epicenter of a fierce eral water. Tiny toads hop across squall. Twenty minutes later, the storm moves east toward Echo slick expanses of mud. Cliffs, glowing in a swath of sunlight. A double rainbow briefly Canyon walls change from talus glimmers against magenta clouds. slope to the cliff-forming Supai group. Long stairsteps of reddish “Maybe it’s an omen,” I say. sandstone lead ever downward toward the river, tantalizing us with “The storm or the rainbow?” thoughts of a cool soak. I shake my head, unsure. We return to the knoll, but decide to According to the ranger who sold us our backcountry permit, sleep in the back of the truck rather than risk weathering another we are the only hikers in Rider Canyon, and the last river trip would storm with our small tent. challenge House Rock Rapids by midday. Visions of the private par- I awake to blue skies as Larry returns from photographing the adise ahead keep us moving. Until . . . our sandstone staircase Vermilion Cliffs to the north. Looking west, we can see the high abruptly stops 6 feet above a 20-foot-wide pool in a slickrock bowl plateau of Grand Canyon’s North Rim. A web of hidden canyons, with sheer walls on either side. dark cracks in the valley floor, leads to the Colorado River. We drop our packs and ponder our fate. It’s already late after- This upper section of the Colorado’s run through Grand Canyon noon, but the river can’t be far away. Muddy tracks on one side of is known as Marble Canyon. Explorer John Wesley Powell’s 1869 the murky pool show that river runners hiked upcanyon and account expressed awe: “The walls of the canyon, 2,500 feet high, stopped, unable to negotiate this obstacle — evidence that doesn’t are of marble, of many beautiful colors, often polished. . . .” bode well for our return trip, even if we manage to cross now. We For the 1889 Robert Brewster Stanton expedition, however, Mar- ble Canyon proved a chamber of horrors. Three men drowned here on Stanton’s first attempt to navigate the Colorado. In 1890, at the [top] The sharp cleft of Rider Canyon meets the Colorado River at the beginning of Stanton’s second attempt, expedition photographer center of this view, a photograph made from the opposite side of the Franklin Nims fell 20 feet and nearly died. Stanton and his crew Grand Canyon on the South Rim. broke their journey to evacuate Nims via Rider Canyon. Our trip [above] The showy white blossoms of the datura contrast with the deadly toxins released when the plant is ingested. follows their route in reverse, from rim to river. [right] The Rider Canyon trail careens between rugged sandstone After maneuvering through the boulders at the top of the trail, walls on its way to the river.

10 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com CLINGING TO THE EDGE of the pourover while he wobbles in the mud below, I lower the packs toward him before taking the plunge myself. AFTER TWICE SLIDING BACK DOWN INTO THE BOWL OF CHILLY WATER, I CLIMB OUT, shivering with relief. change into river sandals and, in a foolish gesture of commitment, the night’s storms. Grimly, we fill as many water bottles as we can toss our boots across the pool. before our filter clogs. Larry braves the cold water first. “It’s deep in the middle, and “We’d better head out before it gets any hotter,” Larry warns. over here it’s solid mud,” he warns from the other side. We make it through the narrows without the rope and get across Clinging to the edge of the pourover while he wobbles in the mud the bowl-shaped pool in under an hour. It’s an uphill race against below, I lower the packs toward him before taking the plunge myself. the sun and, for me, from an eerie sense of doom. I tell Larry about After twice sliding back down into the bowl of chilly water, I climb the voices. He confesses that he also heard voices the evening before. out, shivering with relief. Three more times we encounter deep pools A trick of the rapids? Or the echoes of Stanton’s men, discussing in the carved and fluted stone. The last, 40 feet long, cuts through how to deal with Nims, “whose moans harmonized in chilling sheer walls only a room’s width apart. We have to climb high above, rhythm with the wind. . . .” along a narrow ledge that plunges 30 feet to still water below. In January 1890, they battled sandy gusts and ice-forming cold. Now we can hear the Colorado’s whisper, the muted rush of Our circumstances couldn’t be more different: The sun beats down House Rock Rapids. Though the sound beckons, we feel reluctant relentlessly as the canyon opens up. We stop frequently and drink, to leave this passage of dark-red stone, shady and secret. But other always measuring our remaining water against the climb out. At obstacles might await and, with sunset an hour away, we dare not one stop, we compete with a pair of chuckwallas for the meager linger. We pass through the narrows, hushed by the realization we shade of a boulder. They hide in a dark crevice at our intrusion. are utterly alone in this magnificent place. We welcome the sight of the branch marking the route up. By We turn a corner and see the canyon’s mouth. The final test is a the time we climb the steep talus onto the rim, my legs are quiv- simple maze of willow and tamarisk trees. We step out of the brush ering. I think of the relief Stanton’s men felt when they stood on onto buff-colored sand that slopes down to a clear lagoon, a pool this very spot. Mine is mixed with a sense of triumph. We grin at of quiet water above the tumultuous rapids. The walls of Marble each other, a little goofily. Canyon soar high above us, golden with late light. How fortunate we are compared to Nims, who woke from his Across the field of boulders fanning out from Rider Canyon, ordeal a week later to learn that he’d been cut from the expedition’s House Rock Rapids boil in a froth of blue-green and white. The payroll and expected to fund his own way home, while the rest of roar drowns out our voices. Larry goes back to work with tripod the crew continued downriver with his camera. and camera, and I cross to the main beach, scrambling up a mas- Although Kathleen Bryant of Sedona is an experienced hiker, she considers Rider Canyon sive boulder to look down at the surging water, one of the upper the toughest 5.5 miles she’s ever traveled — and the most breathtaking in every way. canyon’s most challenging rapids. A standing wave hangs high above Larry Lindahl of Sedona was first enchanted by Rider Canyon when he hiked it a churning hole, while fierce lateral waves crash along the beach. during a February rafting trip. He enjoyed the revisit on this trip in warmer weather. As the last light creeps up the walls, Larry and I meet back at camp for a swim in the lagoon’s chilly waters. After dinner, we lie Editor’s Note: For those who would like to learn to take profes- back in our sleeping bags, looking up at the stars. Light flickers on sional landscape photographs like those in this issue, the Friends the cliffs across river, proof that thunderstorms still threaten. In of Arizona Highways has two photo workshops that will interest case of rain, we keep the tent nearby. We are talking nervously of you. One, led by photographer Chuck Lawson from October 3 to flash floods, when a rustling noise interrupts our conversation. October 7, will concentrate on shooting autumn color on the North I turn on the flashlight. Brown eyes stare back at me from a tri- Rim of the Grand Canyon. The other, led by Richard Maack, the angular face topped with large ears — a ringtail. Our food hangs magazine’s photography editor, will visit the slot canyons of north- high enough to deter packrats, but our efforts prove no match for ern Arizona, October 20 to October 24. For information and res- him. With the grace of a cat and the cleverness of a monkey, he ervations, call (888) 790-7042, or visit the group’s Web site at goes to work, ignoring the flashlight’s beam. www.friendsofazhighways.com. Larry gets up to rig the bag again, while the ringtail watches closely from a nearby perch. When we next turn on the flashlight, Location: Approximately 150 miles north of Flagstaff. he is standing on the sand, stretching up, bag just out of reach. He Getting There: From Flagstaff, drive north on U.S. Route 89 to investigates various options, entertaining us until we decide our Bitter Springs. Continue north and then west on U.S. Route 89A. Crossing the Colorado River, go about 10 miles past Cliff Dwellers breakfast is safe and switch off the light. Lodge, then turn left (south) onto the first road past Milepost But sleep comes fitfully. Roaring rapids, rustling bushes and flash- 557. The dirt road forks left (east) several times, dwindling to a rocky two-track ing lightning mix with thoughts of the hike out. In the gray hours that requires a high-clearance vehicle. A good map or guidebook is essential for before dawn, men’s voices startle me from a doze. Thinking an early following the 12-mile route to the trailhead. Travel Advisory: A backcounty permit is required to camp in Marble Canyon, raft trip might have pulled in to scout the rapids, I open my eyes. which lies within the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. Campfires are The beach is deserted. Puzzled, I drift back to sleep. not allowed, and backpackers must adhere to guidelines minimizing impact. Morning reveals a new threat. Our clear lagoon is silty gray from Warning: Depending on season and weather, this canyoneering experience may require wading, swimming, scrambling, rock climbing and route finding. Dangerous heights and extreme temperatures are possible. Carry plenty of water, in addition to a filter for use with any local water source. [left] Rainwater collects in transient pools along Additional Information: Backcountry Office, Grand Canyon National Park, the flood-scoured sandstone bed of Rider Canyon. (928) 638-7888, www.thecanyon.com. arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 13

-–––- A mesquite blossom pirouettes upon an eddy 93 and U.S. Route 66 intersect in that gap. For and floats toward reeds 20 yards away where many travelers, Kingman is an enigma. They ask, the stream flows back underground. The sur- “Hot ain’t it?” and “How far to Vegas/California?” rounding hills stand dark and dry, and filaree And they wonder, “Why would anyone live roots reach no moisture. here?” With 36,000 people living in and around Drawn by the scent, birds and mammals the city, there must be a reason. embroider the damp bank with their tracks. An ancient trade route through the Kingman Some are fresh, like those made by my boots, area linked the Pueblo tribes to the east with the and some are fading. Others, the ones accu- Pacific Coast tribes. In 1776, Father Francisco mulated since the Earth winced and opened Tomas Garces, a Franciscan missionary, drank this tear duct in the hard countenance of the from the springs on his way to the Hopi mesas Cerbat Mountains, only the mud remembers. north of present-day Flagstaff. Yet the springs This spring and others in Kingman have been remained a remote respite on a faint footpath gurgling for at least 10,000 years, when humans until 1857 when Lt. Edward Beale passed through first occupied the area. The story of Kingman the area with a survey crew and 25 camels to — the why, the how and the who — is really the mark a road following the 35th parallel that story of these springs, of this water. would provide emigrants with an alternative In northwestern Arizona, elevation 3,333 feet, winter route. Kingman lies in a gap between the Cerbat and Gold was discovered in the area in 1862. The Hualapai mountains. Interstate 40, U.S. RouteS mountains soon swarmed with miners, and [preceding panel, pages 14 and 15] Photographed at the Nighthawk Saloon within the historic, though now-abandoned Hotel Beale in Kingman, karaoke singer Juanita Bastian performs with style. [above] Humorist Bob Boze Bell was told by an English teacher that he would “regret not paying attention in her class.” In 1986, he sent her a copy of his first book of cartoons saying it proved her point “beyond a shadow of a doubt.” [right] Rose Larsen, owner of Rosie’s Den at Milepost 28 on U.S. Route 93, cooks everything from scratch, including the sauce for her barbecued pork steak and the home fried potatoes she “grates right on the grill.”

16 SEPTEMBER 2004 [above] Tim Parker (left) with Michelle and Bob Hall form the Homemade Jam Band and play bluegrass music at venues around Kingman. [right] With roots in Mohave County going back to 1930 and earlier, members of the 130-strong Daughters of Mohave County Pioneers (from left, standing) Margie Cornwall, Verna Wright, Madeline McVey, Ruthie Bishop and Celia Morton pose in the bed of a 1950 Stude- baker pickup truck driven by SGracie Neal at Neal’s Long Mountain Ranch. mining towns dotted the slopes. The Hua­ Kingman. “Most of the folks are bighearted lapai Indians, many of whom lived near and wonderful. Of course there are some the springs, rebelled against the encroach- big, fat jerks, but, fortunately, most of them ment. The murder of a Hualapai chief at are either my relatives or lifelong friends.” the springs in 1866 precipitated a war that With its abundant water supply and the shifted northward. As a consequence, ­King-­ activities.” There are mountains for hiking Who Shot Liberty Valance. The Mohave the Colorado River valley for more than lasted until 1871, when the U.S. Army estab- railroad, Kingman became a shipping and man has evolved into a regional trade, ser- and hunting, and lakes and rivers for fish- Museum of History and Arts displays a 20 years. The Powerhouse Visitors Center lished an outpost, Camp Beale Springs. communications hub for Mohave County. vice and distribution center with tourism ing and boating, and all within less than an collection of his movie and television stands across U.S. Route 66. Constructed Loren Wilson, a former high school teacher The community weathered gold and silver and manufacturing its leading industries. hour’s drive. memorabilia that spans his career begin- in 1907 as a coal-fired generating station, and now a volunteer at the museum, has been market fluctuations better than the mining Bill Jordan was born in Kingman in 1954. Kingman shows off for itself twice a year. ning in the late 1920s to just before his the building has been renovated and now instrumental in the restoration of Camp towns in the surrounding hills; still, rela- After living several years elsewhere in the On the Fourth of July, the town puts on death in 1977. houses the Chamber of Commerce and the Beale Springs. tively little of the wealth extracted from the state, he and his wife, Corene, returned to what it considers the most spectacular Kingman is not all hard edges and hot Historic Route 66 Museum. On display “When I retired from teaching 15 years mines, more than $93 million between 1863 Kingman 12 years ago to raise their three fireworks display in the state. Then, on the sun. To expose the community’s other sides, upstairs are several large-format photo- ago, people asked me where I would go to and 1960, stayed in the community. As a children. Bill supports the current initiative first weekend in October, Kingman hosts the museum offers a walking tour of the ­graphs by the late Carlos Elmer, another retire,” he said, grinning. “With these moun- result, Kingman’s economy grew very little toward reviving old downtown. “The older Andy Devine Days with a parade, a car- historic downtown district. A free map, a hometown boy, and a frequent contribu- ­tains and the river and the good people,­ until the 1930s, when the construction of neighborhoods and business districts are nival and a rodeo. Character actor Andy hat and plenty of water will make the tor to this magazine. where else would I want to go?” Boulder Dam and the road to it (now U.S. monuments of the strong sense of commu­ Devine, who grew up in Kingman, played stroll more pleasant. Not everyone who goes to Kingman The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad followed 93) opened new opportunities for employ- nity that prevailed throughout my youth,” in films and on television. His memorable Half a block east of the museum stands stays there. It can be a prickly pear kind the Beale wagon road. The project surveyor, ment and business growth. he said. roles include the hapless marshal, Link Locomotive Park. The huge locomotive of place for those unaccustomed to an Lewis Kingman, noted the springs on his During World War II, an airfield was built The Fountain Cafe thrives as part of that Appleyard, in the 1962 movie The Man No. 3759 made the pull both ways out of austere and wind­swept landscape. But map as “Kingman siding.” In 1883, trains north of town for the Army Air Force Flex- revival. On the last Friday of every month, those who do remain, like the Daughters began stopping there for water. ible Gunnery School. Approximately 35,000 the gourmet coffee shop hosts the Home- Location: Approximately 145 miles west of Flagstaff. of Mohave County Pioneers, know there Kingman has always been a tough town, airmen were trained as gunners for the B-17­ made Jam Band. Bob and Michelle Hall, Getting There: From Flagstaff, travel west on Interstate 40. Exit 51 will take you to Andy is a reservoir of strength and beauty to be as rough as Tombstone or Bisbee, but with- Flying Fortress. along with fiddler Tim Parker, are main- Devine Avenue. found there in this desert. Their spirits Phone Numbers: Area code is 928. out the publicity. Take equal parts miners, After the war, many of the servicemen re- stays of the bluegrass group, and all three thrive like mesquite blossoms borne upon Fees: A $3 admission includes the Bonelli House, Historic Route 66 Museum and the Mohave Museum of ranchers and railroad men, add whiskey and turned to Kingman for the climate and for have lived in Kingman for more than 20 History and Arts. Donations are requested at the Kingman Army Airfield Museum. Admission to the the face of clear water. heat to a boil, and you have a recipe for a the opportunities provided. The completion years. Bob has been an endangered-species Powerhouse Visitors Center is free. rough Saturday night. of Interstate 40 through the area in the late biologist and now works as a public affairs Attractions: Bonelli House, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 753-3195; Historic Route 66 Museum, Flagstaff resident Tom Carpenter grew up in Kingman “To me, Kingman is the Wild West, and 1970s diverted traffic from U.S. Route 66 to officer with the Bureau of Land Manage- daily, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., 753-9889; Kingman Army Airfield Museum, Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and visits his mother there every chance he gets. 757-1892; Mohave Museum of History and Arts, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 1 David Zickl of Fountain Hills got a big kick out of always has been,” said Bob Boze Bell, editor the outskirts of town, so businesses moved ment. He said the area offers a great place to p.m. to 5 p.m., 753-3195; Powerhouse Visitors Center, daily, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., 753-6106. ­photographing the people of Kingman. He spent so much of True West magazine. Bell was reared in out to the turnpikes and the center of town raise kids “with a terrific variety of outdoor Additional Information: Kingman Area Chamber of Commerce, 753-6106, www.kingmantourism.org. time there he felt like an honorary citizen.

18 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 19

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o i l o f t r o p Discover primeval plendoralong the Little Colorado River’s S b y b r u c e g r i f f i n West Fork p o r t f o l i o a

RAVELING FROM MY HOME in the low desert to hike along the West Fork of the Little Colorado River, I take extra pleasure from the cool air and spruce- fir forest that surrounds me here above 9,000 feet ele- vation. tMidsummer’s monsoon is my favorite time to photo- graph here, when seasonal greening and flowering are at their maximum, thanks to almost-daily rainshowers. Billowy clouds signal the gathering storms, diffusing and softening the light. I prefer conditions like these for a vari- ety of shots. West Fork Trail starts in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests near Greer and becomes (Text continued on page 27)

[preceding panel, pages 20 and 21] Lush, moss-covered rocks beckon the eye to climb upward toward a mixed conifer forest along the West Fork of the Little Colorado River in eastern Arizona. [clockwise from above] The rich soil of the West Fork’s riparian area nourishes moisture-loving plants such as yellow cutleaf coneflowers, New Mexican checkermallows and a variety of ferns and mosses. [opposite page] Evoking a sense of pastoral serenity, the West Fork meanders through the spruce forest of the Mount Baldy Wilderness.

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(Continued from page 22) the West Baldy Trail upon entering Mount Baldy Wilderness. The wilderness area is west of State Route 273, which crosses the river near Sheep Cross- ing, a descriptive name that recalls earlier times when desert sheep ranchers drove their herds to abundant sum- mer pastures in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona. As I move off the trail and involve myself with the sur- rounding landscape, time is forgotten. At first, I set aside the bulky view camera and work with my 35 mm cam- era, discovering what the forest floor has to offer. Lichens, ferns, mosses and fungi — including mushrooms large and small — proliferate in the cool, moist loam along the river’s course. Some prefer fallen logs to soil as a substrate. Unbeknown to me, a spider has crawled inside the view camera and has spun a thick web. When I discover this later, it makes for some interesting troubleshooting. The canyon cut by the river is a work in progress, with frequent deadfalls and log tangles. The untouched wilderness evokes primeval beauty, especially on a misty summer afternoon. This is my time, the reason I come here. I enjoy the tranquility, and I am in no hurry to leave.

[preceding panel, pages 24 and 25] Wildflowers — including Western red raspberries, cutleaf coneflowers, shrubby cinquefoils, water hemlocks and geraniums — upstage a backdrop of moss-draped spruce trees along the West Fork. [left] The eye-catching appeal of ruby red baneberries sends a mixed message: Look but don’t eat. The berries are poisonous. [this page] The damp mountain environment makes a perfect home for mushrooms like Amanita muscaria, also known as fly agaric (top); Mycena sp. (above); and Gymnopus dryophilus (right).

arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 27 ustin roy rockmen lives the Rockmens had hope that their boy and he’d play with them using his toes. below a tall bluff where eagles would pull through. But they got bad news, Later, Linda spent eight months with nest. He often sees the great too. Doctors said he would no longer have Dustin at a rehabilitation facility in Tucson. birds soaring above his home use of his arms. She keeps pictures of that stay in a notebook. dat Hunters Point, south of Window Rock Now they droop from his shoulders, One shows Dustin, then almost 2 years on the Navajo Indian Reservation, and he crooked at the elbows. His wrists angle side- old, in a wheelchair. He could gain speed studies them, letting their size and majesty ways, and he can’t manipulate his fingers only by kicking his feet, but zipping down swell his imagination. Then he paints them. to grab things. the corridor he’d go, roaring along in his It’s what artists do, even sixth graders. But the stroke left intact something that tiny wheelchair,­ nurses laughing and run- They paint the world revealed to them, and doctors and medical tests can’t measure — ning after him — a toddler bringing joy to for Dustin that means the community’s Dustin’s extraordinary spirit and ability to a difficult time. hogans, his aunt’s sheep, the red mesas that overcome challenges, a grit that sometimes “I don’t know about that boy of mine, fill the horizon. finds its way into the human heart. but he’s always been that way,” says Linda. Right now, with fat clouds overhead and Within three days, he began using his As time wore on, he got better and bet- rain beginning to fall, Dustin seeks shelter feet. Doctors put toys on his hospital bed, ter at working his toes like fingers, and inside the Rockmen family home. He clears today he uses them to draw. a space on the dirt floor for his paper and The rain has brought Dustin’s younger pencils. His subject this day has nothing to siblings in from the front yard, too. The 5- do with his surroundings. year-old twins, Kenzie and Edith, bound I’ve asked him to sketch my portrait. “You crazily about the cramped room. have to make me look handsome,” I say, Dustin is sitting beside the kitchen table. adding a wisecrack about the enormity of His drawing paper rests on a board that lies the task. flat on the dirt at his feet. He is gripping his Dustin’s face sparkles and he breaks into a pencil between the first two toes of his right wide, dimpled grin. He turns toward his foot and deftly steering it across the paper. mom, Linda. “I know, I’ll make him a horse,” Shoulders hunched, face scrunched in

[opposite page] Hugged by his sister Kenzie, Dustin Rockmen sits in the doorway of a hogan under construction near his home on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona, surrounded by some of his other siblings (clockwise from bottom left): Justin, Rochelle, Junior and Edith. [left] Dustin demonstrates his technique for drawing by holding a pencil between his toes. Dustin creates art with a personal style, such as the sunflower (far left) and the cowboy (below) on display at the Perry Null Trading Co. in Gallup, New Mexico. paintings courtesy of perry null trading co.

he says. “Maybe I’ll give him a tail, too.” “Oh, Dusty,” she says, covering her eyes. Everyone laughs, and this remarkable 12-year-old boy, the most talked-about artist on the reservation, an award-winning painter prevented by a disability from using his hands, gets down to work. At 18 months old, Dustin suffered a rare With his feet, Navajo youngster Dustin Rockmen creates distinctive art spinal-cord stroke caused by restricted blood flow due to swelling. Reservation Text by LEO W. BANKS Photographs by DON B. STEVENSON doctors arranged to airlift him to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix. Linda Rockmen remembers those first terrible hours, watching her stricken son lying motionless in bed, his survival doubt- ful. Relatives­ of his Apache father, Jerome, born in Whiteriver on the White Mountain a boy’s gift Apache Reservation, rushed to the Valley to donate their blood. “That whole first day afterward, he didn’t move,” says Linda. On the second day, Dustin stirred, and

arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 29 concentration, he works slowly and calmly Richard Charles, her grandfather who lives the Tse Ho Tso School in Fort Defiance, he amid the chaos of Kenzie and Edith’s play- near Window Rock, and asked him to per- uses his pinky to tap the computer keyboard. ing and squealing. form a Native American Church ceremony To accomplish other tasks, such as pull- “Oops,” he says. “I made a mistake. Bet- for Dustin. The all-night service, which ­ing a T-shirt over his head, he needs help. ter fix that.” involves consuming a drink laced with the But those around him marvel at his deter- Dustin — sometimes known by his fam- hallucinogen peyote, took place inside a mination. ily nickname “Taazhi,” Navajo for turkey teepee that Charles had built outside the On a school trip last fall, he won a silver — sweeps his eraser off the table with his Rockmen home. medal in a Special Olympics swim meet in bent right arm, snatches it with his feet and After all the prayers were said, Jerome Phoenix. He wore a life jacket and floated maneuvers it between the toes of his right on his back, propelling himself with his legs. foot to rub away his error. He shows amaz- “He’s a normal little boy who wants to be ing dexterity. like the other kids,” says Arletta Hartmann, “I like my new socks, Mama,” he says. Dustin’s former preschool teacher who still “My toes are nice and warm.” mentors him. “The only magic about him Linda made a special trip to the Wal-Mart is what he does with his feet.” in Gallup to buy him socks with individ- Hartmann has taken Dustin under her ual toes. Without them, his feet get too cold wing, enrolling him in art classes, and twice to draw during the winter. a month she takes him to her house for a For the Rockmens, buying much of any- meal and quiet time to paint. thing has been tough. Jerome, 45, suffered They have a special relationship. He calls a stroke within months of his son’s, and her Grandma. “Dusty was the bright spark later had a heart attack. in my class,” Hartmann says. He needs oxygen to sleep at night, and Sometimes the two drive to Gallup and on doctor’s order cannot work. The family visit galleries and trading posts along Route gets by on Social Security disability. But it 66. Every new shape and color he sees doesn’t go far. sends a spark through his imagination. “I Jerome has just left in their pickup truck to like the designs on the big pottery,” he says. pawn Linda’s turquoise cluster bracelet. It Hartmann also brought him to the atten- usually brings $30, enough for tomorrow’s tion of Art of the People, a collective of top laundry and some food. When their next [above] Eager to encourage Dustin, Perry Null Indian artists formed to promote the arts in check comes, she’ll buy it back. purchased this painting, in which the young artist the Four Corners region. In December its develop because he has the drive and knows truck drinking water home in barrels from off his socks. The signature takes 10 min- Dustin’s art has brought some money to captured the joy of eating watermelon. perry null members take part in a student competi- what he wants. His palette is wide open.” Blue Canyon, a 28-mile round trip. utes. The letters emerge beautifully formed. [opposite page, above] Just as Window Rock, a the family — usually $50 to $100 for paint- Navajo Nation scenic landmark, offers sky vistas tion at the Gallup Cultural Center, spon- Wood sculptor Dan Yazzie finds it amaz- But Dustin is nearing the end of his por- In the sketch, he has portrayed me with ings sold here and there — and his renown through a sandstone arch, Dustin’s artwork sored by the Southwest Indian Foundation. ing that high-caliber artists give their time trait. His foot has cramped, which happens the head of a horse and the body of a human. is growing. presents unique views of his world. Two years ago, Hartmann entered one of to help Dustin. Talent plays a part, he says, sometimes. He often listens to country music I love it. [opposite page, below] During their visit, Dustin Indian Health Service officials in Kayenta sketched The Handsome Horse Man, a whimsical Dustin’s paintings in the foundation’s second but the sparkle of Dustin’s personality fac- to soothe his mind as he draws. He loves “But we need a title,” I say. “What’ll we recently asked him to paint a Monument portrait of author Leo W. Banks. show. Well-known Navajo painter Irving tors in, too. Johnny Cash, and don’t get him started on call it?” Valley scene for use on T-shirts and mugs. Toddy, a founder of Art of the People, served “If I had a grin like his every day of my George Strait. “The Horse Man,” he says. After ponder- He’ll earn $50 for that piece. as a judge, and remembers Dustin’s water- life, I wouldn’t have a thing to worry about,” “I love it when George Strait sings, ‘where ing that, he smiles, his face all teeth and Dustin scored big at last year’s art com- and Linda still weren’t sure what to do. Then color landscape as an outstanding example of says Yazzie. “Then I watch him work and the sidewalk ends and the road begins,’” dimples, and adds, “Wait, let’s call it The petition at the Navajo Nation Fair. Against she watched Charles taking down the tee- craftsmanship and coordination of colors. it makes me want to get down on my knees Dustin says. “Do you know that song? I Handsome Horse Man.” 75 other entries, he won best of show, best ­pee poles, and to her amazement she saw He called it delicately and professionally done. and pray. It reminds me that there’s a higher really like that one. I sing along.” The sketch goes aloft for everyone to see, of class and a first-place ribbon, along with then-4-year-old Dustin helping. Toddy looked forward to meeting Dustin spirit watching over us. I get chills up and He’s finished now and proceeds to sign his and we all laugh from our bellies, shining $500 in prize money. Charles had strapped the rope between at the awards ceremony to ask how he pulled down my spine thinking about it.” work. He steadies the eraser end of the pen- this young artist’s bright light over a dark Linda makes sure that any money her the boy’s fingers and told him to walk back- off such a fine painting. cil between his chin and neck, and guides night at Hunter’s Point. boy makes returns to him to pay for clothes ward to unravel it, praying as he walked. “Then he walked in, and I saw he could the rain is falling harder now, and a the point with his right hand, which he lays and necessities. When Linda saw that, she and Jerome agreed not use his arms,” says Toddy. “I was totally cold wind blows off the mesas. Daylight will flat behind the pencil. Editor’s Note: After interviewing for this But this time, even though Dustin’s arms to let the surgeons proceed. overwhelmed that he could execute that way soon be gone, leaving Dustin to work by Dustin signs his name that way around story, the Rockmen family received a new prevented him from going on the rides at the “I witnessed a miracle that day,” Linda with his feet. He’s an amazing young man.” butane lamp. Financial troubles have left the strangers because he’s modular home provided by the Southwest fair, he insisted that a portion of his prize remembers. “Dusty had never used his Dustin won first place for that watercolor Rockmens with no electricity or heat. They bashful about taking Indian Foundation. Dustin’s art may be seen money go to buy tickets so his brothers and hands before. Right then I knew he’d use of a sunset, along with a $2,500 scholar- at the Perry Null Trading Co., 1710 S. 2nd sisters could ride. them again.” ship. He won first place again the follow- St., Gallup, NM, 87301; (505) 863-5249 or Dustin spent much of his childhood until The prayer meeting stood out for Dustin, ing year for his painting of a horse. THE HANDSOME HORSE MAN (505) 722-3806; www.pntrader.com. age 5 wearing a helmet because he couldn’t too. The first paintings he ever sold — at After meeting him, Toddy and other Art balance himself, making falls troublesome, the Navajo Nation Fair in 1998 — depicted of the People members took Dustin into I’ve asked him to sketch my portrait. “You have Leo W. Banks keeps Dusty’s drawing, The Handsome and he has undergone two arm surgeries. that same Native American Church teepee their group. Several continue to meet him Horse Man, in a treasured place in his Tucson home. He to make me look handsome,” I say, adding a enjoyed meeting and getting to know all the Rockmen “At first I said no more operations,” says next to his hogan at Hunter’s Point. in mentoring sessions, including the noted wisecrack about the enormity of the task. children. He also wrote the history story about the Linda. “We were afraid we might not bring The surgeries haven’t helped Dustin’s left painter Baje Whitethorn. Dustin’s face sparkles and he breaks into a wide, Confederates fighting the Apaches and the Back Road him home.” But doctors believed they could arm but have given him some use of his right “His style is fresh and very simple,” says Adventure in this issue. dimpled grin. “I know, I’ll make him a horse. Don B. Stevenson of Tempe travels the Navajo Indian help him. arm. He can grip a fork between his forefin- Whitethorn. “I keep telling him simplicity is Reservation often. He found his visit with Dustin Unsure whether to proceed, Linda visited ger and middle finger to feed himself, and at beautiful, and that’s what he’s going for. He’ll Maybe I’ll give him a tail, too.” Rockmen not only enjoyable but inspirational.

30 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 31 secretive tiger rattlesnakes of the Sonoran they live out their lives, spending every win- from Goode’s study, having possibly found Desert.“The tiger rattlesnake is kind of an ter in the same den, alone. Adults average 2 his promised land. enigmatic species,” he says. “Nobody’s ever to 3 feet long. They have the smallest head Tigers aren’t predictable. Why did one studied them in detail.” relative to body size of any rattlesnake, fellow get up in the middle of hibernation While completing his doctorate in wild-­ and at the other end, an equally dispro- and change dens? life and fishery sciences, Goode utilized tech­- portionate sized rattle — a big one. Their What about females who seek a variety of nology and a grant from the Arizona Game skins are banded in a palette of gray and partners instead of being content with pick- and Fish Department’s Heritage Fund to brown desert colors. ing just the best one? peer into the private world of the tigers. He As laid-back as they seem most of the Who cares? has implanted radio transmitters in more year, they do have their moments of enthusi- Goode cares. He hopes his work will lead than 30 snakes in Tucson’s foothills to mon- asm. When summer monsoons and the nat- to better management of snakes as they face itor their lives and their eccentricities. ural urges roll around, it’s Katy, bar the gate. human encroachment. “They actually don’t do much of any- “Boy, when the mating season comes, For several years in Arizona, no deaths were thing,” he admits. They find something to they’re moving all over the place,” Goode officially attributed to rattlesnake bites, eat, he says, then hang out, build up fat, reports with the smile of a true snake voyeur. but a deadly encounter occurred less than save energy. The tigers cut to the age-old chase, up two years ago. Snakebite survivors can suffer “And, as rattlesnakes go, I think they’re hill and dale and across the rocks of their serious damage — tissue loss and motion even a little more couch potatoes than many foothill­ homes. One male in Saguaro loss in the bitten body part. Humans play a other species,” he concludes. National Park east of Tucson took off run- role in these unfortunate meetings. His subjects are limited to the Sonoran ning, make that slithering, like a snake on Jude McNally, managing director of the Desert of northern Mexico and the Tucson- a hot rock. Arizona Poison and Drug Information Cen- Phoenix area. In Mexico, they may live as “And he went over 2 miles . . . way far- ter, says, “Fifty percent [of snakebite vic- low as sea level, but in Arizona they are ther than anybody else has ever gone,” tims] saw the snake, recognized the snake found only in higher elevations and foot­ Goode states. “He found a few females as a venomous snake, and then they went hills, those rocky places with a view. along the way.” after it.” Tigers have a home range, land on which The range-roving Romeo disappeared “Oh, it’s a rattlesnake,” Goode says of the frequent reaction. “I gotta kill it.”

[opposite page, above] Goode’s passion went in the opposite Dinner for a tiger direction after being introduced to rattlers rattlesnake involves biting while a University of Wyoming student. a small mammal or reptile, injecting it with venom The school needed someone to clean the and holding it in its prairie rattlesnake cage, a cage big enough mouth or releasing and to hold a man. Oddly, they weren’t overrun tracking it until dies. A with applicants. Then came Goode. mouse should satisfy a Tracking the Reclusive Tiger – and Trying Not to “This is cool, man,” Goode recalls think- tiger’s appetite for a week or so. ing. “I can’t believe I got this job.” [opposite page, below] Twenty-five years later, he’s still ankle- University of Arizona herpetologist Matt Goode deep in snakes, hiking through desert assigns each tiger washes, climbing rocks, carrying his trans- rattlesnake a radio mitter. He listens for beeps emitted from frequency and a three- the guts of the earth and the tigers, and he digit number correlating with the three-color code wonders what they’ve been up to. he paints on its rattle. “They’re doing things behind my back,” [left] Holding aloft a he only half jokes. radio receiver that detects fluctuations in body Goode has found the tigers’ babies only temperature as well as once and has never seen the males fight for a TEXT BY KATHLEEN WALKERo PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAUL & JOYCE BERQUIST location, Goode tracks a female’s attention. These snakes still keep Get Rattled tiger’s whereabouts and secrets. monitors changes in its activities. “I guess I do worry about it,” he says of THEY STAY HIDDEN from view for months at a time, elud- their future. He emphasizes co-existence ing all but the best tracker, and Matt Goode has to be the but admits, “Society hasn’t put a huge pri- ority on keeping snakes around.” best. He has been tracking the tigers in the foothills around No, but not every snake has a champion like Matt Goode, a bit nosy perhaps, but a Tucson since l997. Funny how challenging that can be champion nonetheless. considering these tigers have no legs. o What Matt Goode’s Kathleen Walker coexists with the tiger rattlesnake tigers have is rattles and an aura of mystery. What Matt on her own home range in the Tucson foothills. Tucsonan Paul Berquist was accompanied by his Goode has is the desire to know more about them—the wife, Joyce, on many of the locations to photograph the rattlesnakes during this assignment. She kept telling him, “Watch out! You’re too close!”

arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 33 THE AMBUSH OF JOHNNY

REB at dragoon springs in 1862, even the confederates got a taste of

APACHE WAR by Leo W. Banks

[left] Spiky agaves and sotols, gritty rocks and a threatening sky present an inhospitable picture of the Dragoon Mountains in southeastern Arizona’s Coronado National Forest. george stocking [above] Confederate flag provided by Mark Shuttleworth, private collector. 2c imagery onfederate troops and Chiri­ able volunteer, west to capture Tucson. daring Hunter continued believing he could cahua Apaches. . . . It takes With the withdrawal of Federal troops hold his position in Arizona. The Rebels a while to get used to the idea from Tucson months before, Hunter rode who fought at Dragoon Springs were part that the unlikely groups met into the Old Pueblo unopposed on Febru- of a foraging party sent to hunt for stray in battle in Arizona. Gray- ary 28. The next day, March 1, the Rebel cattle. They were heading back to Tucson uniformed Rebels taking on flag flew over town for the first time. when the Apaches struck in a surprise long-haired Indian warriors. Hunter and his “mounted frontiersmen,” ambush. Hunter had remained at the Tuc- CCochise vs. Johnny Reb. as Finch calls them, garrisoned in Tucson son garrison and did not participate in the These two storied fighting groups saw while scouting to within 80 miles of the fight. In the absence of a Confederate battle their interests collide, for the briefest time, California border, the farthest western pen- report, which historians have been unable at Dragoon Springs, a stage stop on the old etration of any Confederate troops. to locate, we cannot know exactly what Butterfield Overland Mail line. The evidence But with a Yankee column of 2,400 men happened that day. lies at my feet in four rock-mound graves. marching toward them from the west, But it must have happened in lightning- Three hold the remains of Confederate dead, Hunter could do little throughout March quick fashion, the natural silence of this place the only Rebel deaths to occur during the and April but harass his enemy, never shattered by war whoops as the renegades Civil War in what is now Arizona. stopping to engage the superior force in charged, possibly led by Cochise himself. If A rock on one of the three Confederate pitched battle. I’m guessing correctly, the Rebels felt par- graves bears a lightly etched inscription: Many historians record that the soldiers alyzing fear at the sight. Anyone would. “S. Ford, May 5, 1862.” at Dragoon Springs were Hunter’s troops By 1862, with Federal troops withdrawn, The fourth grave, also marked, holds a retreating from Tucson, but Finch’s account Cochise’s Apaches had turned this portion Tucson boy identified in his etching only declares that by the time of the fight at the of Arizona into a bloody wasteland, and as “Richardo,” perhaps a misspelling. His- springs on May 5, Hunter’s frontiersmen part of the Confederate mission was to torians believe he might have been pressed were still nine days from abandoning their stop their depredations. unwillingly into service as a herder by the attempted conquest of Arizona. With the Apaches’ reputation stuck in Rebel command. Even then, facing the steadfast march of their heads, the Rebels must have suffered These lonesome graves, each flying a the Yankee column from California, the the overwhelming and instantaneous sense Con­federate flag, make a moving and that they’d reached their last day. But they thor­oughly unexpected sight on this [left] At the Dragoon Springs Butterfield Overland were soldiers, and if they had to die, they’d stage stop, fluttering Confederate flags mark wind­swept rise overlooking the San Pedro the burial sites of three Confederate soldiers and do so fighting. River valley. a Tucson boy killed by Apache Indians during a We know that the stage station, built in Part of the desolate beauty of Dragoon nearby battle. 1858 and abandoned in 1861, would have Springs, which lies 3 miles off Interstate [below] Remnants of rock walls are scant reminders offered the soldiers shelter. But we don’t of the station that served as a watering and rest 10 east of Benson, is that you arrive here stop for the Butterfield Overland Mail Co. from know whether any of them made it to on your own, without having to suffer 1858 to 1861. both by marty cordano defensive positions behind the rock walls. The first thing you notice at the battle site is the open ground to Mesilla, New Mexico ­Territory, near ­present- the west, north and northeast, the the plan was bold and yet doomed to fail, day Las Cruces, to work a small farm, and landscape stretching, in shades of although it worked long enough to put Tucson under his political allegiance eventually drew him purple and brown, all the way back a Confederate flag for six weeks. to the Confederacy. to where the mountains hold up In July 1861, with the 4-month-old Civil the sky. War raging in the East, Rebel sympathies They make postcards from the company of an intrusive, gabby tour leaders to extend their power all the way in the Southwest flared to action with Con- views like this. Wide open. Good guide. You park at the edge of a rocky dirt to California. federate Lt. Col. John R. Baylor’s defeat of a riding country. Good country for road and make a short hike to the ruins of The plan was bold and yet doomed to Yankee force in west Texas, according to L. dreams. a stage stop. fail, although it worked long enough to Boyd Finch’s Confederate Pathway to the But if you stand inside the If you can excuse the distant sight of put Tucson under a Confederate flag for Pacific. His book, along with The Civil War stacked-rock walls of the old sta- interstate traffic, and the closer sight of the six weeks. in the Western Territories, by historian Ray tion — portions of which still reach tiny settlement of Dragoon to the north, Capt. Sherod Hunter, the leading fig- Colton, provided the bulk of the informa- 7 feet high — and look east, every- everything on this empty bluff looks as it ure in the Confederates’ Arizona cam- tion for this article. thing changes. did the day of the fight — unpretentious paign, might have been attracted to the The high-strung and aggressive Baylor The Dragoon Mountains glower and unadorned, except for small historical Southern cause by personal tragedies that followed his victory by declaring a swath over the horizon and give entry to markers. had left him adrift. In 1857, while living of land as the Confederate Territory of the mazelike hideout known as Nothing intrudes on the experience. For in Lincoln County, Tennessee, and run- Arizona. It stretched south to Mexico from Cochise Stronghold. Even in the that reason, I love this spot. You can relive ning a grocery business, he lost his wife near present-day Wickenburg, and from the morning sunlight, so bright you history in its purest form, accompanied and infant son in childbirth. Texas Plains west to the Colorado River. He can see it fanning down like in a only by the wind through the rocks and Twenty-three years old, too grief-stricken named himself governor and Mesilla the hotel room painting, the moun- dead men under the grass. to remain in Tennessee, Hunter made his capital. tains possess an aspect of deep The story these graves tell unfolded way to Kansas, where most accounts say Early in 1862, Baylor sent 180 of his foreboding. amid an unlikely attempt by Confederate he worked as a freighter. He later moved to Texas cavalrymen, led by Hunter, his most If you’re like me, it doesn’t take

36 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 37 much to imagine the Indians’ horses gal- “neatly cut in rough stone, executed by one loping through that draw in the mountains of the Union prisoners they had along.” and to hear the pounding of the hooves, and A few days later, on May 9, the Rebels see the warriors’ deadly lances outlined engaged the Apaches a second time. against the sky. A scout led by Lt. Robert Swope surprised I’m betting the Rebels heard the advance some Apaches gathering cattle near the of the Apaches early, their cries carried on springs, according to Finch in Pathway. The the incessant wind. Around the town of Dra- lieutenant ordered a charge, “leading it him- ­goon, in the heart of southeast Arizona’s self at least three horse-lengths ahead of his Apache country, locals call it the Geronimo men,” recalled one of Hunter’s troopers, who wind — a misnomer in the case of the Dra- remembered the event as it was told to him goon Springs fight, because Geronimo’s by Pvt. Thomas McAlpine, an eyewitness. days as an Apache leader were still a gen- McAlpine saw Swope shoot an Indian, eration away. “and before the red could fall from his horse But the moniker gets the point across. . . . had him scalped.” The Rebels killed five Loosely translated, it means something bad Apaches, lost none of their own and drove is coming. the cattle back to Tucson. If newspapers reported the Dragoon The Confederate conquest of Arizona Springs clash accurately, the Rebel command ended when Hunter’s cavalry left Tucson for lost 30 mules and 25 horses, in addition to Mesilla on May 14. A Yankee regiment from the four dead. California reached Tucson six days later, Assuming the Apaches attacked in the and retook the town without hostilities. numbers historians believe — estimates run By then, Tucson had practically become upward of 200, based on a fight at Apache a ghost town, according to historian Colton. Pass two months later — I wonder how any Some residents sympathetic to the South- of the Rebels survived. ern cause had left with Hunter, or fled to The fighting had to be hot indeed. The Mexico, just as Union loyalists had departed foraging party included three Yankee sol- with the arrival of the Rebels. But the citi- diers captured by the Rebels three months zenry gradually filtered back. before during a fight on the Gila River. In making their exit, Hunter and his They, too, were pressed into action. Confederates rode past Dragoon Springs on The Sacramento Union of October 18, May 18. If they encountered any Apaches 1862, reported that the prisoners “fought on that last ride, history does not record it. bravely, not so much to aid their captors as As for Hunter, the Southern captain to defend themselves­ against the atrocious became embroiled in several failed attempts to retake Arizona for the Confederacy, including an effort to recruit an ex-patriot [above, right] Despite agaves’ unwelcoming appearance, desert- redskins who make no distinction between one — that of one friend dropping back army in Mexico. No one knows when or dwelling Indians used the plants for Federal and Confederate soldiers, but lie to help another and dying for his trouble. where he died, although most believe he is food, medicine and soap, and wove in treacherous ambush alike for all.” And what about these Yankee prisoners buried in Mexico. the fibers into mats, sandals, baskets Although it can’t be confirmed, one of taking up arms with their captors? With But those who rode with him remain in and ropes. randy prentice [right] Pockmarked with bedrock the unmarked graves here might belong to the passions the Southern rebellion pro- Arizona. And if you sit a while, letting the mortars dug by Indians for grinding Capt. John Donaldson, a former Federal duced on both sides, only sheer despera- hours pass and the world elsewhere spin to their grain, a granite boulder looms in officer in the Mexican-American War. tion — like an attack by Apaches — could its own concerns, you can relive their the foreground beyond grasslands at Council Rock about 4 miles south of In an obituary written shortly after the have produced such a collaboration. ­stories, atop this windy bluff that time has the Butterfield Overland stage stop. engagement, Patagonia mine operator I wonder if they became friends after left alone. jack dykinga Sylvester Mowry wrote that Donaldson, the battle? Having survived against a while returning from the cattle search, “fell mutual enemy, maybe their enmity cooled. Leo W. Banks calls the Dragoon Springs stage stop one of the most accessible historic sites in southern Arizona. in the rear of troops to accompany a friend I can believe it did. According to news- He also wrote the Dustin Rockmen story and the Back who had charge of a large herd of beeves. paper reporting, the grave etchings were Road Adventure in this issue. The Indians ambushed the party and Donaldson was killed at the first fire.” Location: 61 miles southeast of Tucson. Finch reports that Donaldson had once Getting There: From Tucson, drive 57 miles east on Interstate 10. Take Exit 318 and follow the winding road 4 miles east to the town of Dragoon. At the been a deputy customs collector, and Sam first right after the railroad tracks, Old Ranch Road, turn right (south) and drive Ford was a customs patrolman, making it for 2.3 miles. Turn left at the sign to Dragoon Springs and travel just less than 1 mile. “probable that Ford was Donaldson’s cattle- Travel Advisory: Facilities close to Dragoon are in Benson and Willcox. driving friend.” Warning: The rocky road past Dragoon requires driving very slowly, but unless it’s wet, it is Standing on this bluff, imagining the passable by ordinary vehicles. Additional Information: Willcox Chamber of Commerce, (520) 384-2272 or toll-free battlefield scene that day, I think of the (800) 200-2272, www.willcoxchamber.com; Benson Visitor Center, (520) 586-4293, small stories wrapped inside the larger www.bensonchamberaz.com; www.cochisecountry.com/dragoon.html.

38 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 39 {highway to humor} Jokes, Witticisms and Whatchamacallits by Jerry Airth | illustration by Regan Dunnick {along the way}

ROAD CONSTRUCTION speed. However, he got nailed by perspective Blue Elementary’s Head Count Was Low, but Adventure Was High We asked our readers for road an infrared speed detector and u n u s u a l Colossal Cave in Tucson was once construction jokes, and here are was pulled over. lue elementary school’s phone pulled we straddled the log and scraped that stubborn a haven for robbers. Legends say there is still money hidden there, some they sent: The officer handed him the me out of my warm bedroom. The mother hair, using those rasps and sharp pieces of which attracts thousands of tourists. Shoot, if I wanted to spend my citation and was about to walk of half our pupil population said, “Justin granite — just like people did a century ago. time looking for money that doesn’t exist, all I have to do is balance B ur foreman is so stubborn, away when the man asked, won’t be in today. He tangled with a skunk.” I felt very pioneerlike. my checkbook. — Linda Perret Owearing a hard hat would be “Officer, I know I was speeding in So began one adventure I had with my wife, After six weeks, I took the hide, now nailed redundant. a construction zone, but I don’t Marilyn, and our son Lee, then 3, about 33 years onto a frame, to the ranch of veteran hide-tanner think it’s fair. There were lots of ago while living and teaching at Blue Elementary, Jack Brooks and asked if I’d wasted my time. here is so much construction other cars around me going just as replied, “I was just trying to are the mangiest, most moth- a remote one-room school with two students — Jack stroked his grizzled chin, wanting to T on Arizona roads these days, fast, so why did I get the ticket?” keep up with the traffic.” eaten, miserable beasts I’ve Justin, an eighth-grader, and Duane, a first-grader. know where it came from. When I told him, they’re going to change the “Ever go fishing?” the Dumbfounded, the trooper ever seen.” Strung along the Blue River on the wilderness­ he didn’t laugh; he just suggested I take it official state bird to the crane. policeman asked in return. said, “I can’t see another car One buffalo turned to the border of Arizona and New Mexico, the somewhere on a dark night and lose it. Both by Gregg Siegel “Uhhh, yeah,” the startled around here for miles.” other and said, “You know, community of Blue counted That same afternoon, I roped the hide to my Gaithersburg, MD man replied. “See how far behind I am?” I think I just heard a a ranch population of 25. Volkswagen rack and drove to the dump on Red The officer grinned the driver answered. discouraging word.” The nearest town, Alpine, sat Hill Road. {early day arizona} and added, “Ever Larry Charles, Peoria Herm Albright, Indianapolis, IN 25 miles away on a dirt road. For weeks, Justin muttered that Slim had catch all the fish?” “Oh, my!” she exclaimed impatiently. “We’ll While scruffy bobcats “put one over” on him and his enthusiastic Erik Connor, Phoenix MIGRATORY VULTURES be sure to miss the first act. We’ve been waiting padded by the windows and young teacher. Slim must have figured we knew e don’t have to worry about staple in a vulture’s diet, as a good many minutes for that mother of mine.” quail called from the front about tanning only green hides, meaning fresh- t was 2 a.m. when road construction where I’m everyone knows, is roadkill. “Hours, I should say,” he replied tartly. W A playground, we taught skinned. Our hide was too old. the state trooper from. Nothing ever gets fixed. Vultures know that the worse “Ours?” she cried joyfully. “Oh, George, this I reading, writing and One morning shortly after the deerhide pulled over a driver John Kriwiel, Oak Lawn, IL people drive, the more they is so sudden!” arithmetic. For us, though, adventure, Justin met up with the skunk on his going 65 mph in a have to eat. Accordingly, much extracurricular projects way to feed the chickens. He glimpsed a black- Jerome Mining News, december 23, 1911 deserted 45 mph road ears ago I worked at a of northern Arizona’s vulture provided the real and-white blur and grabbed a shotgun. Though construction zone on the Y swanky resort in the desert population has migrated in “adventures” in this land of he got the would-be egg thief, he missed school Beeline Highway east of Phoenix. near Tucson when a road recent years to Utah. ranches. that day and the next. His mother, he said, made man was speeding down the “What’s the hurry?” the construction outfit was busy Jared Whitley, Salt Lake City, UT The year began tamely him bury his clothes “out by the back fenceline.” A highway in a construction officer asked. “Can’t you see this nearby. Because we were the only enough, but soon we would Two days later, he showed up, well scrubbed. zone, feeling secure in a group of road is under construction?” restaurant around, I shouldn’t have HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT face problems — and a A week later, when he passed the Arizona cars all traveling at the same “But, officer,” the driver been surprised to see the dust- boy had a school assignment possible practical joke — Constitution test, his hair still smelled faintly covered crew come in for lunch. A to write about the job his encountered by few other of turpentine. One fellow said he was going mother or father held, so he Arizona teachers. Marilyn, officially the K-8 Not long after the skunk incident, the school’s by JIM WILLOUGHBY to clean up before ordering. But went to his dad, a mechanic, teacher, created arithmetic and reading water pipes froze. We lived in a three-room he didn’t come back from the and asked how to explain what exercises for Duane on her manual typewriter. “teacherage” attached to the school. Pupils used rest room for the longest time. he did for a living. I worked with her to teach Justin algebra, our bathroom. Justin and I broke river ice and Finally he came back, looking “Son,” the father answered, science, geography and the Arizona filled buckets. Duane counted each bucket we sheepish. “I know the sign in the “the easiest way is to say that a Constitution (mandatory for graduation). poured to flush the toilet — our last adventure. rest room said ‘EMPLOYEES MUST mechanic is a person who gives Duane wore cowboy boots and a black, broad- At year’s end, Justin graduated well prepared WASH HANDS, ’ ” he said, “but I your car a part transplant.” brimmed Stetson, just like Justin, who ensured for high school. The school board members said couldn’t wait any longer. I did it Ruth Burke, San Simon that Duane stayed close to the school at recess. they couldn’t keep the elementary school open myself.” School had been in session for several months the next year for just one pupil. A board member Mrs. Garnett Charles, Sun City {reader’s corner} when Justin told me about the many deerhides hinted, humorously, “Adopting six kids would tossed onto the branches of a huge pine at Blue keep the school open.” GASOLINE PRICES alsa has it all over the Lodge, just 7 miles away. Slim Joy, a hunting We laughed, then left in midsummer 1971. hile paying for a purchase at S other condiments. guide and trailmaster, spread the hides in the We heard that Blue Elementary School reopened Wa station in Safford, I asked How many people get tree to dry each hunting season. the following year with several new students, the attendant, an older woman: dressed up on a Friday night Justin knew I wanted to tan a deerhide, so including Duane in second grade. “Why is gasoline $1.49 in New to go ketchup dancing? he asked Slim if he could have one for a “class Years later, we learned that Justin graduated Mexico, but $1.64 here?” Send us your salsa jokes, project.” Slim gave us the hide and a “recipe” from high school with good grades, got married Her irrefutable reply: “Because and we’ll pay $50 for each to tan it, using water and oak ashes tinged with and began managing a ranch along the Black it’s cheaper over there.” one we publish. chicken manure — very high in nitrates. This Canyon Highway. Orval Lowe, Safford supposedly softened the hide so hair could be When Justin rode his new range, he may have TO SUBMIT HUMOR: Send your jokes and humorous Arizona anecdotes to removed. Justin brought two horseshoe rasps — recalled his eighth-grade adventures at Blue SELDOM HEARD Humor, Arizona Highways, 2039 W. Lewis coarse, 18-inch steel files — and we draped the School — deerhides, buried clothes and frozen Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85009 or e-mail us wo buffaloes were standing at [email protected]. hide, thoroughly soaked and beginning to smell, pipes. And, of course, the Arizona Constitution. near a highway when a Please include your name, address and over a log in the wash beside the schoolhouse. Editor’s Note: Blue Elementary School remains T telephone number with each submission. passing motorist said, “Those During every recess for the next five weeks, open for several area students today.

40 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 41 {back road adventure} by Leo W. Banks | photographs by Jerry Sieve

Visit the Camp Wood Area to See ‘Real’ Old-time Cowboy Country

eal arizona ranch country barely gray cloud cover might diminish the views. exists anymore, so they say. But those I got my answer after driving on a mostly flat, Rwilling to spend a day exploring around washboard road through juniper country. At the picturesque Camp Wood will discover the old 13-mile point, where CR 68 began to rise into ways of rural Yavapai County still notched in the ponderosas and thread its way between time by mountains and distance. Sawmill and Cottonwood mountains, we looked This area of the Prescott National Forest back at the view. Williamson Valley filled the also offers terrific picnic and camping spots, eastern horizon, a broad sweep of many miles and hiking trails threading through cool hanging with mist. ponderosa pine trees. At about the 16-mile mark, we reached As for those ancient rock forts topping the Merritt Spring, a pretty clearing with a small ridges all around, well, they’ll remain a apple orchard behind a pole fence. Expecting signs for Camp Wood, Don and I continued west, unaware we’d passed it by. Beyond Merritt Spring, the landscape closes in, with tumbles of granite rock crowding both sides of the truck and tall ponderosas shading it overhead. We expected more wide-open country, and we found exactly that, at the 21-mile mark at Yolo Ranch. It looks the way a ranch should, at least according to the movies — with a sprawling, fenced meadow, horses lolling in the grass, two wagon wheels hanging on the ranch gate leading to the main house and outbuildings. In 1967, Western Horseman wrote about roundup at the Yolo, saying it had a reputation for “the best cowboys in the country” working on 110,000 acres stretching from pine trees to [above] A mare and her mystery. But you can pass good hours trying saguaro cactus. foal step through a to guess who built them, and why. The magazine also said the Yolo was a “last fenced pasture at Yolo Ranch northwest of The fun begins on the Williamson Valley frontier in the old style of cowboying.” Prescott. Road, marked County Road 5 on some maps, Certainly the range has closed in since the [opposite page] Late- running northwest out of Prescott. It passes 1960s and before, but the basics of cowboy life afternoon light filtered white rail fences, grass hills and even farm fields haven’t changed at the Yolo, the 7-Up, the Las through ponderosa pine boughs dapples the dotted with grazing antelope. After about 22 Vegas and other ranches near Camp Wood. The boulder-strewn Prescott miles, turn left onto County Road 68 history goes too deep. National Forest floor at (unmarked) heading west, where the signs Take Harry Knight, for example. As a young Camp Wood in the Santa Maria Mountains. simply point to Camp Wood and Yolo Ranch. man, he performed as an exhibition rider with Raindrops plinked onto the pickup as we Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and for more drove with a wonderful windshield view of the than 30 years operated the Triangle HC Ranch. Santa Maria Mountains. Beginning in 1925, he took in guests. “I’m not crazy about hiking in the rain, but Historians credit Knight with starting the we need it so I won’t complain if it comes,” guest-ranch business in Yavapai County. His said 70-year-old Don Johnston of Prescott, brochure states: “This is not a hotel, an inn, a my companion this day. resort, a sanatorium, a dude ranch, nor a 5-acre Agreed. But I questioned whether the turnip patch. It is a real, successfully operated cow

42 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com { back road adventure}

ranch with first-class guest accommodations.” positions, rather than homes, built about 1300. But Knight also talked about the stone forts Found throughout west-central Arizona, the used by ancient Indian tribes. With his structures are part of a large system of hilltop brochure in hand, we asked friendly Yolo forts used for smoke-signaling and as retreats cowboys if they knew where we could find them. in time of danger. They sent us .6 of a mile down Forest Service On that point, Don and I couldn’t argue. The Road 702, which connects with CR 68 fort sat high in the pines, affording an excellent immediately south of the Yolo meadow. We look all around at potential intruders.

[right] Rustic barbed-wire turned right past a campground and continued The Yolo cowboys also directed us back to fencing encloses pastureland a few hundreds yards. Through the trees to our Merritt Spring and Forest Service Road 95, at Yolo Ranch as the Santa left, we saw the hilltop fort. which goes north from there to Walnut Creek. Maria Mountains meet the sky to the northeast. The structure measured 66 by 42 feet and After a few hundred yards on 95, we [below, left] Mounted consisted of stacks of small rocks standing as finally found the remains of Camp Wood, between two posts, a wagon high as 5 feet. today consisting only of a few decaying wheel adds interest to the Prior to our trip, Jay Eby, a retired Arizona foundations. The site once bustled with a fence line along the road through the ranch property. forest ranger, said they were likely defensive post office, lumber mill, forest headquarters [below, right] When the and a Depression-era camp for Yolo Ranch house was built Civilian Conservation Corps workers. of logs from a previous bunkhouse and a dining Prescott resident Lois Merritt Ward, room around 1945, the now 82, lived there in the 1930s and cowboys joked that ranch said in an interview that the Camp owners and their guests was a world unto itself, rugged and would have a “scratching good time” because of the isolated with no bridges and much bedbugs. heavier snowfall than today. [opposite page] The rolling “In winter, my parents bought six hills of the Santa Maria Mountains near Camp Wood months of groceries because you are covered with Utah and couldn’t get in and out through 6 feet alligator junipers, ponderosa of snow,” said Ward, whose mom and piñon pines, mountain planted the Merritt Spring apple trees. a live-in teacher that my mother interviewed, so Santa Marias. Don describes the walk as Warning: Back road mahogany, scrub oaks and travel can be hazardous manzanita shrubs. “We had a one-room schoolhouse and you know she was good.” difficult, but the views from the peak encompass Ward recalled accompanying her parents to much of northern Arizona, including Flagstaff. if you are not prepared for the unexpected. the Yolo bunkhouse to vote. The entire Most roads around Camp Wood are easily Whether traveling in community of 11 adults partook in the civic traveled by high-clearance vehicles. Take the desert or in the ceremony. “I missed Camp Wood when I left for binoculars, a picnic lunch and good hiking high country, be aware high school,” said Ward. “All those people were shoes to explore this country rich in ancient of weather and road conditions, and make sure you and your vehicle are in my friends.” history, ranch history and history yet to be top shape. Carry plenty of water. Don’t Don and I found Forest Service Road 95C, made. travel alone, and let someone at home opposite the Camp Wood campground, know where you’re going and when and followed it west for you plan to return. Odometer readings Walnut N in the story may vary by vehicle. almost a mile to a burned- Creek SANTA M Additional Information: Prescott out patch of forest. More ARIA M National Forest, Prescott Ranger 5 OU Hyde Mtn. 9 N old foundations are seen TA District, (928) 443-8000, Lookout R I along 95C. We hiked F NS www.fs.fed.us/r3/prescott. A map of Camp ill in 89 Wood m nta the Prescott National Forest is through the charred aw ou 68 FR 95C S M recommended for this back road route. d trees to a rise and, as Yolo o n Ranch wo ai Merritt n nt 5 Eby had predicted, 2 tto u W Chino 0 Spring o o i C M ll 7 ia Valley we saw another well- 68 R m F s o preserved fort, about PRESCOTT n NATIONAL V a a mile away to the l FOREST l e y northeast. R o a From the burn d on FR 95C, hikers 89A can continue up to To Phoenix Hyde Mountain 89 Lookout, elevation 7,272 START HERE 69

feet, the highest point in the PRESCOTT KEVIN KIBSEY

44 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 45 {destination} by Rebecca Mong | photographs by Edward McCain

Tumacacori Mission Provided Communal Respite in Times of Upheaval

riestly piety in new spain and risked provoking Apaches to acquire timber and paint on glass. conversion of the friendly Pima Indians. and limestone. The mission is the main unit of The park’s biggest PNew prayers and new ways of living on Tumacacori National Historical Park, which celebration, La Fiesta the Indians’ ancient land. Then, political includes less extensive ruins of two other de Tumacacori, takes upheaval, violence and, finally, flight. missions, Guevavi and Calabazas, about 15 place in early That’s the 300-year-old story of San Jose de miles north of Tumacacori (pronounced December and Tumacacori Mission, whose beautiful ruins “toomaCAHcoree”). attracts thousands stand 48 miles south of Tucson, along the “When people hear the word ‘mission,’ they with period costumes, Santa Cruz River and southwest of the Santa think of a church building,” said Ranger Don traditional Rita Mountains, where the priests and Pimas Garate, Tumacacori’s chief of interpretation. “But entertainment a mission was the community, and foods. with dwellings, farm fields, Park policy calls for preservation, not [above, left] A mesquite livestock pens, classrooms, restoration, so Tumacacori remains remarkably tree stretches protective branches above grave workrooms, priests’ quarters original. “The church’s roof, which had markers in the mission’s and, ideally — but not disappeared, was replaced in 1927,” said cemetery. necessarily — a church.” Garate. “The floor, which had been destroyed [above, right] About 16 Tumacacori had it all, by treasure-hunters, and the front door were feet in diameter, the round mortuary chapel in the including — eventually — the also replaced. The huge pediment on the foreground was built to church, which was probably church facade had fallen off, and that was put avoid possible smallpox designed by a master artist back on. Except for those things, and some contagion by removing funerals from the church. from Mexico and built by Pima shoring up of walls and coats of white plaster jack dykinga and Spanish workers, he to protect against moisture damage, [left] Sunrise brightens added. The mission also Tumacacori is original.” the eastern walls of the encompassed a mortuary Today’s church, with some still-visible bell tower and the humble entrance to the sacristy, chapel, a cemetery, a lime kiln paintings, a beautiful but underfunded and where mission priests kept for making plaster and an therefore unfinished bell tower, granary, and their ceremonial robes and orchard. Wheat and cattle priests’ quarters, dates from 1800. But the signed official documents. flourished in the fields. mission’s story really began in 1691 with the Today a visitors center arrival of Jesuit missionary-explorer Eusebio houses a museum and gift Francisco Kino at the old village of Tumacacori. shop, and traditional plants Kino established the mission at Tumacacori, such as gourds grow in a patio as well as the one at Guevavi (Calabazas came garden along with grapevines later), but didn’t erect a church building. the east side that affords another stunning Location: 48 miles and olive, pomegranate and Decades later, after the Pima Revolt of 1751 through-the-bell-tower view. south of Tucson. other trees. On weekends, resulted in the establishment of a military Egyptian-style designs grace the church Getting There: Drive south on Interstate 19 spring through fall, local presidio at nearby Tubac, congregants facade, courtesy of Moorish Spain. Just inside to Exit 29. artisans demonstrate worshipped in a modest church. When Spain’s the front door, a big crack caused by the Hours: Daily, 8 a.m.- basketmaking and other Charles III expelled Jesuits from New Spain in earthquake of 1887 runs down the wall of the 5 p.m.; closed traditional crafts. I recently 1767-68, the mission came under the mantle of 75-foot nave. The sanctuary, which never lost its Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. “lunched” on tortillas and the Franciscans, who built the present church. protective roof, holds the best-preserved Fees: $3, over age 16. Events: December 4-5, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.: refried beans after watching But a plague of troubles lay ahead: not enough paintings. The sacristy’s blackened ceiling was La Fiesta de Tumacacori features Carmen Chavez prepare them money, continuing Apache attacks and fallout caused by post-abandonment travelers starting music, folkloric dancing, a mariachi using an iron-topped open fire. from the politics of Spain, Mexico and the wood fires to warm themselves. Mass, traditional arts and crafts and Other demonstrators make United States (the Mexican War). Even extreme Relatively recent graves around the circular foods. Free admission. Spring through fall, weekends and some weekdays: paper flowers, weave baskets weather played a role. In December 1848, Mortuary Chapel include a child’s tiny blue demonstrations for creating baskets, Tumacacori lay abandoned. crypt added in 1916, the last burial at the pottery, paper flowers and tortillas. The missions became part of the U.S. with the mission. Everyone stops there. Garate explained Call for schedule. [left] At Tumacacori Travel Advisory: Call about other National Historical Park 1853 Gadsden Purchase, a national monument that although incomplete records show 625 events; ranger-led Tumacacori tours, south of Tucson, the white in 1908 and a national historical park in 1990. burials on the grounds, mission-era graves are self-guided tour booklet, $1, in sanctuary dome caps the The mission’s guidebook, which explains no longer visible. Tumacacori Mission church visitors center. Reservations required in this view through an numbered stops, is helpful to those who take At the end of a solo or group tour, a visitor for guided tours of Guevavi and arch at the visitors center. self-guided rather than ranger-led tours. And might sit in a secluded spot and imagine the Calabazas, $17.50 per person. The mission’s name may there’s plenty to see. sights and sounds of the mission when it Additional Information: (520) come from two Pima 398-2341, www.nps.gov/tuma. words — chu-uma and For example, in the visitors center, a huge ­bustled with activity. Perhaps the bells in the kakul — possibly describing window frames a view of the church. Later, I tower might even ring out, continuing flat, rocky terrain. came upon a vantage looking at the church from Tumacacori’s still-unfinished story.

arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 47 {hike of the month} by Kelly Tighe | photographs by Marty Cordano

A ‘Friendly’ Rattlesnake Adds Its Welcome to Carr Peak Trail

s we hiked up carr peak trail in for Marty, and I was elated to see the delicate the Huachuca Mountains’ Miller Peak yellow columbines lining the pathway through a AWilderness, my mind was on wildflowers, tunnel of young aspen trees. butterflies and birds. But it seemed that everyone Beyond the aspens, the mountainside, dotted we met only wanted to talk about the rattlesnake. with charred trees from the 2002 Oversite Fire, Photographer Marty Cordano and I started was awash in a riotous display of wildflowers. out from Reef Campground, hiking through an Between the wild bees gathering pollen, area that was burned in 1977. It was heartening, butterflies flitting from flower to flower and after all the recent fires in tiny green hummingbirds zipping about, it was Arizona, to see how this forest a busy place. is recovering. The Two miles from the start of the hike lies the mountainside is blanketed signed junction to Carr Peak. The route with oaks and small conifer switchbacks up between large Douglas fir trees to trees, and the meadow grasses the bald summit, which offers impressive views were sprinkled with of the vast southeastern Arizona landscape. wildflowers. Bright yellow “Times have changed,” Marty remarked as we sunflowers predominated, sat admiring the view. “In years past, people accented by red penstemons, would have killed that snake or at least have pale-blue asters, wild pink been in a panic over it. Everyone we met today geraniums, scarlet cinquefoils, seemed not only­ pleased to have seen it, but purple verbena and orange wanted to pass the word along to fellow hikers.” splashes of Indian paintbrush. It was the last day of August and storm clouds Our 5.75-mile round-trip gathered as we retraced our route. The hike to Carr Peak, at about wildflowers’ upturned faces seemed to welcome 9,200 feet the second-highest the raindrops and, I suppose, so did the placid peak in the Huachucas, gains snake concealed somewhere among them. 1,800 feet in elevation. As we followed the trail, Location: Approximately 80 miles southeast Marty pointed out a band- of Tucson. tailed pigeon, as big as its Getting There: From Tucson, travel southeast on Interstate 10 to Exit 302. Turn south onto urban relatives, perched on a State Route 90 and travel through Sierra Vista pine snag. Yellow butterflies — to State Route 92. Turn right and drive south dainty sulphurs and a large for 7 miles to Carr Canyon Road, marked [above] Yellow columbines two-tailed swallowtail — fluttered among the Forest Service Road 368 on some maps; turn right on Carr and red cinquefoil add flowers. We were surprised to see a sphinx Canyon Road and drive 6.5 miles to the Reef Campground. bright splashes of Park at the trailhead, across the road from the campground. summertime color along Carr moth, usually a nighttime insect, sipping nectar Travel Advisory: A high-clearance vehicle is preferred for Peak Trail in the Huachuca with the butterflies. travel on the dirt road to the trailhead. Mountains southeast of We met two hikers, John Walrath and his 17- Additional Information: Coronado National Forest, Tucson. year-old son Aaron, from Tucson. They told us Sierra Vista Ranger District, (520) 378-0311. [opposite page] A profusion of wildflowers such as about a black-tailed rattlesnake farther up the Aspen sunflowers, asters, To Tucson BENSON 10 trail, near the grove of aspen trees where 10 Exit 302 penstemons, wild geraniums, I was hoping to find columbines. cinquefoils, verbena and Indian paintbrush attest to Around the next bend we met a the regeneration of the couple from England. They warned 80 CORONADO Miller Peak Wilderness in us to watch out for the rattlesnake. NATIONAL the wake of the 2002 More hikers, a group of three, FOREST 90 Oversite Fire. S a told us “the snake’s tail is in n

82 P 82 e

the trail but the rest of it’s d FORT HUACHUCA r o under a bush. It’s easy to get MILITARY RESERVATION R i 80 around it” they said. “Just v e r look where the grass has been N H CORONADO U A SIERRA 90 C To Bisbee tramped down.” NATIONAL M H VISTA O U FOREST U C At the aspen grove, we both N A SAN PEDRO Before you go on this T FR 368 RIPARIAN NATIONAL AI hike, visit our Web site found what we were looking for. MILLER PEAK NS CONSERVATION AREA at arizonahighways.com The handsomely patterned WILDERNESS for other things to do and places Reef Campground TRAILHEAD to see in the area. black-tailed rattlesnake posed obligingly 92 KEVIN KIBSEY

48 SEPTEMBER 2004 arizonahighways.com