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Meet the State's Prescott's Shangri-La Q&A: D'Backs' ' Cop' Big Breakfast at Oak Creek Conor Jackson

MAY 2008

sedona The Ultimate Guide to Red Country Featuring: Hiking, Biking, Fishing, Dining & More

PLUS: What Exactly Is a Vortex, Anyway? contents may 2008 30 20 14 Features PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM BEAN TOM BY PHOTOGRAPHS BAKER K. LORI BY a group of nonetheless. extremists, With anyway. out her sent we timid, toward more leans writer our Although Moab. outranks even it riders, hard-core some For world. the in best the of —one mecca amountain-biking is Sedona again. think Sedona, seen you’ve think you If wonder. natural second ’s at look abetter you give we’ll portfolio, month’s this In Sedona. in rocks the to compare can few but red, are world this in icons of …alot Wolf Bad Big the by chased was who girl little hair, the Raitt’s Bonnie can, Coke the Moscow, buses in London, theThe double-decker square in KRAMER KELLY BY car. the park to reasons the of some just are these fine dining … fishing, biking, Hiking, path. beaten the off opportunities many too are There though. advisable, not away. That’s blown be to through drive is do to have you All Sedona: about thing the Here’s Along for Ride the Portfolio: Red Seeing Trips Side Sedona 40 36

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LARRY LINDAHL LARRY BY PHOTOGRAPHS BY SCOTT THYBONY away. adirt just are dwellings ancient their and , as known are people The too. about, learning worth that’s Age Old an there’s Sedona, in attention the of most gets Age New Although BY JACKIE DISHNER nuts? just people these are or it, to something there say. Is they what That’s it. into take you whatever fies ampli that energy increased with aplace it’s you tell will disciples Age New However, most is. avortex what on answer astraight get to hard it’s Sedona, in Even Prehistory Lesson Prehistory A Force Reckoned to Be With? - 48 48 44 5 4 3 2 Departments this spectacular trail in Sycamore . Sycamore in trail spectacular this along cattle pushed day, cowboys the in back now, but area awilderness Trail: It’s Dogie The MONTH THE OF HIKE history. art of adose and scenery Arizona vintage offers route scenic this Rim, South the on Trip: Located Road Art Rock ADVENTURE ROAD BACK Canyon. Creek Oak in night the spend to place best the and Prescott, in breakfast big areally Jackson, Conor D'Backs' the cop," "cactus first Arizona's including People, places and things from around the state, THE JOURNAL TOLETTERS THE EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR'S LETTER on line a n Photographic Prints Available Prints Photographic 866-962-1191 or arizonahighwaysprints.com. visit call To order, captions. in designated as purchase, for Arizona, Patagonia Lake is a fishing and camping camping and afishing is Lake Patagonia Arizona, THE DARKSIDE chances are at some point you’re going to get get to going you’re point some at are chances of events. restaurants, along with information about Hopi about information with along restaurants, paradise. and our artists onlinepottery trip planner. area oftheCoconinoNationalForest. Photograph byLarryLindahl dramatic impactofCathedralRock’s reflection inOakCreek atRed the lowdown on a few of our favorite Sedona Sedona favorite our of afew on lowdown the Nestled in the hills of Southern Southern of hills the in GETAWAY Nestled WEEKEND Coconino NationalForest nearSedona.PhotographbyLarryLindahl Capitol ButteanddarkenMittenRidge’s faceinthe eastern DISCOVER DISCOVER people, followedbytheYavapai andApache peoplearound BACK COVER FRONT COVER No matter what you decide to do in Sedona, Sedona, in do to decide you what matter No hungry. At arizonahighways.com, you’ll get get you’ll At arizonahighways.com, hungry. Rock Crossing. PhotographbyRobertMcDonald n n n .

d To order aprintofthisphotograph, seeinformationabove. To order aprintofthisphotograph, seeinformationabove. To order aprintofthisphotograph,seeinformationabove. Prints of some photographs in this issue are available available are issue this in photographs some of Prints . 1400, lived and left their pictographic marks in the Red Canyon . 1400,livedandlefttheirpictographic marksintheRedCanyon

arizonahighways.com ARIZONA Plan a trip with our calendar calendar our with atrip Plan ARIZONA Beginningnear Sunset light and a clearing storm double the Sunsetlightandaclearingstormdoublethe Raysfrom thesettingsunburstfrom beyond a . d . 600, the Southern Sinagua Sinagua . 600,theSouthern

by Robert Stieve editor’s letter

JEFF KIDA 2 to “experience” all six of Sedona’s known vortex sites. She also She also sites. vortex of known Sedona’s six all “experience” to had Jackie things, other Among effort. some took answer an A Force With? Be Reckoned to In anyway? avortex, is exactly What question: asingle to answer an find to Sedona to Dishner That’s Jackie why we sent for people. most territory The New Age uncharted world is vortexes. area’s the into tours guided lead They also aura-cleansing. and chakra-balancing through energy your spiritual you harness help who will center at the practitioners of some the just are These clairaudients. and clairsentients you’llclairvoyants, find where is New Age, for which the Center the there’s then And hike. world for the in asunset places best one of the Canyon, Boynton in treatments spa as well too, as tours, helicopter including hiking, biking, fishing andfine dining. There are wonder, natural second state’s the around and do in to things Trips Side Sedona titled feature our there’s For starters, handiwork. Nature’s Mother and alternatives man-made — the Sedona ride. enjoy the and back sit do is to you have all rocks, red to Jeeps you pink prefer if course, butOf it. it’s worth effort, some It car. takes the park and path beaten the off veer to have but you’ll experienced, pioneers and Americans one Native the Sedona, that experience still Turns out, you can engine. combustion internal of the invention the before like it was of New Jersey,RVs you size can’t help but wonder the what with bumper-to-bumper Sedona, through driving Still, woods. the of neck this in camera digital a long fill to doesn’t take

Although it might seem like a simple assignment, finding finding assignment, asimple like seem it might Although you’re not alone. means, youIf of don’t this any what know of sides you about both we’ll tell month’s issue, this In …it Rock Chimney Rock, Steamboat Rock, Cathedral y a m

. In it, writer Kelly Kramer spotlights 10 of the best 10 best of the spotlights Kramer Kelly writer it, . In 2008 blessed with photogenic landmarks. with blessed aland in — it’s aphotogenic landmark so rightfully and lot of photo albums, a into way its finds Rock Bell Faithful, Old and Capitan picture.” El Like your Johnny, let me take little and over there, “Stand stops. everybody and Sedona, into roll they when see people things It’s first one of the bell , she shares what she learns. what , she shares

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our portfolioonpage20. believe that, just look at believe that,justlookat Sedona’s landscapesare lot of attention. attention. of

photo album. Even without the requisite shot of little Johnny. shot of little requisite the Even without photo album. in your of a place worthy landmarks with filled is landscape surrounding you’ll the As it. see, is this engine, combustion internal of the invention the before like was Sedona of nowhere. middle you’reyou’ll the like feel in — year every Rock who people converge on Bell 4 million the to compared annually, about 35,000 gets visitors youAlthough won’t — alone afire. be light to going is Lindahl, Larry by photography incredible some story, features which this ruins, ancient ago. you’ve one to If of Arizona’s been never 700 years Indians by occupied last of rooms warren Palatki.” nearby and of Honanki houses cliff remarkable the are sites preserved Two best- cliffs. of the of shelter overhanging the in painted images archaic and stone walls behind They left uplands. dry the ago in centuries thrive to of who people managed traces you’ll find dirt, to turn paved … where Sedona easy. it’s too. And relatively exploring worth is Old Age culture its of New Sedona’s Age culture, intrigue the old. to Despite new from That’s you when switch it. around your arms getting time ahard have you might then, eyes closed.” my with see me to taught that trip the was This was. “it writes, ambitious,” journey. she of it “If the sounds nature spiritual the to soul and mind heart, her open to intended were of which all aura-cleansing, and of chakra-balancing afew rounds endured More importantly, if you’re looking for a taste of what of what you’re for if ataste looking More importantly, a contains which Honanki, For story, our explored Scott Lesson Prehistory in Thybony writes Scott As but even answer, her find to You’ll story her read to have [email protected] : “Just west of of : “Just west — Robert Stieve — Robert

ROBERT MCDONALD

Director of Sales &Marketing Sales of Director ­ter ma un for responsible not is and accept not does magazine The Repro Copy High Arizona POST N9A ON 6P2. WINDSOR, P.O. WORLD, 875, BOX QUEBECOR TO RETURNS 41220511. SEND (CANA PRODUCT office. mailing additional at and AZ, Phoenix, at paid postage Periodical to to Arizona Highway Arizona subscription cor subscription Send U.S. $3.99 copy: Single U.S. the outside $44 U.S., $24 a the in price: year Subscription Transportation. of Department on tv on highways 2006, 2004, 2002, 2001 Best Travel & In-transit Magazine Magazine &In-transit Travel Best 2001 2002, 2004, 2006, of our home page. page. home our of out the the click and arizonahighways.com visit more, and times winning show hosted by Robin Sewell. For broadcast broadcast For Sewell. Robin by hosted show winning For more coverage of the State, check check State, Canyon Grand the of coverage more For William J. Feldmeier, Barbara Ann “Bobbie” Lundstrom, Lundstrom, “Bobbie” Ann Barbara J. Feldmeier, William 2000, 1997 Gold Awards Best Monthly Travel Magazine Travel Monthly Best Awards Gold 1997 2000, rzn High­ways Arizona Director of Photography of Director Information Technology Promotions Director Art Books Associate Editor Books Members Editorial Administrator 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001 Magazine of the Year the of Magazine 2001 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, Letters to the Editor the to Letters right © 2008 by the Ari the by ©2008 ­right Arizona Highways Television Highways Arizona Arizona Highways Television Highways Arizona ­ials. ­duc Society ofSociety American Travel Writers Foundation CANADA POST INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS MAIL MAIL PUBLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL POST CANADA International Regional Magazine Association Book Division Editor Division Book Deputy Art Director Art Deputy Production Director Photography Editor Director Circulation 2039 W. Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009 AZ Phoenix, Avenue, W.2039 Lewis For Corporate or Trade Sales Trade or Corporate For tion in whole or in part w part in or whole in ­tion Director, of Department Transportation Managing Editor Managing Finance Director Associate Editor Associate ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION BOARD ­way Vice Chairman Publications Association Map Designer

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“There are nosoftlandingsinmountainbik- “more willingtotakerisks”inother areas of CONTRIBUTORS (page 30). “A mountain Along fortheRide(page30).“Amountain Tom whilephotographing Beanlearned After teachinghimselfphotography, hegot TOM BEAN 30). Butasafreelance writerwho’s flung gist, Beandidn’t evenownacamerawhen great exercise forself-empowerment,”Baker equipment survivedSedona’s rocky terrain and severalSmithsonian books. Grand Canyon.Sincethen,he’s contributed she’s backandthebruiseshavehealed,she’s says. Thisstoryonlyreinforced thatnotion. (mostly) unscathed.Trained asawildlife biolo- dogs, anddangledfrom trees forArizona Cameras and mountain bikes do not mix, Cameras andmountainbikesdonotmix, to , page try atthesport(seeAlongforRide,page ten forFamilyCircle, Highways stories,shewasready toconquer Parenting, was outwithagroup ofextremists. Nowthat LORI K.BAKER Bean notes. “The only way to do it is in a Bean notes.“Theonlywaytodoitisina his firstprofessional jobtakingphotosofthe he startedworkingasanationalpark ranger. heavy backpack,whichdoesn’t giveyouthe best posture.” Nevertheless,Beanandhis bike isn’t agreat platformtocarrytripods,” ing,” saysLoriK.Bakerofherharrowing first herself down ski slopes, piloted stubborn sled sled herself downskislopes,pilotedstubborn her fear. sportsare “Outdoorwilderness a her life.AMesanative,Bakerhasalsowrit- Not only was she out of her element, she Not onlywassheoutofherelement, National GeographicTraveler, Child andMcCall’s. Ladies’ HomeJournal, Audubon

Arctic Inuitsandherded sheepforaNavajo Outside. Despitewinningprestigious literary awards, hetakesspecialprideinhisColorado of variouschaptershistoryandprehis- Sedona, hewasstruckbythe“overlapping Scott Thybonysayshe’s alwaysfounda dozens of books, Thybony has also written dozens ofbooks,Thybonyhasalsowritten motor withbeercansanddriftwood. medicine man.Exploringtheruinsaround resonance withtraditionalpeoples(see to ancientYavapai cultures. Theauthorof tory” —from 12,000-year-old Clovishunters for Lesson,page40).“Irespect Prehistory people values,” saysThybony, who’s livedwith who sacrifice material well-being for other who sacrificematerialwell-beingforother SCOTT THYBONY River Jerry-RiggingAward forfixingabroken , Lindahl also contributes Arizona Highways,Lindahlalsocontributes 40), Larry Lindahl got firsthand experience as 40), LarryLindahlgotfirsthandexperienceas an ancientSinaguan.Well, sortof.Lindahl and a stonewasgoingtofitwithout measuring and watertomakemud“cement.”“We ruin, the largest Sinagua dwelling in Sedona. ruin, thelargestSinaguadwellinginSedona. mysteriously felt a sixth sense telling us when mysteriously feltasixthsensetellinguswhen noticed ingatheringtheheavystonesthatwe to then hauled5-gallonbucketsfilledwithearth volunteered tohelpstabilizetheHonanki Lesson (page While photographingPrehistory very tangibleway.” Afrequent contributor to He gathered precisely fittingsandstoneslabs, LARRY LINDAHL it,” he says. “It connected us to the past in a it,” hesays.“Itconnectedustothe pastina Outdoor Photographer, National Geographic, Everyday With RachelRay. With Everyday ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM and Smithsonian and Discovery Channel Discovery

3

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PEOPLEJournal RESTAURANTS LODGING PHOTOGRAPHY HISTORY NATURE THINGS TO DO Great Lake, Great Article I’d like to congratulate you and Lawrence Cheek on your article on [Reflecting on the Water, February 2008]. I’m a subscriber, letters I live at Lake Powell, and it’s so refreshing to see such a fair and balanced article about the lake that puts it and its debated origins into proper perspective. Gary Ladd’s pictures are wonderful, as usual. Thanks again for such an insightful article. Dan Scannell, Page

Dam Liar places on Earth, and no longer appalled!” I have one tiny complaint: Why is the I’ve lived most of my life in Maybe it’s too bad that Lawrence Cheek little map of Arizona with points desig-

arizonahighways.com state, and I’ve read your magazine for as wasted so many years waiting. nating the current articles no longer in @ long as I can remember. In 1995, I Roger Giles, Knoxville, Tennessee the magazine? I always looked at that to finally had a chance to see some of the see what articles I wanted to read first, editor beauty you feature when my World War Thanks for the Memories and where they were located. Fifteen II Army unit had a reunion in Salt Lake While it’s good to hear that fine dining years ago, a friend and I worked out of City. We flew out, and when the reunion has come to Williams, please don’t knock Winslow for six weeks on the ended, we got a rental car. First stop was a place like Rod’s Steak House [The Jour- Reservation, leading summer Bible Zion, then Bryce Canyon, and then Page, nal, February 2008]. Forty-one years ago, schools. It’s one of the high points of where we stayed two nights. We visited on our way to the Grand Canyon for our my life. I love and its Dam and took the five- honeymoon, my husband and I stopped native people. Anyway, see what you can hour boat ride to Rainbow Bridge. You in Williams to eat our wedding din- do about that map, and thanks for the should be aware that the boat captain ner at Rod’s Steak House. It was a good world’s best state magazine! told us the entire lake was in the state of meal, and as we were on our way out, an Margo Cooke, Anderson, South Carolina , including the dam. I’d believed older gentleman, dressed in a dirty white him until your current issue [February cowboy shirt and jeans, a bottle of whis- editor’s note: We’ve missed it too, Ms. 2008] arrived with different information. key in one hand and some cigars in the Cooke, so we’re bringing it back next month. Richard Scroxton, Liverpool, New York other, stopped us and inquired, “Son, is that decorated Volkswagen bug out there High Water Mark Lake Effect yer car?” My husband hesitantly replied, I don’t know what changes you made I commend you for your wonderful “Yes.” Well, the gentleman said, “My name recently, but the magazine that featured articles and photos of Lake Powell. I is Rod, and I’d like to buy you and yer Lake Powell [February 2008] was the started enjoying this wonderful lake in pretty bride a drink.” He ushered us back best issue in a couple of years. Finally, the late ’70s and followed its rise to full to a table in the dining room and did just someone there gets it and made an issue level. Every year was a new adventure as that. It’s one of the nicest memories we about the beautiful Arizona landscapes. the shoreline changed, and I always felt have, and every year, on our anniversary, If you’ll bring back the destination that all of the boaters and visitors were we raise a wee glass and toast Rod. articles, I’ll start buying this magazine experiencing a true wonder. Early on, Susan Hunnicutt, Fayetteville, Arkansas again. Keep up the good work. environmentalists were broadcasting the Eric Evans, Phoenix “travesty” of Lake Powell. I felt the impor- editor’s note: What a wonderful story, tant aspect and benefit of the lake was Ms. Hunnicutt. Thank you for sharing. Rod’s is Sister Bourne’s Last Dance that most of the hundreds of thousands indeed a classic. Our intent was not to be critical Regarding the article about Creek of visitors over the years would never of Rod’s, but rather point out that Williams has [Beaver Creek Country, January 2008], have the time or ability to explore this expanded beyond just steakhouses. It’s great to your readers might like to know more backcountry beauty without the develop- have options. Happy anniversary. “stories of days gone by,” as your writer so ment of the lake. I was gratified to see the aptly puts it. In Eulalia “Sister” Bourne’s reluctant but supportive comment at the Map Quest book Ranch Schoolteacher [University end of Reflecting on the Water [February As I do every month, I’m enjoying the of Arizona Press, 1974], she tells the 2008]: “I’m in one of the most beautiful January 2008 issue of Arizona Highways. heartwarming story of her sojourn as the teacher in -room school in Beaver SPARKLING WATER Creek from 1914 to 1916. She describes Tempe’s 90-year-old Hayden Flour Mill — contact us her time there as the most treasured of all slated to be resurrected as office, restaurant the places she lived and taught. Unfortu- and shopping space — towers above 9-year- If you have thoughts or comments about anything in Arizona Highways, we’d old Tempe Town Lake. An aquatic playground love to hear from you. We can be reached at [email protected], or nately, she was fired from her cherished for rowers and sailors, the lake also hosts by mail at 2039 W. Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85009. For more information, job because she had danced the one-step concerts, fireworks and festivals. visit arizonahighways.com. at a birthday party at Back’s Ranch. n For more information, visit tempe.gov/lake. Shirley Tribolet, Tucson JEFF SNYDER

4 m a y 2 0 0 8 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 5 the Journal

RESTAURANTS more adventurous, try the wagon-wheel pancakes, which are roughly the size of hubcaps. Although it’s not on the menu, Eggs Come First Zeke’s even has a pancake challenge. Even during lunch, omelets rule the roost at “If you can eat three pancakes in 20 minutes or less, we buy Zeke’s Eatin’ Place in Prescott. If you’re on a your meal and give you a T-shirt,” Williams says. “We make a spectacle of it, but only about 15 people have ever done it. It’s diet, you’re in trouble. These things are huge. just funny to see their faces when the pancakes come out.” Breakfast is served until 2 p.m., but Zeke’s also has a lunch remember back in january, when you made that resolu- menu available beginning at 9:30 a.m. The menu features tion to eat healthy and lose some weight? If you’re like most soups, salads, sandwiches and “midday meals from the chuck Americans, you didn’t make it past the Super Bowl. And that’s wagon.” Like breakfast, the lunch portions are huge. OK. In fact, as long as you’ve blown it, you might as well head Try the Southwest turkey melt. It’s a real knife-and-forker, to Zeke’s Eatin’ Place and really fall off the wagon. thanks to the red chile mayo that covers the oven-roasted tur- Conor Jackson If you’ve never been to Zeke’s, a small diner just off State key, green chiles, pepper jack cheese and bacon piled high on First Baseman, Route 69 in Prescott, the motto is this: “No one goes away sourdough bread. Arizona Diamondbacks hungry.” After one meal, you’ll know they’re serious. As a side dish, you’ll have to choose between fries or a salad. by Dave Pratt Bob Williams owns the restaurant with his wife, Tracey, Although the healthy voice in the back of your head will be who was the inspiration for the diner’s Western theme. “She’s whispering “salad,” if you’re going to fall off the wagon any- AH: If you were trying to

JEFF KIDA a country girl deep down,” Williams says. “We just expand- way, you might as well fall hard and go for the crisp, expert- convince Derek Jeter or any ed on that.” ly seasoned fries. Once you’ve tried them, you’ll resolve to go PEOPLE of the other Yankees that tunists ignore and crooks concoct elabo- Arizona is one of the most Among other things, cow skulls and framed images of John back and try them again. rate schemes to avoid. The Sonoran icons can beautiful places in America, Wayne adorn the walls. There’s something almost intimidat- n Zeke’s is located at 1781 E. Highway 69 in Prescott. For more informa- fetch $40-$75 per foot on the black market, where would you take them? ing about having the Duke look down at you while you’re eat- tion, call 928-776-4602 or visit zekeseatinplace.com. Cactus Cop CJ: Greer. People think Arizona and often get sold to homeowners who think ing. It’s as if he’s saying, “You’d better clean your plate, pilgrim.” — Hilary Peele is just a desert, and Greer is Jim McGinnis has a lot of job they’re a steal. And they are. definitely one of the most beau- In addition to the Old West, responsibilities, but protecting McGinnis also cracks down on vandals who tiful places in the state. You just there’s a history lesson as well. saguaros from poachers might hack at saguaros with machetes, shoot them don’t expect to see so much Old photos of Prescott, dat- full of arrows and blast them with shotguns. green in Arizona. ing back to the early 1900s, are be the most important. “If it’s not going to live, I’ll fine them based on AH: When you go hiking in scattered under clear glass cov- the value of the cactus — $55 per foot,” Mc- Arizona, what’s the one ering the tabletops. Small flyers thing — other than water — sunlight crept across the hushed, de- Ginnis says. “If it’s a 20-footer, that’s a felony.” that you always carry in your advertising local businesses ac- serted wilderness near Agua Fria National Sadly, McGinnis is fighting an uphill battle. backpack? company the photos. Monument when seven men poured out of a In 2001, six full-time cactus cops patrolled the CJ: Sunscreen. Of course, the food is the pickup. They strapped a homemade “cradle” to state, holding stakeouts into the night. After AH: If you were making a main attraction at Zeke’s, where a saguaro, shoveled around its base, wrapped a budget cuts, just two remain. solo road trip to Sedona, the hearty meals are geared chain around the root, and ripped it from the “I get a call almost every day,” McGinnis says, which would you choose: a more toward Hoss than Little ground. “but I only get out three times a month.” Divid- Harley or a Mustang Joe. “We’re a man’s man’s place,” convertible? Concealed behind a tree and filming as they ing his time between protecting livestock, sell- Williams says with a laugh. extricated 16 more was Jim McGinnis, who ing permits and administrative duties, he filed CJ: I’d go with the Harley, “We’re meat and potatoes. It’s in- because … well, it’s a Harley, pursued the thieves and arrested the driver. only 19 cactus cases in 2006. Out of how many? and there’s nothing better than your-face type food.” The company the men worked for was fined “More than I care to think,” he sighs. “They a Harley. What most people put in $58,000. could be stealing 100 a day and I’d never know.” AH: What’s your favorite their face is breakfast. Even Officially, McGinnis is a special investiga- McGinnis has spoken to media outlets place in Arizona? during the lunch hour, Wil- tions supervisor for the Arizona Department worldwide trying to stir up concern for the CJ: Chase Field. liams says, most people order of Agriculture; unofficially, he’s the state’s first native program, which receives money AH: If you had been put breakfast, with omelets being certified “cactus cop.” only from the sale of tags and permits. He’s in charge of designing the the most popular items. These McGinnis joined the ADA in 1979 as a bor- lobbied to put the native plant fund onto the new “Arizona” quarter, what aren’t ordinary omelets, though. would you have put on it? der plant inspector, eventually going through list of programs people can donate to when The nearly foot-long monsters, CJ: The Arizona Diamondbacks’ the police academy to become a peace offi- they file their taxes. The move could garner “A” logo. which include anywhere from cer enforcing native plant law. “I’m not badge- $60,000 to $200,000 a year, enough to hire a five to seven eggs, span an en- AH: What three words best happy, though,” says McGinnis, whose re- few more investigators. Unfortunately, it was describe Arizona? tire plate and are served with laxed demeanor and motorcycle-wheeling rejected — because it wouldn’t fit on the front CJ: Hot, hot, hot! Just kidding a towering pile of crispy hash ways make him an unlikely Wyatt Earp of na- side of the tax form. … entertaining, charismatic, browns and a choice of toast, tive . He protects everything from barrel McGinnis remains determined. “I like the vivacious! pancakes, or biscuits and gravy. to ocotillos to livestock, but his pri- whole concept of protecting something that’s — Dave Pratt is the host of the The basic pancakes are about mary concern is saguaros. been associated with Arizona since as long as “Dave Pratt in the Morning” show 7 inches in diameter. If you’re It’s not illegal to uproot saguaros, but it re- I can remember,” he says. “It’s a noble cause.” on KMLE 107.9 FM in Phoenix.

quires permits, fees and tags, which oppor- — Keridwen Cornelius Teresa Smith, Zeke’s Eatin’ Place GEOFF GOURLEY

6 m a y 2 0 0 8 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 7 the Journal

PHOTOGRAPHY Heeeere’s Johnny When it comes to sports photographers, former ASU student John McDonough is one of the best. Just ask Sports Illustrated.

“how do i become a working photographer, and where do I get started?” I get asked that a lot. Turns out, there are as many answers as there are professional photographers. Here’s how John did it. Not John Doe, but John W. McDonough, Sports Illustrated one of the premier staff photographers at Sports Illustrated. Photographer John McDonough If you’re not familiar with his name, you know his work. made this For more than 25 years, “Johnny Mac’s” photography has image of LeBron graced the pages of SI (including 70-some covers), each James using a 300 mm lens one depicting his vision, dedication and talent. From Super and available Bowls and Final Fours to the Olympics and the World Series, light. Setting

DONOUGH / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED his ISO to 1600,

he’s lived a sports shooter’s dream. And it all began here in C his exposure Arizona. Sort of. was 1/1000 sec.

John was in his 20s with a newly inked degree in English M JOHN W. at f-2.8.

PAULA JANSEN PAULA literature from Indiana’s De Paw University when he wrangled a summer job as a sports writer/editor at a local newspaper in his reputation as a sports shooter and a meticulous technician LODGING Indiana. It’s not unusual for writers at smaller publications to began to grow. photograph their own stories, and that’s what forced John to With the encouragement of established photographers, pick up a camera for the first time. McDonough traveled to New York to show his portfolio to Rooms With a View His start, however, was a little rough. On his first assign- editors at Time and Sports Illustrated. By that point, he was Not only is it situated in one of the most beautiful places in the world, the ment, he loaded the company-issued camera incorrectly. The ready to move on, and he relocated to Los Angeles, where food at Garland’s is every bit as impressive as the surrounding landscape. result? No photos. Hoping to keep his job, he started checking he freelanced for the Los Angeles Times, Sport and Sports out a camera on weekends to practice his skills, shooting Illustrated. everything from landscapes to peewee football games, and Despite his success, John still has as much passion for with the possible exception of el tovar, which as well. It’s not surprising, then, that trout shows up regularly then having the film processed. After one of those weekend making photographs as the hungriest rookie, and he believes has the unfair advantage of being perched on the edge of the on Garland’s menu, which is every bit as impressive as the outings, a photo-lab tech invited him into the darkroom to the power of the still image is alive and significant. He takes world’s seventh natural wonder, Garland’s Oak Creek Lodge surrounding landscape. discuss one of his images. That’s what ignited his lifelong it seriously. For example, when he shoots an NBA game, he is arguably the most scenic place to spend a night in Arizona. The emphasis on food dates back to Georgiana, who con- passion — when he saw that first black-and-white print uses up to 10 digital cameras, all placed in various locations Lodge, hotel, B&B, campsite … good luck finding accommo- tributed a slew of old family recipes. Today, that dedication is magically appear in the developing tray, McDonough knew throughout the arena, where each one can be triggered dations with a better view. carried on by Amanda Stine, Garland’s resident chef for the that photography was his calling. remotely from his baseline position on the floor. Backboards, Located in the heart of , about 8 miles past 25 years. Recently, Stine and Mary Garland coauthored From Indiana, McDonough followed Mitzi, his then- catwalks, low angles and high, McDonough has embraced north of Sedona, Garland’s is surrounded by millions of years Sharing the Table at Garland’s Lodge, a critically acclaimed girlfriend and now wife, to Arizona and applied to a number technology. And he’s made it work with his personal style and of red-rock , towering pines, hearty oaks and a healthy cookbook that features more than 275 of the lodge’s recipes, of college photography programs. He eventually connected vision. dose of pioneer history. Like most of the canyon, the Garland some of which you’ll get to sample firsthand. with Con Keyes at Arizona State University. Keyes was Long ago he realized that it’s critical to be open and property was homesteaded in the 1800s — the first structure, As if the surroundings aren’t enough, a stay at the lodge also instrumental in guiding the photojournalism careers of many receptive, which in turn allows him to work and keep his now the kitchen, was built in 1908. It wasn’t until the 1920s, includes afternoon tea, an elegant dinner and a hearty break- of his students. John was no exception. From those classes “photographic mistress.” As Joseph Campbell said, “If you however, that the lodge really started to take shape. That’s fast, which is cooked to order. The breakfast menu chang- came an opportunity to shoot occasional assignments for The follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has when the Todd family began building cabins to accommodate es daily, and the dinner menu includes things like tomatillo Arizona Republic. Eventually, McDonough was offered a staff been there all the while, waiting for you and the one that you guests from Flagstaff and miners from Jerome, who came to bisque, mixed greens with spicy slaw and pumpkin seeds in a position at the state’s largest paper. He worked long hours, and ought to be living.” — Jeff Kida, Photo Editor fish in Oak Creek. cumin-lime vinaigrette, and grilled Alaskan king salmon with In 1972, Bill and Georgiana Garland, longtime friends of mango Serrano salsa. of situations. Highly recommended learn to follow the action. Rather than the Todds, bought the lodge and started laying the ground- After a meal like that, you might expect the sleeping quar- PHOTO TIP are digital single-lens reflex cameras reacting, work on anticipating what work for what would become one of the most spectacular ters to be a little anticlimactic, but they’re not. Among other (dSLR) for their interchangeable lenses will happen next. As you become Follow the Focus overnight stays in the Southwest. In addition to the rocks and things, the large cabins at the lodge come with wood-burn- and shorter shutter delay. In addition more confident, begin to crop your Whether you’re shooting scenics, the trees and the birds in the sky, there’s the creek, for which ing fireplaces, and the small creekside cabins feature porch- to that, the image quality using higher images in the camera’s viewfinder. sports or wildlife, here are some tips the canyon is named. The hikes along the water are wonderful, es overlooking Oak Creek. Other than a room perched on the ISOs with the larger dSLR sensors has from longtime professional John editor’s note: Look for Arizona Highways never been better. If you decide to Photography Guide and other award-winning and the fishing is even better — fly fishermen have been edge of the Grand Canyon, it doesn’t get any better than this. McDonough. New cameras are get- shoot moving subjects, practice and books at arizonahighways.com. known to make day trips from as far away as Fountain Hills. n Garland’s is open April 1 through November 15, and is located on ting better all the time. If you’re in The pools of the creek are stocked with rainbow trout from State Route 89A, 8 miles north of Sedona. For more information, call the market, look for something that online For more photography tips and information, visit arizonahighways.com May through September, and native brown trout are present 928-282-3343 or visit garlandslodge.com. — Robert Stieve will allow you to shoot in a variety and click on “Photography.”

8 m a y 2 0 0 8 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 9 the Journal

HISTORY NATURE Photo Opportunity These Bugs Stink They started with nothing, but the Kolb Insects aren’t as interesting as coatimundis and . brothers would eventually make photo- Still, milkweed bugs are kind of cool. Stinky, but cool. graphic history at the Grand Canyon. the usery mountains to be the premier photo- plate negatives in muddy cow near Phoenix seem to be graphers and moviemakers pond water hauled from 11 all grays, pale browns of the Grand Canyon in the miles away. They slept on the and dull greens this late early 1900s, you needed the cold, hard ground. spring day, and so I’m sur- artistic eye of Ansel Adams, Conditions improved prised when I see a few the business mind of Bill — slightly — when the small dots of brilliant Gates, the heart of Sir Ed- Kolbs constructed a studio color gleaming from the mund Hillary, the guts of perched on the Canyon rim, lower branches of a des- and the legs of and a darkroom at Indian ert tree. Curious, I take a Lance Armstrong. In other Garden halfway down the closer look at what proves words, you needed to be Canyon. to be a congregation of or-

Ellsworth and Emery Kolb. Thus began a daily mara- CLINE LIBRARY COURTESY NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY, ange-red milkweed bugs. In 1900, 25-year-old Ells- thon. After photographing Ellsworth and Emery Kolb The insects have gathered worth Kolb journeyed west parties below the trail- to run the Green and Colo- try. Ellsworth wrote a book, on the seedpods of a vine from Pittsburgh to see the head, the brothers sprinted rado rivers from and National Geographic de- that’s crept into the lower world “with $2 in his jeans,” 300 feet back up to their stu- to to shoot the first voted an issue to the accom- branches of a paloverde. recalled brother Emery. He dio to make proofs. Then motion-picture film of the plishment. Appropriately, the large found a job at Grand Canyon they dashed 4.5 miles into Grand Canyon. Back then, Eventually, their partner- milkweeds have chosen to Village and invited Emery to the Canyon to meet the the undammed rivers were ship split up, but Emery con- perch on a climbing milk- join him. Soon, the Kolbs mule party at Indian Garden deadly, and the Kolbs cap- tinued his love affair with weed vine. bought a photography shop and took orders for prints. sized countless times, nar- the Canyon, working at the To inspect the bugs, I in Williams, paying the Barely catching their breath, rowly escaping drowning. studio until his death in carefully lift a seedpod, $425 sum in installments. they huffed 3,360 vertical Through snow flurries, near- 1976, at the age of 95. You which looks a lot like On weekends, the broth- feet back to the studio in starvation, and rain and can still visit the studio, those of the desert milk- ers photographed tourists at time to deliver the pictures. sandstorms that wreaked which houses art exhibits, a weed. While inspect- the Canyon’s Bright Angel Sometimes, they ran that havoc on their equipment, bookstore and a tribute to ing the seedpod, I real-

trailhead — without the ben- round-trip three times a day. the brothers’ determination the Kolb brothers and the ize that it reeks. I hasti- JOHN ALCOCK efit of a studio, running water With the invention of the never wavered. 3.5 million Grand Canyon ly drop the pod and then or even shelter. Their dark- motion-picture camera, Ells- They finally succeeded, tourists they photographed. wash my hands with water from my canteen, but I won’t es- son (or cure) humans. They engage in chemical warfare to room was a dusty prospect- worth and Emery seized an their movie launching a sen- n Information: 800-858-2808 or cape the nauseating scent of the milkweed until I can scrub repel plant-eating animals. The plant’s dreadful smell and poi- ing hole covered by a ratty opportunity for fame. In sation as Emery lectured to grandcanyon.org. up with soap. sons, however, haven’t fazed the milkweed bugs. That’s be- blanket. They rinsed glass 1911 they set off in two boats crowds around the coun- — Keridwen Cornelius Anything that smells as bad as climbing milkweed must be cause of these insects’ special digestive system. Its enzymes poisonous, and, in fact, the milky sap of many members of the not only permit the bug to feed safely on milkweeds, but also milkweed family contains deadly cardiac glycosides. These sequester the plant’s poisons. Eventually, the unaltered glyco- THIS MONTH IN HISTORY toxic and bitter compounds are used to treat people with con- sides are moved from the gut to a thin flat sac right below the ■ On May 20, 1937, Amelia Earhart began the first leg gestive heart failure, but they’re strictly off limits for the rest of surface of the thorax and abdomen. Should a bird grab and of her mysterious last flight after taking off from us because the glycosides damage healthy hearts. squeeze the bug, the epidermal compartment breaks, spilling Oakland, . The first stop for the famous Of course, milkweeds don’t make cardiac glycosides to poi- its foul contents into the mouth of the predator. “Lady Lindy” and her Lockheed Electra was in Arizona So it makes sense that the bright-red milk- at the Tucson Municipal Airport. weed bugs hardly bother to move when ap- proached. They instinctively know they’re safe 50 ■ On May 24, 1869, Major began his nature factoid from attack. It also makes sense that the bugs are epic journey down the Green and rivers for TOXIC TOADS attracted to each other by the strong odors they years ago his exploration of the Grand Canyon. release; the more that gather together, the more in arizona highways It’s said that you have to kiss a lot of toads to find a prince, but stay away from the Sonoran ■ On May 30, 1899, Pearl Hart became the first (and conspicuous a warning they offer to those birds Desert toad, also called the Arizona Highways has always touted the beauty of Eastern Arizona last) woman to rob a stagecoach. Hart and Joe Boot toad. These large toads secrete a milky-white that might otherwise be tempted to sample a — 1958 was no exception. Among other things, our May 1958 issue held up the Globe stage, making off with $450 and a venom from glands located behind their eyes. milkweed-bug hors d’oeuvre. Should one bug fall featured spectacular photographs of the lakes, rivers and meadows The powerful poison protects the toads from revolver. A few days later, the couple was captured in to a naive predator, the other bugs nearby will of the White Mountains. Fifty years later, the area is still one of the potential predators by acting as a hallucino- best places to spend your summer vacation. the hills surrounding Globe. gen — and that’s no fairy tale. surely be left alone by the newly educated bird. BRUCE TAUBERT — John Alcock

10 m a y 2 0 0 8 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 11 the Journal Psst! We’ve Got a Secret. THINGS TO DO Contrary to popular belief, there’s the irish have St. Patty’s Cinco de Mayo Day and fools have April 1, more to Sedona than Main Street. but any self-respecting Ari- In fact, there’s a world of beauty, zonan waits for the month of history and intrigue just off May to really kick it up during JEFF KIDA the beaten path. the state’s favorite celebration, Spring is Here Cinco de Mayo. Festivities Holy Trinity Monastery is the honoring Mexico’s defeat of the setting for Fiesta de la Primavera French army at the battle of in the town of Puebla on May 5, 1862, take St. David. Celebrate spring in the may place around the state. high desert on May may 5 From Chandler’s 10-11 with more 10-11 races to a than 150 booths Tucson 10K, Arizonans take featuring arts, crafts and food. Cinco de Mayo seriously. For There’s also entertainment, and a comprehensive listing of the monastery grounds house statewide celebrations, visit an art gallery, museum, library

JEFF KIDA arizonahighways.com. and bird sanctuary trail. n Information: 520-720-4642 or holytrinitymonastery.org/index. html.

We’ve Got Jack Discover the beauty of the

Grand Canyon through the eyes H. SMITH DAVID of Pulitzer Prize-winning photog- rapher Jack Dykinga. This month, Rendezvous Dykinga discusses his new book, Images: Jack Dykinga’s in Williams Grand Canyon, during a free He’s not as famous as Daniel Boone, lecture series sponsored by the but Arizona’s most renowned Grand Canyon Association. Pub- mountain man, Bill Williams, is lished by Arizona Highways, the DESERT CABALLEROS WESTERN MUSEUM book features 80 photographs the inspiration behind Rendezvous made from 35 Days, his namesake may may different view- Where the Boys Aren’t town’s annual event. 14-15 Now in its 29th year, 24-25 & 18 points around the may Canyon. During his may 3-4 is the last weekend to “Cowgirl Up” this Memorial Day 3-4 weekend event kicks off with a presentation, Dykinga shares his at Wickenburg’s Desert Caballeros Western Museum. Larry Lindahl experiences in photographing The West’s best women artists (57 in all) show their Western-themed parade, when the the area, as well as his insight work during one of the country’s most prestigious female Bill Williams Mountain Men ride An Insider’s Guide artist exhibitions. Nearly 200 pieces of Western paintings, horseback dressed in 19th cen- on the Canyon’s most beautiful Our newest book, Secret Sedona: Sacred Moments in the Landscape, locations. The lectures take place drawings, ceramics and sculptures are on display and for sale. tury buckskins. Rounding out the at Northern Arizona University’s n Information: 928-684-2272 or westernmuseum.org. weekend are a carnival, barbecue, features the spectacular photography and personal observations Cline Library, May 14, 7 p.m.; historic walking tours, mountain- of longtime Sedona resident Larry Lindahl. Plus, Larry shares the Glendale Public Library, May men displays and a rodeo. And at Photography Workshops more than 20 of his favorite hikes in red-rock country. 15, 7 p.m.; and Prescott’s Shar- night, the Cataract Creek Gang lot Hall Museum, May 18, 1 p.m. Join Friends of Arizona Highways and PhotoShop expert Steve Burger invades Main Street with a cowboy n Information: 800-858-2808 ext. October 24-27 during the height of fall color in Sedona. Learn how to shootout. Order now and save 15% off the retail price of $12.95. 7036 or grandcanyon.org. use image-editing programs to enhance your photographs. n Information: 800-863-0546 or Visit arizonahighways.com or call 800-543-5432. n Information: 888-790-7042 or friendsofazhighways.com. williamschamber.com.

Offer expires May 31, 2008. Use promo code 585 and item code #ACRS4. Shipping and handling not included. You can also visit our retail location at 2039 W. Lewis Avenue in Phoenix. 12 m a y 2 0 0 8 Sedona>side trips > Here’s the thing about Sedona: All you have to do is drive through to be blown away. That’s not advisable, though. There are too many opportunities off the beaten path.

Hiking, biking, fishing, fine dining … these are just some of the reasons to park the car. BY KELLY KRAMER

SUNSET BOULEVARD After an adventurous day, find a perch like Airport Mesa (also a vortex) and watch the sunset tint Steamboat Rock and Coffee Pot Rock paprika red. Photograph by Nick Berezenko n To order a print of this photograph, see page 1.

14 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 15 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sedona is spirit country. At least to the thousands of people who visit each year to explore the vortexes of Boynton Canyon and local buttes, as well as the area’s countless Native American spiritual landmarks. But it’s also a great place from which to launch excursions of a more terrestrial nature — whether of the hiking, biking, fishing or dining variety. There’s no limit to the number of adventures that Red Rock Country has to offer, so pack a bag and hit the road. Sedona’s waiting.

Tube Time [ SEDONA ADVENTURE OUTFITTERS & GUIDES ]

Oak Creek has long been known for its water adven- tures, from fishing and kayaking to skimming without a boat down Slide Rock. But thanks to Sedona Adventure Outfitters & Guides, the creek’s pristine waters have also become a popu- lar destination for tubing, a lazy-day sport to top all lazy-day BOB & SUZANNE CLEMENZ sports. Pick up a posse of tubes at the company’s boathouse, Sedona Bike & Bean along with safety gear (life jackets and helmets) and water cannons, and venture to one of four sites the adventure outfit- Bikes & Beans ters recommend for some of the best tubing: Slide Rock State [ SEDONA BIKE & BEAN ] Park, Grasshopper Point, Red Rock Crossing or Mormon Crossing. Although there aren’t any rapids along the creek, Weekend adventurers are known for their dine-and-dash you’ll find a few spots where the current picks up a bit, and mentality — not in the juvenile thievery connotation of the pools deep enough for swimming and lounging, so be pre- phrase, but rather in the grab-a-bite-and-get-on-the-road sense pared with sunscreen, hats, water and snacks. of it. That’s what makes Sedona Bike & Bean so great. Here The boathouse is located at 2020 Contractors Road in Sedona. For you can rent a mountain bike for exploring Sedona’s countless more information: 928-204-6440, 877-673-3661 or sedonatubing.com. trails (see Along for the Ride, page 30), and grab a latte for the road at the store’s nine-seat coffee counter. Many bike tours, Pink Jeep Tours including some along the trails near Bell Rock just outside the Bike & Bean’s windows, depart from the shop. They’re led by 360 Adventures (360-adventures.com), an Arizona-based out- fit that also offers rock-climbing, hiking and backpacking excursions. Full-suspension bicycles rent for $50 per day. Sedona Bike & Bean is located at 6020 Highway 179 in Sedona. For more information: 928-284-0210 or bike-bean.com. Hit the trail [moderate] Think Pink [ DEVIL’S BRIDGE TRAIL #120 ]

[ PINK JEEP TOURS ] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Just outside of civilization, the nearly 2-mile roundtrip That flash of pink darting across your hiking trail isn’t a Devil’s Bridge Trail #120 is the perfect trek for hikers who haven’t new species of desert animal, but an entirely distinct variety of yet broken in their boots. Sufficiently challenging but not at all grueling, Arizona adventure. For more than 45 years, the folks at Pink the trail begins at 4,600 feet and gradually increases to an elevation Jeep Tours have trekked countless families across the desert in of right around 5,000 feet, traversing juniper-strewn washes. their famous, bright-pink, open-air Jeeps. The craze began About three-quarters of a mile from the trailhead, the path opens up when local developer Don Pratt took potential clients on tours to a stunning view of the bridge, the largest sandstone arch in the to scope out real-estate opportunities. Broken Arrow Estates Sedona area. Vibrant red and patinaed with green , the 50-foot was one of Pratt’s 13 area developments, and today, the Broken arch is wide enough to walk across but tall enough that it would hurt Arrow tour is one of the company’s most popular. The two- to fall, so exercise caution. Whether you choose to take the topside hour scenic drive rumbles over red rocks and into , trail— which follows a natural rock staircase— or not, be sure to pack resting at Chicken Point and Submarine Rock. Other tours your camera. Here is some of the area’s most beautiful scenery, explore 700-year-old Sinagua cliff dwellings and Chimney particularly when skies are sunny. Ciliquat vel dolorem ip ea feu feu faccum dolortionum Rock, Head and other named rocks. Devil’s Bridge Trail #120 begins 12 miles west of Sedona, off unpaved dolummo dolobore eugait doloreet, quat lum nostrud duis alisi tie coreraesse dolor sustion sequam iliquisisi The Pink Jeep Tours office is located at 204 N. Highway 89A in Forest Service Road 152. For more information: 928-282-4119 or bla facinci bla alis aut iuscidunt. dolummo dolobore e. V LARRY LINDAHL LARRY BOB & SUZANNE CLEMENZ Sedona. For more information: 800-873-3662 or pinkjeep.com. fs.fed.us/r3/coconino. coreraesse dolor sustion sequam iliquisisi bla fac

16 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 17Devil’s Bridge exero consequatatuerciduis am,verci exeuiscipis Quis adipissedmolendrem autaliquamquieririure NOTE: There isasubstituteimageonthealtphoto layer forthisspot—deletetheifnotneeded. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> — which follows a natural rock staircase — or not, be sure to to sure —or not,be staircase rock a natural follows — which T Hit TheHit Trail TheHit Trail 18 J yet broken in their boots. Sufficiently challenging but not at all but all not at challenging Sufficiently boots. their yet broken in who haven’t for hikers trek perfect the is Trail Bridge Devil’s grueling, the trail begins at 4,600 feet and gradually increases increases gradually at 4,600 feet and begins trail the grueling, there’s no finer name for a campground. The second plus is is second plus The campground. forname a no finer there’s to walk across but tall enough that it would hurt to fall, so so fall, to it would hurt that enough but tall across walk to and red Vibrant area. Sedona the in arch sandstone largest the bridge, of the view up astunning to opens path the trailhead, juni traversing feet, 5,000 around of right elevation an to exercise caution. Whether you choose to take the topside trail trail topside the take to you choose Whether caution. exercise Bootlegger Campground, and, as far as we’re concerned, we’re concerned, as far as and, Campground, Bootlegger www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino. www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino. able thing has to do with the fact that the trail starts at the at the starts trail the that fact the do with to has able thing pack your camera. Here is some of the area’s most beautiful beautiful most area’s of some the is Here your camera. pack patinated with green moss, the 50-foot arch is wide enough enough wide is arch 50-foot the moss, green with patinated the from of amile About three-quarters washes. per-strewn scenery, particularly when skies are sunny. sunny. are skies when particularly scenery, Forest Service Road 152. For more information: 928-282-4119 or or 928-282-4119 information: more For 152. Road Service Forest unpaved off Sedona, of west 12 miles Trail begins Bridge Devil’s [ A.B. YOUNG TRAIL ] TRAIL YOUNG [ A.B. ] TRAIL [ DEVIL’S BRIDGE u here s t y a m

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like about A.B. Young Trail. The first lik Young about A.B. The Trail. first [ moderate ] [ moderate [ expert ] [ expert - - “Sedona Deluxe” package combines the best of both tours. tours. of both best the combines package Deluxe” “Sedona Bird’s-Eye View 1,600-foot ascent over 1.5 miles doesn’t do it first. over 1.5 C.S. miles ascent 1,600-foot “Bear” Ancient Ruins tour of Boynton Canyon and the Mogollon the and Canyon of Boynton tour Ruins Ancient of opportunities plenty offers Adventures Helicopter Arizona The company offers its Red Rock Roundup — including —including Roundup Rock Red its offers The company Young, supervised its revitalization by the Civilian Conservation Conservation Civilian the by revitalization its Young, supervised Canyon and unique rock formations. formations. rock unique and Canyon Corps during the 1930s. among afavorite is Today, trail the , Bell Rock, , the Chapel of of Chapel the Butte, Courthouse Rock, Bell Rock, Cathedral I Rim, from the perspective of a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter. The Jet Ranger of a Bell perspective the from Rim, A.B. Young Trail begins approximately 10 miles north of Sedona Sedona of north 10 miles approximately Young Trail begins A.B. During your flight, the pilot provides a narrative history of of history narrative a the provides pilot your flight, During Oak Creek Canyon leads to a stand of ponderosa pines that that pines of ponderosa astand to leads Canyon Creek Oak off State Route 89A, at Bootlegger Campground. For more infor more For Campground. Bootlegger at 89A, Route State off Howard constructed the trail in the 1880s, but its namesake, A.B. A.B. namesake, but its 1880s, the in trail the constructed Howard that the strenuous 2.4-mile hike into the wilderness around around wilderness the into hike 2.4-mile strenuous the that tours are short, ranging from 13 to 35 minutes, but afew 13 35 pack to from minutes, ranging short, are tours Most questions. your to toughest answers with along area, the —and Rock Submarine and Rock Snoopy Holy Cross, the scenery. famous city’s of of some the view getto abird’s-eye dyed-in-the-wool hikers, who love its views of Oak Creek Creek of Oak views who love its hikers, dyed-in-the-wool the if away. of course, your is, breath That take just might mation: 928-282-4119 or www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino. www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino. or 928-282-4119 mation: [ ARIZONA HELICOPTER ADVENTURES ] ADVENTURES HELICOPTER [ ARIZONA f

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GEOFF GOURLEY Something Fishy Something The Hook Up Outfitters & Guide Service for its Sedona Red Red Sedona for its Service & Guide The Hook Up Outfitters Crystal Persuasion Crystal An EdibleAn Experience fishing opportunities. And the water, typically calm and clear, clear, and calm water,typically the And opportunities. fishing Rock Trout Adventure. During half-day or full-day excursions, excursions, or full-day half-day Trout During Rock Adventure. I Airport, on Air Terminal Drive, in Sedona. For more information: information: more For Sedona. in Drive, Terminal Air on Airport, Arizona Helicopter Adventures launches from the Sedona will be served with a hearty side dish of gorgeous scenery. of gorgeous scenery. dish side ahearty with served be will you to the area’s most populous fish districts. And The Hook And The Hook districts. fish populous most area’s you the to with your pets. For those interested in superficially tapping tapping superficially in interested For those your pets. with F & Crafts Village on State Route 179. For more information: 928- information: more 179. For Route State on Village & Crafts Up hooks you up with Orvis gear, from rods, reels and lines lines and reels rods, gear, from Orvis you up with Up hooks geographical center of the city, spiritual guides can help visi can guides city, of the spiritual center geographical L’Auberge’s kitchen is equally stunning. The fare combines combines fare The L’Auberge’s stunning. equally is kitchen Located on 11 acres in the , the the Forest, National Coconino the on 11 in acres Located Life Regression” series or opportunities to connect spiritually spiritually connect to or opportunities series Regression” Life Marshall Lake and , the area presents ample fly- ample presents Verde and area River, the Lake Marshall S the surrounding red rocks. But each dish that comes dish But each out rocks. red of surrounding the to waders and boots. Even though catch-and-release fishing fishing catch-and-release Even though boots. and waders to cream to Dijon-crusted Colorado lamb chops. chops. lamb Colorado Dijon-crusted to cream with stuffed cristo brioche apricot acclaimed the from ences, influ French classic with cuisine American contemporary your meal assured rest or dinner, lunch for breakfast, visit to tours, chakra-balancing and aura-cleansing. The center’s The center’s aura-cleansing. and chakra-balancing tours, vortex guided through energy spiritual own their harness tors them through countless books, crystals and reports available available reports and crystals books, countless through them aregular are readings palm and card tarot selves, sacred their excursions. excursions. occurrence at the center, and a friendly staff can help guide help guide can staff center, afriendly at and the occurrence inn is known for its magnificent view of Oak Creek and and Creek Oak view of magnificent for its known is inn is perfect for the beginner angler looking to get hooked. Join get Join to hooked. looking angler beginner for the perfect is ride or a strenuous hike, which is why it makes sense to dine dine to sense why it makes is which hike, or astrenuous ride for purchase. Center for the New Age is located across from Tlaquepaque Arts Arts Tlaquepaque from across located is Age New the for Center be hubs of spiritual energy (see AForce energy With? Be Reckoned to of hubs spiritual be an expert fisherman gives simple instruction as he guides guides as he instruction simple gives fisherman expert an at L’Auberge Restaurant on Oak Creek. Whether you decide you decide at L’Auberge Whether Creek. on Oak Restaurant and “circles” like the recent “Psychic Message Circle” and “Past “Past and Circle” Message “Psychic recent the like “circles” and ages combine air and Jeep tours with picnics for two-hour for two-hour picnics with tours Jeep and air combine ages prosciutto and served with blueberry compote and Chantilly Chantilly and compote blueberry with served and prosciutto psychics and spiritualists also lead reservation-only seminars seminars reservation-only lead also spiritualists and psychics page 36). And at Center for the New Age, located at the exact exact 36).page at the New Age, for located at the Center And 282-2085, 888-881-6651 or sedonanewagecenter.com. 888-881-6651 282-2085, Sedona, 301 L’Auberge Lane, in Sedona. For more information: information: more For Sedona. in L’Auberge 301 Lane, Sedona, L’Auberge Restaurant on Oak Creek is located at L’Auberge at de located is Creek Oak on L’Auberge Restaurant & GUIDE SERVICE ] SERVICE &GUIDE OUTFITTERS UP HOOK [ THE AGE ] NEW THE FOR [ CENTER [ 928-282-0904, 800-282-5141 or azheli.com. azheli.com. or 800-282-5141 928-282-0904, 800-905-5745 or lauberge.com. lauberge.com. or 800-905-5745 t edon L’AUBERGE L’AUBERGE rom

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to the less-visited Beaver Creek, Creek, Beaver less-visited the to s , believed by many to to many by believed , - - , “sage clearing,” for which they state an intention: health, abun health, intention: an state they for which “sage clearing,”

Deep Breathing Deep LARRY LINDAHL own fish, she usually leaves that to her husband, Nick. husband, her to that leaves usually she fish, own views of the and the cool satisfaction of of satisfaction cool the and Peaks Francisco San of the views well, like deep tissue massages and signature facials. facials. signature and massages tissue deep like well, N fly-fishing on Oak Creek. Although she’s more than capable of cleaning her her of cleaning capable than she’s more Although Creek. Oak on fly-fishing getting your feet wet in one of Arizona’s precious waterways. waterways. precious your feet one wet of Arizona’s in getting Arizona Arizona to contributor aregular and writer isaPhoenix-based Kramer Kelly to the area’s Native American heritage, and its spa, Mii Amo, Amo, Mii spa, its and heritage, American Native area’s the to than a 10-pound trout — vivid memories of wide-open spaces, spaces, of wide-open memories —vivid a10-pound trout than ence. During this 60-minute session, spa-goers are treated to a a to treated are spa-goers session, 60-minute this During ence. dance or another similar sentiment. Next, a spa technician technician aspa Next, sentiment. similar or another dance and spirituality both ney, menu emphasizes Amo’s spa Mii word for honor Yuman jour in of the Named same. the does homage pays The hotel. resort premier Sedona’s is Resort ment is standard practice, you’ll head home with something better better something you’ll home with head practice, standard is miiamo.com. miiamo.com. Canyon Road, in Sedona. For more information: 888-749-2137 or or 888-749-2137 information: more For Sedona. in Road, Canyon anoints the body’s chakras to help restore energy flow and and flow energy help restore to chakras body’s the anoints positive thinking. Most treatments are infused with the same same the with infused are treatments Most thinking. positive spiritual sensitivity, but there are a few standard offerings, as as offerings, afew standard are but there sensitivity, spiritual experi Spirit Amo Mii the as such treatments with serenity, Highways Mii Amo is located at the Enchantment Resort, 525 Boynton Boynton 525 Resort, Enchantment the at located is Amo Mii For more or information:623-412-3474, thehookupoutfitters.com [ MII AMO SPA, ENCHANTMENT RESORT ] RESORT SPA, ENCHANTMENT AMO [ MII 888-899-4665. e s tled . In addition to eating cheeseburgers and cupcakes, she loves loves she cupcakes, and cheeseburgers eating to addition . In

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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> DROMEDARY DOMINANCE The red rocks of the Camel Head formation tower over junipers, piñon pines and Arizona cypress in Marg’s Draw in the Munds Mountain Wilderness just minutes southeast of Sedona. Photograph by Elias Butler n To order a print of this photograph, see page 1.

A PORTF0LIO Seeing Red The double-decker buses in London, the square in Moscow, the Coke can, Bonnie Raitt’s hair, the little girl who was chased by the Big, Bad Wolf … a lot of icons in this world are red, but few can compare to the rocks in Sedona. In this month’s portfolio, we’ll give you a better look at Arizona’s second natural wonder. If you think you’ve seen Sedona, think again.

20 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 21 PERCOLATING Drought-resistant and hardy, a piñon pine tree clings to its red- rock toehold while a rainbow from a passing shower arcs down the “spout” of Coffee Pot Rock. Photograph by Larry Lindahl n To order a print of this photograph, see page 1.

22 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 23 JUNE BLOOMS Versatile soaptree (above) — traditionally used by Indians for soap, food and basket-weaving materials — bloom in early summer near Courthouse Butte. Photograph by Robert McDonald

MORNING MIST Following a winter storm, early morning mist lifts near Coffee Pot Rock (right), shredding at the promise of a clear, blue sky. Photograph by Larry Lindahl n To order a print of this photograph, see page 1.

ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 25 HIGH DRAMA With Wagnerian intensity, billowing clouds cast shadows on Cathedral Rock (center, right) and its environs in this view from Red Rock Loop Road. Photograph by Bob & Suzanne Clemenz n To order a print of this photograph, see page 1.

ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 27 GET A GRIP Alder, oak and fir trees (above) survive on narrow ledges on the slick-rock canyon walls of the West Fork of Oak Creek near its source in the Red Rock- Secret Mountain Wilderness. Photograph by Robert McDonald

IS THAT A BRACT? Actually a tiny yellow flower surrounded by rose-colored bracts, owl clover — known in Spanish as escobita, or “little broom” — carpets a meadow near Red Canyon west of Sedona. Photograph by Robert McDonald n To order a print of this photograph, see page 1.

ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 29 ALONG FOR THE RIDE Sedona is a mountain-biking mecca — one of the best in the world. For some hard-core riders, it even outranks Moab. Although our writer leans more toward timid, we sent her out anyway. With a group of extremists, nonetheless. BY LORI K. BAKER PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM BEAN

DIFFERENT SPOKES Move over, Moab. Sedona offers at least as much scenery as that mountain-biking mecca in a more manageable package. Backdropped by Cathedral Rock, cyclist Saori Watanabe coasts the popular Templeton Trail.

ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 31 Susan Amon, a mountain-biking guide, waved us on. Suited up, I felt confident and cocky. But that fraudulent feel- keep you heading up steep slopes like Spiderman. change color and character as the sun crosses the cobalt-blue I was linked up with a group of experienced mountain bik- ing evaporated the second I eyed the ledge. I held my breath as I Somehow I didn’t fall or go “endo” — a term that’s short for sky overhead. Layers of limestone and sandstone strata of buff, ers on Sedona’s Templeton Trail, where high red-rock ledges grimly imagined plummeting for a few eternal seconds, my tinny end-over-end, a slapstick maneuver of flying over the handle- orange and salmon hues speak of millions of years in geologic flaunt panoramas of the spires of Cathedral Rock and Munds cries too weak to echo off the rugged cliffs of Munds Mountain, bars unexpectedly. I owe that to Sedona MTB Adventures’ other time — the , the and the Schnebly Mountain Wilderness, and jut out over deep green valleys mat- and then disappearing into a puff of flesh, bone and mangled tour guide, Andy Reinert, a calm and reassuring 40-year-old Hill formation. Each has withstood the eroding forces of water, ted with piñon pines and shaggy junipers. Instead of pedaling bike metal like Wile E. in a Roadrunner cartoon. extreme snowboarder who’d braved snowdrifts in Alaska for ice and windblown particles in a different way, creating mes- ahead, I lurched to a stop, kicking up a tiny fantail of red I thought about all that I’d leave behind — a husband who eight years before catching Red Rock Fever and moving to merizing formations, some with whimsical names like Rabbit and braking before a vast expanse of buffed Creamsicle-colored still didn’t know how to boil an egg, a teenaged son who’d just Sedona. He patiently taught me that skilled mountain biking is Ears and Snoopy Rock. sandstone, frighteningly called slick-rock. begun driving and dating, an overfed Sumo wrestler cat named actually counterintuitive: “When you go slower, the bike tends Mountain bikers from all over the world come to Sedona On my left were boulders and prickly pear cactuses bearing Oreo and all those deadlines. Then I remembered my fellow to be more unstable. Speed is your friend,” he said. “And if you for these up-close-and-personal views of Red Rock Country, purple fruit and beavertail pads with spines like barbed wire. mountain bikers’ strict “no rider left behind” policy. And how I look at a rock or a cactus, you’ll hit it. Always keep your eyes on On my right was a 50-foot sheer drop-off that could be an acci- couldn’t dial 911 for emergency air-evac services for high anxi- where you want to go.” S PEDAL PUSHERS Darlene Ryan and Peter Rosenthal cycle the Bell Rock dental high-dive for a “Fred” like me. In mountain-biking lingo, ety. That’s when I took a deep breath, stared straight ahead and That’s the irony of mountain biking in Sedona, which has Pathway (opposite page) in the Coconino National Forest, with Courthouse a Fred is someone who’s decked out in all the right gear — in started pedaling madly over the slick-rock. killer views — literally — if you can’t resist the urge to sightsee Butte presiding over the trail. my case, brand-new black Lycra shorts, a spandex shirt, helmet Hardcore bikers love this slick, eroded rock — their bikes’ fat in the saddle. Here, spectacular clay-red sphinxlike formations SLICK-ROCK SINGLETRACK Andy Reinert, Saori Watanabe and Aaron and gloves — and still can’t ride on anything rockier or steeper rubber tires cling to it like a cockroach on a tenement ceiling. — Bell Rock, Courthouse Butte, Capitol Butte and Cathedral Lisco (back to front) test their mettle on the Templeton Trail (above, right), a than a flat slab of asphalt. The wonder of slick-rock is that it can help you defy gravity and Rock — burst 500 to 2,000 feet out of the green floor and mostly flat stretch with technical descents at the end.

32 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 33 … one of the greatest spiritual lessons mountain biking can teach you is letting go of fear. ‘‘It unlocks the child within, that joy and freedom … ”

along with more miles of single-track (rough, narrow paths no introduced himself. First off, I had to know how he got the wider than a bike) than its mountain-biking rival, Moab, Utah. nickname Cosmic Ray, and fully expected to hear yet another “Sedona is way better than Moab,” says Aaron Lisco, a 34-year- New Age yarn knitted into the folklore of Sedona, official home old mountain biker from Hawaii who’d just spent the last three of energy vortexes and a harmonic convergence. “Well, my months pedaling across six Western states with his girlfriend. name isn’t as interesting as it sounds,” he admitted, explaining “It has everything Moab has in a tight little package — and there that it dated back to when he owned Cosmic Cycles, a bike shop aren’t as many Freds.” in Flagstaff. In Sedona, an arterial network of more than 100 miles of We then talked books. In his witty and whimsical guide, mountain-bike trails begins at Bell Rock Pathway, a 3.5-mile Cosmic Ray ranks Arizona’s mountain-biking trails as easy, trek where novice riders on rental bikes can feel safe on the moderate and difficult. He warns that some are extreme — a wide paths and gently sloping red gravel winding past Bell Rock “possible bloodbath.” I flipped to the back of his guide, a glossary and Courthouse Butte. Experienced riders can move quickly of mountain-biking lingo. on to explore the many loops, fingers and forks of more chal- “You’ve got to tell me a few words I can toss around so I won’t lenging single-tracks like the Llama Trail, where Bell Rock and sound like a total Fred.” Pointing to my skinned elbow, he read, Courthouse Butte tower overhead, and other time-whittled “Bacon: scabby trail jerky, road rash.” He went on, “You can use monoliths — Cathedral Rock, Thumb Butte, Twin Buttes and some of these terms casually in a conversation, like a ‘mutant,’ the giant stone varmint, Rabbit Ears — loom in the distance. someone who is crazy about mountain biking — they’re twisted Other classic rides include Broken Arrow, a 3-mile jaunt with and bent. Oh, and look out for the ‘HOHs’: hateful old hikers.” a stop at the Devil’s Dining Room — a landmark sinkhole pro- I thought back on the day’s mishaps, including when I nearly tected by a fence — and views of Submarine Rock, Twin Buttes had a “yard sale,” a big wreck that scatters your stuff everywhere. and gorgeous red spires. Another favorite, Little Horse Trail, Of course, there were exhilarating moments, too, like the sense takes mountain bikers past the base of the ruddy rocks of Twin of sailing free and unencumbered down an easy downward Buttes to a landmark appropriately called Chicken Point, a slick- slope of Bell Rock Pathway. And then there was the 51-year-old rock saddle between two red buttes. extreme mountain biker who told me that one of the greatest I vowed to return to Sedona to test-drive more of its trails spiritual lessons mountain biking can teach you is letting go of — after I’d mastered a few more mountain-biking maneuvers on fear. “It unlocks the child within, that joy and freedom,” he said. the terra firma of my neighborhood park. “It’s a powerful thing.” Until then, sipping a latte at Bike & Bean, the local moun- No wonder I felt so reluctant to harness myself into the driv- tain-biking hangout, sounded like my kind of afternoon. I set er’s seat of a Toyota for a two-hour commute back home to Mesa. up an appointment with Cosmic Ray, a 61-year-old mountain- I’d discovered that life’s journeys are more exhilarating if you’re biking guru and the author of Fat Tire Tales and Trails: Arizona not what mountain bikers call a “cager” — a person trapped in Mountain Bike Trail Guide (Gem Guides Book Co., April 2004). a car. I wanted to learn the secrets of the mountain-biking culture in Sedona from a man who’d been into the sport since the late Freelance writer and editor Lori K. Baker really brought home the “bacon” (mountain-biking lingo for road rash, or scabby arms and legs) after this 1970s, when riders drove “crazy junkyard bikes” assembled assignment. She lives in Mesa. from parts of old motorcycles and paper boys’ bicycles. (Today, Tom Bean of Flagstaff prefers to photograph natural landscapes with a top-of-the-line mountain bikes sell for more than $4,000.) human presence as a way to entice others into enjoying the outdoors. He Inside Bike & Bean, a combination bike shop and coffee bar has photographed people hiking, backpacking, swimming, birding, llama in the Village of Oak Creek, the air smelled of rubber tires and trekking, and now mountain biking in the fabulous red-rock country. But he says it’ll be a long time before he tries mountain biking with 30 pounds of steamed milk. A bike mechanic named Gonzo clicked through camera gear and a tripod on his back again. gears, trued wheels, traced trail routes … and whipped up lattes, cappuccinos and iced mochas. With a slight limp, I sidled up to the bar sided with corrugated tin, rested my scraped-up elbows on the concrete countertop and ordered the house special, a “superphatmojolatte.” Before long, Cosmic Ray zoomed into Bike & Bean’s parking lot on his BMW motorcycle. Wearing a white polo shirt with the insignia, “Take risks. Go fast,” he thrust out his hand and

WHEEL IN THE SKY Darlene Ryan’s wheel frames Courthouse Butte (left) while she catches her breath on the Bell Rock Pathway, a 3.5-mile trail linking Oak Creek Village with Sedona.

PREHISTORIC PEDALER? The tip jar at the Bike & Bean (right) in Oak Creek Village features a “bikopelli” design, a visual play on the ubiquitous art depicting the deity Kokopelli.

34 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 35 A FORCE to Be reckoned with? Even in SEDONA, it’s hard to get a straight answer on what a VORTEX is. However, most NEW AGE disciples will tell you it’s a place with increased ENERGY that AMPLIFIES whatever you take into it. That’s what they say. Is there something to it, or are these people just NUTS?

BY JACKIE DISHNER

You wouldn’t call us New Age. But there we were, my massages, the necessary meals at several restaurants, chakra boyfriend and I, surrounded by a background of red rocks and cleansings, energy balancing and time for those aura-reflecting bright-green manzanitas, having our aura photos taken, getting snapshots — all of which was intended to help open the heart, our chakras cleansed, and even meditating with a yogi. Why? I mind and soul to the spiritual nature of the journey. wanted to learn about the famed vortexes in Sedona. If it sounds ambitious, it was. Memorable, too. This was the If it hadn’t been for four simple words and a question mark trip that taught me to see with my eyes closed. — WHAT IS A VORTEX? — on the cover of a thin guidebook, Representatives at Sedona’s visitors center will tell you the we might not have thought to do this. Both of us had been to city has earned a reputation as a spiritual mecca because of its Sedona many times, and even though we were well aware of the vortexes. This “global power spot” regularly draws healers, intu- fascination with the vortex concept, it had never been ours … itives, artists and spiritual guides. We met several of them dur- until I saw that book. ing our weekend tour. One woman, who goes only by the name It wasn’t even Larry Lindahl’s red and blue photograph of Sheila, told us the reason she settled in Sedona was because Cathedral Rock — considered the most photographed vortex of a bird. As she drove into town, she said, “I felt as though I’d in Sedona — on the cover that attracted me. It was those four been transformed into an eagle soaring over the red rocks.” To words and the question mark. I didn’t know the answer, and I her, the message was clear: Stay put. So she did. She now serves thought it was time to find out. sandwiches at Dahl & DiLuca’s A’roma on State Route 179. So, I called Dennis Andres, the book’s author, and asked if he’d “Is the energy magnetic?” I wanted to know. be our guide. We spoke for an hour about vortexes, and Sedona “No, not really,” Andres answered. “There’s no scientific evi- in general, and I mentioned that I wasn’t sure I understood the dence to fully support that theory.” energy force. I wasn’t even sure if I believed in it. Before we hung According to Andres’ definition, a vortex is a place in nature up, he told me to remember one thing: “It’s OK to be skeptical. Just don’t be cynical.” We wound up experiencing the area’s six known vortex sites — Airport Mesa, Bell Rock, Boynton Canyon, Cathedral Rock, Chapel of the Holy Cross and Schnebly Hill Road — each hidden within the vast reaches of what’s become known as the “New Age Capital of the World.” In between hikes, we scheduled a few

Pot O’ Gold A rainbow arches over Sedona’s Cathedral Rock (left), the location of what is said to be one of the area’s most significant vortexes. Photograph by Bob & Suzanne Clemenz

Rock Art Fashioned by hikers, a rock design (right) resembling a medicine wheel sits trailside in Sedona’s famous red dirt. Photograph by Larry Lindahl

36 m a y 2008 of energy” to see, as some people For the next few minutes we sat and watched the stillness, claim. and Andres slowly guided us into our own imaginations. In “People were getting confused, mine, I saw myself flying like the swallow, down into the can- even angry, because they’d hear yon, soaring just like Sheila’s eagle, and then coming back up to so many different answers about the edge of the cliff. Fifteen minutes later, I heard the swallow the vortex,” he explained on our call out again, and I opened my eyes to see more vibrant colors tour. “I’d often hear, ‘I just want on the canyon walls. That pale-green looked more like to know what it is.’ ” lime-green. Even the swallow, which I thought had been all The problem is, there’s no spe- black, showed his white-tipped wings. cific spot where you can go, he At the end of the weekend, Johanna Maheshvari Mosca, our says. There’s no “X” on the map. yoga instructor from Sedona Spirit Yoga & Hiking, took us to No road signs. And when you get the top of Cathedral Rock for some breathing exercises, and there, “you never know what’s offered the best take-home lesson: “What’s here are the steps as going to happen, because men we take them, the blue sky, your smile, your breathing,” she said. and women respond differently,” “It’s about being present in the moment. In a community intent he says. on spiritual growth, you can’t help but become a part of it.” I can attest to that. Just a day And, according to Andres, a core idea of New Age think- earlier, we were flying over the ing involves establishing a more balanced relationship with red rocks, getting the bird’s-eye the planet. If that means spending more time in Sedona, then view by helicopter of Cathedral maybe I’m a little more New Age than I thought. Rock up ahead, when Ralph Gannarelli, the not-as-funny-as- Jackie Dishner is a Phoenix-based writer who plans to return to Sedona he-thinks pilot for Maverick as often as possible. Although the vortex might not have claimed her as a resident, it’s claimed her as a visitor. Helicopters, said to his five pas- sengers: “Look ahead! There’s a vortex. Sometimes you feel noth- ing, but other times …” Drop! I felt a huge bump in the cabin, and heard myself scream as Bruce Hornsby sang, “… That’s just the way it is,” in the background. “A lot of people say they get a feeling of euphoria or lighthead- edness when they get inside these vortexes,” Gannarelli said. “They might even feel dizzy. I had one woman who said she felt centered. How are you feeling, Jackie?” So much for his tip, I was think- ing, as I said, “I wouldn’t call it centered.” I preferred to experience the vortex from the ground, the way Mr. Sedona offered — through where the Earth is exceptionally alive and healthy, its natural down over the rugged dirt terrain and around sharp curves — guided imagery, rather than forced fear. beauty reflected in the elements of land, light, air and water. its wheels spinning too close for comfort along the cliff’s edge Back on that rough road, we pulled over to a trailhead on Additionally, he believes a vortex is a place on the planet with — we spotted at least a dozen touring Jeeps of various colors — Munds Mountain — a rusty-red surface coated with basalt rock increased energy that magnifies or amplifies whatever you bring pink, turquoise, red, green. From a distance, they looked like a patches. Two hours into the hike on Cow Pie Trail, we stopped into it. Because no one experiences a vortex in quite the same blooming floral bouquet. at a clearing about the size of a football field, and found some way as someone else, defining a vortex becomes an individual Andres has been giving private tours as “Mr. Sedona” for more boulders to sit on near the edge of a cliff. lesson and rests with how well you trust your own intuition. than 10 years. Taking couples, singles and groups to vortex sites, Sedona seemed to spread her layered manganese, sandstone So, the believers urge visitors to take the Jeep tour, sign up for he uses guided imagery to help them connect with the energy and iron arms out wide to welcome us. We could see for miles. an outdoor yoga hike, and — to find out how much and what field he says you won’t be able to see with your eyes open. To my right stood Mitten Ridge, the and Marg’s type of energy your body emits — have your aura photo taken There’s nothing there, he admits. There’s no “swirling ball Draw. On the left, we could see Airport Mesa, downtown Sedona at the vortex of your choice. The photo will reveal a blurry ring and Teapot Rock. Patches of pale-green, blue and white lichen of colors around your head, neck and shoulders. They say the Secret Spaces Framed by the walls of a small side canyon, Secret beamed up from the face of the boulders where we sat. Location: Sedona, 115 miles north of Phoenix. farther out the ring extends, the more connected you are to Mountain (above) dominates the horizon in Boynton Canyon. Photograph by “Imagine 56,000 visitors in Sedona, and not one of them, other Information: Dennis Andres, 928-204-2201 or sedonaprivateguides.com; Maverick Helicopters, 888-261- Larry Lindahl your true self. than us, are on this ,” Andres said. It was just us and a 4414 or arizonahelicopteradventure.com; Sedona Spirit Yoga We began our journey in Andres’ four-wheel-drive SUV on Take a Hike A hiker follows a Boynton Canyon trail (opposite page) lone swallow playing in the wind — its occasional calls the & Hiking, 888-282-9901, 928-282-9900 or yogalife.net. Schnebly Hill Road to Cow Pie Trail. As the SUV rocked up and beneath towering red-rock cliffs. Photograph by Larry Lindahl only sounds.

38 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 39 Although New Age gets most of the attention in Sedona, there’s an Old Age that’s worth learning about, too. The people are known as Sinagua, and their ancient cliff dwellings are just a dirt road away.

P REHISTORY L ESSON

To the west of Sedona lies a maze of red-

walled canyons and sandstone spires seemingly

holding up the weight of a solid blue sky. It’s a

land of lost mountains and secret canyons. If you

have any doubt, pull out the map. It shows you

where to find Lost Mountain, and plots each con-

tour of Secret Canyon. But even with a map in

hand, an air of mystery remains.

Where paved roads turn to dirt you’ll find

traces of people who managed to thrive centuries

ago in the dry up­lands. They left behind stone

walls embedded in cliffsides and archaic images

painted in the shelter of overhanging cliffs. Two

of the best-preserved sites are the remarkable cliff

houses of Honanki and nearby Palatki.

ANCIENT IMPRINT The fingerprints of the original architects are still visible in the mud plaster of certain prehistoric structures of the Loy Canyon Sinagua Ruin. Centuries ago, intruders might have been deterred BY SCOTT THYBONY by this defensive wall that sits high above the Loy Canyon Trail in the Coconino National Forest. PHOTOGRAPHS BY LARRY LINDAHL

ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 41 Location: Honanki Heritage Site and , Coconino National Forest archaeologist Peter Pilles off Forest Service Road 525, accessed 5 miles west of uptown Sedona. leads an eager throng to the Honanki site at the base of Loy Butte. Travel Advisory: Reservations are required to visit Palatki. Call 928-282-3855. A Red Rock Pass is required to park on national forest The group follows the trail into an alcove. Their leader wears land in the Sedona area. a trim, gray beard and a faded Smokey the Bear cap sporting Warning: Forest Service Road 525 is a graded dirt road. Check road the words “Only You.” At its peak, the contained conditions with a ranger before traveling it during or after wet weather. more than 70 rooms, he explains, and points out a section that Information: 928-252-4119 or www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino. might have been four stories high. Keeping an eye out for Jake the , a rather docile who occasionally greets visitors, the group continues to an area where the rooms caught BURIED TREASURE Roger plants, began moving into the valley. “The upland Sinagua,” fire, forcing the Sinaguans, the original architects, to rebuild. Daisley holds a Clovis point Pilles says, “had a lot in common with the , and some (above) fashioned from Honanki contains a warren of rooms last occupied by Pueblo black rhyolite. probably adopted the Yavapai lifestyle.” Indians 700 years ago. Well-laid masonry, built without trowel WARRIOR WHEEL While the Sedona region is not true desert, archaeological or level, merges with the sandstone cliffs lifting from the juniper Pictographs (left) such as this deposits are dry enough to preserve centuries-old cotton fab- flats below. Archaeologists call the prehistoric people who first Sinagua painting of an 18- rics. Cotton played a key role in the Sinagua trade network, inch shield offer keys to and farmers probably grew it locally. Using upright looms, they lived here the Sinagua — a term of convenience because we decoding the past. don’t know what they called themselves. We can only imagine SACRED SIGHT Palatki Ruin wove such items as blankets, kilts and bags in intricate open- what joys and tragedies permeated their lives, but enough of their (below, left), Hopi for “Red work patterns, creating some of the finest textiles in the prehis- former home remains to connect us with their intriguing past. House,” takes on a hue true toric Southwest. A ruin stirs the imagination. At Honanki Heritage Site, a to its name in the light of The fabrics stand the test of time, as one local discovery the setting sun. lone raven perches on an ancient wall rising from the rubble. proves. When volunteer John Sturgis, who has worked on many The bird stands silent watch over a place once filled with the archaeological projects around Sedona, was helping to stabi- voices of children playing, the barking of dogs and the chopping lize a room at Honanki, the crew uncovered pieces of a cotton sounds of stone axes on wood. tunic and leggings. “It was exciting to find,” he recalls, “and it “There’s a very strong connection between the people who got more exciting a couple of days later. We were out at Hopi were here before and us,” says Forest Service volunteer Ron [Reservation] for one of the ceremonials, and the people were Krug. “If you listen real hard, you can hear them.” wearing the same things we’d found. They wore almost exactly Ron acquired his interest in the past as a kid hunting arrow- what we had excavated from deposits 800 years old!” heads, and it resurfaced when he retired to Sedona. He began Steve Strauss, a neighbor of the Daisleys, found the artifact Six miles by road from Honanki stand the remains of Palatki, volunteering to record, and sometimes excavate, the profusion while digging a basement. The backhoe hit bedrock about 10 tucked into a sandstone amphitheater of Red Canyon. Here, of ancient sites found in the region. feet down, and the last scoop of dirt uncovered the spear point. the deep colors of rock and sky appear to have been trowled on Site hosts at Honanki, provided by Pink Jeep Tours, greet Ellie sent photos of it to Pilles, who checked the site without thickly from a painter’s palette. 35,000 visitors each year. Because of the increase in foot traffic, turning up additional Clovis points. “I keep waiting to find that One trail leads to the dramatic cliff dwelling and the other the Forest Service began a multiyear project to improve trails, mammoth tusk sticking up from the ground,” she says. climbs to The Grotto, a recessed ledge sunk deep in the shad- document rock art and conduct limited excavations. Volunteers Early travelers passing through red-rock country often noted ows. As your eyes adjust to the grainy light, images of horned have helped to stabilize the standing walls, some of which still the ancient cliff dwellings and speculated on their origins. Must animals, human forms and stylized appear on the back bear the original mud plaster. If you look closely, the finger- have been the Aztecs, some thought, or perhaps the Lost Tribes wall. Rendered in red, white and yellow, these pictographs date prints of the prehistoric masons are visible today. of Israel. It was left to the archaeologists to sort things out. back thousands of years and give us a glimpse into the ancient Pilles explains that the cliff dwelling was the center of a wider With shovel in hand, probed Honanki artists’ imaginations. community extending far beyond a single site. “We focus on and Palatki in 1895. The Smithsonian scientist gave the cliff Interpreting rock art has proved extremely difficult, even the core sites like Honanki,” he says, “but we need to focus on houses Hopi Indian names, since he was searching for evidence for the experts, but some enthusiasts can’t resist. “People get people.” linking the sites to Hopi traditions. Honanki means “Badger really nervous when you can’t tell them what it means,” Palatki Below the ruins a dirt road continues to the home of Roger House” and Palatki translates as “Red House.” Certain Hopi Heritage Site volunteer Bonnie Bower says, adding, “I get ner- and Ellie Daisley. They first visited Honanki 10 years ago while clans, and the local Yavapai people, claim an ancestral link to vous when they start telling me what it means.” searching for a ranch to buy. “A raven kept flying back and forth the ancient inhabitants and a spiritual connection to many of A connection with the past doesn’t depend on decoding the as we were leaving,” Ellie recalls. “ ‘What’s down this road?’ I the sites. For the Yavapai, the red-rock landscape of Sedona rock art. When photographer Larry Lindahl was exploring a asked Roger. represents the middle of the world — and their home. nearby canyon below Secret Mountain, he spotted a hidden ruin. “ ‘The map says it’s a dead-end.’ ” He climbed to the site and found an unusual pictograph on the “ ‘We have to follow it.’ The raven flew up the road and landed The southern Sinagua people appeared in the Verde wall, a circular maze design painted in white. on a ‘For Sale’ sign. We looked at the buttes, saw the beauty and Valley around a.d. 650, and a northern branch settled near the “There below it,” he said, “was the sandstone slab used to mix said, ‘Home!’ ” San Francisco Peaks. As farmers, they depended on the rains the paint. The white pigment was smeared back and forth with As the most recent occupants of a place where the timeline and winter snows. In the south, the Sinagua reached their peak an arcing motion, where the artist was grinding the pigment reaches back long before the cliff dwellers, the Daisleys’ con- between a.d. 1150 and 1250, before the climate grew drier. By with his fingers. It bridged the gap between now and 800 years nection to the past is direct and often tactile. Inside their house, the end of the 13th century, some of the local people left their ago. I sensed the presence of the artist who was there with his Roger sits holding a fluted spear point in his open hand. More cliff homes in search of water, and joined the larger wet paint. It was definitely a time-travel moment.” than 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age when mam- we now call Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle, both built near A longing to experience the past leads some to replicate it grazed below the red-rock cliffs, a hunter passed this way. permanent watercourses. and others to channel it. But at certain moments, the hard facts All he left behind was an unbroken Clovis point, finely worked Pilles believes others might have remained in the area and of a standing wall or a simple swirl of paint are enough. Out in from black rhyolite, thought to have come from a source north dispersed into family groups. This was during a period when the red-rock canyons, the flow of time can eddy back on itself, of Seligman. the Yavapai Indians, who lived by hunting and gathering wild letting the past brush against the present.

42 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 43 This is the lure of rock art. When, why, or by whom were these figures made? Kaibab Forest archaeologist John A. Hanson identifies the early Native American culture in the area as the , who resided there from about a.d. 700 to 1150. Were these images made by the adventure

Cohonina? It’s possible, but there’s no proof. Anasazi, or even an earlier culture, might have left their marks, but experts generally agree that the figures are at least 1,000 years old. Here, at the Rain Tank Wash site, we find more used chalk to outline a snake THE DAILY GRIND This overhang of the fragile pictographs figure, and spots of modern (above) in Rain Tank Wash served as a “kitchen” where prehistoric women (painted designs) than the red paint dot the wall. Oil ground grains and seeds in limestone back road durable (pecked from hands can also dam- mortars called metates. into stone). Other painted age the images, and the rock images probably existed, but flakes off very easily. the natural flaking off of rock This obviously was a

has destroyed them. well-used location, as smoke GOT ? Experts believe this elk- Natural isn’t smudges the overhang’s ceil- like pictograph (below) in the Rain the only thing damaging ing, rock art lines the walls, Tank Wash near Tusayan is at least the symbols. Unfortunately, and metates or grinding 1,000 years old. But who painted it, and why does it resemble the portly much rock art is lost to hu- stones are worn into large animal figures in ’s Lascaux man ignorance. Someone has boulders. There are no signs cave? Nobody knows.

SUN GODS Sunset outlines rock formations of Brahma Temple and (above), named Rock Art Road Trip after the Hindu creator god and the Persian prophet of Zoroastrianism, Located on the South Rim, this scenic route offers respectively.

by Janet Webb Farnsworth by Janet Webb photographs Robert McDonald vintage Arizona scenery and a dose of art history.

“it looks like an elk to We’re not scrutinizing one art critics at a swanky gallery. tributary off the Tusayan A moderate, short climb me,” says Bob Blasi, a fire- of the stately elk that wander Brown and orange seem to Plateau. Blasi has taken us up the right side of the gully prevention officer for Kaibab this terrain near the South be the artists’ colors of choice, to where the ravine deepens leads to a shallow cave where National Forest. I agree. The Rim of the Grand Canyon, along with a few red paint- into a small canyon. we immediately spot the “elk” brown and orange animal, but a 12-inch-high pictograph, ings to add variety. A trail leads along the can- figure. Deer, snake, mountain with its tail pointed jauntily in an ancient painting on rock. These enigmatic depictions yon bottom, bordered by pon- sheep and elk images are the air, does resemble an elk At some time, someone, for are “displayed” on limestone derosa and piñon pines, sage, identifiable, but we can only with large antlers. My husband, some reason, chose to record overhangs along the wash. and junipers that soften the guess at the meaning of a Richard, is more dubious. animal figures on the wall Although dry now, the arroyo stark walls. 20-inch brown oval outlined “Why is it so fat with such short of Rain Tank Wash near begins as a spring, one of only On both sides, small overhangs in orange. I think it’s a shield. legs?” he asks. Who knows? Tusayan. We walk from one a handful on the South Rim, formed where the underlying Blasi guesses a turtle. Richard Maybe it just ate too much. image to another like three and develops into the main limestone eroded away. just shrugs.

44 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 45 HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN Banana plants soak up rays from the rising sun, which provides dramatic backlight to Vishnu Temple in the Grand Canyon.

of stone foundations, so this was probably a rock shelter used for short stays. Maybe someone painted the figures while sitting out a rainstorm or enjoying a few days in the cool pines. Wandering along the outcropping, I notice faint petroglyphs etched into the stone. Orderly sheep figures march behind an elk, and a 2-foot centipedelike creature decorates the ceiling. In the center of the site I spot something unique. Two sheep petroglyphs are chipped atop pictographs. It seems the pictographs were painted before the petro- glyphs were added. No one should be off limits to the ALL ABOARD The travels knows the age of either set public. between Williams and the Grand Canyon’s South Rim of images — there’s no reli- We could spend the rest of every day. For information, visit thetrain.com. able way to date rock art. the day in Rain Tank Wash Archaeologists usually try to just enjoying the scenery and Note: Mileages are approximate. estimate the date from pot- searching for rock art, but > From Williams, head north on State Route 64 approximately tery and nearby ruins, but we’re getting hungry and 50 miles to Forest Service Road 347. this isn’t an exact science. decide to backtrack on the > Turn left (west) and go 6 miles to Forest Service Road 306. Farther down the canyon, Forest Service roads that If you cross the Grand Canyon Railway tracks, you’ve gone about sage emits its pungent smell. brought us here and head .25 miles too far. > Turn right (north) onto FR 306 and continue 1.25 miles to Forest The raucous calls of Steller’s north on State Route 64 to Service Road 2615. jays warn that we’re invading explore the hamlet (popula- > Turn left onto FR 2615 and drive 5 miles until the road is blocked their territory. We scramble tion 562) of Tusayan. Five by large rock piles. Warning: This dirt road becomes treacherous up slopes looking for picto- miles from Grand Canyon during and following rain. graphs and find a red circle, National Park’s South > Park here and hike a quarter-mile to a half-mile to limestone overhangs on left. Faint footpaths lead to the hunting-shelter/ perhaps a sun, with rays Entrance, this small-town pictograph area. Look closely to find pictographs; they are not fringing it. A design once dec- gateway to the “rim of the marked by any signage.

orated the center, but it’s been world” offers several local eat- Tusayan obliterated by six bullet holes. eries. We find specialty cof- FR 2615 K A IBA B n Damage like this makes some fees, Internet access and a gift NATIONAL FOREST FR 306

people argue that all rock art shop at Happy Trails Tusayan, h

s

a

W FR 347 American cuisine and home-

k n 64 made pies at Café Tusayan, a T

in a Vehicle Requirements: Mexican and Southwestern R 180 U E A High-clearance. AT fare at Canyon Star Tusayan, G L P r Warning: Back-road travel a n and Italian at We Cook Pizza O d NIN

can be hazardous. Be aware of COCO C

and Pasta Tusayan. Now we a

weather and road conditions. n y

o 180

Carry plenty of water. Don’t have to choose. n

travel alone, and let someone R n a i For more back-road adven- l know where you’re going and w a when you plan to return. tures, pick up a copy of our new y Additional Information: Kaibab book, The Back Roads. Now 64 National Forest, 928-638-2443. in its fifth edition, the book

Travelers in Arizona Kevin Kibsey can visit az511.gov or dial ($19.95) features 40 of the state’s K A IBA B 511 to get infor­ma­tion on most scenic drives. To order a NATIONAL FOREST road closures, construction, copy, call 800-543-5432 or visit 40 40 delays, weather and more. arizonahighways.com. Williams To Flagstaff

46 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 47 The Dogie Trail It’s a wilderness area now, but back in the day, cowboys pushed cattle along this spectacular trail in Sycamore Canyon. of the month the of

it’s important to know vantage point could I detect that I can’t sing. At ball- the separate column standing games, I lip-sync the national like an upraised arm wav- anthem. Around candlelit ing goodbye. You won’t see it

hike cakes, I hum Happy Birthday. listed on maps, but it’s “adios I steer clear of karaoke bars, rock” to me. with the Sycamore Basin Trail. SANDSTONE SOLITUDE Sedona’s American Idol auditions or Cowboys once pushed That’s when I caught a star- Dogie Trail in the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness offers magnificent views anywhere my tuneless wail- cattle herds from the Verde tling gleam. of sandstone ramparts (above) a ing could wilt human ears. Valley to Flagstaff through Sun skipped across a deep quarter-mile west of the wilderness So, when I say I belted out a Sycamore Canyon. Traces of pool sheltered by drooping boundary gate. A slice of sky sneaks few numbers along the Dogie that era remain, notably the cottonwoods, and I knew through adjoining pillars of a red- rock butte (right) as piñon pine and Trail in Sycamore Canyon, stock tanks. The trail side- immediately where I was juniper trees adorn the jagged cliffs you’ll grasp the sense of isola- swipes the most prominent stopping. I had jerky in my below. tion engulfing this rugged of these about 2 miles in. backpack, a Little Feat song wilderness. Even the name is a holdover in my head, and it was time Sycamore Canyon and hear a According to the trail reg- — dogie is “cowboy” for a to break out both, which I javelina with the hiccups, it’s istry, only two people had motherless calf. It’s a perfect did. The moral of the story? probably just me singing. Feel hiked the Dogie during the description for this trail, The next time you’re hiking free to harmonize. previous month. I signed in, evoking an orphaned sense of already with a song on my loneliness. trail guide

lips, and scanned the skyline After passing the tank, the Length: 10.8 miles round-trip. stacked with the familiar trail parallels Sycamore Creek Elevation Gain: 1,000 feet. sandstone drama of nearby for the last 3 miles. This sec- Difficulty: Moderate to strenuous. Payoff: Seclusion, red-rock views and wildlife. Oak Creek Canyon. Less tion of canyon creates an illu- Location: About 50 miles south of Flagstaff (14 miles west of Sedona) on crowded Sycamore Canyon sional oasis. The Dogie dips paved and graveled roads. offers the same crimson-and- in and out of drainages, many Getting There: From Sedona, drive southwest 5 miles on State Route 89A. Turn north onto Forest Service Road 525 and follow the signs to Sycamore by Roger Naylor photographs Robert McDonald cream-colored cliffs and displaying torrent-sculpted Pass. Turn west onto Forest Service Road 525C and continue for 9 miles to the crumpled buttes, punctuated pouroffs dropping to the parking area. The last half-mile might require a high-clearance vehicle. with terraces of piñon pines creek bed. Cottonwoods and Travel Advisory: Spring and autumn are the best times to visit. No motorized or mechanized vehicles (including bicycles) are allowed in Sycamore Canyon and junipers. willows line the banks, but Wilderness. The trail carves a corridor despite those implications, Warning: The canyon floor can be very hot during summer months. Always carry plenty of water, at least 1 gallon per day per person. through a scratchy tangle water remains almost as Information: 928-282-4119 or www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino. of manzanitas and shrub scarce as visitors.

oaks as it descends into the Still, hiking in on the heels To Flagstaff ek canyon. Not overly steep, the of recent rains, I kept an eye n re C e or rockiness of the trail requires peeled for lingering pools to am yc 89A S attention during this segment. experience that sheer, sweet SYCAMORE CANYON Along a ridgeline north, I joy of finding moisture where WILDERNESS spotted a favorite formation. none normally exists — it’s a trailhead> Sy It first as an exposed desert-dweller thing. ca mo re slab, but as I continued, a I crossed the rocky band Pass

keyhole of light flickered in of the creek, then clambered F R COCONINO

5 2 NATIONAL FOREST the lower corner. I kept walk- onto the shaded shelf guard- 5

c Sedona F

ing as it widened to a “win- ing the west bank. From R

5

2 dow,” and then a long slice of there, the Dogie ends a half- 5 179 sky emerged. Only from that mile beyond, at the junction ek re C Oak

Kevin Kibsey 89A To I-17 (Phoenix) on line For more hikes in Arizona, visit our hikes archive at arizonahighways.com.

48 m a y 2008 ARIZONAHIGHWAYS.COM 49