Historic Great Sushi Road Trip to The Canyon’s Train Depots in Sierra Vista Klondyke Mule Master NOVEMBER 2008 Tales of Survival in Man the Outback vs. of Arizona Nature PLUS How to Survive: Blizzards, Flash Floods, Animal Attacks and More AND An Iconic River Guide Takes His Last Ride Down the Colorado — at the Age of 90 Features Departments • Points of interest in this issue november 2008 2 EDITOR’S LETTER 14 Man vs. Wild 32 Against the Current Don’t mess with Mother Nature. It’s a pretty simple If Hemingway had written a book about river guides, 3 CONTRIBUTORS rule. Respect her, and you should be OK. Still, Martin Litton would have been the main character. 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Grand Canyon there are times when lightning strikes without He’s gritty, he’s anachronistic and he’s been running National Park 5 THE JOURNAL warning. That’s how Mother Nature works. She’ll the Colorado since the 1950s. More importantly, throw all kinds of things at you — rattlesnakes, he’s been an absolutist when it comes to protecting People, places and things from Jerome flash floods, blizzards. This month, we’ll give you the Canyon — a position that hasn’t always been around the state, including the Grand some tips on how to survive those scenarios and popular. Recently, at age 90, he made his final Canyon’s mule master, great sushi more. We’ll also share the dramatic stories of three voyage down the river, and he let us tag along. in Sierra Vista (really!) and Jerome’s PHOENIX historic Surgeon’s House B&B. Klondyke men who “made it out alive.” BY KELLY KRAMER BY BRAD DIMOCK PHOTOGRAPHS BY KATE THOMPSON contents Pima Canyon 44 BACK ROAD ADVENTURE Dos Cabezas Mts. 24 Rocks in a Hard Place 38 Last Stop! Bonita to Klondyke: Billy the Kid Sierra Vista Rugged and remote is a good way to describe the Long before there were Home Depots, there followed this route when it was a bumpy, Dos Cabezas Mountains in Southeastern Arizona. were train depots. Back then, in the heyday of rail dusty mule track. It’s still pretty dusty, They’re so inaccessible there aren’t even established travel, the clicking of telegraphs and the belching but at least the gunfighters are all gone. hiking trails in the surrounding wilderness. There is of steam engines were commonplace at the 60 a picnic area, though, and it comes with spectacular stations around Arizona. Today, fewer than 40 46 HIKE OF THE MONTH views of the little-known Indian Bread Rocks. In depots remain, and most of them are being used Pima Canyon: There are several this month’s portfolio, we’ll give you a glimpse for something other than shuttling passengers. ways to explore the Santa Catalinas. BY SAM LOWE PHOTOGRAPHS BY RICHARD MAACK of what you’ve been missing. BY JACK DYKINGA Among the best is the Pima Canyon Trail, which takes ambitious hikers to the top of Mount Kimball. 48 WHERE IS THIS? Photographic Prints Available n Prints of some photographs in this issue are available for purchase, as designated in captions. To order, call 866-962-1191 or visit arizonahighwaysprints.com. MOON ROCKS A waxing crescent moon glows above arizonahighways.com boulders silhouetted in predawn light at the Indian online Bread Rocks Picnic Area in the 11,700-acre Dos Cabezas There’s still time to submit your best shots Mountains Wilderness in Southeastern Arizona. in our first-ever Online Photography Contest. Photograph by Jack Dykinga The winners will be published in an upcoming FRONT COVER Just above Tapeets Creek, Deubendorff issue of Arizona Highways. For submissions, Rapids challenges river runners with a Grand Canyon or to check out and vote on what’s been rating of 5-8, depending on the Colorado River’s flow. Photograph by Kerrick James entered so far, visit arizonahighways.com. BACK COVER Normally dry in hotter months, Sabino DISCOVER ARIZONA Plan a trip with our Creek swells with snowmelt in the Santa Catalina calendar of events. Mountains near Tucson. Photograph by Randy Prentice What do you do if you encounter a CONTRIBUTORS rattlesnake in the wild? See page 14. NOVEMBER 2008 VOL. 84, NO. 11 800-543-5432 arizonahighways.com Publisher WIN HOLDEN Editor ROBERT STIEVE Senior Editor RANDY SUMMERLIN Managing Editor SALLY BENFORD Editorial Administrator NIKKI KIMBEL Director of Photography PETER ENSENBERGER Photography Editor JEFF KIDA Art Director BARBARA GLYNN DENNEY Deputy Art Director SONDA ANDERSSON PAPPAN Art Assistant DIANA BENZEL-RICE KATE THOMPSON SAM LOWE TOM VEZO Map Designer KEVIN KIBSEY Kate Thompson says she met a great mentor As the son of a railroad brakeman, it’s only editor’s letter Production Director MICHAEL BIANCHI while shooting Martin Litton’s last trip down natural that Sam Lowe would feel a con- LON MCADAM SHATTERED HIS KNEE. pages later, Sam Lowe does the same thing with train depots. Promotions Art Director RONDA JOHNSON Webmaster VICTORIA J. SNOW He’s OK now, but a year ago, he wasn’t When it comes to iconic architecture in Arizona, train depots the Colorado (see Against the Current, page nection to the historic train depots he wrote sure he’d survive the ordeal. “I’ll never rank right up there. Back in the heyday of rail travel, there were Director of Sales & Marketing KELLY MERO 32). Even though he might be considered old about in Last Stop! (page 38). While visiting forget that pain,” he says. “I pulled up about 60 stations around the state. Today, there are fewer than Circulation Director NICOLE BOWMAN by some standards, Thompson says the long- some of the depots around the state, Lowe JEFF KIDA my pant leg, and I could see that the 40, and most of them are being used for something other than Finance Director BOB ALLEN time river guide and environmentalist was says he was reminded of his childhood. “I tendons were spread apart. My knee looked like a giant pill with shuttling passengers. In Last Stop!, Sam takes a look at what’s Information Technology CINDY BORMANIS just as contentious and witty as ever while could still smell the oil they used on all of the a line right down the middle.” It could have been worse, but not left. Like our cover story, this is a story of survival, and even Corporate or Trade Sales 602-712-2019 rafting. “He’d take the oar and we’d say, wood. It brought back memories of waiting by Robert Stieve much. Especially when you consider that he wasn’t strolling the though Sam didn’t shatter a knee in the process of reporting it, Letters to the Editor [email protected] ‘Martin, are you OK with this rapid?’ And in line to board the train to grandma’s house greenbelt in Scottsdale when it happened; he was in the middle he weaves a compelling tale. Time will tell how many depots 2039 W. Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009 he’d always answer with the running joke, when I was a kid.” Lowe, a longtime con- of a nine-day solo journey in the Superstition Wilderness, one of beat the odds. Sponsorship Sales Ernie Mulholland, ‘What, you don’t think I’ve ever been down tributor to Arizona Highways, is the author of Skyword Marketing, 602-997-7200, ext. 13, this river before?’” A frequent contributor Arizona Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Road- the most uninviting places in Arizona. [email protected] He was there by choice. As a landscape photographer who to Arizona Highways, Thompson also shoots side Oddities and Other Offbeat Stuff. He ~In Memoriam~ Governor for National Geographic Adventure, Alaska also writes for The Arizona Republic, Arizona specializes in the Sonoran Desert, McAdam was headed to JANET NAPOLITANO Rough Canyon with his camera when the tip of his boot hooked T OM V EZO Director, Department of Transportation Airlines Magazine and the Patagonia catalog. Highroads and The Columbus Dispatch. a rock and thrust his knee into a ragged boulder. Generally 1946-2008 VICTOR M. MENDEZ speaking, he was cooked. More specifically, as Kelly Kramer Arizona Transportation Board Chairman S.L. Schorr writes in Man vs. Wild: “He knew he was facing two problems. n July 18, 2008, we lost a Vice Chairman Delbert Householder He was at the base of a rockslide, with his planned campsite good friend and a gifted Members Robert M. Montoya, Felipe Andres Zubia, about a quarter-mile up the trail; and his only water source was photographer. Tom Vezo, William J. Feldmeier, O Barbara Ann “Bobbie” Lundstrom, a small pool of water.” Making matters worse, the Superstition a longtime contributor to Arizona Victor M. Flores Wilderness is bear country. Highways, died on a hiking trip in International Regional Magazine Association He makes it out alive, of course, but you’ll have to read Kelly’s the Rincon Mountains of Southern 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001 Magazine of the Year piece to find out how. As you’ll see, it’s a remarkable tale of sur- Arizona. “Tom was one of the nic- Western Publications Association vival, which is the theme of this month’s cover story. In addi- est guys you’d ever want to meet,” 2006, 2004, 2002, 2001 Best Travel & In-transit Magazine tion to Lon McAdam’s great escape, we’ll share the stories of two says Peter Ensenberger, our direc- Arizona Highways® (ISSN 0004-1521) is published monthly by the other men who beat the odds. We’ll also give you some practical tor of photography. “Not only was Arizona Department of Transportation.