Drive to a Volcano and an Ancient Metropolis | Jail Can’t Hold Lawman

Back to Nature Wildlife Viewing 11 Trips

A Plumage of Myth Odd Mating Habits of Birds and Birders Saving Desert Eagles Reveal Secret Landscape Departments 2 DEAR EDITOR Back to 3 ALL WHO WANDER april 2006 Our editor reflects on the whitewater thrill Nature of his first year. pages 8-39 4 VIEWFINDER Wildlife photographer 8 Eagles Wear 38 11 Great Wildlife learns about life Plumage of Myth by carrie m. miner Viewing Trips by clint van winkle from critters. Native American eagle stories mingle thunder, fear, Nature is calling, answer. We offer 11 great 5 TAKING THE healing and awe. photographs by tom vezo places to see an ark-load of watchable OFF-RAMP wild things. Explore 16 Nestwatchers Save a Species oddities, attractions by richard l. glinski 40 No Jail Can Hold Lawman contents and pleasures. Desert bald eagles have recovered thanks to people by david m. brown who spend months camping out and playing nanny to Turned Outlaw 43 ALONG THE WAY turned out to be far more accomplished vulnerable chicks. photographs by tom vezo A Marine seeks solace as a robber and jail breaker than as a somewhere between constable. illustration by ezra tucker Baghdad and Bagdad. 20 Apaches’ Language 44 HIKE OF of the Land by charles bowden THE MONTH White Mountain Apaches open sacred mountain to FRONT COVER The bald eagle is a feared Ghosts linger along Camp ecotours, and a photographer discovers a secret predator and an icon of the ages. See stories, Beale Trail in Kingman. waterfall. photographs by jack dykinga pages 8 and 16. tom vezo n To order a print call (866) 962-1191 or visit 46 BACK ROAD www.magazineprints.com. ADVENTURE 32 Odd Mating Habits of Birds BACK COVER Pacheta Falls spills 131 feet to Wupatki: and Birders Revealed toward the Black River on the White Mountain Cataclysm to comeback. by peter aleshire Indian Reservation. Charles Bowden A man named Walraven invokes whiskered owls and and Jack Dykinga take a stunning, Apache- guided ecotour through usually hidden sacred whispering birders to illuminate the strange love life land. See story, page 20. jack dykinga of birds and bird lovers. photographs by tom vezo n To order a print call (866) 962-1191 or visit 36 Audubon Society www.magazineprints.com. Celebrates 100 Years by randy summerlin The world’s feathered folks are living a bit better, thanks to this group.

online arizonahighways.com This month on our Web site, we answer the call of the wild with trips to our favorite destinations for viewing Arizona’s unique wildlife. Go to arizonahighways.com and click on our “Nature Travel Guide” for: • Favorite eco-friendly ways to enjoy Arizona’s natural resources. • Hot spots for birders. PLUS, get our regular monthly online-only features: HUMOR Our writer can’t decide how to pick up the dinner tab. ONLINE EXTRA Sail away on northern Arizona lakes. WEEKEND GETAWAY Study ancient solar calendars at Petrified Forest National Park. GUIDING LIGHT [this page] The sun casts TRAVEL THROUGH TIME Arizona’s imaginary town lives on. a ghostly spotlight into the hogan of Andrew Henry, a skilled silversmith, best EXPERIENCE ARIZONA Use our statewide calendar of events. known for his storytelling bracelets depicting life in Canyon de Chelly. colleen miniuk-sperry Recruiting Younger Readers Meadow Jones and her parents (our daughter and son- in-law) love visiting us in Arizona, and they get a gift THRILL RIDE all wander who APRIL 2006 VOL. 82, NO. 4 subscription to Arizona Highways from us. The magazine Running Grand Canyon’s is Meadow’s favorite reading material while practicing Publisher WIN HOLDEN Lava Falls Rapids is a lot like editing a magazine. Editor PETER ALESHIRE her potty skills. Her vocabulary has been considerably kerrick james enhanced with cactus, condor and many other words. Senior Editor BETH DEVENY Managing Editor RANDY SUMMERLIN Emma and Jeffrey Burch, Fountain Hills, AZ Web/Research Editor SALLY BENFORD This month, Highways is 81 years young and counting, and with readers Books Editor BOB ALBANO Editorial Administrator CONNIE BOCH like Meadow, we expect to be here another 81 years at least. Can you say Editorial Assistant PAULY HELLER Mercifully, our beloved readers have dear editor “ecotourism,” sweetie? –Peter Aleshire, Editor Director of Photography PETER ENSENBERGER responded. Newsstand sales jumped by Photography Editor RICHARD MAACK about a third, our circulation decline slowed Why I Read Arizona Highways media has ever reflected “reality.” I would Art Director BARBARA GLYNN DENNEY significantly, sales of books and calendars Deputy Art Director BILLIE JO BISHOP I was born in Bisbee [Brewery Gulch] like to say to all involved in this debate— Art Assistant DIANA BENZEL-RICE rose, our bank account grew. and spent my younger years there. My don’t take yourself and the images you Map Designer KEVIN KIBSEY I did a number of dumb things that father worked in the mines and died produce so seriously! Have some fun! Production Director KIM ENSENBERGER might have capsized the raft. Fortunately, when I was 11 and my brother 14. Jerry Sieve, Phoenix Promotions Art Director RONDA JOHNSON the most wonderful collection of writers, Webmaster VICKY SNOW Our uncle took us on a camping trip Arizona Highways contributing photographer Passing Through the Maelstrom With photographers, editors, friends and fellow Director of Sales & Marketing KELLY MERO across Arizona to help us with our loss travelers yanked me back each time I started Circulation Director HOLLY CARNAHAN arizonahighways.com after my father died. So the three of us Almost Like a Humor Page to slide off the pontoon. Finance Director BOB ALLEN editor Aleshire, Peter by @ and an old dog went on a two-month My father moved us to Arizona when I Hope and Help Moreover, I’ve been sustained, tolerated Information Technology CINDY BORMANIS trip. The only rules were not to drive on was a young girl. He had been a medic and inspired by our wonderful readers, even editor a paved road unless there was no other during World War II and did not often Inquiries or orders Toll-free: (800) 543-5432 craig, the adonis ideal of a boatman, pivoted the unwieldy when you write to point out some blunder. Clearly, you love Phoenix area or outside the U.S. (602) 712-2000 way and to leave our camping places like speak of his experiences there. One Or visit arizonahighways.com pontoon boat deftly into the gyre of quiet water behind the this luminous and lyrical magazine as much as I do. Coming to we were never there. We got to see, feel night in France, he and a buddy found primordial monolith of the Anvil. We could hear the ravenous work is a joy. and live in some wonderful backcountry. themselves wandering through an old For Corporate or Trade Sales Dolores Field (602) 712-2045 roar of Lava Falls Rapids downstream. Of course, I worry I’ll puncture a pontoon. I love this Letters to the Editor [email protected] We also met people who treated us like farm. Dad heard a noise and called out, 2039 W. Lewis Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85009 I trembled with 200 miles worth of anticipation of the magazine so much that it would break my heart to hurt it. family on and off the reservations. “Bite the dirt!” They both dove into a most violent Grand Canyon rapid, but I still had not decided But then I remember how much Lava Falls frightened me Now that I’m in my senior years, I pile of manure. They lay there silently, Governor whether to sit on the front of the pontoon for the plunge into just before my son crawled out onto the front of the pontoon JANET NAPOLITANO cannot just now go back to Arizona to making sure all was safe. When they got Director, Department of Transportation the rapid or stay safely in the “chicken coop” in the center. and gripped the ropes for the descent into the pit of Lava. As feel the warm sun, see the sunsets and up, my dad’s buddy reported that he had VICTOR M. MENDEZ Craig launched into a witty discourse, like a Disneyland you have done, he gave me the courage to swallow the lump of live in the places that helped me learn lost his dentures. They searched through ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION BOARD jungle-boat driver on a river with real hippos and headhunters. my heart and climb onto the bright blue tip of the pontoon. Chairman James W. Martin how to deal with my loss. But I can the manure, fished out the teeth and Vice Chairman Joe Lane The furious rapids were all that remained of an extinct The maelstrom of water sucked in the great raft like a scrap just for a little while, when I get your rinsed them off in the watering trough. Members S.L. Schorr, Delbert Householder, volcano’s foolish attempt to thwart the Colorado River, and we of hope. The raft plunged, slid, rose, trembled, bent, folded, Robert M. Montoya, Felipe Andres Zubia, magazine. I hope someday to take my As my dad’s buddy placed the false teeth William J. Feldmeier had anticipated the upcoming five minutes of fear and fury shuddered, then plunged again. We clung to the rope as our son and grandson to Arizona so that back in his mouth, dad joked “Hey, for a week. I can perfectly recall the pounding of my pulse in fingers purpled, screaming, spitting and laughing in a chaos International Regional Magazine Association they can see for themselves why I read when I said bite the dirt, I didn’t mean it 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000 Magazine of the Year earshot of Lava, with my pride and my hopes and my sons of sound and water. The pontoon slammed into a wet white Arizona Highways. Thank you. literally.” perched precariously on the pontoon tip. wall and doubled back, wrenching my right hand loose. I slid Publications Association James Combel, Baine, WA Maribeth Senner, Tucson 2004, 2002, 2001 Best Travel & In-transit Magazine Kind of reminds me of how it felt to sign on here as editor. sideways, but sitting behind me was a woman whose bout with It is for letters like yours that we work at Arizona Society of American Travel Writers Foundation Can you believe that it’s been a year? breast cancer had convinced her to fulfill a lifelong dream and Highways. –Ed. Go to the Little Boys Room 1997, 2000 It seems like the right moment to touch the flood-smoothed raft the Grand Canyon. She grabbed my slicker until I regained

I must say that I am astonished that Arizona Highways® (ISSN 0004-1521) is published monthly by the sides of the Anvil, report on our journey and consider the my grip. Arizona Department of Transportation. Subscription price: $21 a Digital Tunnel Vision neither you nor the State of Arizona year in the U.S., $31 in Can­ada, $34 elsewhere outside the U.S. import of the roar sounding up out of the canyon ahead. So I passed through Lava with hope and help. It changed Single copy: $3.99 U.S. Send subscription cor­respon­dence and Director of Photography Peter can spell “MOJAVE” correctly — and in change of address information to Arizona High­ways, 2039 W. Lewis This month, Arizona Highways celebrates its 81st birthday me, for we are defined by the things we fear and the things Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85009. Periodical postage paid at Phoenix, AZ Ensenberger’s tunnel-visioned approach a state where the Spanish influence is and at additional mailing office. CANADA POST INTERNATIONAL with this incrementally redesigned magazine. The departments we dare. PUBLICATIONS MAIL PRODUCT (CANA­DIAN DISTRIBUTION) to digital puts him in the 19th century. extreme. What is next? Navajoe, Haysus, SALES AGREEMENT NO. 41220511. SEND RETURNS TO QUEBE- have a different, more flexible look. You’ve probably noticed So here is your magazine, which Win has made solvent and COR WORLD, P.O. BOX 875, WINDSOR, ON N9A 6P2. POST­ Let’s get up-to-date, folks! I’m not Haveleena and Hopee? And your editor’s MASTER: send address changes to Arizona Highway­ s, 2039 W. Lewis other changes we’ve made as we’ve paddled along. We’re Barb has made beautiful, and Beth has made graceful, and Pete Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85009. Copy­right © 2006 by the Ari­zona Depart- canceling my subscription, as I still column (January ’06) — “Dave is really ment of Trans­­por­­tation. Repro­duc­tion in whole or in part without­­ still hopelessly in love with landscape photography, but now (the other Pete) has made luminous, and Richard has made permission is prohibited. The magazine does not accept and is not think you put out a great publication. cool…I look as cool as my big brother…I responsible for un­solicited ma­ter­ials. we include more information about how our photographers aesthetic, and Randy has made credible, and Sally has made Richard C. Lutgen haven’t got any, like, sibling rivalries.” make such stunning images. We still spin great yarns, accurate, and Billie has made cool and everyone has made What scintillating prose! You need to Produced in the USA but also include more, shorter stories. We’ve retained a better. I hope you love it as much as we do. But if you don’t, I Lighten Up, Guys (Preferably Late Light) expand your vocabulary. You need to clean, handmade design, but include more travel tips and hope you will tell me so we can fix it. In the meanwhile, please Marty Hulsebos (“Dear Editor,” January go to the little boy’s room and take a information. forgive me my fumbles. ’06) uses the term “enhancement.” Time Out. And while you’re there, read highways on tv I’d like to tell you it’s been a catered raft trip with soufflés in For you are the river and have changed me irrevocably. Whether an image is enhanced is a matter Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, in particular the Dutch oven. In truth, we’ve been bouncing off boulders. A I thank you for that. Arizona Highways magazine has inspired an of opinion. Of course film manufacturers Cyrano’s exchange with Valvert. And also independent weekly television series, hosted by year ago, we faced problems with our circulation, newsstand use focus groups to see what may be study several languages such as English, Phoenix TV news anchor Robin Sewell. For sales and bank balance. We were afraid we would have to cut popular with viewers. The camera (film Spanish and French. channels and show times, log on to pages or the size of the magazine. We’d already had to drop arizonahighways.com; click on “DISCOVER or digital) “sees” images in a different way Jack Rowley, Aberdeen, ID ARIZONA”; then click on the “Arizona Highways several features treasured by many readers. than the human eye. No film or digital Whoa. Way harsh, dude. –Ed. goes to television!” link on the right-hand side. So we lashed down the load and strapped ourselves to the [email protected] pontoon.

2 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 3 taking the When they returned to the nest on the fourth day, the chicks were gone. Fearing predation, they were lamenting the sad outcome in hushed tones when suddenly they heard the cry of hoop it up one of the chicks perched on a nearby branch. Piece of Cake “What a relief,” Vezo said. “After doing a little research, we Nature the once-bitter tale of Tovrea victim to a thriving metropolis. found out that great gray owl chicks jump out of their nests at Castle and the surrounding Between 1993 and 2003, the a certain time in the breeding cycle.” Carraro Cactus Garden, located city of Phoenix purchased the Photography They waited patiently for the adult to come in to feed the near Phoenix’s , castle and a remaining 44 acres. chick, and they weren’t disappointed. “She came back with a is getting sweeter every Restoration is currently under Leads to the Wild Side of Life mouse. Our motor drives were smoking as she continued to feed year. Completed in 1930, the way and the area is scheduled and preen her baby for 15 minutes. What a magical moment! historic “wedding cake castle” to open as a multiuse public the great joy of wildlife photography is realized when The only thing missing was the other chick,” Vezo said. resort and its sprawling 277 park in 2009. months of planning meet a moment of opportunity. Sometimes On the fifth morning of their trip, Vezo’s filmmaker friend acres quickly sold as a private Though the castle is currently that opportunity reveals the unexpected. returned alone to the nesting site, hoping to get more footage residence. In 1969, twice- closed to the public, curious viewfinder Photographer Tom Vezo silently stalks wildlife with a camera. of the owls. Later that day when Vezo met him for lunch, the widowed owner and occupant “cake” lovers can get a taste of He wants his photographs to tell us something new about a wild friend hinted that he had documented something special on Dell Tovrea passed away it from the road. 5041 E. Van species. Sensitive to the rhythms of the moment and armed his morning shoot. “I followed him back to his camper where leaving the splendid estate Buren St.; (602) 262-6862; with in-depth knowledge of his furred and feathered to die a slow death while www.ci.phoenix.az.us/PARKS/ arizona oddities, attractions and pleasures and attractions oddities, arizona subjects, he hopes to document rarely seen behavior. the surrounding acreage fell tovhist.html. — JoBeth Jamison “Documenting the lives of birds is a hunt without a gun,” Vezo says. “It’s challenging and exciting. You never know what images you will come home with. Over time I have gained an extreme interest in the lives of birds, almost to arizonahighways.com the point of becoming scientific about my findings.” @ Seldom has one photographer so dominated an issue of Arizona Highways that he or she scores the front cover and three exclusive byline stories inside. Vezo photographed both bald eagle stories — our cover story about eagle myths, “Swoop and Soar, Death and Rain,” beginning on page 8, and “Devoted Nestwatchers Nurture a Comeback,” on page 16. He also shot our story on Arizona’s birding boom, “The Odd Language of Love Among Birds and Birders,” starting on page 32. And to top it off, his dramatic image of a bald eagle in flight was selected as this issue’s front cover, the most important and sought-after photo position in the magazine. It’s the culmination of months of travel and hard work for a city-boy-turned-nature-photographer. You might say wildlife photography led Vezo to the wild side of life. Born in Brooklyn, New York, hardly a hometown to inspire a nature-lover, he discovered the wonders of the natural world through photographs he A great gray owl preens its fledgling chick on a branch saw in books and calendars. high in a Canadian forest. tom vezo One book in particular played an important role in Vezo’s

by Peter Ensenberger, director of photography, photodirector photography, director of Ensenberger, Peter by early development: The Birds of North America by Eliot Porter, he showed me the video he’d shot that morning,” Vezo said. the person who inspired him to pursue bird photography in the He was not prepared for what he saw on the tape. first place. “What I love most about Porter’s bird photography is “When the adult owl came back to feed her baby, we were how he captured the beauty of these wonderful creatures with astonished to see that, this time, she brought with her the carcass their lifestyle and habitat in his vision,” says Vezo. “He added of the missing chick,” Vezo says. “She proceeded to feed it to the spirit, a sense of place and realism to his images.” surviving chick, and then finished the remainder herself. The Realism is an important element of wildlife photography, but missing chick must not have survived the jump from the nest.” sometimes things can get too real. Months of planning met a moment of opportunity. And even On a recent trip to finish up work on his new book,Wings though Vezo wasn’t there to capture the finale to this natural of Spring: Courtship, Nesting & Fledging, Vezo traveled with a history epoch, he knows that the next time he enters the owls’ professional filmmaker into Canada’s old-growth forests to world there’ll be more opportunities. Because nature’s saga find two great gray owl chicks nesting high up in a tree. For always carries the addendum “to be continued.” three days they observed and photographed as the adult owl “There is so much more to learn about bird behavior, so cared for the fledglings. much that is still unknown,” Vezo says. “Every time I go out into the field, I learn something new from the creatures I

Find expert photography advice and information in our online archives at photograph. But this experience was over the top. It’s too bad I

online RICHARD MAACK arizonahighways.com (Click on “Photography”). wasn’t there to document that behavior. Or, maybe not . . .”

4 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 5 off-ramp

I Love You, Eeyore Best of

special needs kids interact with animals that Burden have been neglected, abandoned or have physical sometimes it’s abnormalities at Whispering Hope Ranch in the good to be a ponderosa pines east of Payson. The result, according burden. If you’re to founder Diane Reid, is a special kind of healing. Dana Burden, Eaglets vs. “I know the power of human-animal interaction Arizona’s top trail because I’ve experienced it in my life,” says Reid. maven, it’s even Africanized Bees “Studies have shown that animals enhance the better. Throughout when a rambunctious raptor immune system, lower blood pressure and produce his life, the attempted to take flight from a general calming.” Wickenburg native a branch that housed a hive of One example: Reid tells of an autistic girl who has juggled many Africanized bees, the situation could speak only five phrases her parents taught her. job titles, including got ugly. The young bald eagle After interacting with a ranch donkey, she suddenly caballero, congressional aide, counselor, “Arizona that prompted the attack, as well blurted out, “I love you, Eeyore” — the first words Culturekeeper,” ranch owner, manager and as another eaglet, received stings she’d spoken spontaneously in 10 years. entrepreneur. So beloved is Burden by the people from the angry swarm. One Today, Whispering Hope is home to more than of his hometown that they have officially, eaglet died. 100 animals — emus, llamas, peacocks and more, proclaimed November 21 as Dana Burden Day, Arizona Game and Fish and has expanded to create a year-round “Arizona- and they even named a local hill in his honor. But Department staff found the style” retreat for kids sent by children’s health Burden’s true identity rests in the trails and surviving eaglet in the Bartlett organizations throughout the state. tributaries of his home state. Dam area of the Verde River and “This is about serenity, unconditional love and Raised on Remuda Ranch, the former dude handed her over to Scottsdale’s changing lives,” says Reid. The ranch is open to ranch established by his father in 1926, Burden Liberty Wildlife Rehabilitation. visitors by appointment. learned the lay of the land as a child, how to While there, volunteers taught Information: (877) 478-0339. maneuver canyons, run rivers and plot desert the feisty female how to “fly, — Leo W. Banks passage, how to “know you’re okay on your own,” hunt for food, avoid predators he says. and carry out other behaviors of Next Stop, Willcox Burden’s exploring expertise led to successful an adult bald eagle.” The eaglet when the southern pacific railroad rolled into business ventures such as Wickenburg Jeep Tours, was eventually returned to the Willcox in 1880, it changed the sleepy tent city Adventure Trails of Arizona and Wickenburg Clean wild after rehabilitation. of Maley’s Camp into the busy town of Willcox. and Beautiful, Inc. Now the footpath aficionado The 2005 bald eagle breeding Ranchers could then easily ship cattle to market, has taken on the role of author, putting his season produced 37 nestlings and Willcox quickly became the “Cattle Capital of decades of desert know-how in a new guidebook from the 39 known breeding the Nation.” entitled Desert Hiking Out Wickenburg Way. The pairs that call Arizona home. Due Today, the railroad depot has been restored and hiker handbook features no-nonsense, detailed to the hard work and dedication is the only remaining Arizona depot built between trails and directions, and includes a CD with topo to preserving our national 1871 and 1880 on the southern transcontinental maps, points of interest, GPS coordinates, colorful emblem by Arizona Game railroad route. It is the only known, original, on-site photos and equally colorful legends and lore. and Fish and Liberty Wildlife passenger depot still existing on this route between While wandering out Wickenburg way, this Rehabilitation, another bald eagle and Chicago. Listed on the National is a Burden you’ll definitely want to carry. may one day produce eaglets of Register of Historic Places, the stick-style wood- www.adventuretrailsofarizona.com. her own. — Clint Van Winkle framed building is covered with redwood. — JoBeth Jamison Two Railway Express Agency wagons, original to the station, Museum Preserves a Tiny Tribe’s Heritage No Britches are outside; inside, visitors can learn how Lower Colorado River materials. Inside the museum’s recent tribal history, including a Allowed watch a video on the railroad

Indian tribes lived and thrived at exhibit room, visitors see prominent display by the small in the days when even the narrated by Rex Allen, singing the Kwapa Nawee U’as llusaaw, professionally curated dioramas tribe’s U.S. military veterans. legs of chairs and pianos cowboy movie star from Willcox. or Cocopah Museum. Located depicting traditional tribal life A gift shop features beadwork, were draped, Victorian-era Children will enjoy pulling the 10 miles south of Yuma, the handcrafted by local tribal including intricately beaded Tucsonans passed a prim rope to make the train whistle museum illustrates the traditions members. The exhibits detail the capes, other tribal arts and crafts, and proper law making it blow. Part of the building serves and ancient lifestyle of the daily activities of a people Native American music CDs and illegal for women to wear as city offices. Cocopah people. defined by their relationship to cassettes, and souvenirs. pants. Even though times Located at 101 S. Railroad Outside the museum stands a the cycles of the Colorado River The Cocopah Museum is have changed since then, this Ave., open Monday through model of a traditional Cocopah and the natural environment, open Monday through Friday. obscure prohibition still sits Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. home. The ramada-style dwelling including the Sonoran Desert and Admission is free. on the books — proving that except holidays. is constructed from arrowweed, the river delta. Information: (928) 627-1992. some laws are meant to be Information: (520) 384-4271. mesquite and other local The museum also showcases — Debra Krol broken. — Carrie M. Miner — Janet Webb Farnsworth

6 a p r i l 2006 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ARIZONA GAME AND FISH (GEORGE ANDREJKO); WHISPERING HOPE RANCH; COCOPAH MUSEUM CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: KATHY COLLINS; DAVE BLY Swoop and Soar, Death and Rain e a g l e m y t h s

Mysterious and majestic, the eagle 5soars through Native American myths, associated with rain and thunder, death and rebirth, sickness and healing—awe alternating with fear.

are useful for protectionrn in Tewa ta lore considers the eagle a divine messenger, which is why some clans gather young eaglets and raise them respectfully on elevated platforms to be sacrificed in May or June in the Niman Katsina ceremony marking the return of the kachinas to their otherworld homes for the rest of the year.

BY CARRIE M. MINER PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM VEZO According to Frank Waters in The Book of the Hopi, “The Kachina Father then delivers his farewell to the kachinas: ‘Now it is time that you go home. Take with you our humble prayer, not only for our people and people everywhere, but for all the animal kingdom, the birds and insects, and the growing things that make our world a green carpet. Take our message to the four corners of the world, that all life may receive renewal by having moisture . . . May you go on your way with happy hearts and grateful thoughts.’ ” After the ceremony, their feathers are plucked for future use and the eagles are buried in special cemeteries. Following are some Native American eagle tales. In some cases, different versions of a single story have been combined.

AIR MAIL Look familiar? Deemed a divine messenger by Hopi ancients, the eagle has also made its heralding mark in modern America. When the Post Office Department reorganized under the Nixon administration in 1971, the country bid farewell to the running pony that had symbolized the service for more than 140 years and replaced it with the national airborne icon. A 1990s redesign of the logo eliminated the eagle stance (similar to the one seen here), leaving its head as the lone image for the USPS logo still in use today.

8 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 9 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Not unlike humans, these white- headed wonders become so with age. In the bald eagle branch of the hawk family tree, this most noticeable mark of maturation generally happens between the ages of 4 and 5. Later, their remaining feathers grow darker, while their eyes, feet and clawlike bills turn bright yellow. Until then, eaglet bodies, which can grow up to 14 pounds, are almost entirely brown, as seen on the left. Unlike humans, however, the eaglet females typically become the bigger, more dominant birds and the better hunters.

Elder Brother scaled the cliff to reach the cave, where he Eagle Welcomes to the Fourth World (Hopi) The Legend of Man Eagle (O’odham) found Man Eagle’s wife. She agreed to help him, and so Elder Brother turned into a fly and hid under the pile of corpses Man After they arrived in the Fourth World, the Creator directed “You are a people of great strength,” the eagle admitted. “One The O’odham say that in the early days of creation, a man was Eagle had killed. Man Eagle’s wife then lured her husband to each Hopi clan to travel throughout the world before returning more test and I will allow you to stay.” beguiled into drinking a magic potion of pinole tainted with sleep and whistled to Elder Brother four times. At the summons, to live at the Center of the Universe. When they climbed a high A second locust stepped forward, and the eagle shot an arrow ground-up eagle feathers. Immediately, pinfeathers sprouted Elder Brother emerged and cut off the head of the evil Man mountain, they encountered an eagle. Two spokesmen for the through its body. In response, the locust lifted his flute and all over his body, and before long he was transformed into a Eagle. So great was Man Eagle’s power that the whole mountain tribe, insect-people resembling the locust, asked the eagle if he began to play a sweet melody. The eagle shot the other locust in large eagle. He flew up into the wild mountains of Apacheland, shook with thunder and clouds gathered over the peak. Elder would share this new land with the Hopi clans. the same manner, and this locust, too, began to play his flute. where he made his home in a large cliff. His huge appetite soon Brother brought the corpses back to life, and these resurrected “If you pass the tests that prove you worthy you may stay,” the “Well you are even more powerful than I had thought,” the decimated the herds of deer, and he began to kill people for people made a litter filled with eagle feathers. They carried Elder eagle said. eagle exclaimed. “Now that you have stood both tests you may food. He also carried off a beautiful young girl and forced her to Brother down the mountain singing: He beckoned the first locust forward. use my feather any time you want to talk to our Father Sun, become his wife. The people waged war on Man Eagle, but could On my litter of feathers “I am going to poke an arrow into your eyes. If you keep them the Creator, and I will deliver your message because I am the not kill the wicked “shape-shifter.” Finally, the people went to I look big and wise like a medicine man. open, I will consider your request.” conqueror of the air and master of height.” Elder Brother for help. On my bed of downy feathers I am lying The brave locust stood fast and refused to even blink as the Since that time, Hopis have revered the eagles’ feathers as “I will go to that mountain myself against Man Eagle,” said And my heart is light as the wind. eagle tested him with a sharp arrow point. sacred symbols. Elder Brother. “If you see clouds rise over the mountain you will Thunderclouds went out from me know I was successful.” And covered the mountain.

10 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 11 The Tale of Monster Slayer and the Giant Birds (Navajo)

NUTHIN’ BUT TALON When the world was young, Monster Slayer trav- Ranging from 6 to 7.5 feet, the wingspan of a eled Navajoland to destroy the evils that had sprung bald eagle rivals the height of some NBA players. up because of the transgressions of the First People. By keeping their wings flat, the roving raptors Among these evils were the Giant Birds, the offspring can soar and glide across surfaces at more than 30 mph to grab prey with pinpoint precision. of eagle plumes. They carried people to their moun- Sensational folklore once held that eagles were tain home to feed to their monstrous brood. Monster prone to snatching up small children, but these Slayer went to the home of the Giant Birds, where the creatures generally prefer “fast food” weighing under 5 pounds, like fish, squirrels and rabbits. male monster plucked him up and flung him at the They also enjoy more relaxed meals of wounded sharp rocks in his nest. However, two magic feathers waterfowl, road-kill and other colorful carrion. saved Monster Slayer from the fall, and he tricked the mighty bird by smashing a bag of blood he carried around his neck to make it seem that he had died. The two nestlings cried a warning to their father, but Monster Slayer hushed the young monsters. When the Male Rain and its accompaniment of thunder and lightning came, Monster Slayer killed the father bird with one of his lightning arrows. On the next night, the gentle shower of Female Rain brought the mon- strous mother and Monster Slayer slew her as well. Upon seeing their parents felled from the sky, the young birds cried in fear. “Will you slay us, too?” “Had you grown up here you would have been things of evil; you would have lived only to destroy my people,” Monster Slayer said. “But I shall now make you something that will be of use in the days to come.” Monster Slayer took the first nestling and swung it around him four times, telling it to forget its evil origins and furnish plumes and bones for The People. He let go and the eagle soared toward the sky. He did the same with the second nestling, saying that men would listen to its voice to learn the future, and the owl departed in search of the night. Monster Slayer now searched for a way down, but soon realized only a winged creature could reach the nest. At sunset, he saw Bat Woman walking around the base of the cliff and called four times to her for help. “Grandmother there is no danger up here for I have killed the Giant Birds,” he said. “If you take me down you can have all the feathers from the Giant Birds.” Bat Woman agreed and carried Monster Slayer down from his perch on the high peak. Monster Slayer filled her basket with the Giant Birds’ feathers and warned her not to walk through a neighboring field of sunflowers. Despite his warning, she did just that. After a few steps, she heard a fluttering and a little bird flew past her. After a few more steps, a brilliantly colored flock of birds flew out of her basket of feath- ers, transformed by the magic of the sunflowers. She could not catch them, so she named the little birds until her basket was empty. That is how the feathers of the Giant Birds became a rainbow of color in the sky—the flickers, swallows, starlings, robins, spar- rows, wrens, warblers, titmice, juncos, nuthatches and all of the other little birds of the world.

12 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 13 Killer-of-Enemies and the Eagles (Jicarilla Apache)

When the world was still young, Killer-of-Enemies made his way into an eagle nest where he acted as a protector for the young eaglets until their parents returned. On Eagle Power (O’odham) the fourth day, the father and mother eagle came down and asked what he wanted. Killer-of-Enemies asked the A black-headed eagle eagles to take him up to visit the heavens. The eagles On a low rock agreed. They fitted him with an eagle suit and taught him Flapped its wings. to fly. After a grueling four-day journey, Killer-of-Enemies finally reached the hole in the sky and entered the home A white-headed eagle of the eagles. On a low rock Here, Killer-of-Enemies learned that the eagles were at Descended. war with the bees. A battle began, and the eagles started A hawk is running, dying. So Killer-of-Enemies wrapped himself in a buffalo Eagle bird! Toward me it is running; hide and entered the melee. The brave warrior killed all of When he alights Its down feathers ruffle in the wind. the bees except two, a male and a female, which he sent There is a sound of thunder. to Earth with the command that they not kill any more. Eagle, my older brother, The bees agreed, but said, “When people tease us, we will Hawk bird! Like a bow, in every direction, give them a shock”—which is why the myth holds that When he perches Your long feathers are bent. bees sting when provoked. There is a flash of lightning. “It is a good thing that you came up,” said the eagle chief Hawk, my younger brother, to Killer-of-Enemies. “You have brought us peace.” An eagle is walking, Like arrows, in every direction, In gratitude, the chief gifted Killer-of-Enemies with a Toward me it is walking; Your down feathers are let loose. bundle of eagle feathers and an eagle headdress. Killer-of Its down feathers blow in the breeze. Enemies gave these things to the neighboring Pueblo The Mountain of Reeds people, who still use them in their ceremonies today. Stands up at the west. There an eagle cries, The flat land resounds.

The Narrow Mountain Stands up at the east. There a hawk cries, EAGLE-EYED The mountains echo. Eagles are thought to have the keenest vision of any living animal. Because their eyes are so large, they move very little within their sockets, causing the birds to direct their vision by turning their heads like owls. A series of depressions in the retina called fovea provide the birds with both monocular (lateral) and binocular (forward) vision and enable them to magnify images from great distances. For every square millimeter of fovea, eagles have about 1,000,000 visual cells. Humans have 200,000.

Carrie M. Miner has had a fascination with raptors since her first encounter with a golden eagle as a young girl hiking with her father in the Rocky Mountains.

Tom Vezo of Green Valley says photographing eagles is thrilling, difficult and addictive. Most photos for this story were shot with a 600 mm lens from a long distance, using “fast” film. Vezo also photographed the “Nestwatchers” story on page 16 and the “Birds and Birders” story on page 32.

14 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 15 bird’s eye view The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Bald Eagle Nestwatch Program hires two-person teams to protect eagle nests around rivers and lakes in the central part of the state. Here, nestwatchers Scott Olmstead and Devoted Nestwatchers Erin Brandt scan a protected wildlife area along the Verde River, near Nurture a Comeback Clarkdale, where bald eagles breed and nest from winter to spring. BY RICHARD L. GLINSKI PHOTOGRAPHS TOM VEZO

16 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 17 camp near the nests in 10-day stints, watching the eagles from sunup until sunset, shooing away hikers, campers and boaters and recording eagle behavior. Each year, they ward off thousands of disturbances by people who usually have no idea the eagles are nearby. Many nests often require a more drastic intervention. If eaglets show signs of disease or injury, biologists can climb trees or rappel down cliffs to remove the babies and take them to a veterinarian for rehabilitation. Biologists also return nestlings that fall from their nests, or treat them for their injuries. When floods in the 1980s and 1990s threatened to inundate reservoirs, nestwatchers called for the removal of eaglets from endangered nests so biologists could place them in safer ones. Sometimes, program participants report missing or dead eagle parents so biologists can rescue the orphaned eaglets. At one breeding area, the nest- watchers stopped a bulldozer from knocking down a bulldozer rumbles toward tree occupied by nesting young. a snag topped by squawking The program has saved at least 44 eaglets since 1983. “This represents about 8 percent of the number bald eagle fledglings as their frantic of eagles that have fledged from Arizona nests dur- parents wheel overhead. ing this time period. That’s a significant contribution Floodwaters rise inexorably toward a mas- to the reproduction of eagles,” said James Driscoll, sive, untidy mound of sticks where a gangly bald eagle management coordinator with the Arizona pair of bald eagle chicks perches. Game and Fish Department. “We now have 47 nesting An endangered eagle chick struggles in his pairs of bald eagles in Arizona, and the population is cliffside nest, dangerously entangled in a coil no longer in danger of extinction.” of fishing line brought back inadvertently The effort provides heartening evidence that endan- with the fish carcass his mother snatched gered species can make a comeback—with a little help from the surface of a desert lake. from their friends. In these emergencies, who you gonna call? EXTREME BIRDING Richard L. Glinski retired from the Arizona Game and Fish Nestwatchers. Whether it’s a cozy cliffside dwelling, top, or a towering treetop habitat, Department, where his duties included leading the Southwest right, Arizona Game and Fish bald eagle biologist Jorge Canaca leaves no nest Beset by the eggshell thinning effects of the Bald Eagle Recovery Team in the 1980s. He now manages the unchecked when it comes to the health and well-being of bald eaglets. pesticide DDT, dams, diversion, loss of habitat Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant for Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department. and human disturbance near their stream- Nestwatch contractors like Chris White and Game and Fish field projects side nesting sites, Arizona’s population of bald coordinator Kenneth Jacobson, above, weigh and examine the baby Tom Vezo also photographed the eagle myths and birding eagles had dwindled to a dozen hard-pressed birds. If the eaglets have been orphaned, injured or show signs of stories in this issue. disease, they are taken out of harm’s way and put into rehabilitative or pairs when a heartening coalition of state, fed- supervised care until they are well enough to return to the wild. eral and private agencies took action. Where to see On the national front, the federal govern- ment banned DDT. eagles On the Arizona front, the Forest Service spearheaded leaving the young unprotected from the hot sun. The the Arizona Bald Eagle Nest­watch Program, a volunteer- nest disturbance, coupled with the naturally high Luna Lake Wildlife Area White Mountains oriented field study and protection program aimed mortality rate for young eagles, meant that the dozen Verde Canyon Railroad (928) 339-4384 at rescuing the majestic national symbol from what nesting pairs in the state couldn’t sustain the eagle Clarkdale www.azgfd.gov/outdoor_ (800) 320-0718 once seemed sure extinction. By guarding the most population. recreation/wildlife_area_ www.verdecanyonrr.com. vulnerable eagle nests in the state through the spring The nestwatch program, which now safeguards a luna_lake.shtml. Jaques Marsh or Along the season, the effort has contributed to a fourfold increase dozen breeding areas annually with contributions Woodland Lake Park Horseshoe Bend to Redmond Pinetop-Lakeside in nesting pairs of eagles. Collectively, federal and state from 18 different government, tribal and conserva- Flat and below Stewart (520) 368‑6700 preservation efforts have saved at least 8 percent of the tion entities, was created by the Forest Service using a Mountain Dam www.wmonline.com/gamefish/ (928) 402‑6200; (480) 610­‑3300 eagle chicks born in Arizona in the past 30 years. As a small group of weekend volunteers from the Maricopa jacques.htm; www.wmonline. www.fs.fed.us/r3/tonto. result, the unique desert-dwelling population of Arizona Audubon Society in 1978. com/attract/woodland.htm. Tonto Creek Mormon Lake nesting eagles has flapped backwards from the precipice The program was adopted by the U.S. Fish and (928) 467-3200 south of Flagstaff www.fs.fed.us/r3/tonto. of extinction. Wildlife Service in 1984 and then passed to the Arizona (928) 774‑1147 Clearly, Arizona bald eagles have needed the help, Game and Fish Department in 1991. www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/ Lake Pleasant Regional Park since their nests lie alongside the same rivers and Now, Arizona Game and Fish hires about 20 recreation/mormon_ Morristown lake/index.shtml. (928) 501‑1710 streams human beings seek so eagerly in the spring. nestwatchers to work in two-person paid teams for www.maricopa.gov/ People often accidentally spook eagles from nests, four months each spring. Beginning in February, they parks/lake_pleasant.

18 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 19 Misty Morning With mist set aglow by the first rays of the rising sun, Christmas Tree Lake lies cradled by the fog-shrouded coniferous forests below Mount The Language of the Baldy. The lake lies at the confluence of Sun and Moon creeks on the White Mountain Apache Reservation. White Mountain Apaches n To order a print call (866) 962-1191 or visit www.magazineprints.com. Open Sacred Mountain to Ecotours

BY CHARLES BOWDEN Land PHOTOGRAPHS BY JACK DYKINGA Rush of Waters Swirling runoff from seasonal rains hurries over the 131-foot- high precipice of Pacheta Falls.

The sun is down, the moon not yet up. The map says this place is Christmas Tree Lake because, canyons, and all this dwarfed by a sacred 11,000-foot when Lyndon Johnson sat in the White House, a big mountain that nontribal members call Baldy. That’s blue spruce was harvested here for his 1965 holiday the rub, the landscape here is splattered with English cheer. But I am into other events—an osprey passes place-names, but beneath these names rest Apache with a trout in its talons, a beaver swims past as mist names and they are not readily given up because . . . rises against the spruce and fir-lined shore, and Sun the land is the language. In the language, ni’ can mean and Moon creeks merge and feed the sheet of water “mind.” Or “land.” before my eyes. The lake sits on the White Mountain A bald eagle flaps by, ducks ride on the water and Apache Reservation, 1.6 million acres with 400 miles over there, against the far shore of the 41-acre lake, a of cold streams, over 15 lakes, endless forests and great blue heron stands stock-still on the shore. And now, the White Mountain Apaches are considering opening up some of their backcountry to what outsid- ers call ecotourists. This lake, a legend in trout circles because the world’s largest Apache trout is probably feeding right before my eyes at dusk, is one such place. It remains closed to all except a few trout fisherman who pay a high fee for a visit. In early May, this fee can be $250 a day. But then the monster elk of the reserva- tion can command a hunting fee of $40,000. But that’s not why I’ve come. I’m here because the reservation may hold some of the healthiest ground in Arizona and this may be because of the Apache language. Long ago, the gods created life on Earth and grasses and trees became the hair, rocks and moun- tains the bones, rivers and streams the blood, and the wind became the breath. The wolf has returned here. There are thousands of black bears and elk, countless mountain lions, 15,000 to 18,000 wild turkeys. And a culture has fought the federal and state government and taken back the land-management of their ground. Grazing and timbering are in decline and I’m staring at the result—an emerging Eden. There is electric green, pale green, lime green, blue green, Kelly green and a green that is almost black when I stare into the stands of blue spruce. A gob- bler moves past, five hens trailing him. The forest floor teems with ferns, and ravens croak in the trees. The tap, tap, tap of a woodpecker drums through the stand of spruce. Patches of lupines seep blue under the mountain light. (Text continued on page 26)

Shades of Green and Gold Western sneezeweed flowers await the dawn in a dew-soaked mountain meadow near Christmas Tree Lake.

22 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 23 Pacheta Falls Summer brings monsoon storms to Arizona’s high country. Gentle streams may become rain-swollen torrents, charging down mountainsides with dramatic intensity. Here, Pacheta Creek bursts into trailing ribbons of water as it courses over its namesake falls. n To order a print call (866) 962-1191 or visit www.magazineprints.com.

24 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 25 Scarlet Surprise An extravagantly colored fly agaric mushroom provides a bright accent for a forest floor covered with ponderosa pinecones.

(Continued from page 22) Christmas Tree Lake is the prettiest body of water I’ve ever seen in Arizona, it floats before my eyes like a dream. Years ago, the ethnogra- pher Keith Basso made a study of this land and this people. He created a map of the native place-names, one now kept under lock and key at tribal headquarters. One woman he talked with was Annie Peaches, 77 years old back in 1978 when she shared her knowledge. She told Basso, “The land is always stalking people. The land makes people live right. The land looks after us. The land looks after people.” Bats feed overhead, and the slap of trout leaping comes off the lake. A cormorant drifts through, and at my feet wild strawberries rise up from the duff of pine needles. The sky goes pink and the dying sun plays out on the water. The stars come out. I stare at a rising moon now. The sky is a gray bar, the lake a silver bar feeding off the moon, the forest a black bar. And before my eyes the columns of pine and fir and spruce rise like towers. Coyotes sing before their hunt. And then the silence of land stalking people. Here what you call something becomes what you are and what the ground makes you.

I move around and poke into areas normally closed to my kind. Turkeys cross the road, cow elk and calves feed on the edges of the forest. Lakes flit by, and meadows blaze with green. I keep taking forks in the road and wander. I suppose I’m lost but it does not feel like that. I run into no other people. Most of what I see lacks signs and names — at least names available to me. Rent a Lake From the White Mountain Apaches Tribal members take me to a special place, Pacheta Falls. The surrounding landscape speaks of my kind The White Mountain Apache Tribe’s Wildlife & Outdoor Recreation Division offers two secluded lakes for multiday rentals. The Rent-a-Lake program offers up Hurricane Lake and of the time when the land was seen simply as and Cyclone Lake for renters to relax, fish and barbecue in complete isolation. lumber and beef. The Apaches with me point out this The 37-acre Cyclone Lake sits in the northeast portion of the reservation, an hour fact by fingering the place-names on my map: Poker away from Pinetop-Lakeside. At an elevation of 8,300 feet, Cyclone Lake boasts a good Mountain, Ten of Diamonds Ranch, Pair O’ Dice chance to hook into top-notch rainbow and Apache trout. Ranch. The name Pacheta Falls, I’m told, is a corrup- Even though the 19-acre Hurricane Lake is half the size of its rent-a-lake cousin, tion of “Pair of Cheaters.” No matter. The falls is a roar it earns its own bragging rights. Located in the southeastern part of the reservation, of water, 131 feet high and maybe 50 feet wide hidden Hurricane Lake is managed as a “trophy Apache trout fishery,” so fishermen have an in a slot canyon just above the Black River. Yellow opportunity to pull a lunker out of this high-elevation lake. monkeyflowers trail down from the lip. The location Both lakes require a minimum three-day rental, and have a split rental season from May 24 through September 9 and October 13 through November 1. Cabanas, is not on my official map of the White Mountains. firewood, potable water and barbecue facilities are standard amenities at both sites. The plunge of water comes without warning. The INFORMATION: White Mountain Apache Wildlife & Outdoor Recreation Division, (928) land here is fairly flat, a creek idles through a meadow, 338-4385 or www.wmat.nsn.us (choose “Recreation,” then “Wildlife & Recreation,” and then suddenly there is faint sound, which grows Song of Sunlight then click on Rent-a-Lake) or e-mail: [email protected]. —Clint Van Winkle louder until the creek hits the rim and tumbles down and Shadow into deep pools where trout linger safe from hooks. Afternoon rainstorms are About a century ago a tribesman told an anthropolo- a regular feature of monsoon gist, “Water itself has life; witness the way it ripples season in the mountain highlands. Here, clouds build and flows in a river, the noise it makes in a flood.” above an ephemeral pond At Pacheta Falls, I believe (Text continued on page 31) in a secluded meadow. n To order a print call (866) 962-1191 or visit 26 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COMwww.magazineprints.com 27 . Fading Majesty Clouds from a passing storm disperse reflected sunset colors of gold and magenta in the still waters of Christmas Tree Lake. n To order a print call (866) 962-1191 or visit www.magazineprints.com. 28 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 29 The reservation timber was devoured for decades and there is hardly a virgin stand left. The for- Tangled Up in Blue est can look deceptive with its tall trees and green grass. Intertwined like thatchwork, We simply have lost all memory of how it greeted the windblown grasses decorate the surface of a seasonal pool in a eye at the end of the 19th century. But there are haunt- high mountain meadow. ing reminders and one of them is a grove of 1.7 acres just off Reservation Lake, a lens of water and trout at (continued from page 26) 9,039 feet on the flank of . everything the tribesman said so long ago. I’m looking This pocket of trees survived the great cutting. In at a kind of miracle. The tribe sued the federal govern- Apache culture, the word gozhoo can mean “healthy ment for mismanagement of its land, won, and put the ground” or a “healthy person.” This grove is gozhoo money into a permanent Land Restoration Fund, one (according to the tribe) and that is telling within the that aims to bring the land back to the condition it was culture. Ancient place-names scattered about the res- in before the federal government got its hands on it. A ervation designate wet spots that are now dry. This is board of tribal elders advises the project. And what they taken by the tribal members as a punishment for being speak for is the very creation of their ground. In the greedy and uncaring about their land. beginning was water: “ ‘How will it breathe, this earth?’ I wander up a slope by a Then came Black Thunder to that place, and he gave the cienega, then take a few earth veins. He whipped the earth with lightning and steps down. A giant fir made water start to come out.” What nontribal culture looms over me. The trunk calls restoring riparian habitat, the tribal elders call is maybe 8 feet in diameter. “bring life back to the streams,” and helping the springs It is a message from the “to breathe again.” stands now long gone that I stare at the canyon wall framing Pacheta Falls, a once carpeted the reserva- slot of dark brown rock streaked here and there with tion. For the Apaches, a black stain ending in a riot of ferns below at the edge stable mind rests on three of the punch bowls formed by the tumbling water. elements: resistance, resil- Now I can hear nothing, the roar of water vanishes ience and smoothness. They and I simply melt into the landscape. My side of the apply the same words in canyon is ponderosa pine. Across the chasm is pure assessing the vitality of spruce and fir. Between the slabs of stone, Pacheta what others call an ecosys- Creek rolls and tumbles and deep pools harbor trout. tem. I am staring at smooth- In the past, Apache cowboys would sometimes ness, a grove mixed in descend to the canyon bottom by a rope strung next species and ages, a place to the falls and catch a few for dinner. The rope is gone that can handle the roll and and some other kind of world is being born here. tumble of life without a I sit down amid rotting logs silvered with age. Needles murmur. The tree must be carpet the ground and limbs are scattered like lines in older than the some abstract painting. Young ferns, lupines and col- and, for all I know, it was a seedling when Columbus Ancient Witness umbines poke up like green tongues savoring the sun. sailed. The bark is deep and corrugated with flashes Towering over surrounding aspen trees, I can look at the falls, or at the ground. Part of normal of reddish color against the brown. this giant old-growth tourism is pulling over at designated vista points where Greg Dazan of the tribe’s Recreation Division stands ponderosa pine may survive for 300 years the earth is believed to be camera-ready. I’m past nor- by the tree. He explains it takes eight men with arms or more. mal. Before me is the most beautiful waterfall I’ve seen extended to encircle the fir. in Arizona. At my feet is a mess of debris. I give them “Imagine,” he says softly, “what the forest was like equal time. I’m starting to get the hang of the word ni’. when it was full of big trees.” Such a vision will require centuries. Gozhoo takes time and patience. But at the moment, the tribe is White Mtn when you go Apache Reservation opening up some areas to limited visitation. The trick Location: White Mountain Apache Indian is to get a living from the land without maiming it Reservation, approximately 225 miles northeast of Phoenix. in the process. As one elder told her grandson, “Go Getting There: From Phoenix, take State slowly; listen to the land and it will tell you what to Route 87 north to Payson. Turn right (east) do.” Here is our chance to eavesdrop on a conversation onto State Route 260 and drive 105 miles to Hon Dah. Fees: Outdoor recreation activities like hunting, fishing, we need to hear. camping, and other activities such as off-road travel on the White Mountain reservation land require permits. Outdoor Tucsonan Charles Bowden says: “I’ve worked on a newspaper, recreation permits, daily, $6 per vehicle; individual, $3; general freelanced, started up and ran a magazine, scribbled 18 or so fishing permits, adult, annual, $65; daily, $6; juvenile, annual, books and, thankfully, have never quite gotten the hang of it.” $32; daily, $3; camping, daily, vehicle, $8; individual, $3. Lodging: Sunrise Park Lodge, toll-free (800) 772-7669; After collaborating with author Charles Bowden on six Hon-Dah Resort Casino and Conference Southwestern books and countless Arizona Highways stories, Center, toll-free (800) 929-8744. nothing prepared Jack Dykinga of Tucson for the visual feast Additional Information: Toll-free (877) 338-9628; of the Apache land, which he calls “simply stunning.” www.wmat.nsn.us.

30 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 31 Whiskered Owls &

Whispering Birders Wezil Walraven hits the brakes on the bird-watching van in the middle of the darkening road into Ramsey Canyon, prime habitat for that most peculiar of human subspecies—birders. A Man Named Walraven Reveals... “Whiskered screech owl,” cries Wezil, his Mountains from all over the country. extravagant enthusiasm for all things feath- Behind flit Susan and Larry McKennon, ered exaggerated into a personality trait by lovebird Army colonels who once invaded decades of professional birding. Raucous as Iraq and are now on a campaign to under- the Odd a raven and frenetic as a nuthatch, the gray- stand the alien culture of birders. McKennon thatched, strong-legged, fresh-faced Wezil helped build housing for a couple hundred can shame a mockingbird when it comes to thousand soldiers waiting to invade in the imitating birdcalls, but can’t for the life of first Gulf War, while Susan ran MASH Language of Love him mimic nonchalance. units. They got married while posted at Fort Several befuddled birding couples grab Huachuca, which once harbored the Buffalo their binoculars and tumble toward the Soldiers of Apache War fame and now pro- doors of the Casa de San Pedro’s bird van, tects some of the best blessed bird canyons

BY PETER ALESHIRE PHOTOGRAPHS TOM VEZO Among Birds the first stop in a treasure hunt that will in North America. Susan and Larry have yield unexpected insights into birds, bird- returned from retirement in to cel- ers and their odd mating rituals. ebrate their 10th wedding anniversary with Only Tucson Audubon Director Sonja a romantic interlude at the bird-obsessed and Birders Macys understands Wezil’s bounce-off- Casa de San Pedro. In all innocence, the the-walls excitement. A blonde-crested, colonel couple has now fallen in with a slim-legged, hard-core birder and conser- band of birders. vationist, Sonja knows the rare whiskered Following them come my wife, Elissa, screech owl lures birders to the Huachuca an artist, and me, a writer, 26 years mar- ried and given to unpredictable enthusi- asms. I am hoping this night and day tour will reveal the interlocked secrets of birds and birders and so explain why 46 million Americans spend $32 billion on their dearly daft hobby every year. Birders migrate to southeast Arizona in flocks to explore famed canyons in the Huachuca, Santa Rita and Chiricahua moun- tains and lush riparian areas like Sonoita Creek and the San Pedro River. Thanks to sky islands, diverse canyons, migratory flyways and its location on the boundary between the Mexican tropics and temperate

WELL-DRESSED CAD A pair of wood ducks quack sweet nothings, but don’t let his fancy outfit fool you. These small colorful ducks nest in cavities in big trees like sycamores, but the male plays no role in either picking the nest or sitting on broods of up to 12 eggs.

32 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 33 SPOTTED OWLS Laid-back parents, these big, endangered owls greet intruders with phlegmatic calm and feed their young, like this one, for up to three months after they leave the nest.

YELLOW-EYED JUNCO Perhaps nesting on the ELEGANT TROGON ground with all the skunks, snakes and clodhoppers Males flit up from the makes this junco look a little crazed. Then again, tropics and find a nest perhaps it’s raising three sets of chicks a year. cavity that will impress arriving females. The parents then each pick their favorites to feed, which means half of those little trogons will turn out HEPATIC TANAGER These feathered models to be momma’s boys. of monogamous marriage raise a single batch of up to four babies and warble to one another in sweetly simple songs. habitats, the area boasts more than half ern screech owls, by contrast, of North America’s bird species. snatch up lizards and mice. Huachuca, where Wezil has promised us redstarts, hepatic tanagers, yellow-eyed and violet-crowned — not to mention By the time we escape the van, Wezil Such differences in even elegant trogons, outlandish, foot-long, juncos, whitebreasted nuthatches and rufous, Annas, costas and magnificent. has already centered his birding scope closely related species make parrotlike tropical birds that remain the even a rare sulphur-bellied flycatcher, to Still, Wezil has not finished with on a dark hole in a huge tree set in a V birds nature’s Rosetta stone, avian superstars of southeast Arizona. add to a species list that will top 40 by us, seeing as how Susan is still calling in the road. I focus my binoculars in the revealing the complex con- They sport long tails and nine colors, day’s end. trogons “Trojans.” So Wezil resolves to gathering dusk. nection between habits and including emerald-green backs, vivid red Suddenly, we’re electrified by the reveal to us the secret hiding place of the Nothing. habitats. breasts, bright yellow bills and spooky bizarre, swallowed-caw of the trogon, threatened Mexican spotted owls, elusive Sonja peers into the scope. “There’s the Wezil and photographer LOOK, IT’S A BIRD... Ecotour guide Wezil Walraven orange eye rings. A tropical species, they sounding like a turkey reared by mock- predators of old-growth forests hanging mother—and the baby,” she whispers. Tom Vezo, who has in his points out a preening elegant trogon to a group of bird- breed in a few lush canyons along the ingbirds on hallucinogens. Delighted, we on in a few unlogged canyons, including I elbow her aside and the scope reveals files 100,000 pictures of birds watchers on a trip into the . Arizona-Mexico border where they nest creep through the woods behind Wezil, Scheelite Canyon in the Huachucas. the baby, visible only when he opens his of 500 species, then launch in sycamore trees, whose soft, easily bro- druids seeking our fairy circle. The heart- So we drive to the canyon and troop haunting yellow eyes and fixes me with into a complex discussion of the local she gave up keeping her “life list” of ken branches make them a cavity nester’s stopping, bright-red breast of the male nearly a mile up a steep, leafy, bird- a look wise beyond his fluff-feather years. dialects of owls and Mexican whip- birds she has seen after the Mexican paradise. trogon flashes in the branches. We crane thronged trail. I cannot see the mother. poorwills. I eavesdrop, like a plumber federales inexplicably confiscated her The Aztecs believed trogons harbored our necks, cry out, shamble through At length, Wezil perches on a rock and Susan looks. “I see them,” she chirps. listening to a discussion between Albert only copy during one memorable fiasco the spirits of dead warriors, perhaps for the forest, stumble over tree roots, cross tells us to think like a Mexican spotted Impossible. I look again. Suddenly, I Einstein and Niels Bohr about whether in Mexico. their gaudy plumage and eerie calls. the stream, bumble down the road and owl. After much blundering about, I spot see the mother perched right on top of God does, in fact, play dice with the Susan is easygoing and brimming Trogons have expanded into Arizona in return to the picnic area—following the a gigantic, drowsy, mottled brown owl the baby, as cleverly camouflaged as a universe. with delight, although baffled by the just the past century, perhaps due to a 3- trogon from perch to perch. Two trogons high in a nearby Douglas fir. brain twister illustration in a children’s Abruptly, Wezil cocks his head. birder hubbub. Larry is careful as a colo- degree average temperature rise linked to fly back and forth overhead, a delirium of Moments later, Susan stops in aston- nature book. “Elf owl,” he says, reacting to a call I nel in a roomful of generals, although his cattle grazing and deforestation. They eat red and green. ishment beneath a branch just 8 feet off Wezil dances a jig in his excitement hadn’t even heard. eyes gleam with amusement. He watches berries, bugs and lizards, nest in aban- Wezil can lie down and nap on his lau- the ground that holds a foot-high, fledg- over our astonishment. Then he pied- Tom spins and spots the 5-inch-long Susan with the wordless devotion that doned woodpecker holes, reproduce rels so far as I’m concerned. ling Mexican spotted owl, adorable in pipers us down the road in the dark, bump of an elf owl on a branch, thanks prompts soldiers to throw themselves slowly and defend their young fiercely. Instead, he leads us to the humming- his baby feathers. The mother eyes us hooting and ooohing. to an eye trained by 20,000 hours of on grenades to save their buddies. She They often mate in the tropics, but the bird heaven of Beatty’s Miller Canyon dubiously from a nearby tree. Down the hill where pines and syca- birding. A sparrow-sized insect hunter, is the happy splash of a stream to his females can store the sperm inside for Guest Ranch & Orchard. There we Susan shrieks in delight. mores yield to oaks and scrub, he whips the elf owl also draws birders from the deep ocean current, but they fit perfectly. weeks before fertilizing an egg. The encounter a New York birding guide, an “Oh, it’s so cute,” she cries. “That’s it. out his CD player to reproduce the ter- far corners of North America. Suddenly, They found each other in the midst of males migrate first so they can hunt up obsessive life-lister with a frightening I’m a birder!” ritorial call of a western screech owl, a the feisty elf owl plunges from its branch muddled wars and now seem as content several nest cavities in hopes one will gleam in her eye who has tallied 736 spe- Wezil chortles like a trogon. hoot that diminishes like a dropped ping- and smacks into the back of screech as life-mated eagles. impress his true love, since they appear cies in North America, but hasn’t glimpsed The owl holds my stare skeptically, but pong ball. A moment later, a ghost owl owl’s head. Everyone yelps, most espe- We declare the owling a great success, to mate for life. When the missus arrives, a new bird in two years. She has brought I can only shrug. passes noiselessly overhead and perches cially the screech owl. but privately consider Wezil odd and he leads her from hole to hole, fluttering, three wealthy clients to see several rare I cannot explain us, especially when it indignantly in the cottonwood opposite. The owls curse. Sonja obsessed, especially after Wezil croaking and preening hopefully. tropical hummingbirds. Now she haunts comes to mating habits. Wezil flicks on his 9-volt flashlight and The birders hoot. insists we have breakfast by 6 a.m. to get Wezil delivers us to a peaceful picnic the row of buzzing hummingbird feed- Even so, I’m proud of our most distinc- notes that this owl lacks the fringe of Wezil beams. those early birds. area in Garden Canyon, where gaggles ers, unnerving as Marley’s ghost dragging tive field marking: A wonderfully fluffed face bristles adorning its cousin up the We chat happily on our way back to We assemble just past dawn in the of birders wait hopefully for a trogon’s the chain of a life list. In the next hour up sense of wonder.

road. The whiskered screech owls use Casa de San Pedro, getting to know each Casa de San Pedro dining room for a call. We wander about, appreciating we see two-thirds of the North American Peter Aleshire is editor of Arizona Highways. the bristles to funnel flying bugs into other. reassuringly substantial breakfast, then North America’s greatest diversity of hummingbird species, including black- Tom Vezo of Green Valley also photographed the their mouths. The larger-taloned west- Sonja is earnest and expert, although head for Garden Canyon on Fort butterflies and pointing out painted chinned, broad-billed, blue-throated eagle myths and nestwatchers stories in this issue.

34 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 35 than it was a hundred years ago.” With prior appointment, the public may visit the ranch, considered a “signature” area of importance by the national organization. Information: Research ranch, (540) 455-5522, or Audubon Arizona, (602) 468-6470; www. audubon.org/local/sanctuary /appleton/index.html. 1905 The National Association of Audubon Societies is The Rio incorporated in New Salado Audubon Center. At York State. William Central Avenue at the Salt River in Dutcher is named first president. Guy Bradley, Phoenix, the 4-acre educational right, one of the first center site adjacent to the Rio Audubon wardens, is Salado Project hosts informative murdered by game poachers in Florida. outdoor programs for the public, ARCHIVES, NAS LEFT AND BOTTOM: RICH PAUL especially student groups. The center will open in 2008. 1913-1918 Congress passes a landmark law placing all migratory Information: Audubon birds under federal protection. Three Arizona, (602) 468-6470; years later President Woodrow Wilson re-signs law to include http://az.audubon.org/. an international treaty provision between the U.S. and Canada. The Important Bird Area

(IBA) Program. Twenty-six 1953 Audubon adopts a flying regions in the state have been great egret, one of the chief designated as having special victims of turn-of-the-century plume hunters, as its symbol. importance for birds. The areas are used to engage the public and private landowners in conservation, to promote habitat 1970 The first Earth Day and to encourage partnerships held; Clean Air for species protection. and National Information: Audubon Environmental Policy Acts Arizona, (602) 468-6470; passed. http://az.audubon.org/.

COURTESY NATIONAL AUBUBON SOCIETY Arizona Watchlist 2004. A list of 53 bird species 1994 Bald eagle down-listed from — including threatened or near- endangered to threatened. Audubon Celebrates a Century Devoted to The National Audubon Society threatened — is compiled to 2005 The ivory-billed woodpecker, Appleton-Whittell Research observe and monitor those presumed extinct, is rediscovered in Ranch. Near Elgin in southern needing protection. Cache-Lower White River National BY RANDY SUMMERLIN All Things Feathered Arizona, the 7,000-acre tract, Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas. which has excluded livestock Eight Chapters Statewide. since 1969, is a native plant and The work done by the society hanks partly to a bunch of precious feathers and the state, forming the regional backbone for Audubon’s work animal sanctuary devoted is mainly a local effort done a fashion-conscious society that loved plumed hats, the birds of in a state where bird observation and conservation are a high primarily to grassland research, on the chapter level. In the early days of state the world are living a little bit happier. environmental priority—and big business. It’s reported that according to Vashti “Tice” Information: Audubon Audubon societies, In the early 1900s, the great egret and snowy egret were birders spend more than $800 million in Arizona annually Supplee, a biologist and director Arizona, (602) 468-6470; female members urged in danger of extinction because their feathers—at the time pursuing their passion. of bird conservation, who to contact individual chapters, see fellow socialites to stop reportedly worth twice their weight in gold—were harvested Birds are like the canary in the mine—they’re a barometer oversees the Important Bird Area az.audubon.org/Chapters.html. wearing feathered hats. excessively. A group of concerned conservationists soon for the health of the entire environment, says Sam Campana, Program. Much of the ranchland To join: https://websvr. took flight and won legal protection for the birds—helping executive director of Audubon Arizona. She heads Audubon’s was burned in a vast grass fire in audubon.org/forms/updated/ to launch the National Audubon Society, which celebrated its Phoenix-located state organization, which opened in February 2002, but nearly all traces of the new_order.html. 100th year in 2005. 2002 and now has about 15,000 members. fire have disappeared, according Randy Summerlin is managing Arizona chapters began forming about 50 years ago in Pima Highlights of Audubon Arizona’s activities, research areas to Campana, who says it has been editor of Arizona Highways and Maricopa counties. Eight such chapters now exist around and programs include: restored to a condition “better and a nature-lover at heart.

36 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 37 Guide to Wander the Wetlands Antelope Antics Await Snowbirds Flock to Lake Tavasci Marsh Prescott Valley Mormon Lake, Doug 11 Great Nature Trips Near Clarkdale and Cottonwood, Antelope Drive Morrison Overlook off State Route 89A Prescott, along State Route Flagstaff, Lake Mary Road Keep on the lookout for the 89 between State Route There’s more than one kind of hordes of animals that call this 69 and State Route 89A snowbird in Arizona, and this central Arizona marsh home. Giddyup that minivan for an type doesn’t golf. Travelers Beavers, yellow-billed cuckoos 8-mile drive through Prescott can glimpse the other form of and several species of bats all Valley’s short-grass prairie. snowbird at Arizona’s largest You Should Answer wander this wetland, which Pronghorns dominate the natural lake, which is also one BY CLINT VAN WINKLE VAN CLINT BY The Wild Calls is Arizona’s largest freshwater wildlife-watching here, but of the best spots in the state marsh away from the Colorado prairie falcons and kestrels to view bald eagles. From ADDITIONAL READING: Step into Where the Buffalo Roam the preserve. Located just south the wilderness, explore its beauty River. Tavasci Marsh has been also call the area home. Unless November to April, wintering House Rock Wildlife of Wickenburg, the reserve’s and immerse yourself in its solitude designated as an Audubon Society you have eagle eyes, don’t bald eagles flock to a 9-square- with Arizona Wild & Free. The coffee- Management Area guided and self-guided walks Important Bird Area (IBA). forget the binoculars. mile area of wetland, open table book draws from former U.S. North Rim of the Grand put visitors into the midst of Information: (928) 634-5283; water, grassland, coniferous Rep. and Interior Secretary Stewart L. Canyon on State Route 67 the menagerie. Now, what Udall’s experiences in what he terms www.nps.gov/tuzi/pphtml/ forest and cliffs, which are Stare down 2,000 pounds of fur was that raccoon saying? “Arizona’s sanctuary” illustrated subnaturalfeatures22.html. all represented. Waterfowl, by stunning photographs of wild and horns. And, no we aren’t Information: (928) 684-2772; elk, mule deer, pronghorns, places and animals. Published by talking about the IRS. A herd www.hassayampa.org. ospreys and peregrine falcons Arizona Highways, the book ($14.99 of 125 free-range bison browse plus shipping and handling) can be also call this place home. and glower in northern Arizona, Wake-boarding ordered online at arizonahighways. Wildlife Watchers Information: (928) 774-1147; com or by calling toll-free (800) the descendants of a failed Lyman Lake State Park www.fs.fed.us/outdoors/ 543-5432. 1905 “cattalo” experiment. C.J. Northeastern Arizona naturewatch/arizona/ “Buffalo” Jones tried to breed in the White Mountains wildlife/mormon-lake. cattle with bison, but gave on State Route 81 up trying to go commercial What do you get when you with the prickly half-breeds. cross a bald eagle and a bobcat? However, visitors can still view When you find out, let us their shaggy descendants in the know. In the meantime, visit wild, especially between May Lyman State Park’s 1,200 acres and mid-September, when they to see bald eagles, bobcats and migrate back to House Rock for waterfowl running amuck in calving season. Pronghorns and northeastern Arizona. If that mule deer also share the range. bores you, pitch horseshoes, Information: Arizona Game water ski, camp or fish and Fish Department, (928) to pass the time away. 214-1241; www.gf.state.az.us/ migratory bird day, a Christmas Information: (928) 337- h_f/game_buffalo.shtml. bird count and a host of 4441; www.pr.state.az.us/ other outdoor activities. An Life’s a Beach Parks/parkhtml/lyman. amazing 330 bird species, 53 Willow Beach, Lake Mead reptiles and amphibians, and Cool Critters National Recreation Area Keepin’ It Real 58 mammal species lay claim to 15 miles south of Hoover the land, so chances are high Aravaipa Canyon East Dam off U.S. Route 93 you will encounter something. 65 miles northeast of Tucson Take a three-hour raft trip Information: (520) 823- off State Route 77 on the Colorado River above 4251, ext.116; www.fws. This place is so cool the Lake Mohave to see Arizona’s gov/southwest/refuges/ A Trip Worth Truckin’ bighorn sheep wear elusive cliff-climbing desert arizona/buenosaires. Hannagan Meadow earrings — compliments of bighorn sheep. The sheepish Corduroy Creek Loop the Arizona Game and Fish sheep wander down to the A Haven for Suckers Northeastern Arizona Department. Other critters, river’s edge in the early morning San Pedro Riparian in the White Mountains upset because they don’t get and late afternoon to drink. A Conservation Area off U.S. Route 191 to wear the bright yellow national fish hatchery plops 50 miles southeast of Tucson If you’re sick of hanging around accessories, include white-tailed plump trout into the river, and on State Route 80 and you’d like to travel, try this deer, coatimundis and gray desert tortoises have been A desert sucker isn’t just 62-mile jaunt that begins in foxes. Holler a shout-out as you spotted racing around the area. someone who gets stuck on Alpine. The long, not so strange creep by, but stay in your vehicle Information: (928) 767-4747; top of Camelback Mountain trip will have you trucking, like while journeying through this www.nps.gov/lame/home. without water in the summer, the doodah man, through Arizona wildlife hangout. but a fish you might see at San old-growth forest. The loop Try Talking to the Animals Information: (928) 348-4400; Pedro Conservation Area. Don’t also puts visitors close to black Hassayampa River Preserve www.recreation.gov/detail. let the fact that rattlesnakes bears, mule deer, elk, chipmunks Wickenburg on U.S. Route and a wide variety of birds. Bilingual Birding may be present stop you from 60, Mile Marker 114 catching a glimpse of the Information: (928) 333-4301; Buenos Aires National Dr. Doolittle would love this other critters that roam these www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf. Wildlife Refuge place for its vast array of wildlife, parts. Thirty-five species of 50 miles southwest of Tucson but you need not talk to the raptors and 379 species of birds on State Route 286 animals to enjoy the javelinas, have been recorded here, so There’s a flock of things to do CONVERSATIONAL COYOTE raccoons, ringtails, mule deer, keep your eyes to the sky. The most vocal of all North American on this 118,000-acre parcel bobcats, gray foxes and 280 Information: (520) 439-6400; wild mammals, coyotes use a variety of land that sits just north of species of birds that frequent www.blm.gov/az/nca/ of squeaks, yelps and howls to the U.S.-Mexico border. Enjoy spnca/spnca-info.htm. establish territorial boundaries and birding, guided nature walks, to communicate within the pack or family unit. paul and joyce berquist

38 FEBRU ARY 2006 arizonahighways.com arizonahighways.com ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 39 Burt Alvord Convict Constable Lawman-turned-robber proves no jail can hold him

BY DAVID M. BROWN ILLUSTRATION BY EZRA TUCKER

urt Alvord came from the and led posses, sheriffs and and “Lizzette the Flying Nymph.” right side of the tracks, but detectives into the mountains of Alvord quickly established his reputa- he ended up, via the rails, County and Sonora, Mexico. tion as a fighter. He was a muscular 6 Bon the wrong side. Hired to catch rob- As biographer Don Chaput, puts it: feet, with attitude, and a big drinker. For bers, he became one instead. A jailer, he “Burt Alvord turned bad.” character, or the lack of it, Alvord made broke jail twice. A lawman, he became a Yet, he started good. “mean” meaner, “nasty” nastier and model of lawlessness. He was born Sept. 11, 1867, in Susanville, “ornery” as mean and nasty as tough-town A big brawling tough guy, even for California, the sixth child of Lucinda Tombstone ever saw. But, as chroniclers gnarly Tombstone of Territorial days, and Charles Elbridge Alvord, whose have shown, he also used a big smile to Alvord was, in the lingo of the Old West, ancestors had originally emigrated from his advantage and was a practical jokester “a bad egg” or, in the words of a recent England in the 1640s and fought in the with, as Chaput writes, “a rollicking sense chronicler, “spawn gone wrong: lawman, American Revolution. After the Civil War, of humor.” train robber, fugitive.” Alvord’s family joined the to Cochise County Sheriff John Slaughter After a spectacular rash of robberies, California, crossing the country from —who knew tough when he saw tough— betrayals, confessions and two daring their home in Missouri. In the placer-rich appointed Alvord deputy in January jailbreaks, the former deputy sheriff and counties in the Sierra Nevadas, Alvord’s 1887. During the next decade, he served constable finally found himself on the father worked as a miner, mechanic and succeeding county sheriffs, including wrong end of a posse, when on February constable, and served as a member of famed photographer C.S. Fly. Burt also 19, 1904, he was shot twice and captured the Company A, Fifth Brigade during worked as deputy constable at gold- and by County Sheriff Adalbert V. Lewis and the Civil War. Eventually, C.E. Alvord silver-rich Pearce. In 1897, he became a crew near Naco on the Arizona-Mexico moved his family to Tombstone, Arizona, constable of Willcox Township. border. where he served as justice of the peace However, working as a lawman wasn’t But even that didn’t end the controversy and a miner. making Alvord rich. He had heard short that dogged the daring and dishonest His son, meanwhile, was picking up tales and tall tales of railroad robbers Albert “Burt” Wright Alvord. He served skills as a mechanic, liveryman and driver. and knew the terrain intimately. So he just 19 months of a two-year sentence Unfortunately, Burt also picked up on the devised his first, best robbery for the for attempting to rob the U.S. mail, and dark side of Tombstone—cockfights, faro, evening of September 9, 1899, hoping his early release ended up hastening the hard liquor, brawls, billiards, brothels to snatch the Pearce mining payroll. At retirement of and . midnight, as he established his alibi Warden Jerry Millay. Just a block or so from his Toughnut by drinking and playing cards in Josef The clang of the heavy cell door punc- Street home, the young Alvord imbibed the Schwertner’s Saloon in Willcox, three tuated five years of dark deeds, saloon world of the gambling tables, billiard halls, accomplices stopped the Southern Pacific gossip, blaring newspaper headlines and saloons such as the Crystal Palace and the train at Cochise, a remote station about ceaseless searches. Once a trusted law- Oriental. Here he would rub up against 10 miles southwest of Willcox. man, Alvord had in six months master- scoundrels, blackened miners, grizzly His cohorts, Matt Burts, minded train robberies at Cochise and and easy-virtue gals such as and , were equally character- Fairbank, broken jail twice in Tombstone “ Lil,” “Madam Moustache” challenged—cowboys and even deputies

40 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 41 Slaughter ranch cowboy Billie Hildrath, seated, Nasiriyah, Hilla or Kut beset this Bagdad escapade. No ambush most likely didn’t know alley or RPGs either — just cacti, mountains and tumbleweeds. that lawman-turned- ‘He had . . . The throngs of saguaro sentries remind me that I am in a outlaw Burt Alvord, right, along way the masterminded railroad a reputation for being different desert, one from which I will most certainly return. robberies throughout But that only reminds me of the troops in that other desert who Cochise County in the a bad man.’ Tucson Sunday Examiner, March 27, 1901 weren’t so lucky. early 1900s. Groves of Joshua trees with their upraised, prayerful arms greet me halfway into the drive. It’s a desolate area, but I don’t messenger and former Ranger Jeff pain. The elusive Stiles escaped cleanly, feel alone. Instead, I am traveling with Milton sitting, unexpectedly, in the bag- was cornered again and escaped again. Seeking Solace Between the unit again. My platoon sergeant is gage car. Lewis Owens and Bob Brown One epilogue has it that he ended up as a a few vehicles behind, and his voice held the engineer and fireman at rifle lawman in . crackles through my radio. Corporal point. Three-Fingered Jack warned the Burt Alvord left the Yuma Territorial Baghdad and Bagdad Kipper is riding ahead; he looks back unflappable Milton to exit. When he Prison three weeks earlier than his and gives me a thumbs-up. It reminds refused, the outlaws opened fire, shat- scheduled October 26, 1905, release. A from the moment i first found bagdad on a map of me that we are all in this together. tering Milton’s arm. Milton returned fire federal warrant for Alvord’s arrest was Arizona, I felt called to seek it out. Mormon settlers named the trees after the biblical Joshua. with his shotgun, hitting Bravo Juan in to be served at his full-sentence release. We fought our way up to that other Baghdad, the one in Passing through the groves, I ask myself a question those Alvord had recruited from Pearce and the buttocks and Dunlap in the stomach Millay, who had differently, although Iraq, through the desert and down “Ambush Alley.” We dodged settlers would have understood, “Whither thou goest?” I can’t Tombstone. The robbery was quick and and groin. Then the wounded messenger innocently, gauged Alvord’s release date, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), ducked pop shots and answer the question now, but feel something awaits me up ahead.

to plan: Burts covered the engineer and slammed the baggage door, tossed the ensured that this did not happen, pro- chased the Fedayeen fighters that patrolled the shadows. When we reached the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, the bridges by Clint Van Winkle fireman, Stiles held the mail clerk and keys into a corner and took cover. viding Alvord opportunity to trek to That was two years ago, but I still think about it every day. were mangled and we had to “swim” our amphibious assault the Wells Fargo agent, and Downing, a Unable to find the keys, the bandits Los Angeles to stay with his sister, May I think about the explosions, the burned vehicles and the vehicles across the Diyala River to enter that ancient city. Black rancher, minded the horses and held rode off with little more than $42, Bravo Shoults. Further adding to the confu- way the air smells around the dead. I feel sandstorms and smoke billowed from various locations. Incoming and outgoing people on the platform. Juan having been wounded in more than sion, Millay also had not informed other blazing heat in my sleep. I see strange men lurking in alleys shots danced throughout the sky. Nothing quite as dramatic When the Wells Fargo safe exploded, his felonious pride. The outlaws aban- law enforcement officials about the early and helicopters carrying off the wounded. Most of all, I feel happens when I enter Bagdad, Arizona. Not even close. it yielded about $2,500 in cash and jew- doned the wounded Dunlap in the desert, release, including the U.S. marshal with the desert and its expansive nothingness. And now, I miss the I head to the gas station to forage for a few postcards. I want elry. The culprits either walked or rode and he later died in Tombstone. Before the warrant. When Los Angeles detec- desert, the war and my friends. to send a Bagdad, Arizona, postcard to my platoon sergeant, away into the early morning darkness to expiring, Dunlap fingered his confed- tives finally arrived at his sister’s home Perhaps that’s why the dot on the map at the end of a three- “Gunny” Yates, to tell him about my strange mission in the the Alvord home in Willcox, where they erates, including Stiles and Alvord. The with the necessary extradition papers, hour drive beckoned me wrong desert and give him something to cached their stash in the chicken house. Owens brothers and Bob Brown were Alvord was gone. Millay came under into the desert, which has hang up next to his two Purple Hearts. They may also have left some money at apprehended; Bravo Juan was captured sharp criticism for the mix-up and later always offered sanctuary Pulling out of the gas station, I notice Alvord’s ranch in Pearce. in Mexico. Burts was also apprehended apologized for whatever hand he might and enlightenment: Jesus children leaving a small school. They run In Willcox, Alvord acted surprised by and readily ratted out his partners. have had in Alvord’s evasion of justice. spent 40 days and nights back and forth playing tag as they cross the news. He dropped his cards and whis- Downing and Alvord were caught in Historian Harold L. Edwards has in the Judean Desert; Main Street. They appear unafraid and key, gathered 30 men, rode out to the site mid-February by Wells Fargo detective recently written about how the Alvord Mohammed meditated careless, just enjoying the moment and and divvied up the citizenry, including J.N. Thacker, with an assist by Sheriff story ended. In Los Angeles, family alone in the Arabian what life has to offer them. It is peaceful two of the perpetrators who had joined Scott White and his posse. Stiles won his friend H.M. DuBois helped Burt Alvord Desert. I needed to leave in this Bagdad, and I think that maybe I the posse. Stiles went north, Downing release by confessing the details of both get work on the Panama Canal. There he the city—needed to make now understand. Maybe my Iraq journey went south and Alvord led Sheriff Scott robberies, which he blamed on Alvord. became Tom Wright (his middle name). sense of things. somehow helped protect these children White into the Chiricahuas. However, Stiles broke Alvord out of the With foreman George Wilson, Alvord On my original Baghdad from having to endure the sights and Not surprisingly, Alvord couldn’t seem Tombstone jail less than two months then moved on to build a railroad along excursion, the “mother of sounds of a future Middle Eastern war. to find the bad guys. later — “dastardly work,” reported The the Amazon River in Brazil, where both all sandstorms” forced us And maybe, just maybe, the children of Five months later, on February 15, Tombstone Epitaph on April 8. The jail- men contracted malaria or yellow fever. to hunker down for hours, that other Baghdad, the one of my broken 1900, the Alvord group tried the same breakers hightailed south to Mexico. For recuperation, they were relocated to but this time cotton-candy sleep, will one day be able to leave school trick at the Fairbank depot, about 45 Two and a half years later, Alvord, tired Bridgetown, British Barbados, but Alvord cumulus clouds dominate unafraid and careless as well. miles southwest of Willcox. Alvord of running, surrendered to Sheriff Lewis succumbed and was buried there on the baby-blue sky as I pass On the way home I pass the Joshua trees gathered a motley gang of ne’er-do-wells, in early September 1902, after making November 25, 1909. through the tranquil cities again and realize this trip had nothing, and since Downing had opted out and Burts a deal to deliver the infamous outlaw The railroad, this time in the trop- of El Mirage, Sun City everything, to do with Bagdad, Arizona. had fled the Territory. Alvord’s mixed Augustine “El Peludo” Chacon to former ics, had delivered Burt Alvord, the liv- and Surprise. No rough- In that grove of Joshua trees, I see all bag of desperados included horse thief Arizona Ranger Captain and now U.S. eryman, lawman and outlaw — whose and-tumble cities like the Marines I served with, silent guides “Three-Fingered Jack” Dunlap; Texans Deputy Marshal Burt Mossman. (Chacon epitaph might have quipped that here pointing me in the right direction. It is here George and Lewis Owens; the infamous hanged Nov. 21, 1902, in Solomonville.) rested a man who wasn’t that good at Joshua trees grow only in California, Arizona, I understand that we all have our wars to Utah and Nevada. These specimens are near “Bravo Juan” Thomas Yoas; and Bob Once again, to the embarrassment of being bad — to his last stop. Bagdad, Arizona. paul gill contend with, and sometimes you just have to Brown, who had heard of the Cochise Sheriff Lewis, Stiles broke Alvord out venture out into the desert to regroup, think robbery through Tom Burts, brother of of the Tombstone jail in 1903 and, they The author, Sgt. Clint Van Winkle, left, and and find peace. David M. Brown has lived in Arizona physically Staff Sgt. David Paxson, right—take a break glib Matt. Once again, Alvord would escaped to Mexico through the Huachuca for 25 years and emotionally all of his for a picture atop an amphibious assault Amid the Joshua trees, I ask myself again, establish his alibi, this time guzzling in Mountains. But Alvord again surrendered life — inexorably drawn here for its elixir of sun, vehicle just days before the 1st Marine “Whither thou goest?” And while I still can’t a Benson saloon. two months later, although Stiles and a geography, history and lore. Division crossed into Baghdad, Iraq, in 2003. answer the question, I know that if I just keep The & Arizona Railroad Mexican with him escaped. In the melee, Ezra Tucker lives in Monument, Colorado, where moving and watching, the answers will find he paints Rocky Mountain wildlife and shows train pulled in on schedule at dusk, with Alvord was wounded twice, in the ankle his work in galleries in Aspen and Jackson Hole, me — somewhere in the desert, somewhere universally feared Wells Fargo express and the thigh, and was in considerable Wyoming. between Baghdad and Bagdad.

42 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 43 by Tom Carpenter photographs by Richard K. Webb hike of the month on line Before yougoonthishike,visitarizonahighways.com forotherthings to doandplaces see inthisarea. You’ll alsofindmore hikesinourarchive. to see them. them. see to toward U.S. Route 93,toward where in trees and shade, ghosts ghosts shade, and trees in in Kingman leads southwest southwest leads Kingman in provide. But it takes a while awhile But it takes provide. what 44 The Camp Beale Loop Trail Trail Loop Beale The Camp With Ghosts of the Past the of Ghosts With l i r p a

the

trail

2006

lacks lacks Walk

traverses, the highway and its its and highway the traverses, trail turns north and climbs climbs and north turns trail shadows and noise traffic of concrete keep the ghosts ghosts the keep of concrete along the slouching basaltic basaltic slouching the along at bay. However, the when shoulder of the low mesa it it low mesa ofshoulder the

1858 during the second of of second the 1858 during 200 hundred yards from the the from yards hundred 200 25 camels. camels. 25 35th parallel. On his first trip trip first his On 35th parallel. Camp Beale’s Springs down down Springs Beale’s Camp five trips through the area to to area the through trips five visited the springs in January January in springs the visited hum vanish. hum trail. It’s park. now acity trail. trees the where south, the to through the area the previous previous the area the through fall, his expedition included included expedition his fall, rubber galvanized incessant build a wagon road along the the along awagon road build and brush are thick, about about thick, are brush and to drawn They’re appear. That’s when the ghosts ghosts the when That’s Lt. Edward Beale may have have may Beale Edward Lt. when youwhen go 120 W. Beale St., drive west on U.S. U.S. on west drive St., 120 W. Beale Trail access Trail access Travel Advisory: available for horse trailers at at trailers horse for available trail.equestrian Parking Beale Fort the onto right turn and turnoff to the left to the Camp Camp the to left the to turnoff trailhead parking lot on Fort Fort on lot parking trailhead There: Getting Museum of History and Arts at at Arts and History of Museum includes mountain bikes and and bikes mountain includes Beale Loop Trail parking lot. Trail parking Loop Beale the to 1mile Continue Drive. 1mile approximately 93 Route Beale Drive. Beale Location: Difficulty: Elevation Gain: Length: Payoff: Payoff: Great view. 3.2 miles. 3.2 Kingman. Moderate.

From the Mohave Mohave the From

476’. The Mountains TRAILSIDE SCENERYTRAILSIDE and the . southlooks toward Kingman right, above boulders, basalt of view The above. cacti, of eyeful apainless get would sunrise at trail the from north looking Hikers Trail. Loop Beale Camp near terrain rocky the decorates left, cactus, hedgehog astrawberry of pink Mountains to the northeast northeast the to Mountains the Rose-Baley wagon train wagon train Rose-Baley the the northwest. To the west, summit unassuming an to of the , Mountains, Cerbat of the rise to the east, the Peacock Peacock the east, the to rise beyond the spires and peaks peaks and spires the beyond view. awonderful and bench and the Music Mountains to to Mountains Music the and at 4,107 ametal feet with and amoderate requires and of 3,629 elevation at an feet stand the Black Mountains. Black the stand for about 2miles climb steady As for the ghosts, that’s that’s ghosts, for the As The 3.2-mile hike begins begins The hike 3.2-mile

The brilliant brilliant The They won’t The it. make which to focus your attention. your attention. focus to which will return to Albuquerque. to return will Hualapai chief. His death death His chief. Hualapai Mojave Indians will kill eight eight kill will Mojave Indians until 1870.until Much of it was the middle distance upon upon distance middle the lasted War that Hualapai the of ateamster hands the of Waba a ghost Yuma, the trailhead. close to use the Beale wagon road. wagon road. Beale the use to of them and the survivors survivors the and of them fought in these hills. hills. fought these in named Sam Miller, sparked sparked Miller, Sam named 1866, at April in here near descent is steep in places, places, in steep is descent in 1858, the first immigrants immigrants 1858,in first the California to way its making before the final descent to the the to descent final the before an follows soon trail but the are found far away and up up and away found far are for about ahalf-mile arroyo Along the way awaits awaits way the Along The rewards of this hike hike of this The rewards From the summit, the the summit, From the — there is not much in not much in is there At sunset, the Hualapai Hualapai the At sunset, filaree blossom. filaree you avoid the heat of the day day ofyou the heat avoid the you’ll find another purple, the the purple, another you’ll find hike this well-maintained Mountains assume a hue of ahue of assume Mountains trail even in the summer if if summer the in even trail between 10 between purple majesty. At your feet At your majesty. feet purple There’s no reason you can’t you can’t There’s no reason trailhead

a > . m Camp Beale’s . and 4 and 93

Springs

F

o p

r

t .

m B

e

40 a

l . e

D

r . To Flagstaff ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM of History and Arts and History of Mohave Museum Museum Mohave Wear a hat and carry plenty plenty carry and Wear ahat walking with ghosts. ghosts. with walking Follow the trail leading up up leading trail Follow the long as you don’tlong as mind you’ll and fine be hill that this is a climbing hike. hike. aclimbing is this that trail wrong followto the of water. Don’t get confused of water. Don’t get confused if you don’t keep in mind you don’tif mind in keep by the trail markers. It’s easy It’s easy markers. trail the by 40

66

B

e

a

l

e

S

t .

KINGMAN

A

n

d

y

D

e

v i n

e —

A

ve 66 . so loop beale camp Kevin Kibsey n 45

by Lori K. Baker photographs by David Wentworth Lazaroff back road adventure 2,000 feet high. 2,000 46 Road 545, known as the loop loop the as 545,Road known years ago offered the most most the ago offered years Flagstaff along the 35-mile 35-mile the along Flagstaff sunset Sunset Crater a thousand athousand Crater Sunset deadly pyrotechnics display, of a performance recent of years. forrock millions look Arizona northern in of volcanoes string nearby black ash and rivers of molten of molten rivers and ash black placid, but they’ve spewed spewed but they’ve placid, stretch of Forest Service ofstretch Forest Service shooting orange fire up to to up fire orange shooting Catac As I drove north of of north I drove As l i r p a

Road Runs From Volcanic Sunset Crater to Ruins crater Built by People Who Thrived on Disaster

2006

and the the and lysm to Comeback Volcano National Monument Monument National Volcano witnessed nature’s dramatic dramatic nature’s witnessed volcano’s deadly wake, the the wake, volcano’s deadly the in people vulnerable Monument, time stood still. I I still. stood Monument, time Sinagua Indians. They lived They lived Indians. Sinagua to Wupatki National National Wupatki to takes centuries to heal. heal. to centuries takes on this land, described by by described land, on this road that links Sunset Crater Crater Sunset links that road rebirth in an arid land that that land arid an in rebirth in pit houses and depended depended and pit houses in as “on the very fringes of of fringes “on very as the archaeologist Mark Elson survivability.” I wondered Iwondered survivability.” My mind turned to the the to turned My mind 1040 to 1100 to these people people 1100 to 1040 these to Route 89, the paved road Route road 89, paved the whose fate was inextricably inextricably was fate whose what exactly happened when when happened exactly what with each mile of the scenic scenic of the mile each with F. Brady, a geologist with the F. the Brady, with ageologist highway. tied to the earth. the to tied the volcano erupted from A.D. from erupted volcano the clearing where Maj. Lionel Maj. where Lionel clearing forest pine ponderosa open into Bonito Park, a wide awide Park, Bonito into an through down dropped sagebrush and grass-covered grass-covered and sagebrush The dramatic tale unfolded unfolded tale The dramatic In the first mile off U.S. off mile U.S. first the In That discovery led museum museum led discovery That Crater at the time of the of the time at the Crater find: Earth-and-wood below- Earth-and-wood find: volcanic ash, demonstrating ground dwellings called Museum of Northern Arizona, Arizona, of Northern Museum that Indians lived at Sunset at Sunset lived Indians that groundbreaking another to that predated the ashfall. ashfall. the predated that eruption. Colton called the the called Colton eruption. director Harold S. Colton Harold director 1930.in He found scattered discovery astartling made and a team of archaeologists of archaeologists ateam and pithouses buried deep under under deep buried pithouses potsherds on the ground ground on the potsherds

travel tips travel Accessible by regular two- regular by Accessible Additional Information: children 16 and under. contact.html. Wupatki National contact. contact. Volcano National Monument and and Monument National Volcano are open daily except Christmas. except daily open are Crater Volcano National Carry plenty of water. Don’t Don’t water. of plenty Carry Vehicle Requirements: Vehicle Requirements: travel alone, and let someone someone let and alone, travel Wupatki National Monument monuments: $5,adults; free, www.nps.gov/sucr/pphtml/ (928)Monument: 526-0502; return. to plan you when weather and road conditions. conditions. road and weather wheel-drive passenger cars. passenger wheel-drive www.nps.gov/wupa/pphtml/ (928)Monument: 679-2365; Warning: Hours, Dates: Hours, Fees: know where you’re going and and going you’re where know be hazardous. Be aware of of aware Be hazardous. be Entrance to both both to Entrance Back-road travel can can travel Back-road Both Crater Sunset Sunset Sunset “without water”). Visitors Center. Initially, I I Initially, Center. Visitors 13th centuries. duringthe12thand plaza wasusedbyancestral outcropping adjacenttoawalled Pueblo perched onasandstone VIEW LOTThethree-story Wukoki yellows and greens from from greens and yellows Flow, loomed 1 mile past Flow, past 1mile loomed Hills Overlook provided a a provided Overlook Hills like it cooled only yesterday. yesterday. it only cooled like looked which lava, hardened the iron in the cinders. A A cinders. the in iron the volcano Crater Sunset tinted the Sunset Crater Volcano Volcano Crater Sunset the closer look revealed purples, purples, revealed look closer Crater’s Sunset vents. covered felt grim at the sight of this of this sight at the felt grim Lava Bonito eerie the faced, distinctive red comes from from comes red distinctive rose- of the view dramatic in the face of devastation. face the in rising defiantly from the the from defiantly rising red penstemon wildflowers delicate Ispotted But then Sinagua the devastation black ground, proving that that proving ground, black black lunar landscape of of landscape lunar black and a series of red cinder- of red aseries and people people somehow life renews—even somehow life renews—even Two miles later, the Cinder Two Cinder later, the miles My first glimpse of the the of glimpse My first Sinagua (Spanish for for (Spanish “On viewing the mountain mountain the viewing “On filled with a sense of awe and and aweof sense a with filled Painted Desert, the road road the Desert, Painted wonder, like a child seeing seeing wonder, achild like gypsum, sulfur and clay, called clay, and called sulfur gypsum, limonite. hillsides like snow. like But hillsides hollow mountain. mountain. hollow Survey director, described described director, Survey this color play pales in in color pales play this the peak seems to glow with with glow to seems peak the 1892: in volcano colorful this of the Painted Desert—in Desert—in Painted of the ahead lay what to comparison the land became drier. A A drier. became land the time. first for the ocean the the to drama colors added amore Peak, it Sunset called . . on fire be to seem cinders Geological U.S. and explorer from a distance, the red red the adistance, from iridescent shades of red, blue blue of red, shades iridescent dropped northward and and northward dropped black cinder that coats the the coats that cinder black and purple. Suddenly I was Iwas Suddenly purple. and view apanoramic at 9miles: a hole in the ground, not a not a ground, the a hole in most since description apt own.” of its Powell a light people think of a crater as as of acrater think people ponderosa pine forest gave gave forest pine ponderosa The volcano’s palette of of palette volcano’s The With a steady view of the of the view asteady With John Wesley Powell, famed John Wesley Powell, famed ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM Colorado Valley,Colorado dot the . and Cohonina arid cinders. documented plantspeciesinits land, whichnowharbors166 revitalization ofthedevastated Lava Flowdemonstratestheslow Sunset CraterVolcano, theBonito about 2square milesatthebaseof LIFE FROMCINDERSCovering volcano, I entered Wupatki Wupatki volcano, Ientered way to a piñon pine and and pine apiñon to way National Monument, a 35,422- a Monument, National globemallow and Peeble’s Peeble’s and globemallow Here, a Great Basin desert desert Basin aGreat Here, Mormon tea, snakeweed, snakeweed, tea, Mormon landscape underneath wide- underneath landscape juniper woodland. Driving Driving woodland. juniper Sunset Crater volcano, I I volcano, Crater Sunset Puebloan, Kayenta Sinagua, turned right on the 2.5-mile 2.5-mile on the right turned elsewhere only in the Little Little the in only elsewhere gray the by characterized open skies. skies. open road leading to the Wukoki Wukoki the to leading road bluestar, a rare flower found flower found arare bluestar, ancient Indian cultures: the the cultures: Indian ancient archaeological about 2,500 protects that parkland acre about 14 miles past the the about past 14 miles sheen of sagebrush. Yucca, Yucca, of sagebrush. sheen emerges, habitat scrub sites left by at least four four at least by left sites At almost 16 miles past the the past 16At miles almost

47

back road adventure

A DASH OF RAIN Dropping from a cloud over Bonito Park southeast of Sunset Crater, some light precipitation may contribute to the area’s average of 16 inches of rainfall per year.

Pueblo, a three-story masonry structure perched atop an island of red Moenkopi sandstone. I imagined Lt. Lorenzo Sitgreaves’ surprise in 1851, when his party searching for a practical route across northern Arizona stumbled upon this landscape of deserted pueblos. Later, archaeologist Jesse W. Fewkes estimated that one or least 50 miles. The pueblo pressure is high. On this CITY RUINS Having gained a toehold two families had inhabited had one ancient amenity: particular day, air blew out in rimrock overlooking Wupatki Pueblo and its comunity room, Wukoki for several generations. a ball court enclosed by a like a cooling fan. broom snakeweed, right, displays its At this pueblo, I decided the banked stone wall. At the blowhole, I looked tenacious ability to survive. inhabitants must have been No one knows for out over the blanket of n To order a print call (866) 962-1191 or visit www.magazineprints.com. artists to have fashioned sure what game the cinders that still covers the sandstone walls so perfectly Sinagua played here, but stark sagebrush-studded fitted that it’s difficult to archaeologists guess it desert. Ironically, the volcanic to the area around Wupatki distinguish where wall ends resembled a highly ritualized cataclysm may have actually and newcomers may have and bedrock begins. sport played by Aztecs and led to a population boom arrived, introducing new I couldn’t imagine a site Mayans in similar courts. Wupatki and elsewhere on ceramic styles and large, more enchanting than Players tried to keep the ball this plateau. Archaeologists multistoried pueblos. Wukoki until 5 miles later I in the air without using their believe the Sinagua left With a renewed respect for came upon the haunting red hands or feet, while they vied Wupatki after being alerted by a civilization that not only sandstone pueblo of Wupatki, to knock the ball through a Sunset Crater’s pre-eruption survived—but thrived—in where the population stone ring. earthquakes. The layer of the face of catastrophe, I drove peaked between A.D. 1100 Along with recreational volcanic ash settled all across away from the ruins and and 1225. I spent nearly an facilities, this ancient the plateau and acted as connected with U.S. 89 14 hour exploring this ancient, subdivision came with a mulch, capturing rainfall and miles beyond Wupatki Pueblo. four-story, 100-room pueblo, whale of a geological feature: slowing evaporation. This I headed home to Phoenix although many rooms haven’t a blowhole. Blowholes extended the growing season with renewed faith in the been excavated. By 1182, act as natural barometers, by several weeks and proved inimitable human spirit and perhaps 85 to 100 people with air blowing out when a boon for their crops. Years our remarkable ability to lived in the Wupatki Pueblo, atmospheric pressure is low later, archaeologists say, the adapt, even in times of the largest building for at and streaming back in when Sinagua people drifted back unthinkable adversity.

route finder

P n A I Mileages and GPS coordinates are approximate. WUPATKI N T NATIONAL MONUMENT E > Begin at the intersection of U.S. Route 89 and Forest Service D

Road 545, which is about 16 miles north of downtown Flagstaff. Wukoki D E Pueblo S E Turn right (east) onto FR 545 and drive about 4.4 miles to Wupatki R L T i Sunset Crater volcano. (35°22.16’N; 111°30.41’W) Pueblo t t l e

> From the volcano, continue driving northeast about 16 miles C COCONINO o l to the road leading to Wukoki Pueblo. To go to Wukoki, turn right; o

r NATIONAL FOREST a it’s about 5 miles round-trip to Wukoki and back to 545. d o

R loop road > From Wukoki, return to 545 and turn right (northwest); 89 iv e 5 r drive less than a half-mile to Wupatki Pueblo. 4 5 > From Wupatki, drive about 14 miles northwest on 545 to SUNSET CRATER VOLCANO FR U.S. 89. (35°34.50’N; 111°31.84’W) NATIONAL MONUMENT Cinder Hills start here> Overlook Visitors Center Sunset To Flagstaff Crater Kevin Kibsey

48 a p r i l 2006 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 49 Drive to a Volcano and an Ancient Metropolis | Jail Can’t Hold Lawman

Back to Nature Wildlife Viewing 11 Trips

A Plumage of Myth Odd Mating Habits of Birds and Birders Saving Desert Eagles Apaches Reveal Secret Landscape