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The Grand Canyon can be beautiful but dangerous during icy conditions.
Note: This article first ran in the Arizona Daily Sun in March 2008. Given current trail conditions, I thought it would be good to re-run here along with a fresh article running in print for the Christmas week Outdoors section. Since this article, I have [...]
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The Mace, a spire of Cathedral Rock.
Winter arrived in northern Arizona, with a beautiful devastation. A blizzard dropping half-a-foot to three feet of snow socked in towns, forests, meadows, mountains. Buried with all of it, our endless miles of trails.
It leaves avid hikers with a couple of options: cross-country skis or snowshoes ? or trying [...]
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The view of Monument Valley from the North Window Trail offers a chance to watch the shadow-play.
Winter Solstice edges its way closer. The sun tracks lower. The way it angles across the landscape turns stunning ? long shadows, deeper perspectives. Suddenly, places among the broken topography become completely hidden from the sun.
It serves as [...]
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A hiker takes in the view after scrambling up Bell Rock.
During my last drive to Sedona ? via the nearly refurbished Route 179, I tried to fight the compulsion to stop at the Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock parking and trailhead. Located just outside of the Village of Oak Creek (known locally only as the [...]
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Water flows along West Cataract Creek of Bill Williams Mountain.
A friend of mine who makes an annual pilgrimage to specific trails on the San Francisco Peaks in the fall complained to me. This year, the Kachina Trail turned congested with hikers. Lockett Meadow did not have a place to park. Schultz Pass Road turned into [...]
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The hike into Wilson Canyon is a pleasant excursion into Red Rock Country.
Midgeley Bridge spans in the place where Oak Creek Canyon throws open its walls and Oak Creek spills its way into Sedona and the Verde Valley. It serves as an orientation point, a gateway into Oak Creek Canyon or out of Oak [...]
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Loy Butte at sunrise.
When October turns to November, the warmer climate and quieter-than-usual trails of Sedona beckon. The elements of autumn drift down to the lower elevations, turning the oak leaves to muted and rusted colors against the tawny rock outcroppings and spires.
Few trails in Red Rock Country offer as dreamy and luring of a [...]
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The short and steep ascent of the Cookstove Trail in Oak Creek Canyon is rich in reward.
On a recent October Saturday, I pulled off of U.S. 89A as it meandered through Oak Creek Canyon and stopped at the spring water that gushes just north of the Pine Flat Campground. This water is channeled from a [...]
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Arizona Trail founder Dale Shewalter walks along the Aspen Loop Trail. Photo by Dana Felthauser.
During an interview last year with Dale Shewalter, founder of the Arizona Trail, I asked him where he wanted to meet and hike. Without hesitation, he said the Aspen Loop Trail. I had not previously heard about the trail, even as [...]
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Big-tooth maples along the Mogollon Rim bring a whole other kind of color to the foliage season. Photo courtesy of the Coconino National Forest.
The following is a portion of a foliage story that did not make it in the print edition of the Arizona Daily Sun on Tuesday, Sept. 29. This portion of the story [...]
