10 SANDWICHES YOU NEED TO EAT IN 2019 + Pizza, Pop Tarts, Pepe’s Taco Villa ... and a Bakery Built Near an Ancient Ruin

GHWAYS APRIL 2019 ESCAPE • EXPLORE • EXPERIENCE GRAZING ARIZONA [If you like to eat, you’ll like this magazine]

The Local Press, Wickenburg 2019 Jacob Lake April Grand Canyon National Park

2 EDITOR’S LETTER 32 HIS HEARTH IS IN THE RIGHT PLACE 46 THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS Clarkdale 3 CONTRIBUTORS Coolidge, Arizona, is an unlikely place for one of the Editors and writers are often stereotyped as gastro- Prescott best bakeries in the state — it’s pretty remote. Never- nomically inept lowbrows who will eat anything that Black Canyon City 4 LETTERS theless, that’s where Nicholas Ambeliotis decided to comes out of a brown paper bag. Oscar Madison might Salt River open Mediterra Bakehouse, which now supplies some fit that description, but the editorial staff at Arizona PHOENIX Coolidge 5 THE JOURNAL of the best resorts and supermarkets in the state, Highways has higher expectations. Most of us, anyway. including the Arizona Biltmore, AJ’s Fine Foods and People, places and things from around the state, Edited by Robert Stieve Tucson Whole Foods. including the Local, where the locals hang out in Photographs by David Zickl Prescott; the 100th anniversary for Hotel Congress; By Chels Knorr POINTS OF INTEREST IN THIS ISSUE and the 200th birthday of an Arizona pioneer. Photographs by Eirini Pajak 52 SCENIC DRIVE Haystack Butte Road: The Blackjack Mountains, 18 THE ARIZONA HIGHWAYS SANDWICH TOUR 38 GREAT BALLS OF FIRE Jackson Butte, Timber Camp Mountain ... most of Considered by many to be “the mother of all peppers,” the landmarks along this route have unfamiliar names, Roast beef, turkey, chicken, pastrami, pepperoni, chiltepines are the only chiles native to Arizona. They but they’re as scenic as any in the Sonoran Desert. pickled jalapeños, bacon, sauerkraut, onion rings, grow wild; they look like miniature, red Christmas tree chorizo, scrambled eggs, egg salad, meatloaf, By Noah Austin ornaments; and, man, are they ever hot. cheese, cheese and more cheese ... that’s just some Photographs by Eric Heaton of the stuff you’ll find between slices of bread in By Matt Jaffe Arizona. We know, because our senior editor spent Photographs by Bill Steen 54 HIKE OF THE MONTH four days on the road, eating every sandwich she Black Canyon National Recreation Trail: Approxi- could get her hands on. 42 AN EASY NUT TO CRACK mately 35,000 cars whiz past Black Canyon City By Kelly Vaughn For squirrels, it’s easy. For human beings, eating every day. Most of the drivers inside have no idea Photographs by Jill Richards acorns is a lot of work — according to The Old Farmer’s there’s a rare and beautiful trail just to the west Almanac, it takes at least 12 steps and several days just of the interstate. to make them edible. But there’s one acorn that’s dif- By Robert Stieve ferent. Bellotas, which are the fruit of Emory oaks, are Photographs by Joel Hazelton slightly sweet, with only a touch of bitter, and are deli- cious right out of the shell. 56 WHERE IS THIS? Story and Photographs by Bill Steen

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Fog shrouds the saguaros and ocotillos of Tumamoc Hill, a University of Arizona ecological reserve on the west side of Tucson. Bill Hatcher NIKON D810, 1/500 SEC, F/8, ISO 64, 200 MM LENS

FRONT COVER: The Local Press, in Wicken- burg, was the first stop on The Arizona Highways Sandwich Tour (see page 18). Jill Richards CANON EOS 5D MARK IV, 1/200 SEC, F/2.8, ISO­ 640, 100 MM LENS

BACK COVER: Miniature woollystars (Eriastrum diffusum), a wildflower species native to the American Southwest, display their delicate blooms. Eirini Pajak CANON EOS 5D MARK II, 1/200 SEC, F/5, ISO 320, 100 MM LENS

2 OCTOBER 2015 www.arizonahighways.com 1 editor’s LETTER CONTRIBUTORS

DAVID ZICKL No chain restaurants, no hamburgers or hot dogs, This month, David Zickl APRIL 2019 VOL. 95 NO. 4 and no prepackaged grab-and-go sandwiches. contributed innovative photos J The Local Press in Wickenburg was the crowd 800-543-5432 from some of our editorial favorite. It made the cut. So did nine others — www.arizonahighways.com team’s regular hangouts (see almost all of them B-sides. That was the easy part. GIFT SHOP: 602-712-2200 These Are a Few of Our Favorite . ~ Eating three gargantuan sandwiches a day, with Things, page 46). The assign- ome trains run on steam. Some on diesel. Jill Richards’ camera pointed at her face, was PUBLISHER Kelly Mero ment, he says, was a natural fit. EDITOR Robert Stieve “In February 2009, I decided to . Ours runs on pizza, pastries and Pepe’s Taco Kelly’s biggest challenge. It sounds like good ' /· ' \ .. . SENIOR EDITOR Kelly Vaughn ...__ ~...._ _, ,' . 1-. ·. put down my camera and pick Villa. That’s where we go to lunch almost work if you can get it, and it is, but the aver- MANAGING EDITOR Noah Austin . - . every Friday. age human stomach is only about as big as two up a knife,” Zickl says. “Nine )'!' ,. \ ' S ASSOCIATE EDITOR Ameema Ahmed Playboy once described a dive as “a rare place bananas, so Kelly spent a lot of time feeling like months later, after graduating PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Jeff Kida where high and low rub elbows — bums and most Americans at 3 o’clock on the fourth Thurs- with honors from the Arizona CREATIVE DIRECTOR Barbara Glynn Denney poets, thieves and slumming celebrities — day of November. Still, somehow, against all Culinary Institute, I picked up ART DIRECTOR Keith Whitney a place that wears its history proudly.” If you odds, she made it through. my camera again and began a MAP DESIGNER Kevin Kibsey associate the word “dive” with disagreeable, then Pepe’s isn’t a dive. It’s an What she experienced, she says, is “the story culinary journey.” For this issue, PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Michael Bianchi antonym. It’s nothing fancy, though. That’s for sure. The booths are brown of a road trip, the story of a lot of takeout boxes that journey included Phoenix DIRECTOR OF SALES Naugahyde, or some other polyvinyl plastic. The walls are bright yellow, like and the stories of a handful of very kind people AND MARKETING Karen Farugia Public Market Café, whose

Homer Simpson with a bit of sun. And the drinks are served in 24-ounce — mom-and-pop kind of people who had dreams WEBMASTER Victoria Snow owner, Aaron Chamberlin, is a

Carlisle Coca-Cola tumblers. It’s nothing fancy, but the food is delicious and about feeding people, then made them happen.” CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Nicole Bowman friend of Zickl’s; and Windsor,

the service is even better. It’s also a story about roast beef, turkey, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Matthew Bailey where Zickl previously photo-

I can’t remember the first time we went there. It was probably two or chicken, pastrami, pepperoni, pickled jalapeños, OPERATIONS/ graphed owner Craig DeMarco. three years ago. Within a few weeks, the waitresses had our orders memo- bacon, sauerkraut, onion rings, chorizo, scram- IT MANAGER Cindy Bormanis But some of the other res- rized. Barb and Kelly get the carne asada tacos. Noah orders the same meat, bled eggs, egg salad, meatloaf, cheese, cheese and taurants were new to him. “Knowing that all of these restaurants are locally grown and but in a burrito. Jeff’s carne comes in an enchilada. Keith likes one of the more cheese. About the only thing she didn’t see CORPORATE OR family owned was a nice surprise,” he says. “At Pepe’s Taco Villa, Duck and Decanter, and TRADE SALES 602-712-2018 numbered specials — I have no idea which, but I suspect that carne is the between those many slices of bread was a chilte­ Red Devil, the children are carrying on the business their parents started.” Zickl says his SPONSORSHIP SALES main ingredient. Even Ameema, our new associate editor, hopped on the pin pepper. REPRESENTATION On Media Publications favorite restaurant in the Southwest is Binkley’s, in Phoenix, but most Friday nights, you meat wagon. “I’ll have what Jeff’s having,” she said at her indoctrination. The chiltepin, which is the only chile native Deidra Viberg can find him and his girlfriend at Tratto, another Phoenix spot. 602-323-9701 Now they know her order, too. to Arizona, is often described as “the mother of Like the Sopranos, we sit at the same corner booth every week. There’s all peppers.” I got my first taste in Canelo — my always a “reserved” sign on the table. They know we’re coming. Carol Smith, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] friend Bill energized a bowl of scrambled eggs 2039 W. Lewis Avenue a food writer for the BBC, says her “favourite restaurants have tasty, freshly with a few of those firecrackers. Writer Matt Phoenix, AZ 85009 JILL cooked food by a proper chef; are a value for the money; and have a relaxed, Jaffe went in barehanded. RICHARDS “I’m a sucker for a unhurried atmosphere, a welcoming staff, and friendly and knowledgeable “The chile puts up the slightest resistance as I GOVERNOR Douglas A. Ducey service.” pluck it from the plant,” he writes in Great Balls good road trip,” says DIRECTOR, She would like Pepe’s Taco Villa, but she’d drive right by without a sug- of Fire. “Then I take a nibble, biting the chiltepin DEPARTMENT photographer Jill OF TRANSPORTATION John S. Halikowski gestion from someone who’d been. Pepe’s looks like an outdoor furniture in half. ... How do you describe ‘hot’? What’s the Richards, who store — a place you’d go to get a pool gate. The architecture outside belies opposite of ‘numb’? The chiltepin’s burn imme- accompanied Kelly the carne asada inside. That’s why travel magazines and travel shows put diately spreads through my mouth, intensifying Arizona Highways® (ISSN 0004-1521) is published Vaughn on her four- monthly by the Arizona Department of Transportation. so much emphasis on food. Where to eat looms large when you’re on the as it goes. The ripe fruit is much hotter than its Subscription price: $24 a year in the U.S., $44 outside day exploration of road, and the best restaurants aren’t always the most obvious. Think about dried form, and just as I’m starting to wonder the U.S. Single copy: $4.99 U.S. Call 800-543-5432. UP- some of Arizona’s DATED PRIVACY POLICY: Our privacy policy has been Anthony Bourdain. It’s the same for Samantha Brown. When she’s filming when peak chiltepin will be reached, the sensa- updated to reflect the new changes in data protection greatest things Places to Love, her show on PBS, she’s looking for those places that are incon- tion starts to mellow. Even so, a noticeable heat laws, including the EU’s General Data Protection Regu- between sliced bread lations. To read our updated privacy policy, go to www (see The Arizona spicuous. She calls them the “B-sides.” lingers, from my lips all the way down to the .arizonahighways.com/privacy-policy. Subscription cor­re­ We’re on the lookout for B-sides, too. Usually, we’re looking for those roots of my teeth.” spon­dence and change of address information: Arizona Highways Sandwich Tour, page 18). For their honeymoon, Richards and her husband took Highways, P.O. Box 8521, Big Sandy, TX 75755-8521. Peri­ their two dogs on a yearlong road trip around the country, staying almost completely off rare opportunities to dance with Mother Nature. Or lessons in history and Nothing at Pepe’s Taco Villa is that hot. But we odical postage paid at Phoenix, AZ, and at additional culture. But, being a travel magazine, we’d be remiss if we didn’t turn our don’t go to Pepe’s to rack up Scoville heat units. mailing office. Canada Post international publications interstate highways. “I learned to love small towns, blue highways and dive bars,” she attention to food from time to time. Thus, The Arizona Highways Sandwich We go for the big booth in back, the open arms mail product (Cana­dian distribution) sales agree­ment says, and she already loved to eat, so this assignment was perfect for her. Among the No. 40732015. Send returns to Quad/Graphics, P.O. Box Tour. It’s an idea we’d been knocking around for a long time. Like the can and the carne asada. It’s one of our favorite places. 456, Niagara Falls ON L2E 6V2. Post­master: Send ad- highlights was Wickenburg’s Local Press, where Richards fell in love with the horseradish opener, which wasn’t invented until decades after canned food, it took us A place that wears its history proudly. A place dress changes to Arizona Highways, P.O. Box 8521, Big pickles (despite hating pickles). “They’re doing everything right, from the bread and the Sandy, TX 75755-8521. Copy­right © 2019 by the Ari­zona several years to realize the time had come. But before Kelly could hit the that has our orders memorized. Department of Trans­­por­­tation. Repro­duc­tion in whole or meat to the décor,” Richards says. “While this was a tour of sandwiches, it was really a road — our senior editor’s selfless devotion to this magazine knows no in part with­out permission is prohibited. The magazine tour of great local businesses and dedicated business owners. We loved meeting people does not accept and is not responsible for un­solicited bounds — we crowdsourced social media for some suggestions. ROBERT STIEVE, EDITOR ma­ter­ials. who were passionate about living and working in Arizona.” Richards lives in downtown In addition to the inherent need to measure up, the criteria was simple: Follow me on Instagram: @arizonahighways Phoenix, and her go-to sandwiches are the roasted turkey at Bertha’s Café and the Italian PRODUCED IN THE USA hero at Tony’s Italian Delicatessen. She’s pictured here with her son, Hank. — NOAH AUSTIN

2 APRIL 2019 PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL MARKOW PHOTOGRAPHS: TOP DAVID ZICKL ABOVE, RIGHT EMILY PIRAINO www.arizonahighways.com 3 LETTERS [email protected] THE Celebrating the JOURNAL GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK Centennial: 1919-2019 of Arizona Highways was the February 2019 issue. Two articles FEBRUARY 2019 MY VERY FIRST COPY were of special interest: Grand ESCAPE • EXPLORE • EXPERIENCE Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé and Point of View by Charles Bowden. (“Every inch of the rim brings to our eyes more than we will under- stand. ... This understanding is beyond our ability with words.”) The first time I drove up and looked over the South Rim of the Grand Grain Man Canyon, my mind started to search for a category in which to place Blue Beard durum, an heirloom this wonder of nature. After a short time, I resolved that there was variety of wheat, grows on Noah no match for this great chasm; it was a category unto itself. (“We Hiscox’s land in the Coolidge area, can feel it but we can never say it.”) Words, photographs, paintings southeast of Phoenix. Hiscox sup- go into this category, but do not really add to our comprehension, plies wheat to Coolidge’s Medi- because they cannot convey the overall majesty and grandeur that terra Bakehouse, which processes is felt when one actually encounters the Grand Canyon. it into flour for its bread products. Lester Stere, Tucson To learn more about Mediterra Bakehouse, see page 32. February 2019 CANON EOS 5D MARK II, 1/200 SEC, F/5.6, ISO 100, 100 MM LENS

really enjoyed your February 2019 and chose not to be a slave to it. Many her for my book Climbing the Ladder Less issue. Two articles brought back thanks for the “retro” issue — it was a Traveled, which shares brief life stories I fond memories: Low Bridge and Grand timely escape from the painful realities about lookouts who staff Arizona’s Canyon Suite. On one of our trips to of the present. fire lookout towers. Jo was staffing the the Canyon, I was lucky enough to be Paul W. Stevens, State College, Pennsylvania Juniper Ridge tower at the time, and her looking down through the telescope life history made it easy for me to select at Yavapai Point when I saw a supply was quite disappointed when I fin- her as one of the 18 lookouts for the mule train crossing the bridge. The ished reading your Grand Canyon book. Each chapter closes with words park ranger said it was rare to see that. I issue [February 2019]. Your beautiful of wisdom from the lookout. Here are In grade school and high school in Amery Bohling painting and interview Jo’s: “Be quiet, turn off your electronic Mendota, Illinois, in the ’40s and ’50s, had me hooked. I was excited to relive gadgets, and listen to the wind. If you our music teacher, Ernest Schlick, was a my many park experiences. But no. Nary do that long enough, you’ll hear where fan of Ferde Grofé, and we often played a picture of hiking down the many trails, your heart wants to take you.” the Grand Canyon Suite in band. When Desert View, Hermit’s Rest, Phantom Joe Bill, Fountain Hills, Arizona I was in the U.S. Army and stationed at Ranch, the North Rim, the many camp- Fort Devens, Massachusetts, a buddy grounds under the rim and around the ealizing that you already know what and I went to see the Boston Pops per- park ... just the one historical article. I am going to say, I will say it anyway, form. Arthur Fiedler was the conductor, And lots of Canyon pictures. I hope R just in case you don’t! “A thing of and much to my surprise and pleasure, I don’t have to wait until the park’s beauty is a joy forever” did not originate they played the Grand Canyon Suite. bicentennial for a truly “national park” with Mr. Carlson [Editor’s Letter, January John L. Broughton, Prescott Valley, Arizona edition. 2019], nor did you say it did. It is the Steve Goldston, Phoenix first line of a poem by John Keats. The our January 2019 issue is a magical real title of the poem is Endymion, but it trip down “memory lane.” The ’50s ormally, Arizona Highways is a has come to be known by the first line. Y were, as Newsweek writer/journal- 100 percent great read, and it was If you have time, check out the poem ist Ralph Morgenstern pointed out, N again, until I reached page 2 of the yourself. There are more lines in that “America’s last happy time.” Maybe it February issue. The loss of Jo Baeza was poem that are appropriate to your won- was Arizona’s last happy time, too. It’s heartbreaking news. Your editor’s letter derful magazine. hard to imagine life without CNN, cell- about Jo is an outstanding tribute to her Galen Nixon, West Point, Utah phones and endless attorney ads on the many literary contributions, but you’re tube. The city streets were alive with right: She probably would not have contact us If you have thoughts or com- parades and pageants, not protests. No signed off on having valuable space used ments about anything in Arizona Highways, we’d therapy dogs were needed back then; it to highlight her many achievements. love to hear from you. We can be reached at editor@ arizonahighways.com, or by mail at 2039 W. Lewis was a delightful chapter in our nation’s I know that because I quickly recog- Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009. For more information, history when people celebrated life nized her humility when I interviewed visit www.arizonahighways.com.

4 APRIL 2019 PHOTOGRAPH BY EIRINI PAJAK □J nature

Pied-Billed Grebes

AMEEMA AHMED

Pied-billed grebes (Podilymbus podiceps) are some of the most common and wide- spread grebes in Arizona. They aren’t very social, and they often are found alone in ponds and marshes. If disturbed, they will slowly sink until only their heads are above water. They forage underwater for their diet of insects, crustaceans and fish. Breeding Visitors explore the is a secretive process for these birds, often monument near Faraway Ranch in leading them to hide in marshes and make the 1920s. unique calling noises. In this photo, a young pied-billed grebe is hitching a ride on its parent’s back.

ADDITIONAL READING: To learn more about Arizona’s wildlife, pick up a copy of the Arizona Highways Wildlife Guide, which features 125 of the state’s native birds, mammals, reptiles and other animal species. To order online, visit www. shoparizonahighways.com.

6 APRIL 2019 PHOTOGRAPH BY PEGGY COLEMAN www.arizonahighways.com 7 □J history dining □J THIS MONTH IN HISTORY The Local n On April 9, 1959, archi- The menu at this Prescott hot spot is based on non-GMO, filler-free “real many of them, in fact, that Strong and tect Frank Lloyd Wright, food,” which includes everything from gluten-free pancakes to grass-fed her partners, George and Ellie Singh, who designed hundreds of burgers topped with poblano jelly. recently expanded the restaurant into a iconic buildings in Arizona larger, brightly colored space next door and elsewhere, dies at NOAH AUSTIN to its tiny original location. It’s a credit St. Joseph’s Hospital in to the food, all of which is made from Phoenix at age 89. YOU MIGHT THINK the Local got its but they weren’t the inspiration for the scratch, but also to Strong’s commitment n In the face of opposition name because owner Sheryl Strong prefers name. “I just liked the way it sounded,” to her patrons’ experience. from miners and ranchers, locally sourced ingredients, or because it’s Strong says. “I thought it’d be cool to say, “I always approach it from the cus- President Franklin D. Roo- a favorite breakfast and lunch spot among ‘We’re going to the Local.’ ” tomer’s point of view,” she says. “There’s sevelt establishes Organ Prescott residents. Both things are true, They’re going to the Local, all right. So a lot of attention to detail, down to the Pipe Cactus National Mon­ salt and pepper shakers on the tables. To ument, along Arizona’s me, those little things are what make it border with Mexico, on memorable or special.” April 13, 1937. The idea for the restaurant came after n On April 18, 1539, Fray Strong had sold her previous venture, the Marcos de Niza, on his now-shuttered Firehouse Kitchen. She quest for the Seven Cities read In Defense of Food, a Michael Pollan Tucson’s Hotel Congress burns during the 1934 fire, a pivotal event in the building’s history. of Cibola, arrives upon a book about the importance of non-GMO, village called Ojio, north filler-free “real food.” “It changed the of present-day Oracle. He way I ate,” she says, and she hoped to Hotel Congress writes that the villagers build a restaurant around the book’s Gangsters and ghosts are just part of the interesting history at the Hotel Congress, offer him food and gifts, concepts. Years later, after a friend urged which celebrates its centennial this year. which he does not accept. her to open a breakfast spot, the Local was born. After a Kickstarter campaign AMEEMA AHMED that closed a funding gap, the restaurant opened in April 2015. otel Congress is celebrating 100 years Congress, a music venue, added a new appeal 50 YEARS AGO There’s plenty of “real food” on the IN ARIZONA HIGHWAYS of being part of the Tucson community. to the historic hotel, and decades of other restaurant’s eclectic menu. At break- H And the history of one of the oldest renovations have modernized the building fast, there’s a big selection of pancakes, continuously operated hotels in Arizona is while preserving its history. Among them: The including a gluten-free variety; an omelet marked by key events in the state’s history — hotel didn’t have air conditioning until 2010, made with wild-caught smoked salmon, and even a bit of true crime. instead operating on an evaporative cooling with roasted green beans and cherry The hotel, which officially opened in 1919 system during the desert summers. tomatoes on the side; and biscuits topped after a “soft opening” in November 1918, might Hotel Congress has four different bars, but with sausage gravy that’s made with be best known for a gang bust after a fire Tiger’s Tap Room is the original. It opened Hatch green chiles. broke out in 1934. The resulting evacuation with the hotel 100 years ago and continues to The burgers on the lunch menu are blew the cover for the Dillinger Gang and led be a welcoming watering hole. One of its big locally sourced, grass-fed beef, and to the arrest of serial bank robber John Dill- draws is bartender Thomas “Tiger” Ziegler, you’ll want to try the O.K. Corral, which inger (who eventually escaped before being who started working at the bar in 1959 and is topped with poblano jelly, sautéed shot dead in Chicago later that year). The continues to serve drinks and tell stories Three months before onions and havarti. Other lunch options fugitive’s capture is commemorated every 60 years later. In 2013, the bar was named astronauts landed on the include a meatloaf and an array of fresh January with Dillinger Days, a weekend of after Ziegler to mark his 80th birthday. moon, our April 1969 issue salads. re-enactments and other events. Of course, it wouldn’t be a historic hotel took an unusual approach Add an ever-changing selection of It took the hotel six years to recover from without rumors of otherworldly spirits, and and highlighted Arizona house-made baked goods and a Prescott the fire and rebuild — this time with only Hotel Congress has its share. According to the landscapes as seen from Coffee Roasters blend created especially 40 rooms, instead of 80. It then continued to National Trust for Historic Preservation, there multiple Gemini and for the restaurant, and it’s easy to see why welcome visitors, and even some long-term have been reports of ghosts and “supernatu- Apollo space missions. out-of-towners pack the place on week- residents, until a change of ownership in ral activity” in several rooms. While no one The issue then pivoted ends after discovering it on social media. 1985. Richard and Shana Oseran bought Hotel can confirm the tales, there’s no doubt Hotel to an article by firearms In other words, consider visiting on Congress and turned it into a cultural staple Congress carries a century’s worth of stories historian James E. Serven, a weekday. That’s when you’ll find the for downtown Tucson. The addition of Club within its walls. who examined the role locals at the Local. weapons played in set- TUCSON Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street, 520-622-8848, www.hotelcongress.com tling Arizona. PRESCOTT The Local, 520 W. Sheldon Street, 928-237-4724, www.facebook.com/thelocalprescott

8 APRIL 2019 PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF HOTEL CONGRESS PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL MARKOW www.arizonahighways.com 9 □J around arizona

Jacob Hamblin History hasn’t always been kind to some of the West’s best-known explorers, but Jacob Hamblin, who was born 200 years ago this month, was by all accounts a man of integrity who worked hard to improve relations between Native Americans and white settlers.

NOAH AUSTIN

acob Hamblin’s descendants tell a safety of Mormon migrants passing story about the Mormon pioneer, who through the area on their way to Arizona. Jhelped settle a swath of the American He also led expeditions to Hopi and Southwest — including much of North- Navajo settlements in Arizona, travers- ern Arizona. Hamblin’s family, the story ing the Colorado River at the Crossing goes, was trading with Native Americans of the Fathers, a site that now is covered for some blankets, and Hamblin sent his by Lake Powell. Later, Hamblin assisted son Jacob Jr. to conduct the trade. When famed explorer John Wesley Powell in the son returned, he was carrying many planning the latter’s second trip through more blankets than his father expected the Grand Canyon, an area Hamblin had to receive. extensively explored. Jacob Jr. figured his father would be Hamblin’s relative absence from the proud of him. Instead, he asked his son history books could stem from his polyg- a question: Was that an honest trade? amy: He had four wives and fathered two Realizing the error of his ways, the son dozen children. The Mormon church returned the extra blankets to the trader, later disavowed polygamy, but the who knew the elder Hamblin and knew practice made Hamblin a fugitive from he was an honest man. When Jacob Jr. federal officers in his final years. He died returned, the story goes, the trader said, of malaria on August 31, 1886, in New

“I knew my friend Jacob would send you ABOVE: This is one of the only known photos of Jacob Mexico, and he’s buried in Alpine, in back; he is our father, too.” Hamblin, who left an impressive legacy in the South- Eastern Arizona’s White Mountains. But west. Arizona State Archives There are many stories about Jacob this state’s best-known reminder of his OPPOSITE PAGE: Jacob Lake, the Northern Arizona Hamblin, who was born 200 years ago community named for Hamblin, is known for the existence is Jacob Lake, a tiny reservoir this month, on April 2, 1819. But the Jacob Lake Inn, shown here in the 1940s. and community north of the Grand Can- pioneer’s defining trait might have been Arizona Highways Archives yon’s North Rim. (In Santa Clara, Utah, his honesty, which informed decades the home where Hamblin and his family of work to improve relations between rior officer ordered the Indians shot. lived in the 1860s now is a museum that Native Americans and white settlers in Hamblin recounted what happened pays tribute to Hamblin’s legacy.) Northern Arizona and elsewhere. next: “I told him I did not care to live Joan Hamblin, who’s married to Ham- Born in Ohio, Hamblin converted after I had seen the Indians, whose safety blin’s great-grandson (who, like many to Mormonism as a young man, then I had guaranteed, murdered, and … if descen­dants, also is named Jacob Hamblin), became deeply involved with the Church there were any shot, I should be the first. says Hamblin has been overshadowed by settlers returned to their house in South- “He kept the people safe,” Joan Ham- various races, cultures and ethnic groups of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under At the same time, I placed myself in front American pioneers who were more likely to ern Utah, found some Native Americans blin says. And she recalls what she was could be better acquired by us all,” Brigham Young. He later took his fam- of the Indians. This ended the matter, go to war with Native Amer­icans than to who had taken shelter inside, and shot told when she met her husband, whose Wixom wrote. “It would seem to serve ily to Utah, where he joined a military and they were set at liberty.” pursue peace with them. and killed them. Because most of the great-grandfather’s reputation lives on in this world well if there were more Jacob company tasked with preventing Indians Hamblin’s reputation as a man of “You have movies about John C. Frémont settlers in the area were Mormons, the his descendants: “The Hamblin family is Hamblins.” from stealing supplies from a settlement. integrity grew, and he later became a and other people who killed Indians,” tribe assumed the killers were as well. a good family.” Hamblin met some of the Indians and missionary among the Native Americans she says, “and here’s this man who put But Hamblin, against others’ advice, met The late Mormon historian Hartt Jacob Hamblin’s descendants are planning a family asked them to return to the settlement of Southern Utah’s Washington County. his life on the line many times to pre- with the Natives and convinced them Wixom echoed those sentiments in a reunion June 7 and 8 in St. George, Utah, to celebrate this year’s anniversary. The event is open to the public. with him, assuring them of their safety. He worked to keep the peace between serve their lives.” She notes another Ham- otherwise, preventing the tribe from 1998 article. “His insight and skill in For more information, visit www.jacobhamblin.org But when they arrived, Hamblin’s supe- Natives and settlers, and to ensure the blin story, of a time when non-Mormon retaliating against the Mormon settlers. understanding differences between the /reunions.

10 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 11 □J photography A bobcat eyes a trail camera in a shady Sonoran Desert land- scape north of Tucson.

Q&A: Bruce D. Taubert

PHOTO EDITOR JEFF KIDA

JK: You photographed this bobcat using rewires it with a wire that goes directly into a trail camera. When did you start using my camera. It detects heat and move- trail cameras? ment, so any moving thing with a little bit BDT: I probably started about three of warm blood can trigger it. Then I just set years ago. I have a friend in Oracle who the focus for where I think the animal will has a pond that attracts a lot of deer and be when the camera is triggered. other wildlife, so I set up cameras on his property and started getting some nice JK: Are there other animals you’re hoping shots of deer and javelinas. Then I made to photograph this way? the mistake of looking online at how other BDT: I’d like to get some nice shots of photographers were using trail cameras, skunks, gray foxes, coyotes and maybe and they were doing all this beautiful work. some rats and mice. The big bugaboo for That’s when I got kind of serious about me is a mountain lion. I seldom go to zoos wanting to set the bar higher for my photos. or ranches to get photos, and 99.9 percent of the photos of mountain lions out there JK: Were you looking for bobcats? are made in those places. I’m going to set BDT: Yes. I’m a biologist, and the trick we up some cameras down by the border and use is looking for feces. When a bobcat see if I can get one. poops in one place, it often goes back to the same place to poop again. I found a PHOTO “toilet” that had a lot of bobcat feces in it, WORKSHOP and it happened to be on another friend’s property, so my cameras are safe there. At least once a week, I get a small barrage of pictures. I’m very happy with how this one turned out.

JK: Tell me about your setup and how the camera is triggered. BDT: The cameras I use are retrofitted from my normal wildlife photography cam- eras, and I have a couple of flashes hooked White Pocket up to them. I usually use a small tripod, and May 3-6, Marble Canyon I cover the camera with either a commer- Frequent Arizona Highways contributor cial rain cover or one I make out of Tupper- Suzanne Mathia leads participants to this ware. The trigger is a passive infrared, or remote section of Vermilion Cliffs National PIR, sensor that’s a lot like the motion Monument, which features strange textures detectors in home security systems. I have and colorful rock formations. Information: yet another friend, in California, who basi- 888-790-7042 or www.ahps.org cally takes that same kind of sensor and

To learn more about photography, visit www.arizonahighways.com/photography.

12 APRIL 2019 PHOTOGRAPHS: ABOVE, LEFT SUZANNE MATHIA ABOVE BRUCE D. TAUBERT www.arizonahighways.com 13 □J photography

Sundust Family Portrait

ROBERT STIEVE This image is one of many that appeared in The Eyes of His Soul: The Visual Legacy of Barry M. Goldwater, Master Photographer, a beautiful book that was edited by Barry’s son, Michael. “This is Sally Sundust and her four children,” Barry said. “I knew her from the Indian School. The boy in her lap fell off a wagon and the wheels ran over his legs. I drove her down to the hospital at Tuba City, 90 miles away. She didn’t have the faith in white doc- tors that I had. She liked medicine men. The next night, or two nights, she got a horse and got the kid out of the hospital and rode home, all the way back up there on horseback. I later flew that boy and his mother down to Phoenix and had a good friend of mine here — a doctor — look at him and see if there was any- thing he could do. Years later, I ran into that boy on the reserva- tion and he was all crippled up.”

To see more of Barry Goldwater’s photography, check out Photographs by Barry M. Goldwater: The Arizona Highways Collection at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West. The exhibition will run through June 23. To learn more about the show, visit www.scottsdalemuseumwest.org. To learn more about the Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation, which is working to restore and digitize Barry Goldwater’s 15,000 photographs, visit www.goldwaterfoundation.org.

14 APRIL 2019 PHOTOGRAPH BY BARRY GOLDWATER, COURTESY OF THE BARRY & PEGGY GOLDWATER FOUNDATION www.arizonahighways.com 15 □J lodging the town come to life. Sprinklers fan Clarkdale Lodge new sod in the park across the street as Built in the early 1900s as housing for single men working in the nearby mines, dog walkers amble past the bandstand. this red-brick lodge now is a popular spot for curious travelers who find their I once heard a resident compare way to charming downtown Clarkdale. Clarkdale to Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A., and I see what she means as KATHY MONTGOMERY I take the short walk past the stone buildings of the tiny downtown, with THE BREEZE FEELS COOL on this the eastern horizon. its newsstand, bar and kayak rental. As early-summer morning. I open the door The sky is clear and unobstructed I enter Violette’s Bakery Café, Amber WILDLIFE IS A GIFT. of my Clarkdale Lodge suite to take here, with an expansive view of the Godina is just bringing out fragrant advantage of the breeze, then watch the Verde Valley. Our suite is on the south- scones, fresh from the oven. Together, we can conserve it. new day spread orange and red across east corner, perfectly positioned to watch Breakfast in hand, I resume my vigil on the porch, watching as a flock of gold- finches undulates through the sky before Be the hero Arizona’s wildlife needs. Become an annual Conservation Member and descending upon the flower garden. The birds chatter as they work their way up support our on-the-ground work to keep the great outdoors great. and down tall stalks of cornflowers, their brilliant yellow plumage a pleasing For us. For them. For generations to come. contrast to the azure blooms. Founded the year Arizona was admit- ted to the union, Clarkdale was the first master-planned community in the state, according to the town’s website. It was a company town, built by the United Join today from just $35 at Verde Copper Co. for employees of the smelter. The red-brick Clarkdale Lodge, AZWildlifeHero.com. built in the 1910s, provided housing for single men and later was converted into apartments. Daniel Conlin, who manages the property for his parents, admits he was skeptical about the demand for lodging. The family tested the waters by renovat- ing one apartment. “Now we’re at 12,” he says. Accommodations include studio and one-bedroom apartments. Ours is billed as a family flat: a one-bedroom suite with a king-size bed, a day bed and a trundle bed. It’s homey and comfortable, and includes a full kitchen with painted white cabinets and a view of the park through original, wavy glass. A spacious living room contains comfy furnishings and a large flat-screen TV. With lots of closet space, it’s perfect for an extended stay and costs less than a small room at most motels. Clarkdale Lodge also is close to Verde River access and the Verde Canyon Rail- road, and it’s a short drive from Jerome and Old Town Cottonwood — making it a cool place to stay in any season.

CLARKDALE Clarkdale Lodge, 23 N. 11th Street, 928-634-5037, www.clarkdalelodge.com

16 APRIL 2019 PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN BURCHAM

19-AGF-0026 AZHighways.indd 1 2/4/19 8:40 AM Muffuletta, Proper Meats and Provisions, Flagstaff

Roast beef, turkey, chicken, pastrami, pepperoni, pickled jalapeños, bacon, THE ARIZONA HIGHWAYS sauerkraut, onion rings, chorizo, scrambled eggs, egg salad, meatloaf, cheese, cheese and more cheese ... that’s just some of the stuff you’ll find between slices of bread in Arizona. We know, because our senior editor spent four days SANDWICH TOUR on the road, eating every sandwich she could get her hands on. BY KELLY VAUGHN ||| PHOTOGRAPHS BY JILL RICHARDS

18 APRIL 2019 w,Ii) r JUST REALLY LIKE SANDWICHES.” It was a whisper when I pitched “The Arizona Highways Sandwich Tour” to the boss. I laughed. He laughed, too. And then our editor, Robert Stieve, told me to go for it — in part, I think, because the idea of cruising around the state, eating two or three sandwiches a day, could become the stuff of legends around here. If nothing else, it could give everyone a good laugh and make me the envy of my friends, who still don’t really believe that my job is an actual job. As it turns out, though, many of you really like sandwiches, too. We know because we asked for your help in identifying our destinations. There were some rules, too: No chain restaurants, no hamburgers or hot dogs, no prepackaged grocery store grabs. And, thanks to those of you who commented on our Facebook post about the tour, we learned about places that weren’t even on our radar. Most importantly, though, we found what we believe to be some of the best sandwiches in Arizona. Some. This story is by no means a comprehensive guide to sammies, subs, clubs, heroes, ~r,4 hoagies, grinders, Dagwoods or Reubens in the Grand Canyon State. What follows on these D f/Olo pages is, however, the story of a road trip, the Offtcov,i story of a lot of takeout boxes and the stories of p a handful of very kind people — mom-and-pop kind of people who had dreams about feeding people, then made them happen. Meeting them was my favorite part of this adventure, and I hope it will be yours, too. Four days. Eight hundred thirty-one miles. Ten sandwiches. Buckle up. And bon appétit. 0

r ..,._ I C 0 ~t. ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA DUFFY/RAT UNDER PAPER LAYOUT AND DESIGN BY KEITH WHITNEY

20 APRIL 2019 But this feels different. into a little package. I like her already. Day One This feels like maybe my body isn’t I hope it stays that way, too, because Phoenix, Wickenburg, Prescott ready to eat all of these sandwiches. we’re all in a big, white minivan loaded he best sandwich I ever had was What if this turns me off bread, meat for bear, with camera equipment, duffel Tmade by a man of average intelli- and cheese? Forever? What if I become bags, coolers and bags of snacks, and gence. We joke in that vein because he some sort of sandwich fiend, getting we’re on our way to Wickenburg for the sometimes struggles with sleeping bag hooked on sandwiches and rejecting all first sandwich of the day, courtesy of zippers. That’s a story for another time, other foodstuffs? Forever? the kind people at the Local Press. though. The sandwich is the important Luckily, though, I’m traveling with a (Author’s note: The bags of snacks, in thing here. support team — Christian Otjen and Jill retrospect, make absolutely no sense.) It was so elegant in its simplicity: Richards — and I feel like they can keep 1 1 1 Dave’s Killer Bread, turkey, mustard, me from diving headfirst into a sand- Of all of the suggestions that came (maybe) mayonnaise, a slice of Tilla- wich stress spiral. through our social media query, the mook cheddar cheese. The man of aver- I live with Christian, even though Local Press was the most frequently age intelligence grilled that sandwich in he’s a vegetarian. He’s here because of mentioned, so we know it has to be what tasted like a quarter-stick of butter his playlists, because of his navigational special. on a camp stove in the back of my car. It “expertise” and because he’s the man of Indeed, this is an airy space, deco- was Day 10 of a 12-day hiking and camp- average intelligence with the sandwich- rated with white subway tile, big win- ing trip in Colorado, and that sandwich making skills. Together, we might find dows, old newsprint and offerings from a culinary creation to put his to shame, local and national vendors — Nut Sacks and it feels fair for him to witness the from Cave Creek, bottled sodas from defeat firsthand. Maine, more. Jill is our photographer. We had At the restaurant’s helm is chef and lunch together a few weeks before the owner Zachary Pike. His wife grew up tour and discovered that we like a lot of in Wickenburg; he grew up in Cam- things in common — boots, motorcycle bridge, Massachusetts; the couple met jackets, whiskey and, you know, sand- in Vail, Colorado; and, together, they wiches. She packs a lot of personality returned to Wickenburg, opening the

Kelly Vaughn (above) tackles the B-17 Flying Fortress (right) at Speed’s Hangar Deli in Prescott.

According to Guinness World Records, the restaurant a little more than three years world’s largest sandwich The Local, the Local Press, Wickenburg ago. While their story is sweet, the menu was made by Wild Woody’s is sweeter. Chill and Grill in Roseville, tasted so good, I didn’t want to finish First up is the Local: layers of chicken Michigan. The sandwich it for fear it could never be duplicated. breast stacked beautifully on ciabatta weighed in at 5,440 Altitude can make a person hungry. And and flanked by pickled jalapeños and pounds, was 12 feet long, enamored of a meal. bacon. Pressed into a panini, it’s the In a way, I guess this tour is about perfect combination of savory and spicy, and consisted of 150 replicating the joy I felt when I ate that warm and decadent. pounds of mustard, 1,032 sandwich, but I’m nervous. What’s more, it’s served with horse- pounds of corned beef, It happens every time I’m getting radish pickles — all of the sandwiches 260 pounds of cheese, ready to head out on an assignment, from the Local Press are, including Jill’s 530 pounds of lettuce whether it’s to interview for a profile or grinder and Christian’s vegan cauli- to backpack over mountains in a place flower sandwich. They’re bite-y and and 3,568 pounds of so beautiful, the photographs, let alone crisp, a fitting complement to the soft bread. Zachary Pike is the chef and owner of the Local Press in Wickenburg. words, barely do it justice. deliciousness of the main attractions.

“Too few people understand a really good sandwich.” — James Beard

22 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 23 B-17. It’s delicious, but it’s massive, and I eat a quarter of it, alone, in a private Debbie’s ready with a box. dining area, and the Talking Heads’ “It has been well said that a hungry man is With two sandwiches down for the Once in a Lifetime plays in my head. I day and one to go, we cruise to Park wonder if my sudden spike in choles- more interested in four sandwiches than four Plaza Liquor and Deli. terol is making me question my purpose freedoms.” 1 1 1 in life. Park Plaza is a lot of things to a lot Only time will tell. — Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. of people — liquor store, cigar lounge, 1 1 1 restaurant and bar. To me, though, it’s Hours later, we go to dinner. No. Jill where I have to face a pastrami sand- and Christian go to dinner. I pick at wich on rye. And I have to do it less a side salad, hoping vegetables might a place called the Mine Café. Again, I than an hour after meeting the B-17. counter the salt assault I’ve launched on Day 2 eat vegetables, while Christian and Jill (Author’s note: This was poor planning.) my insides. That I’m sitting in another Cottonwood, Sedona, Flagstaff choose sturdier things. Eggs and pota- First, though, we cruise the aisles restaurant with food in front of me is orning at the Hotel Vendome is toes and toast and the like. and aisles and aisles of bottles. The sun mind-boggling, but it is happening. Ma sleepy, slow-moving thing. But As we leave town, though, I’m Pastrami on rye, Park Plaza Liquor and Deli, Prescott is starting to set outside, and the light Mostly, I just want to go to sleep. thanks to George at the coffee bar excited to drive past Katie Lee’s house. shines on the rows of whiskey and wine, That happens later, at the Hotel Ven- downstairs, caffeine hits our veins Although it’s no longer her physical creating prisms of green, gold, red and dome, a little boutique hotel on Cortez like an 18-wheeler on a Texas highway. space — she’s somewhere on a river, The day is crisp, too. It’s clear in mid- middle of ours. pink. When the sandwich arrives, Jill Street that dates to 1917. We’re here on It’s cool and foggy in Prescott as we in a canyon, on another plane — that November, and we sit outside, under a Finally, though, we reach Speed’s prepares to make its portrait, and I’m Jill’s recommendation, and it’s a good load our gear and head north and east turquoise beauty with “Sing” above the turquoise sky. It’s early on in the lunch Hangar Deli, located on Sandretto Drive grateful for a little bit of extra time to one. Tomorrow, we’ll land in Flagstaff, toward Cottonwood on State Route 89A. door makes me smile and think of my rush, and other customers begin filing in an industrial part of town. Here, I’m tell my brain to tell my stomach that by way of Cottonwood and Sedona, but There are more switchbacks, a slow friend and miss her even more in the in. Some stay to eat outside, too, while charged with eating a sandwich called we’re in the homestretch for the day. It first, a sleep that comes naturally. Carbs gain in elevation as we inch toward year or so, or more, that she’s been gone. others grab bags of takeout. the B-17 Flying Fortress. will do that to a person. Jerome. We’ll have breakfast here, at The house is coming up on our left, As we say our goodbyes to Zachary Loaded with roast beef, turkey, ham and his crew, I make a note to come and cheese, the bread — soft and plump MILES TRAVELED back here, and to tell my friends about it, and freshly made — buckles under the Owner Ronilee Oates and employee Ricky Owsian (below) work in the kitchen too. There’s something about the Local meat, which spills from its sides. This DAY FOUR at Cottonwood’s Acme Pizzaria, home of a killer Philly cheesesteak (left). Press that inspires a taste of everything is exacerbated by the sauerkraut, which on the menu. I added when owner Debbie Kovacs DAY THR Just not today: There are two more asked if I wanted any extras. sandwiches on the agenda, and miles to I like to live dangerously, I suppose. DAY TWO go before we rest. Debbie, a New Yorker, has been run- 1 1 1 ning the deli for 26 years, and in that DAY ONE State Route 89 between Wickenburg time, she’s amassed an incredible col- 0 1 2 3 4 and Prescott is a winding thing. Past the lection of military memorabilia. Patches, old mining towns of Congress and Stan- photos, newspaper articles, posters and ton at the base of the Weaver Mountains, medals line the walls of the hangar (yes, takes her about 15 minutes to nail the it climbs up Yarnell Hill, crosses Peeples the deli is aptly named). Debbie knows shot, and then I’m left with my oppo- Valley and crashes into the Bradshaw the legends behind all of them. nent. Mountains for a switchbacking descent Her family is full of servicemen and The cooks have plated the pastrami into Prescott. This section is known as servicewomen. Many of her customers with golden, crisp onion rings. Usually, the White Spar Highway, one of the first are veterans, too. Some are active duty. I’d dive into those with the ardor of a federally funded highway projects in All of them adore her. And with good woman fueled solely by fried things and the state — and the setting for the first reason. In addition to serving up sand- aioli, but today, I just stare at them. I cover of Arizona Highways in 1925. wiches with names like the Marauder, feel both sadness and shame, knowing Some of the oaks at lower elevations the Mustang and the Liberator, she that I have to reject their crispy glaze to cling to leaves of green and gold. I am makes sure that customers sign cards make it through the sandwich. looking out the window and dozing for wounded warriors. She’s a warm It’s a thing of beauty — glazed with a little as we listen to John Prine sing smile and a good story, and she knows butter, grilled perfectly and stacked about a long Monday. We are in the I’m not going to make it through the with pastrami, mustard and cheese.

The “chip butty” is a popular sandwich in England. Fried potatoes and butter are the “meat” of this sandwich, which is usually served between two slices of white bread. Ketchup optional.

24 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 25 but it’s fenced off and for sale. The “Sing” town. Of all the sandwiches on my list, is a simple tribute to a classic. Sadly, my is gone. I feel the hot swell of sadness in this is the one that might be genetically order doesn’t come with mustard, so my cheeks and eyes, but this is not the similar to what I’ve just started calling RATIO OF MEAT TO it needs a little bit of saucy oomph to time for tears. I imagine Katie rolling “the golden sandwich” — that turkey CHEESE TO BREAD: make it less pedestrian. That said, the her eyes at me, and I pull it together. and cheese from Colorado. I order the bread alone is well worth the price of Besides, Willie Nelson is coming roasted turkey on cranberry walnut admission. through the speakers. Well, you ought to bread, at the suggestion of one of our But, alas, the golden sandwich will see my blue-eyed Sally. She lives away down Facebook followers. retain its status as my favorite turkey — on Shinbone Alley. It’s after the lunch rush at the bakery, CH SE at least for now. It’s not quite noon when we reach and there’s not much left in the pastry 20% If you know anything about Sedona, Acme Pizzaria in Cottonwood. Tucked case, which is the landmark of the res- you know that it’s a hotbed of spiritual- away in a busy row of shops, the restau- taurant’s interior. As I wait, though, I ity, both real and imagined. Naturally, rant is packed with regulars. They come imagine what it must look like fully BREAD 10% MEAT we go to have our auras read. for the food, of course — the menu is stocked — croissants, lemon bars, cook- 70% I am orange and green. loaded with cold and hot subs, Philly ies, more. Christian is a deep red. cheesesteaks, chicken wings, salads, The sandwich itself is an architec- Jill’s aura isn’t read. She shoots pizza, pasta, “lobsta” rolls and “ham- tural marvel, piled so high with turkey, instead, and I feel that I should be self- burgahs.” I think the top layer of bread will topple. conscious here. Aware. Concerned. One gentleman, a college professor Turkey on cranberry walnut bread, Garnished with lettuce and tomato, and Maryanne, our fortune-teller, is a from Alaska, spends a month or two in Desert Flour Bakery, Sedona served with a side salad, the sandwich vegan, and she doesn’t eat any refined Arizona each winter. He frequents Acme for Da Wise Guy, a burger smothered in greeted there by Ronilee Oates, who, barbecue sauce, bacon and onion rings. along with her husband, Roland, moved According to a He’s a little bit of a wise guy himself, from Massachusetts more than a decade September 2014 but I don’t mind — people who love ago and opened Acme here in Cotton- survey by the talking about food are people worth wood. Huffington Post, making time for. Ronilee and Roland are the type of But I’m not here for burgers. When I people you’d be proud to know. They’re of those surveyed, go up to the counter, I order the Philly kind, with ready laughs and easy banter 36 percent said cheesesteak and make it “special,” with about sports (go, Sox!), life and commu- strawberry jam peppers, mushrooms and onions. I’m nity. When Ronilee delivers my cheese­ makes the best steak, I’m surprised by how excited I peanut butter and am to dive in. Sandwich No. 4 isn’t too Chorizo and egg bagel, jelly sandwich. By Thanks a Latte, Camp Verde big, and it isn’t too small. It’s hot and soft, with the cheese draping over those an overwhelming thin, perfect slices of steak like a baby’s majority, members favorite blanket. The peppers and mush- of Arizona High­ rooms are cooked just the way I like ways’ editorial them, too — kind of al dente, I guess. (Author’s note: I can’t believe I ate the team choose berry whole thing.) preserves over I can’t help but hug Ronilee when we grape jelly as the leave, and I make yet another mental best way to make a note to visit again. Ronilee and Roland, peanut butter and get the griddle ready. I’ll drive some jelly sandwich. magazines up if you’ll make me another Philly. 1 1 1 From Cottonwood, we drive the Proper Meats and Provisions short stretch of SR 89A to Sedona, stop- now occupies the Flagstaff space that used to be Grand ping at Desert Flour Bakery just inside Canyon Café.

26 APRIL 2019 sugar. She knows that I struggle with that Proper did. Laissez les bons temps Bugsy, Sausage Shop Meat The Local Press, 69 N. this whole idea. She tells me I should eat “ ‘You alarm me!’ rouler. Market and Deli, Tucson Frontier Street, Wickenburg, differently. We sleep soundly at the Doubletree said the King. ‘I feel 928-684-8955 She tells me I should be more aware Inn. Tomorrow will be the longest day. Speed’s Hangar Deli, and concerned. faint — give me a ham 1030 Sandretto Drive, Because bread and meat and cheese Prescott, 928-759-7253 and salt make nothing from nothing. sandwich!’ On which Day 3 Park Plaza Liquor and Whether these things matter or not, Camp Verde, Tucson, Bisbee the messenger, to Deli, 402 W. Goodwin we have miles to go again, and I’m still nce, Robert (technically my boss, but Street, Prescott, eating. Alice’s great amuse­ Oalso my friend) sent me an email 928-541-9894 that detailed the geographical center of 1 1 1 Acme Pizzaria, 280 S. We’ve driven the spine of Oak Creek ment, opened a bag Arizona. I lost the email. I lost the story. Main Street, Cottonwood, Canyon, stopped at Indian Gardens for Heretofore, it’s been a joke. But when 928-634-2263 a photo opportunity, been chilled by the that hung round his we arrive at Thanks a Latte in Camp Desert Flour Bakery, bone of winter. We reach Flagstaff, and neck, and handed Verde, and the owner tells me how the 6446 State Route 179, I meet my muffuletta. geographical center is 15 miles down- Sedona, 928-284-4633 I was raised in New Orleans by par- stream from where I stand, I laugh and a sandwich to the Proper Meats and ents who understand what a sandwich text Robert and remember. And I vow Provisions, 110 E. Historic is. There were so many po’boys, so King, who devoured to take my kayak 15 miles downstream Route 66, Flagstaff, many nights at places whose French it greedily. ‘Another to find it. 928-774-9001 names I can’t remember, in quarters and (Author’s note: Redemption is valuable. Thanks a Latte, 348 S. on streets. Still, I remember the value sandwich!’ said the Fifteen miles downstream is something for Main Street, Camp Verde, of an olive tapenade, of meat, of cheese another time.) 928-567-6450 and bread and Longfellow’s story of King.” My sandwich now, though, comes in Sausage Shop Meat Mar- Acadie. the form of breakfast: a chorizo patty ket and Deli, 1015 W. Prince To me, the forest primeval is — peut — Lewis Carroll nestled in a doughy, toasted bagel with Road, Tucson, 520-888-1701 être — made of sandwiches. scrambled egg. The Quarry, 40 Brewery But at Proper Meats and Provisions, I go outside and admire the bones of Avenue, Bisbee, 520- now occupying the building that for- a mural that will adorn this place in a 366-6868 merly housed Grand Canyon Café, the wich. There’s an inheritance of salt few weeks’ time. The Goods, 26 Tubac Road, bread is so soft, you could bury your there, between the meat and olives and There’s a bird and a river, and an idea Tubac, 520-398-2001 face in it. Here, I think of our retired bread. that art can make things lovely again. senior editor, Randy Summerlin, and I’m heartbroken that the café didn’t The idea becomes real, and we take miss him. He’d have loved this sand- make it, but I’m bolstered by the idea Interstate 17 to Interstate 10 to Tucson. 1 1 1 This is where it gets tricky. This is Numerous sandwich options are on display at Sausage Shop Meat Market and Deli in Tucson. where I become biased and where jour- nalism goes somewhere else. I don’t know when I learned of Sau- sage Shop Meat Market and Deli. But I remember taking our photo editor, Jeff

I~)' Kida, there. I remember trying a few - . things from the menu. Mostly, though, I $,1u ll.61 .... remember being intrigued by the Bugsy. It’s possible (I won’t commit to it, 0..., ...... ,-~ though, because of journalistic perspec- :; '7'1} 1,7.41·------tive) that this is my favorite sandwich from the tour — mostly because of its genesis. A hot dog is When Bugsy was 3 years old, her not a sandwich. parents gifted her a pair of A Bug’s Life

28 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 29 slippers. She walked around her house ten about this place before. About how saying, “Bug, bug, bug, bug, bug.” So chef and owner Dana House believes in they named a sandwich after her. This is locally sourced ingredients and rock ’n’ more of a legacy than can be said for so roll music. many children. I’ve already ordered the Zacatecas I named my own daughter after a Special when Justin and Claire (she’s Pink Floyd song, but chances are good six months pregnant with a baby girl) she’ll never be a sandwich, no matter arrive. how much she wishes to be one. The sandwich is bordered by two Bugsy’s sandwich, though, is turkey slices of Dave’s Killer Bread and stuffed and pepperoni on a jalapeño roll. It’s with meatloaf, bacon, cheese and ranch served by Bugsy and made by her mama, dressing. The Strange Trip, an Orlando, under the watchful eye of her grand- Florida-based band, is onstage. The father, who’s slicing meat in the back drums are heady. The vocals are lilting. of their shop in a sleepy courtyard on We’re swaying as though we’ve not seen Prince Road. a show like this before. The rest is just ephemera. Mostly, though, I’m grateful that this Visit the Sausage Shop and read the assignment is nearing its end. menu on the wall. Buy a bottled soda. Jill will photograph the sandwich Sit outside. You’ll understand. at the Shady Dell in the morning, and a tarantula will creep into the shoot. Cheryl Snyder, owner and chef of the Goods in Tubac, came to the area from the East Coast. Christian will lift it with a barbecue TOTAL CALORIES spatula, and we’ll all laugh and be a little wigged out by it all. rush again. Chef and owner Cheryl Sny- style came naturally. 2,5 der is inside. She moved to Green Valley The sandwich is meaty in its depth, from the East Coast when her mother sweet and savory and decadent. I’m 2, 0 Day Four retired. unsure about eating anything else, but 1,5 Bisbee, Tubac, Tucson, Phoenix “I had to do something, and I always this one is worth it. Everything feels 1, 0 inally, we’ve arrived at the last day loved food,” she says. handcrafted here. Golden and lovely 5 Fof the sandwich tour. We drive along She was attracted to the artistic ele- and served with a sample of margarita, the border, and I remember my friend ment in Tubac, so when she opened the this egg salad is the caloric equivalent of 0 I DAY DAY DAY DAY Jim Harrison. “In a life properly lived, Goods, the art and food and eclectic a very good day. ONE TWO THR FOUR you’re a river,” he wrote. He loved food 1 1 1 as I do, so I feel he’d be OK with a modi- Zacatecas Special, the Quarry, Bisbee It is early afternoon on that very good fication. day — a Thursday — and we’re heading 1 1 1 In a life properly lived, friend, you’ve home. Jill’s done some work for Whis- The space between Tucson and Bisbee eaten nine sandwiches in three days, key del Bac, so we stop and take a tour is a wild one. Big grasslands and yuc- and you’re on your way to your 10th. and pick up the toils of her labor. The cas and century plants. The legends of a Curried egg salad, Jill stops to photograph the road, owner is slight and steady and bespec- thousand cowboys and Indians. the Goods, Tubac State Route 82, between Bisbee and tacled, lovely and informative. The dogs We arrive at the Shady Dell, and I feel Nogales. The leaves are changing. No are polite. The air is thick with malt. that I’m home in a sense. one is home. Everything is rural and We’ll be home in 90 minutes, and all of This wild space belongs to my friend there because Claire likes the opener, Fast-forward a few years, and we’re lovely. It will be nostalgic someday. this feels right. Justin Luria, and we’re lucky to stay Colter Wall. After the show, though, staying in Justin’s Spartan Manor, We hit Tubac with the fire of mothers And I just really love sandwiches. in one of his trailers. I met Justin and we ended up in Justin’s 1976 Chevy van, which dates to the 1950s. Jill is in who are excited to see their babies. Jill’s his girlfriend, Claire, on my very first driving to Phoenix’s Welcome Diner. another trailer, and she’s a little wigged son, Hank, is 2. My son, Jack, is 9, and date with Christian, in November 2016. We argued about the engine displace- out because it skirts Evergreen Cem- my daughter, Vera (cue the Pink Floyd), Postscript: I didn’t eat bread for a month. Jill is I’d purchased an extra ticket to the ment of a ’71 Chevelle (it’s a 454, and I etery. Not totally, though, because, as I is 7. We’ve been away from them for too still cool. Christian figured out his sleeping bag. Amanda Shires show at Valley Bar in won) and ate fried-green-tomato sand- anticipated, Jill is cool. long now, and there’s just one sandwich Claire’s baby girl is due on Justin’s birthday. I Phoenix, hoping my date with Christian wiches. The rest was — as they say — Headstones aside, we venture to the left: a curried egg salad at the Goods. still love sandwiches and tapenade and Willie would be OK. Claire and Justin were history. Quarry, on Brewery Avenue. I’ve writ- When we arrive, it’s after the lunch Nelson.

NASA reprimanded astronaut John Young for smuggling a corned beef sandwich onto the Gemini 3 mission in 1965.

30 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 31 HIS HEARTH IS IN THE RIGHT PLACE Coolidge, Arizona, is an unlikely place for one of the best bakeries in the state — it’s pretty remote. Nevertheless, that’s where Nicholas Ambeliotis decided to open Mediterra Bakehouse, which now supplies some of the best resorts and supermarkets in the state, including the Arizona Biltmore, AJ’s Fine READ IS PERHAPS MANKIND’S most rel- Foods and Whole Foods. evant demonstration of chemistry. Such divine results from the mixture of so BY CHELS KNORR few ingredients: flour, water and salt. Sustenance is born from temperature PHOTOGRAPHS BY and time. Some who have seen pucker- EIRINI PAJAK ing starter ferment in buckets, floured hands shape dough and the unforgiving hearth harden a loaf’s outer shell might argue the process is closer to alchemy. On Main Street in Coolidge, Arizona, inside a non- descript stucco building, owner Nicholas Ambeliotis Band his team at Mediterra Bakehouse move around the space as if choreographed, obeying the sensory cues they know from mixing, shaping and baking millions of loaves. They’re busy preparing the breads that customers have ordered for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hasha- nah — turning out turban loaves and challah on over- sized baking sheets. A fine dusting of flour blankets the warehouse floor, and oldies blast from a single scratchy speaker in the corner. The employees tease each other like brothers. A few of them are brothers. This crew starts at about 4 a.m., and feeding the starters — adding flour and water to them — is one of the first tasks of the day. Ambeliotis calls the feeding formula “sophisticated guessing.” Ambeliotis has several starters, and each smells slightly different. One is a mild, European-style starter he bought from a renowned chef in Paris. It’s 50 years old, and he paid $50,000 for it 17 years ago. There’s

Owner Nicholas Ambeliotis smells a loaf of bread at Mediterra Bakehouse in Coolidge. Doing so helps him tell how far along in the fermentation process the dough is.

32 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 33 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Nicholas Ambeliotis holds two handfuls of Red Fife wheat, which is grown locally for Mediterra Bakehouse. Mediterra manager Dino Koulouris loads loaves of bread into the bakery’s stone oven. Koulouris The industrial mixer has a paddle the size of an oar. guys, in turn, appreciate the job’s stability and don’t that spits out everything from dinner rolls to burger and adds a decorative texture to a loaf. Mediterra produces 5,000 loaves a day during the mind the fast pace and early hours it requires. hot dog buns, depending on its setting. Deandre Alex- slow season, triple that in the busy season. It sells to ander is using a modified paint sprayer to apply egg to chefs at restaurants and resorts in the state, includ- AT THE BENCH, Richie West slaps the dough into shape, some of the Jewish breads ready for the oven. also a San Francisco-style starter, which is much saltier ing the Arizona Biltmore and the JW Marriott chain, chops it into segments with what looks like a cleaver The hearth oven is 30,000 pounds of refractory and acidic, and a rye sour, which Ambeliotis got from a as well as to high-end supermarkets such as AJ’s Fine and tosses it across the table to Joshua Cambell, who brick. The baking surface, made of volcanic rock and Jewish baker in New York’s Coney Island 20 years ago. Foods and Whole Foods. Sales aren’t limited to Ari- shapes it into loaves. Calibrated by experience, they vermiculite, is porous and insulated. Water inside While other bakeries use hot water and yeast to zona, though. Ambeliotis started the original Mediterra can sense the weight of a proper loaf without a scale. tubes vaporizes as it zigzags through three decks and jump-start the process, Mediterra relies on patience Bakehouse in 2002 in Pittsburgh. It’s about three times They double-check the weight to ensure they’re not the fire chamber, creating a convection oven without and forethought. The starters that Brian Henderson, the the size and production of the Coolidge facility, and it shortchanging customers, but their hands know this any moving parts. Only about half the breads use the head mixer, is working with today will not be used serves the Mid-Atlantic region. dough, and they’re nearly always right. There’s flour hearth oven; the others bake in appliances much more until tomorrow afternoon. They must ferment naturally. Ambeliotis opened the Arizona location in 2012, and everywhere. hospitable. Eighteen hours. No proof boxes. No forced, artificial many of the employees have worked with him since This crew is quick and scrappy — an assembly line The tool Danny Rodriguez uses to put loaves into conditions. There are days when the team will go then. Some even came with him from his Pittsburgh with the cadence of an aerobics class. The way they the hearth looks like a hand-held conveyor belt on a through 2 tons of starter. location. He calls them “lifers” and knows the names move is evidence of focus, training, repetition and team- paddle. He spaces the loaves and uses a sharp blade Once Ambeliotis has fed the starters for the day, he of everyone on the floor. Some of these guys have rough work. Another team will come in later, in the afternoon, to cut crescents — controlled vents — into the dough, starts mixing the bread dough. He takes the tempera- backgrounds, but Ambeliotis’ criteria for hiring seems to package the bread, and another team delivers to cus- like a magician yanking a tablecloth out from under ture outside and inside, then plugs some numbers into a to be “Show up, work hard and be able to eat with tomers. Someone is at the bakery from 4 a.m. to about the table settings without ruining the display. And he meter. Hot and cold water run through copper coils and the rest of the team.” He figures, if they can’t all eat 10 p.m. every day. doesn’t set a timer. Bread is simply a game of time and pump out water at the right temperature for the mix. together, they probably shouldn’t work together. The Jamall Jeffry is close by, guiding dough into a machine temperature control.

34 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 35 This is what food tastes like when it walks through a fire and doesn’t burn.

Artistic cuts and designs not only show off Mediterra bakers’ talents, but also give the bread an artisanal look.

This oven’s terms are unforgiving, but used cor- rectly, with the heartiest of breads, it produces a crisp, nearly caramelized outer shell — a counterbalance to the sour, and the perfect crust-to-crumb ratio. This is what food tastes like when it walks through a fire and doesn’t burn. Ambeliotis loves the bakery, but he also loved his job before the bakery. His previous career sent him to Europe for about six months of the year. There, he worked as a forager for an importer. Meeting artisans, he realized how much bakeries act as the lifeblood of communities and can do a lot to give back. Back in Arizona, Ambeliotis visited the abbot at the monastery in nearby Florence for guidance. Before Ambeliotis said a word, the abbot said, “You should be a baker. You could help a lot of people.” So he started building Mediterra into what it is today. Although the bakery sells to customers across the country and has a tiny storefront, it also donates loaves to the Phoenix Rescue Mission and to area vet- erans’ groups, day cares and churches. Three years ago, the bakery took on a new and unusual challenge. Ambeliotis wanted to know exactly where his grain was coming from, and so the Grain Project was born. Ambeliotis discusses ancient and heritage grains with the excitement of an 8-year-old at a birthday party. He works with a local farmer, Noah Hiscox, who owns 2,000 acres of nearby land where he grows and harvests heritage grains, including Blue Beard durum and Red Fife wheat. For the past three seasons, Hiscox and Ambeliotis have increased their yield. They don’t yet have enough to rely solely on their own grain, but they’re working toward its sustainability. Ambeliotis likes to have control of his product from beginning to end. Working with Hiscox ensures his bread is free of GMOs and not hybridized or “dummy- proofed,” like so much of the grain on the market today. He’s discovered a quiet revolution of consumers who like knowing exactly where their food is coming from. The team uses the mill in the cooling room to process the grain for the bakery’s all-purpose flour. And every day, Mediterra Bakehouse transforms a simple illustration of chemistry into an investment in quality, accountability, sustainability and community. And really good bread.

Mediterra Bakehouse is located at 226 S. Main Street in Coolidge. To learn more, call 520-723-1853 or visit www.mediterrabakehouse.com.

36 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 37 GREAT BALLS of FIRE Considered by many to be “the mother of all peppers,” chiltepines are the only chiles native to Arizona. They grow wild; they look like miniature, red Christmas tree HILTEPIN PEPPERS ence for their smoky flavor and Mexico borderlands; in fact, Arizona is the farthest north that intensifying as it goes. The ripe fruit is much hotter than its are tiny things. Almost ornaments; and, man, are they ever hot. fiery kick. wild chiles are found anywhere in the world. Twenty years ago, dried form, and just as I’m starting to wonder when peak chil­ cute. They’re invari- In my younger and less vulner- Native Seeds/SEARCH worked with the U.S. Forest Service tepin will be reached, the sensation starts to mellow. Even so, ably described as able years, I was an adherent to the to establish the botanical area as a genetic reserve to protect, a noticeable heat lingers, from my lips all the way down to the “pea-sized,” but they BY MATT JAFFE philosophy that it’s not a real meal among other things, the largest concentration of chiltepin roots of my teeth. appear even smaller PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL STEEN unless you break out in a sweat. plants in the United States. For a few minutes, as my nose runs, I feel like I’m glowing than Cthat. Shining in the sun on My father served in India, China Before discovering the wild chile area, I’d never heard of from within. That bite of chiltepin is a concentrated blast of a December afternoon and bright- and Burma during World War II chiltepines by name, but in retrospect, I had seen them many the Sonoran Desert itself: what the sun, the earth, just enough ening their shrubs with pixels of red, the chiltepines resemble and returned with a penchant for hot foods. As the first wave times. They’re the little dried or pickled chiles you see in jars water and some hungry birds can produce. minuscule Christmas tree ornaments. of Thai and Indian restaurants came to our Chicago neighbor- at some of Southern Arizona’s traditional Mexican restaurants. I’m examining the ripe chiles on a chiltepin bush at the hood in the 1970s, he introduced the family to the sublime Chiltepines become ubiquitous once you cross the border into ACK IN 1912, a pharmacologist named Wilbur conservation center for Native Seeds/SEARCH, the Tucson- pleasures of dishes prepared with Thai and Kashmiri chile Sonora, and some studies suggest that people in Mexico have Scoville took it upon himself to quantify the inten- based organization dedicated to preserving stocks of seeds peppers. There was no higher praise around the table than the eaten chiltepines for nearly 10,000 years. sity of capsaicin, the chemical compound that gives from indigenous Sonoran Desert plants. Kevin Dahl — a Native assessment: “It’s really, really hot. But good.” There’s an oft-quoted bit of Tarahumara tribal lore that says, B chiles their heat. Working for a pharmaceutical com- Seeds board member until recently, and the organization’s Over the years, just as my vertical leap lost the fundamen- “The man who does not eat chile is immediately suspected of pany, Scoville was interested in salves, not salsa, and wanted executive director before that — has brought me here on a tal element of verticality itself, my tolerance for extremely being a sorcerer.” I’m more saucier than sorcerer, and my curi- to calculate the proper concentration of capsaicin for a topical meandering tour around Tucson to better acquaint me with hot foods has also gradually dwindled. I’ve become the anti- osity finally gets the best of me. The chile puts up the slightest painkiller his company produced. He developed the Scoville what many people call “the mother of all peppers.” The chil­ Anthony Bourdain: increasingly timid around unfamiliar, resistance as I pluck it from the plant. Then I take a nibble, Organoleptic Test, a process that measures the intensity of tepin is the only chile native to Arizona, and Dahl says it’s con- spicy dishes. biting the chiltepin in half and exposing a cross section that chiles by ranking them in Scoville heat units, or SHU. sidered the closest wild relative to domesticated chiles. But last year, while studying a map of Southern Arizona, reveals the seeds that harbor so much of the heat. Coming in at a searing 2 million or more SHU, the Carolina To truly know the chiltepin, you have to eat one fresh, I noticed a location called the Wild Chile Botanical Area in Dahl will have none of it. “You’re cheating,” he says. reaper, a cultivar, is currently ranked as the world’s hottest straight off the plant. But considering these chiles’ fiery reputa- the Tumacacori Highlands, near Nogales. Growing as far south Prompted by his taunt, I tackle the rest of the chiltepin. pepper, although an ongoing chile arms race to develop even tion, I hesitate before taking the first bite. Diminutive though as Central America and northern South America, chiltepines How do you describe “hot”? What’s the opposite of “numb”? more scorching peppers perpetually threatens to topple it from they may be, chiltepines inspire respect bordering on rever- reach the northern limit of their natural range in the U.S.- The chiltepin’s burn immediately spreads through my mouth, the throne. Meanwhile, there’s a whole subgenre of YouTube

38 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 39 videos showing people’s reactions after biting into a Carolina. Chiltepines are challenging to cultivate as a commercial nected to the desert, with narrow lanes running past stands FEW DAYS LATER, I head over to Mercado San Hijinks ensue as the reaper wreaks weeping, retching and crop, so virtually all of them are wild-harvested for sale by of mesquites, thickets of prickly pears and agaves growing on Agustin, west of downtown, to talk with Gloria and writhing, in no particular order. Definitely not safe for work. gatherers known as chiltepineros. Borseth says that by weight, dusty lots. Huemac Badilla. The Badillas operate Chilttepica, By the reaper’s extreme standard, the chiltepin, topping out chiltepines are currently the fourth-priciest spice in the world. Dahl wants to give me some quality time with chiltepines, Aa company that prepares a chiltepin-based salsa and at an estimated 100,000 SHU, is relatively mild. But only by Many people harvest them for family and friends because, in so we’re going to play chiltepinero and harvest ripe chiles packages dried chiltepines. They’ve brought a box of pan dulce, that measure. The chiltepin is at least 10 times hotter than your addition to culinary uses, chiltepines offer medicinal benefits. ourselves. It’s Dahl’s Tom Sawyer moment: He crafts glass and Huemac comes back to our table with cups of Mexican hot average jalapeño, and unlike the Carolina reaper and those A couple of the tiny chilepines have roughly the same amount ornaments that he fills with dried chiltepines, then donates to chocolate. We’re sitting right by the mercado’s commercial Frankenpeppers still to be grown, the chiltepin comes by its of vitamin C as a typical orange. They’re turned into salves for Native Seeds for the organization to sell over the holidays. And kitchen, where the couple first made their salsa. heat naturally. topical pain relief, and their antibacterial properties can help I’m helping him gather the chiles he needs to make them. Huemac grew up in Caborca, Sonora, and chiltepines were Raised in Patagonia, Native Seeds retail manager Chad with digestion and stomach problems. Although Tucson is north of the chiltepin’s natural range, always part of his household. “In my house, always in the Borseth endured a coming-of-age moment unique to the U.S.- When Tucson earned recognition as the country’s first the plants do quite well when planted in gardens. Given a middle of the table, there was something like this,” he says as Mexico borderlands. “Chiltepines have kind of always been UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2015, the designation brought microclimate with a south-facing wall or large boulder to put he takes out a traditional wooden grinder shaped more like a in my life,” Borseth says. “My first experience was in first or new attention to chiltepines and jalapeño than a chiltepin. “My father, on his scrambled eggs, second grade, and almost everyone I grew up with and went other desert foods. Dahl and I he’d put on at least eight. Just to start the morning and wake to school with had the same experience. One way or another, have lunch at Sixth Avenue’s Exo up. Every day. When you move, you learn that not everybody someone had tricked them into trying a chiltepin, saying that Roast Co., where a faded painted grew up like that.” it was a sweet berry. advertisement for a long-lost One New Year’s Day, around the time the economic crisis hit “A kid would come over with a handful that they had picked business called the Market Inn about 10 years ago, the Badillas looked ahead and wondered off a bush and say, ‘Here, try this.’ Once you got suckered in covers one of the brick walls. what they would do if they lost their jobs. Gloria, whose family and suffered through that, you would jump on the bandwagon We both order the chiltepin left Los Mochis, Sinaloa, when she was 15, worked in account- and get other kids to try it. That was the game. So you get used cold brew coffee. Fatty acids ing while Huemac drove for Anheuser-Busch. “We thought, Oh, to chiltepines pretty quickly growing up in Southern Arizona.” from truffle chocolate and cream we’ll make salsa and sell it,” Gloria recalls. “Because usually, for Borseth recalls going over the border at Nogales and seeing tamp down the heat of the pep- any gatherings, people would say, ‘You guys are in charge of people selling 2-liter bottles of chiltepines by the side of the pers, which still assert them- the salsa.’ That was our thing. It’s Huemac’s family’s recipe.” road. Chiltepines grew in the washes around Patagonia, and selves with a lingering warmth Chilttepica slowly emerged from that conversation, and its the parents and grandparents would grind the dried chiles that plays beautifully off the cof- roster of products has expanded to include chiltepin sea salts and put the flakes into soups, although the kids steered clear fee’s chill. “I usually just drink and a chorizo that incorporates the chiles. Huemac didn’t want of them. But as Borseth got older, chiltepines gradually worked black coffee,” Dahl says. “I never to make the chorizo. His father worked in a meat market, and their way into his daily food routine, too. Now, he’s starting have coffee with milk. But these? when Huemac was in high school, he was put in charge of the the Sky Island Spice Co., which will produce a mesquite- These make me very happy.” chorizo: “I would go to school in Caborca and smell like garlic. smoked chiltepin. He introduces me to Exo Seventeen years old and smelling like garlic? That is not good.” Borseth found his inspiration in the chiltepin’s close rela- manager Amy Smith. The There were setbacks and challenges. Gloria, energetic and tionship with mesquite trees. Chiltepines often take root Oregon native looks a bit like upbeat and not one to take no for an answer (or no answer at beneath mesquites, benefiting from a touch of shade during another Amy — actor Amy all), staked out the health department as the couple tried to summer and thermal protection in winter. The latter reduces Adams — and she explains that get the necessary permits. “I went there about 10 days in a the danger of frost, the most significant threat to the plant. the chiltepin cold brew symbol- row after work,” she says. “I noticed they were giving me the Birds perch in the mesquites and feed off the chiles, then izes the roaster’s commitment to runaround, basically. After a while, the receptionist would tell spread the chiltepin seeds over a wider area. Sonoran foods. Karen, the woman I needed to talk to, that her 4:30 standing Unlike mammals, which are vulnerable to the chiles’ inten- “When we first opened, we appointment was here. I showed up until my file got pulled. sity, the birds lack the necessary taste receptors. Instead of wanted to do some drinks that But we became really good friends with Karen. Afterwards. serving as a warning, the ripe fruit’s crimson hue signals to were regionally unique, and Afterwards.” mockingbirds and thrashers, among other species, that the chile peppers came up imme- The year the couple started their business, a freeze struck chiltepines are ready to eat. And eat the birds will, some- diately,” Smith says. “And flavor-wise, chiltepines are a really off a little extra heat, plus a source of water, they can thrive. Huemac’s uncle’s ranch, destroying their source of chiltepines. times gorging themselves. Hard shells allow the seeds to pass appealing pepper to drink because it has quick heat that The birds do the rest, and the plants quickly spread. They grow Their friends thought the Badillas were crazy. But the couple through the birds mostly intact. And with poop come peppers. diminishes. A jalapeño coffee would stay on your palate too fast, too: A chiltepin seedling planted in spring will produce persevered and eventually found a dependable, high-quality long. The acid is just too much. But the profile of the chiltepin chiles by fall. source of chiltepines from a grower who raises about 6,000 HILTEPINES HAVE LONG PLAYED a role in the works really well. It’s especially popular in summer, because it We settle within the dappled sunlight scattered by a mes- plants in a wild, but controlled environment on a farm about lives of desert dwellers. The name “Tumacacori” is actually cools you down.” quite and begin gathering chiles. A Gila woodpecker calls from two hours east of Hermosillo, Sonora’s capital. believed by some to derive from a word in an ancient For every 5 gallons of coffee, about 50 grams of chiltepins a nearby yard, and wearing a pair of surgical gloves for protec- The success of Chilttepica, like Exo’s coffee and the chiltepin- C Tohono O’odham dialect meaning “place where are added, and the crushed peppers soak in the cold brew for tion (Dahl goes barehanded), I get to work picking the chiles, infused beers made by a few Arizona craft brewers, represents the wild chiles grow.” For much of the year, chiltepin bushes, 24 hours. The café buys about 50 pounds of chiltepines per year. one by one. Some are nearly round, others more oval in shape. a growing awareness of Arizona’s native chile beyond its tra- partly concealed beneath mesquites and hackberries, blend They’re sourced from a few places in Sonora and cost $60 to Most point upward above the leaves, as if imploring the sun ditional Mexican community. “Most of the nanas and tias and anonymously into the landscape. With well-timed and suf- $75 per pound. Exo also gets chiles harvested by ranchers in for warmth, while a few dangle, pendant-like, from the shrub. moms will still make salsa at home,” Gloria says. “You cannot ficient monsoon rains, the fruit ripens, typically in September the Northern Jaguar Reserve, the preserve created to protect It’s meditative work. I leave the dried chiles and unripe green compete with that; it will always be their family’s favorite. and October. Then a rite of fall begins as Tohono O’odhams the northernmost population of the cats. fruits on the bush, but I also never manage to finish collecting But now we’re selling in Costco and feel very blessed for the and other Sonoran Desert residents on both sides of the border After lunch, Dahl drives us to a friend’s house. Despite its all the red ones from any single plant. As we get ready to leave, opportunity that very few people get. We’re immigrants to this go out to gather chiltepines. location in the middle of Tucson, the community still feels con- I notice Dahl has harvested twice as many as I’ve gathered. country. And this is our American dream.” !!!!

40 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 41 RIOR TO THE SUMMER MONSOON rains, in the oak woodlands of the bor- derlands, abundant quantities of food AN EASY begin to fall from the region’s Emory oaks, yet this goes largely unnoticed by those north of the border. Bellotas are small, pine-nut-sized NUT TO acorns produced by those trees. Oaks all over the world produce acorns, but there’s something special about these acorns. Most other acorns are bitter and need to be leached with water to remove the excess tannins; bello- CRACK tas are slightly sweet, with only a touch of bitter, and are For squirrels, it’s easy. For human beings, delicious right out of the shell. eating acorns is a lot of work — according to Despite their obscurity here in the United States, bellotas are harvested wild and sold throughout the The Old Farmer’s Almanac, it takes at least Mexican state of Sonora and parts of Chihuahua. In the not-too-distant past, Hispanic and Native American fam- 12 steps and several days just to make them ilies would come together to harvest them for year-round edible. But there’s one acorn that’s different. use. This tradition continues in Sonora. In the more distant past, in a canyon called Tres Bellotas, which are the fruit of Emory oaks, Bellotas, south of Arivaca, groups of Tohono O’odhams (from both sides of the border), Apaches and Mexicans are slightly sweet, with only a touch of bitter, would come together and camp for several weeks to har- and are delicious right out of the shell. vest bellotas. Traditionally, they were eaten directly out of the shell, but sometimes they were roasted or ground into a paste and added to soups and stews. It’s still pos- STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL STEEN sible to find shallow holes hollowed into rocks that

42 APRIL 2019 RECIPES them at roadside stands or in small stores. They also can be found in and around Cananea and Agua Prieta. That’s the easiest way to get them. If you’re feeling adven- CHOCOLATE AND DOUBLE NUT COOKIES pan constantly, until particles begin to turous, you can make a field trip to collect them yourself. The By Eliana Madril turn golden brown and butter smells nutty largest concentrations of Emory oaks (Quercus emoryi) can (about 2-5 minutes). Remove from heat and Ingredients: be found in the Coronado National Forest of Southeastern continue swirling pan until butter is a rich 1 stick butter Arizona, as well as in Southwestern New Mexico, Northern brown (about 15 seconds longer). Transfer to 1 small standard ice cube (about 1 table‑ Sonora and Chihuahua, in oak-woodland habitats at eleva- a medium bowl, whisk in ice cube, transfer spoon frozen water) tions between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. Trees typically display to refrigerator and allow to cool completely 5 ounces (about 1 cup) acorn flour fall colors in the early spring, dropping their leaves only to (about 20 minutes). ½ teaspoon baking soda replace them immediately thereafter — except in times of ½ teaspoon table salt Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking drought, when they wait for the monsoon rains in July. Their 2½ ounces (about ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon) soda and salt in a large bowl. Place granu- heights vary depending on soil type and access to moisture, granulated sugar lated sugar, egg and vanilla extract in the ranging from about 15 to 70 feet. 1 large egg bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk But the oaks don’t necessarily produce acorns every year — 1 teaspoon vanilla extract attachment. output depends on rainfall or late-spring frosts. Conversely, 2½ ounces (about ¼ cup packed) dark the trees can also produce what’s called a mast crop, which Whisk on medium-high speed until mixture brown sugar means that every seven years, they produce a large quantity is a pale brownish-yellow and falls off the Francesca Bianco’s family pesto 3 ounces dark chocolate, roughly of acorns. The bellotas typically start falling just before the whisk in thick ribbons when lifted (about chopped into ½- to ¼-inch chunks monsoon rains. This is the best time to collect them: when 5 minutes). Fit paddle attachment onto 3 ounces chopped pecans add brown sugar and cooled brown butter to they have the lowest probability of worms, which can infest mixer. When brown butter mixture has egg mixture in stand mixer. the nuts once the rainy season rolls on. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over cooled (it should be just starting to turn “WE THOUGHT OF THOSE TRIPS AS THE We typically harvest into the first weeks of the monsoon medium-high heat. Cook, gently swirling opaque again and firm around the edges), Mix on medium speed to combine. Add and freeze the nuts for several days to kill the larvae. During flour mixture and mix on low speed until BEST OF ADVENTURES, WHERE WE WENT the harvest, we spread a tarp or cloth on the ground, then combined. Stir in chocolate and pecans. IN SEARCH OF PRECIOUS TREASURE,” SHE shake the branches to catch the falling acorns. A tarp left in Refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes (the place for several days is better yet. longer, the better). When shelled, bellotas resemble pine nuts in size and SAYS. “THE BELLOTAS WERE SO DELICIOUS, When ready to bake, preheat oven to appearance. In Sonora, they’re usually eaten casually, by 350 degrees, scoop out dough into table- I COULD NEVER STOP EATING THEM.” shelling them one by one — often with an accompanying spoon-size balls and flatten dough rounds cerveza, mezcal, bacanora or coffee. One trick that helps this when placing on cookie tray. process is to insert the bellota lengthwise between the front Native people used for grinding bellotas into flour and meal. teeth, bite gently to crack the shell and continue to rotate it Bake for 13 minutes, rotating once. Cool on I grew up in Tucson, and throughout the monsoon and until it easily divides into two halves. rack before moving. into the fall, bellotas were commonplace — and an important There’s nothing wrong with keeping it simple, but the bel- part of my life. I remember them in the Chinese and Mexican lota’s complexity of flavor suggests a more varied menu. Most FRANCESCA BIANCO’S FAMILY PESTO markets when I was a child. My mother would buy small other options require an extra step: grinding the bellotas into By Francesca Bianco plastic bags of bellotas from roadside vendors in Nogales for flour or chopping them finely. For personal use, a food pro- Ingredients: herself, her sisters and her friends. My Aunt Tony always had cessor or small tabletop mill will work well enough. A coffee 2½ cups basil leaves bellotas on her kitchen table. She told me stories of how when grinder is another option. 1 cup extra virgin olive oil she was a child, my grandparents would gather the kids and In Sonora, bellotas are used to make a traditional 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese spend a few days camped in the Santa Catalina, Baboquivari meringue cookie called melindres de bellota. And some 1 cup bellota acorns (substituted or Rincon mountains. people steep their acorns in a bottle of mezcal or bacanora for for walnuts) “We thought of those trips as the best of adventures, where flavor and color. John Adkisson, of Iron John’s Brewing Co. in we went in search of precious treasure,” she says. “The bello- Tucson, uses them to produce Nutty Lu, a seasonal fall beer Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until tas were so delicious, I could never stop eating them.” named after his daughter. In addition, the acorns can be eas- fully incorporated and smooth. A few sprigs They made the trip in a horse-drawn wagon. Years later, ily substituted for pine nuts in a variety of recipes, including of Italian or flat leaf parsley can be added for I’d take her bellotas from the trees surrounding our house in pesto (see opposite page). color and taste. A few drops of lemon juice Southeastern Arizona. However they’re used, Emory oak acorns are an incredible will help retain the color. Transfer to a glass Today, it’s still possible to drive across the border to resource that begs for creativity and further experimenta- jar for immediate use, or use a plastic con- tainer if it is to be frozen. find bellotas for sale. Following the main highway south of tion. In many ways, they’re the taste of Southern Arizona’s Chocolate and double nut cookies Nogales toward Ímuris and Magdalena de Kino, you’ll find oak woodlands. Harvest some, and see what happens.

44 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 45 GREEN OLIVE PIZZA RED DEVIL 3102 E. McDowell Road, THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR Phoenix (and other locations) 602-267-1036 www.reddevilrestaurant.com

“In 2011, Robert and I ate an entire one FAVORITE THINGS of these pizzas at Red Devil’s Pinetop- Lakeside location,” says Senior Edi- Editors and writers are often stereotyped as gastronomically inept lowbrows who will eat tor Kelly Vaughn. “We ate it, along with salad. And garlic bread. And anything that comes out of a brown paper bag. Oscar Madison might fit that description, maybe even dessert. We hadn’t but the editorial staff at Arizona Highways has higher expectations. Most of us, anyway. eaten for a while, because we were covering the Wallow Fire. Months Edited by ROBERT STIEVE | Photographs by DAVID ZICKL later, we introduced the pizza to the rest of the staff. At first, they were terrified by the prospect of eating nothing but green olives as a pizza topping — they’re a gaggle of carni- vores — but, ultimately, the pizza’s cheesy/salty/saucy awesomeness won them over. It’s been a favorite ever since.” THE POP TART PHOENIX PUBLIC MARKET CAFÉ 14 E. Pierce Street, Phoenix 602-253-2700 www.cafe.phxpublic market.com

“I ate a lot of Pop-Tarts (with hyphen) as a kid, and a lot more as a starving college student,” says Managing Edi- tor Noah Austin. “But the Pop Tart (no hyphen) at Phoenix Public Market Café is differ- ent: a flaky crust, bursting with fillings that include blue- berry, apple and blackberry (depending on the day), and topped with decadent icing. Trying it gave me one more reason to visit the market and café, which already had me hooked on the pulled pork sandwich and fried chicken on its dinner menu.”

46 APRIL 2019 CARNE ASADA TACOS PEPE’S TACO VILLA 2108 W. Camelback Road, Phoenix 602-242-0379

“The savory carne asada tacos are as big a highlight at Pepe’s Taco Villa as the dozen portraits of Frida Kahlo,” says Art Director Keith Whitney. “Frida, a skilled cook, would have certainly approved of Pepe’s rendition of the classic street taco: soft flour tortillas, lettuce, tomato, guacamole with some kick and salsas that slide up and down the heat scale from day to day. We can wholeheart- edly stand behind this endorsement, as we’ve eaten lunch there almost every Friday for two years.”

AHI TUNA SALAD WINDSOR 5223 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix 602-279-1111 www.windsoraz.com

“As a creative director, I’m always paying atten- tion to colors and tex- tures,” says Barbara Glynn Denney. “When I first saw this salad, I was blown away by how beautiful it was. Then, of course, it was delicious, too. It’s the perfect com- bination of color and fla- vor, and it’s a nice, cool salad during the summer. A definite favorite.”

48 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 49 WHERE'S TH E BEEF? DUCK AND DECANTER 1651 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix 602-274-5429 www.duckanddecanter.com

“I’d order this sandwich for the name alone,” says Edi- tor Robert Stieve. “But the truth is, I never actually order this sandwich. When we go to lunch, Kelly Vaughn, our senior editor, orders it for me. That’s not because I’m a prima donna, but because I can’t remember how I like it customized. I know that I like it with jalapeño havarti, instead of Swiss, but I can’t remem- ber the rest. It’s a favorite, though. I haven’t eaten meat since 1989, and this sand- wich has been with me every step of the way.”

THE HASH BROWNS MATT’S BIG BREAKFAST 825 N. First Street, Phoenix (and other locations), 602-254-1074, www.mattsbigbreakfast.com

“I developed a taste for hash browns during my student days at Arizona State University,” says Photo Editor Jeff Kida. “Every Sunday, two of my friends and I played cutthroat racquetball, and the loser had to buy breakfast. Win or lose, hash browns were always a must for me. The hash browns at Matt’s are the real deal: crispy and cooked to perfection. Try them with their hot sauce for a little extra kick.”

50 APRIL 2019 www.arizonahighways.com 51 scenic DRIVE

HAYSTACK BUTTE ROAD The Blackjack Mountains, Jackson Butte, Timber Camp Mountain ... most of the landmarks along this route have unfamiliar names, but they’re as scenic as any in the Sonoran Desert. BY NOAH AUSTIN / PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIC HEATON

It’s been a stress-free drive, and Wes is loving the scenery and enjoying his first Clif Bar. And then we reach a “Y” intersection at Mile 13.5. To the right is a private ranch; to the left, the route continues as Forest Road 303A. I know going left will get us to the Salt River, so I go left. But the road narrows consider- ably and gets extremely rough. Within a couple of miles, we’re inching down a steep road littered with washouts and football-size rocks. The whole road isn’t the main road and start the easy drive And you won’t have to hear, on the way like this, but if we make it to the river, back to U.S. 60. back to Globe, that the drive on that we might have trouble getting back, even In summary, I can’t recommend driv- other road was “way worse than Harqua- in a four-wheel-drive SUV. “What do you ing all the way to the Salt River, which hala Mountain.” think, Wes? Should we keep going?” I ask. is about 4 miles from this drive’s stop- “It’s up to you,” he says. (In Wes-speak, ping point. But you can get a nice view of that means “Hell, no.”) the river by going only partway down SCENIC We find a spot to turn around, and FR 303A. Use your best judgment, and DRIVES of Arizona’s ADDITIONAL READING: Best Back there, we get a glimpse of the waterway consider your vehicle’s ruggedness and 40 Roads For more adventure, pick up a copy of our book Arizona far below. The way back features a little your own driving ability. The views along Highways Scenic Drives, which wheel-spinning and a lot of me assur- FR 303, though, make it a stellar drive features 40 of the state’s most beautiful back roads. To order, ing Wes that we aren’t going to die. But in its own right, whether you’re on your visit www.shoparizonahighways Edited by Robert Stieve we’re both relieved when we get back to own or getting a little father-son time. and Kelly Vaughn Kramer .com/books.

TOUR GUIDE Note: Mileages are approximate. arquahala” might not look like a We set out from U.S. Route 60 on mule deer or Gambel’s quail, although four-letter word, but it serves as Haystack Butte Road, marked here as Wes and I don’t spot any on our drive. LENGTH: 13.5 miles one way (from U.S. Route 60) DIRECTIONS: From Globe, go northeast on U.S. Route ‘‘H one in the Austin household. Forest Road 303. The smooth dirt road At Mile 7.8, we get the best panorama 60 for 16.3 miles to Haystack Butte Road (Forest Road My son, Westley, loves to bring up the dips through a few washes as it passes of the trip — one that includes Haystack 303), which is just past Milepost 268 and across the time I took him up a remote peak west of a ranch; then, around Mile 3, we see the Butte to the north. To the west are the highway from Jones Water Campground. Turn left onto Haystack Butte Road and continue 13.5 miles to the Phoenix: “What were you thinking with road’s namesake peak straight ahead. It’s Blackjack Mountains, which top out at intersection with Forest Road 303A. that Harquahala Mountain drive, Dad?” easy to spot: It’s the butte that looks like 6,939 feet, and to the southeast are Tim- VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS: A high-clearance vehicle is That drive was steep, rocky and a little a haystack. ber Camp Mountain and Jackson Butte, recommended, but four-wheel-drive is not necessary in good weather. Continuing past the intersection on scary for a 5-year-old. Wes is 9 now, and A couple of miles later, prickly pear both of which rise above 6,000 feet. We FR 303A requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle and techni- when I decide to take him on another cactuses begin to dominate the scenery. then pass a jumble of volcanic rocks as cal four-wheel-drive experience. drive, I settle on Haystack Butte Road, These desert plants typically bloom in we twist and turn toward 5,725-foot Hay- WARNING: Back-road travel can be hazardous, so be aware of weather and road conditions. Carry plenty of north of Globe. My Tonto National For- late April and early May, so if you time stack Butte, finally rounding its western water. Don’t travel alone, and let someone know where est map indicates it’s a well-maintained, your drive right, you’ll be treated to a flank around Mile 12. you are going and when you plan to return. easy road with views of mountains and colorful roadside display. The road then INFORMATION: Globe Ranger District, 928-402-6200 or the Salt River. This one will be easier than winds into a canyon before climbing ABOVE: Prickly pear cactuses are among the desert www.fs.usda.gov/tonto vegetation along Haystack Butte Road. Travelers in Arizona can visit www.az511.gov or dial Harquahala, I think. But life has a way of again, with numerous yuccas joining the OPPOSITE PAGE: The road twists and turns as it 511 to get infor­ma­tion on road closures, construc­tion, defying expectations. prickly pears. This is a good place to see approaches its namesake mountain. delays, weather and more.

52 APRIL 2019 MAP BY KEVIN KIBSEY www.arizonahighways.com 53 HIKE

BLACK CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION TRAIL Approximately 35,000 cars whiz past Black Canyon City every day. Most of the drivers inside have no idea there’s a rare and beautiful trail just to the west of the interstate. BY ROBERT STIEVE / PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOEL HAZELTON

A sanctuary. The contrast is distinct. Like passing through the turnstile at Magic Mountain. As you wind up and down and in and out of several small washes, you’ll look down into a larger canyon to the left. For a while, you might hear the faint drone of the big rigs on the freeway, but that around a small side canyon, the route and it makes a good turnaround point eventually fades away and all you’ll hear makes a heading to the west and passes for an easy day hike. However, if you’re are the sounds of birds and wind. The through another metal gate paired with up for more and the river can be safely paloverdes, ocotillos and buckhorn chol- another bike ramp. Ten minutes later, crossed, the Table Mesa Trailhead is sev- las will command some attention, too. you’ll arrive at the rocky edge of the river, eral miles to the south. Don’t go too far, Then, about 15 minutes in, you’ll come where you would have seen herds of though. You still have to get back to Black to a wooden bench, which, like benches sheep in the middle of the last century. Canyon City. And if you want a piece of everywhere, is an invitation to sit. You The BCNRT follows a route used by pie, the café usually closes around 9. won’t be tired, but you might want to prehistoric Native Americans. And a cen- stop and enjoy the view, which offers tury ago, in 1919, the Department of the your first glimpse of the Aqua Fria River Interior officially established the route ADDITIONAL READING: below. In the springtime, and during the as a livestock driveway — it was used For more hikes, pick up a copy summer monsoon, there’s a good chance by woolgrowers from the Phoenix area of Arizona Highways Hiking Guide, which features 52 of the you’ll see water. who herded sheep to and from their sum- state’s best trails — one for each From there, the trail starts switching mer ranges in the Bradshaw Mountains weekend of the year, sorted by seasons. To order a copy, visit downhill toward the river. If it’s running, and the Black Hills. Today, the sheep are www.shoparizonahighways you’ll start hearing it, too. After winding mostly gone, but the river is still there, .com/books.

TRAIL GUIDE LENGTH: 3 miles round-trip DIFFICULTY: Easy right Angel, the Peavine, Piestewa est, just beyond Mayer. There are several horizontal steel ladder with six rungs ELEVATION: 2,028 to 1,843 feet Peak ... even casual hikers have trailheads along the way. One of the at 45-degree angles on either end, and TRAILHEAD GPS: N 34˚03.166', W 112˚09.109' DIRECTIONS: From Anthem, go north on Interstate 17 for heard of those trails. They’re well easiest to get to is the Black Canyon City 17 rungs down the middle. It’s a conve- B 12.2 miles to Black Canyon City (Exit 242). Turn left (west) known and well traveled. But they have Trailhead. If you’ve ever headed north nient asset to the many mountain bikers and continue 0.1 miles to the stop sign. Turn right (north) more than ubiquity in common. All three on Interstate 17, you’ve driven right past who use the trail. The route, which hugs onto the frontage road and continue approximately 300 feet to Warner Road (the road is not well marked). have been designated National Recre- it. And if you’ve ever stopped at the Rock the base of the Bradshaw Mountains, is Turn left onto Warner Road and continue approximately ation Trails. Although not as exclusive as Springs Café to buy a cherry pie, you popular with equestrians, too, but the 0.2 miles to an unmarked intersection. Turn right at the the National Scenic Trails (there are only were right there. Less than a mile away. horses use the gate. Like the rest of us. intersection and continue 0.1 miles to the trailhead. VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS: None 14 of those across the country, including Like any long trail that’s too long to do On the other side of the gate is a lush DOGS ALLOWED: Yes the Arizona Trail), the NRTs are special. as a day hike, this one needs to be hiked desert scene dominated by enormous HORSES ALLOWED: Yes In all, there are 35 in Arizona. Some in segments. A good introduction is the saguaros. The scene is unexpected, con- USGS MAP: Black Canyon City you’ve heard of. Others, maybe not. The route that runs south from the Black Can- sidering its proximity to I-17. On one INFORMATION: Hassayampa Field Office, 623-580-5500 Black Canyon NRT is one of the lesser- yon City Trailhead. side is the sound of internal combustion or www.blm.gov/arizona knowns. Just beyond the gravel parking lot is engines. On the other is another world. LEAVE-NO-TRACE PRINCIPLES: • Plan ahead and be out all of your trash. The trail, which dates to the mid- a sign-in register and a metal gate. The prepared. • Leave what you find. ABOVE: The Agua Fria River is one of the highlights 1960s, runs for more than 80 miles from gate itself is like any other gate. What’s i:loc Sptlngs. • Travel and camp on • Respect wildlife. on the southern end of the trail. .!! durable surfaces. • Minimize campfire impact. the Carefree Highway in Phoenix to the different is the “bridge” to the left, which OPPOSITE PAGE: The well-marked track winds • Dispose of waste • Be considerate of boundary of the Prescott National For- is actually a bike ramp that looks like a through lush desert vegetation. To~ properly and pack others.

54 APRIL 2019 MAP BY KEVIN KIBSEY www.arizonahighways.com 55 _-._,..._. WHERE IS THIS?

• • •

From the, saguaro-studded Sonoran Desert to the majestic Grand Canyon, there's so much to se·e

in Arizona. When traveUng our road:ways, enjoy th 1e· uncommon, scenic beauty beyond the windshiield,. but please keep your focus on driving . Safe travels. Center Stage This Arizona city isn’t quite as big as the East Coast city that shares its name, but it used to be a bustling copper town, and mine operations continue there today. The town’s public art is known for its numerous depictions of cats, but there’s also this mural, where passers-by can stage a scene of their own. ADOT Win a collection of our most popular books! To enter, correctly identify the location pictured above and email your answer to [email protected] — type “Where Is This?” in the subject line. Entries can also be sent to 2039 W. Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009 (write “Where Is This?” on the envelope). Please include your name, address and phone number. One winner will be chosen in a random drawing of qualified entries. Entries must be postmarked by April 15, 2019. Only the winner will be notified. The correct answer will be posted in our June issue and online at www.arizonahighways.com beginning May 15.

56 APRIL 2019 PHOTOGRAPH BY TOM STORY