A Cool, Moist Mountain Place

activities.” There are mountains for hiking and hunting, and lakes and rivers for fishing and boating, and all within less than an hour's drive.

Kingman shows off for itself twice a year. On the Fourth of July, the town puts on what it considers the most spectacular fireworks display in the state. Then, on the first weekend in October, Kingman hosts Andy Devine Days with a parade, a carnival and a rodeo. Character actor Andy Devine, who grew up in Kingman, played in films and on television. His memorable roles include the hapless marshal, Link Appleyard, in the 1962 movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The Mohave Museum of History and Arts displays a collection of his movie and television memorabilia that spans his career beginning in the late 1920s to just before his death in 1977.

Kingman is not all hard edges and hot sun. To expose the community's other sides, the museum offers a walking tour of the historic downtown district. A free map, a hat and plenty of water will make the stroll more pleasant.

Half a block east of the museum stands Locomotive Park. The huge locomotive No. 3759 made the pull both ways out of the Colorado River valley for more than 20 years. The Powerhouse Visitors Center stands across U.S. Route 66. Constructed in 1907 as a coal-fired generating station, the building has been renovated and now houses the Chamber of Commerce and the Historic Route 66 Museum. On display upstairs are several large-format photographs by the late Carlos Elmer, another hometown boy, and a frequent contributor to this magazine.

Not everyone who goes to Kingman stays there. It can be a prickly pear kind of place for those unaccustomed to an austere and windswept landscape. But those who do remain, like the Daughters of Mohave County Pioneers, know there is a reservoir of strength and beauty to be found there in this desert. Their spirits thrive like mesquite blossoms borne upon the face of clear water.

Discover PRIMEVAL

Splendor

along the Little Colorado River's West Fork BY BRUCE GRIFFIN TRAVELING FROM MY HOME in the low desert to hike along the West Fork of the Little Colorado River, I take extra pleasure from the cool air and sprucefir forest that surrounds me here above 9,000 feet elevation.

Midsummer's monsoon is my favorite time to photograph here, when seasonal greening and flowering are at their maximum, thanks to almost-daily rainshowers. Billowy clouds signal the gathering storms, diffusing and softening the light. I prefer conditions like these for a variety of shots.

West Fork Trail starts in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests near Greer and becomes (Text continued on page 27) [PRECEDING PANEL, PAGES 20 AND 21] Lush, moss-covered rocks beckon the eye to climb upward toward a mixed conifer forest along the West Fork of the Little Colorado River in eastern Arizona. [CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE] The rich soil of the West Fork's riparian area nourishes moisture-loving plants such as yellow cutleaf coneflowers, New Mexican checkermallows and a variety of ferns and mosses. [OPPOSITE PAGE] Evoking a sense of pastoral serenity, the West Fork meanders through the spruce forest of the Mount Baldy Wilderness.