There is an Arizona

For many years, my goal has been to see the entire United States. “See,” defined by me, includes experiencing a large portion of the different states though national and state parks, landmarks and monuments; camping and hiking; driving on both interstate highways and in remote areas on local roads. Recently, a great web-fare from Delta made it possible for me to afford the first part of my goal: getting to Arizona.

Of course, the main impetus for getting to Arizona was to see the cacti unique to the Sonoran deserts of southern Arizona. Tucson, and the area west of it, is rich with endless miles of undisturbed desert wildlife.

In a full 3-day and 2-night camping trip, we -- my traveling partner, Ben, and I -- covered a good portion of the state. With only 2 days to plan the trip, we each chose one destination: Ben chose the Grand Canyon while I chose the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Tucson was the starting and ending point. I can safely say that we were both surprised by everything in between our respective destinations. And yet, even with over 1,200 miles on a rental car, we were still not able to see all that Arizona has to offer. Arizona has a wealth of natural wonders, not to mention great weather, and I definitely plan to visit again in the future!

My drive from Tucson to the Homolovi Ruins State Park crossed mountain forests, desert cattle ranges, and lonely dirt roads. This site, close to the Little Colorado River, is right outside of Winslow, AZ. The Hisat’sinom (Anasazi) people made this rich area their home in the 14^th century before joining the Hopi people. This state park is showered with pottery shards, arrow heads, and many other artifacts -- it is hard not to step on them when walking off the trails. However, everything is protected and considered sacred by the Hopi people. <See picture 3.6 for an example of pottery fragments. >

We got in for free as the park is not well staffed. However, there are serious dangers in this park that are not clearly labeled. The river (where most artifacts can be found) is a short hike from the trail, and had I not had to use the restroom facilities you’d probably be reading my obituary right now. Posted at the restroom is a list of deaths occurring this year of people who had hiked down to the river. The Little Colorado River is full of great artifacts and also quick sand and quick silt. Quick silt is like dry quick sand that will instantly suck a person underneath the ground with little hope for survival, and this is what has been killing all these ambitious, unknowing tourists. Another danger is scorpions and poisonous snakes, but I did not see any.

The official web site offers neat pictures of the Homolovi ruins, but we never saw anything like that. Ben took a 2 hour hike through the desert looking for the abandoned village displayed on the web site with no luck. The amazing sunset made up for it, though.

We camped here the first night, and the stars were unbelievable. It was easy to pick out most constellations. In Atlanta, where I currently live, I am lucky to see 3 or 4 stars on any given night. But the stars here went from horizon to horizon until the sun came up. The desert gets cooler at night, and the mild zephyrs were refreshing after having that cruel sun on my face all day.

A side note: it costs $12 to camp; however, many of the locals sneak out here between the hours of 10pm-7am to camp for free and enjoy the stars.

This is the best preserved meteor impact site in the world. Although it is privately owned, its facilities are excellent. For a nominal $12 fee, you get to see the crater, the interactive museum, a free 1-hour hiking tour, and a free movie. As a note, the guided tour is the only way that you can legally hike into the crater. It is also an intense way to learn more then you ever wanted to know about meteor impacts. The “hike” is not rigorous for healthy people, but they will tell you that is a “difficult hike,” probably for legal reasons.

I learned that the film Star Man was filmed in the crater, along with other films and television shows (mainly PBS-like shows). The whole area is filled with rock flour, which is rock that had been pulverized to the consistency of baking flour following the impact, more than fifty thousand years ago. It’s white and feels smooth to the touch.

The interactive museum had several exhibits that I prefer to call toys. The best one was a simulator that allows you to design a meteor, comet, or asteroid that will impact the earth. I found several ways to destroy the earth or to just wipe out life completely. The scary thing is that some of the impacts I designed have happened before on earth and on other planets in our solar system. The good thing is that recent research from the crater site landmark helps contemporary scientists find ways to prevent impact disasters on earth from occurring.

See their website to design your own impact! www.meteorcrator.com or write the landmark to find out more information at info@meteorcrator.com .

These limestone cliff dwelling homes of the Sinagua people are located just outside Flagstaff. The Sinagua lived here between 1100 and 1250 AD and actually farmed corn, beans, and squash on these steep slopes! You can walk

Around in their homes, but as the average height of these people was 5’, I had to bend over to avoid scraping my head. Most of the artifacts have been removed, but you can still see the soot on the ceilings in these dwellings that has remains from fires burned over 900 years ago.

Besides the hordes of people, I found Walnut Canyon to be a beautiful and inspirational place to visit. To see the cliff dwellings, you have to hike down steep inclines for about 30 minutes, and I can assure you that the hike into the canyon is difficult. There are benches and rests stops all along the way, but there’s not much shade anywhere on the trail. The dwellings are all along this narrow trail, and you can sit inside them and meditate on the mountain scenery of the canyon.

As a personal note, I found the cliff dwellings of Bandelier national monument in New Mexico to be better: less people, a longer hike, and having to use ladders to climb to the dwellings. However, this is still worth the visit. See the website for more details: www.nps.gov/waca .

As this is one of the most popular destinations in the world, I don’t need to tell you much about the Grand Canyon. I will say that the camera can not capture the beauty and intensity and the color. It took us an hour to find a secluded spot as there were people everywhere, but it was worth the wait to bask in the awe of this wonder on a ledge of the south rim.

The best part of this trip was actually getting to the Grand Canyon. We drove from the Ponderosa Pine mountains of Flagstaff to the painted desert mountains within the Navajo Indian reservation. Although very arid and hot, the views in the reservation were amazing. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any pictures. This is also a good place to barter for Navajo goods as there are little roadside booths everywhere with stuff for sale. I found an authentic Navajo rug for $100 (it was small), which is a good price. But most items for sale have tags stating “made in Mexico” or “made in Guatemala.” So beware of imposters!

It costs $20 per car load to enter to Grand Canyon. It is worth seeing, but do try to go during an off time. We went on Sunday, and it was packed with people from every walk of life. We ran into many Europeans, and the current style for guys was to wrap up a black bandana and tie it around the neck. The European women wore much more makeup (but much less hair spray) than their American counter parts. Both genders wore very tight, form-fitting clothing that seemed too uncomfortable for hiking and for the hot weather. I wonder what they thought about us Americans?!?

See the web site for Canyon facts and details: www.nps.gov/grca . A note for those of you who hate camping: you can actually get a hotel room at the national park. Due to the massive RV parks among the camping sites (translates to noise and light pollution); we opted to camp in the Sedona area for our second night.

All the Sedona area literature boasts titles such as “Red Rock country” for an obvious reason. The eroded red rocks of this area are startling. The drive from Flagstaff to the Sedona area—through Oak Creek canyon—is amazing! You start well above 8,000 feet elevation in Flagstaff and end up around 3,000 feet by the interstate 17 entrance. The road steeply declines around canyon walls and pristine vistas of valleys, forests, rivers, and of course, towering red rocks. On Sunday night, this road was packed with cars, and it’s dangerous to pull off for pictures as the roads have no shoulders with sharp, plummeting drop-offs. So we didn’t stop until we got to Sedona. (We originally planned to camp in one of the Oak Creek Canyon campsite areas before Sedona, but they were filled to capacity except for those lining the road.)

We found a camp site at Chavez Chase, an area in the Coconino national forest. The creek by our camp site was perfectly clean and safe, which was good since there were no showers. The locals apparently frequent this spot often as it is in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road. Again, the stars were awesome!

Early Monday morning we headed into Sedona to take pictures. The whole city itself is touristy and over-priced, but it can easily be ignored as it is no competition for the surrounding natural wonders. You will need 4-wheel drive to explore many of the side roads. Many places offer jeep rides through the mountains, but we declined as we had many miles to go before Organ Pipe.

To find out more about state parks in the Sedona area, try Slide Rock state park, Red Rock state park, and Oak Creek canyon at www.pr.state.az.us .

After the relief of the mountains in north-central Arizona, it was time to head to the Sonoran desert bordering Mexico. We stopped at a rest stop on I-17 overlooking a ghost mining town before Bumble Bee, AZ. This rest stop is the most informative stop I’ve ever been to in my US travels.

Bypassing Phoenix, we began our journey on Rt. 85 South. We made sure to get gas, snacks, and plenty of water as this route proved to be harsh and desolate! Passing through the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range, we saw a fighter plane in action. It appeared to be dropping bombs in the desert as there were many dirt clouds rising. Scary!

Only three towns—Gila Bend, Ajo, and Why—are directly on Rt. 85 S, and they are all military towns with limited resources. We drove through Ajo and discovered an old mission and a neat courthouse. The city itself is basking in poverty and the border patrol/ police were everywhere. We did see a large black snake climb a stone wall and enter someone’s dirt yard. Eerie!

As we got closer to the Organ Pipe, the terrain because more mountainous with scrub bushes and forests of saguaros. The monument itself is breathtaking with endless acres of organ pipe cacti (the only place in the US where they grow is here) and saguaros and other desert plant life. We took a 21-mile drive through the desert on a dirt road. Although we went as quickly as possible, it took us roughly 2 hours due to the condition of the road and the numerous stops we made for pictures and exploration. Had I one more night/day, I would have camped in this park. The scenery was unbelievable, and I could only image how the sky would be at night in this place. Note: the best time to see desert flowers is from April through July, but I was luckily able to find several flowering barrel cacti. See www.nps.gov/orpi for more information on this awesome place!

As the park closes at 5pm MT for day use, we had to leave. It also turned out that on the11th, park ranger Kris Ebble, 27, was killed in by Mexican aliens within the park as he attempted to apprehend them. This explained why all the flags in the state & national parks were at half-mast on this day and the day before. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has been declared the most dangerous national park 2001-2002 due to incidents like this, so be careful when traveling here. Don’t talk to strangers or give anyone a ride as this area is prone to illegal immigrant activity.

We rode back through the very scenic Tohono O’odham reservation with Kitt Peak National Observatory (around 8,000 ft. elevation) as a destination to see the final sunset. These are the Native Americans known for harvesting and finding innovative uses for the saguaro cactus. The reservation ranges in elevation, and there are countless shrines lining the road on the way to Tucson. We had no idea why all these shrines were erected.

By the time we got to Kitt Peak, the dirt mountain road leading to it was closed to the public. Apparently, you can only visit this observatory during the day. So we saw the sunset from the ground at the road closed gate. <See picture 8.7 for the observatory at the top of the mountain>

With 2 hours to kill before the flight back, we stopped at WhataBurger, a fast-food chain (www.whataburger.com). I had a burger that was like a Whopper, but wider and tastier. The Tucson airport is easy to get into and out of compared to any other I’ve frequented. They even have cacti all around the airport! Note: the saguaros went all the way from Organ Pipe to the city of Tucson itself, and in fact, Tucson boasts 2 saguaro national monuments within its city limits: www.nps.gov/sagu .

After Arizona, it’s hard to return to work. <See pictures below for my office in Atlanta. How does this differ from Arizona?!?>

Arizona is much different than the Southeast. People don’t have lawns; they have rocks with desert plants strategically placed among boulders. It’s very hot and dry - water in gas stations is much cheaper as you have to carry it with you at all times. We saw many abandoned cars on the freeway and even more crosses on the road side. The desert can be tough, so you have to be prepared for anything out there. The air was so dry that I coughed a lot. I assume that it just takes time for lungs to adjust to breathing dust instead of heavy humidity.

Although there are less roads and cities, the traffic is the same in large cities like Tucson and Phoenix as it is for Atlanta and its suburbs. But there are many roads, especially dirt highways, where we were the only people for miles in every direction. In fact, this entire experience was one of the few times that I have felt so small in comparison to nature. I’ll definitely visit again!

Start	Connect	City or landmark	Notes
I10 (Tucson) N	Rt. 87 N	Phoenix	Drive is flat until leaving Phoenix
Rt. 87 (Payson) N	Rt 99 N	Mogollon Plateau then Sitgreaves National forest	Great camping/hiking in forest. Rt. 99 is mostly a dirt road
Rt. 99 N	Rt. 87 N	Winslow, AZ - Homolovi Ruins Sate Park	See description below
Rt. 87	I40 W	Meteor Crater then Walnut Canyon then Flagstaff	See description below
I40 (Flagstaff) W	Rt. 89 N	Navajo reservation then Cameron	Very scenic
Rt. 89 (Cameron)	Rt. 64 W	Grand Canyon	See below
Rt. 64 S	Rt. 180 SE	Flagstaff	Steep, winding mountain drive with no services
Rt. 180	Rt. 89A SW	Oak Creek Canyon then Sedona	Steep grade down through canyons for many miles. Absolutely beautiful!
Rt. 89A (Sedona)	Rt. 179 S	I17 then unmarked roads to Chavez Chase campground	See below
I17 (Bumble Bee) S	I 10 W	Phoenix	Lose elevation. Forests become desert.
I10	Rt. 85 S	Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument	See below
Rt. 85 N	Rt. 86 E	Tohono O’odham reservation then Tucson	Scenic drive all the way to the airport.