Cool Summer Fun

Flagstaff Getaway Guide Wild Times

Bike to a volcano, cheer a parade PAGE 10

Wild People

Meet high-country characters PAGE 14

Wildflowers

Take 20 blooming trips PAGES 20-27

Wild Horses

Attend a historic auction PAGE 28

Wild Roads

Drive the 'crooked' route PAGE 42

Wildlife

Spot elk on a Mormon Lake hike PAGE 48

GET OUT COOL

Summer in Flagstaff is purple penstemons splashing the roadsides, hummingbirds zinging to feeders and softball games lasting long into the night. It's a laid-back, hang-out, Bermuda shorts place, where locals and visitors alike take to the out-of-doors, sipping good coffee, lunching at a sidewalk cafe and watching birds from a hammock.

But be ready. Up at 7,000 feet the season is as brief as seedheads on a dandelion, and relaxation is a relative concept. From June through August, you might need the latest handheld scheduling gizmo to keep track of all the town offers from Bach to bronc riding, bluegrass to belly dancing, bike riding to sky gazing.

So enjoy the features in our guide to high-country delights. Then get lots of additional ideas on our Web site at arizonahighways.com, where our Flagstaff Getaway Guide details an additional 15 hikes, eight back road adventures and other cool stuff.

Flagstaff Getaway Guide wild times The summer season is short-but activity-filled by Rose Houk Photographs by Tom Bean GET WILD IN FLAGSTAFF SOUTH-SIDE WALKING TOUR

A walk around Flagstaff's south side on a Sunday morning unfolds a history of the town's working class. In the late 1800s, this was where people settled who came to labor on the railroad, in the lumber mills, and for the sheep ranchers. These citizens-many of Mexican, Basque and African heritage-lived in tidy bungalows still home to their children and grandchildren. At the corner of Benton Avenue and South Kendrick Street stands Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. The Malpais stone structure with a simple white steeple was built in 1926 "with the blood, sweat and tears of the Mexican people," said Flagstaff Mayor Joseph Donaldson.

Donaldson's father worked for the Saginaw & Manistee Lumber Co., and they lived on Riordan Road, then at the edge of town. His mother, Maria, was born in Mexico. After the family moved to Flagstaff, she attended Our Lady of Guadalupe for many of her 90-plus years, always sitting in the back pew and keeping a watchful eye on Joe and his brothers. The stroll through the neighborhood includes the Flagstaff Community Farmers Market in a parking lot alongside the railroad tracks. Every summer Sunday friendly shoppers fill cloth bags with shiny green zucchinis, ripe melons, sweet basil, heirloom tomatoes, "vortex" radishes from Sedona, honey, goat cheese, apricots and gladioli. When the trains rumble by with whistles shrieking in a '50s flashback, people just pause their conversations, cover their ears and wait.

The historic Hotel Monte Vista and the old Babbitt Building anchor the corner of Aspen and San Francisco streets as downtown Flagstaff begins to glow in the deepening twilight.

The Sinagua Indians disappeared more than 700 years ago, leaving ruins, like the Lomaki Pueblo in Wupatki National Monument, scattered across the landscape below the San Francisco Peaks.

BIKING VOLCANO TO RUINS

Just north of Flagstaff, the road through Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki national monuments offers an ideal route for a biking adventure. The ride from volcanic cinder cone to evocative ruins is often enlivened by bald eagles, veils of virga draped across the San Francisco Peaks, color-bursts of skyrocket gilia and smoky pink Apache-plume feathered softly against the black lava.

The 20-mile trip down the Sunset-Wupatki Loop Road, off U.S. Route 89, requires more concentration than effort thanks to an elevation drop from 7,000 to 5,000 feet. Pungent junipers displace vanillascented ponderosa pines, and the muted tans and pinks of the Painted Desert shimmer in an unending distant panorama to the northeast.

At the end of an hour-long roll down the grade, the Wupatki Visitor Center comes into view. Here you can picnic in the ball court. The rock-walled oval structure, built about 900 years ago by the residents of Wupatki Pueblo, makes a perfect setting for an end-of-the-journey break. Feasting is a fitting activity here, since archaeologists believe the site once hosted games and ceremonies.

MOVIES ON THE SQUARE

Downtown Flagstaff offers something for everyone all summer long, with a nostalgic, small-town feel.

Historic, brick Heritage Square hosts weekend movies where families stake out territory with blankets, folding chairs and picnic suppers. The smell of freshly popped popcorn and the sounds of a local band fill the air, as kids dance and pinball about, motorcycles growl by on Aspen Street, and people chat, listen and join in.

As dusk settles, everyone snuggles and turns to watch the show, projected on a sheet hung on the side of the Babbitt Building. The evening usually features some family-friendly feature like Shrek, all free of charge courtesy of the Downtown Business Alliance and other sponsors.

arizona highways.com

OLD-FASHIONED FOURTH OF JULY

Independence Day is naturally a big holiday in Flagstaff because the town's very name arose from an event on July 4, 1876. That morning, a group of colonists from the so-called Second Boston Party nailed the stars and stripes to the top of a pine tree in what is now Thorpe Park.

Almost since its founding, Flagstaff has put on a wingding of an Independence Day parade. In 1907, a prize went to the best-dressed cowboy. In 1908, the Babbitt Brothers' meatpacking company float carried the "sausage queen." And for years, the weekend's greatest event was the powwow.

For nearly 10 years, the chamber of commerce has organized the parade that threads through downtown Flagstaff. Planner Heather Rogers advises people to get there at 9 A.M. to get a front-row seat, since the crowd normally tops 10,000.

Members of the Exchange Club pass out small American flags to spectators, standing three-people deep for several blocks. Across from the courthouse on North San Francisco Street, an Archuleta Ice Cream truck broadcasts a well-worn recording of "Yankee Doodle" and does a booming business in Sponge Bob treats.

At 10 A.M. the parade flows down North Beaver Street, featuring war veterans, the highschool band, vintage cars, ground-hugging Chihuahuas decked out in red, white and blue, llamas, librarians doing tricks with book carts, bagpipers and bicyclists, Shriners and Lions, kids on rollerblades, and of course politicos of all stripes-more than a hundred entries crowded into a two-hour parade. The temperature normally hovers in the high 70s this time of year.

school band, vintage cars, ground-hugging Chihuahuas decked out in red, white and blue, llamas, librarians doing tricks with book carts, bagpipers and bicyclists, Shriners and Lions, kids on rollerblades, and of course politicos of all stripes-more than a hundred entries crowded into a two-hour parade. The temperature normally hovers in the high 70s this time of year.

The parade, summer's crowning event, just "puts you into a spirit of celebrating. It's just something that brings joy," said Rogers.

Rose Houk tries to stay home in Flagstaff to enjoy the summer as much as possible. Friends say her epitaph will read, "She never saw a parade she didn't like." She also wrote the "Horse Auction" story in this issue. Tom Bean enjoys visiting and photographing all over the world, but he's always thankful to return to his home of 23 years in Flagstaff.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

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MORE THINGS TO DO IN THE HIGH COUNTRY

THE ARBORETUM AT FLAGSTAFF This venue for displaying high-country wildflowers offers a children's program and guided wildflower and birdwatching walks throughout the summer. Open daily, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. from April 1 through December 15; closed December 16 through March 31. $5, adults; $2, children 6 to 17; free, under 6. 4001 S. Woody Mountain Road. (928) 774-1442; www.thearb.org.

ARIZONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PIONEER MUSEUM Once Coconino County's Hospital for the Indigent, the museum houses costumes and other trappings of pioneer life, together with farm machinery and a 1929 Baldwin articulated locomotive and a Santa Fe caboose. Open Monday through Saturday, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.; closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and December 25. $3, adults; $2, seniors and children 12 to 18; free, under 12 and members. Free on the first Saturday of each month and during special festival weekends. 2340 N. Fort Valley Road. (928) 774-6272; www.arizonahistoricalsociety.org.

ARIZONA SNOWBOWL There's more to the Snowbowl than skiing. In the summer, the chairlift ferries sightseers up the San Francisco Peaks to savor the views at 11,500 feet. A restaurant at the lodge serves lunch. Open daily 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. The chairlift runs Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. $10, adults 13 to 64; $8, seniors 65 to 69; free, seniors over 70; $6, children 8 to 12; free, under 8 (with an adult). Drive 7 miles northwest of downtown on U.S. Route 180. Turn right on Snowbowl Road and continue 7 miles east, gradually climbing the mountain on a paved road. (928) 7791951; www.arizonasnowbowl.com.

BUFFALO PARK Flagstaff residents favor this walking and jogging forest park with its easy trails close to downtown; many visit it several times a week. Open all day, every day. Free. From downtown, head northeast on San Francisco Street to Forest Avenue; turn east onto Forest, which becomes Cedar Avenue; turn left onto Gemini Drive and follow it to the park. (928) 779-7690.

ELDEN PUEBLO At the foot of Mount Elden on the northeast edge of town lie the remains of a Sinagua Indian community dating to A.D. 1150. A leaflet available on-site explains the archaeological significance of the pueblo. Open year-round during daylight hours. Free. (928) 527-3452; www.fs.fed.us/r3/ coconino/recreation/ peaks/elden-pueblo. shtml.

FORT TUTHILL COUNTY PARK With an amphitheater, fairgrounds, racetrack, roping arena and 6.5 miles of trails, this park is a magnet for hikers and bikers, campers, horsemen and picnickers. Open all day, every day. Free. South of Flagstaff, take Exit 337 off Interstate 17. (928) 774-5139; www.co.coconino.az.us/parks/.

LOWELL OBSERVATORY Major discoveries in astronomy, including evidence of the expanding universe and existence of the planet Pluto, were made in this idyllic setting on Mars Hill. Open daily 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. March to October; open evenings for presentations and (in fair weather) night-sky viewing through the founder's 24-inch Clark telescope, June to August (every night except Sunday), starting at 8 P.M. $5, adults; $4, seniors, college students; $2, children 5 to 17; free, under 5. 1400 W. Mars Hill Road. (928) 774-3358; www.lowell.edu.

MUSEUM OF NORTHERN ARIZONA Navajo textiles, Hopi kachina dolls, ancient Native American baskets and pottery and fossilized dinosaurs are on display here. Open daily, 9 Α.Μ. to 5 P.M. Admission $2-$7.3101 N. Fort Valley Road. (928) 774-5213; www.musnaz.org.

RIORDAN MANSION STATE HISTORIC PARK A gem of Arts and Crafts-style architecture featuring more than 20 pieces of original Gustav Stickleydesigned furniture, this two-story duplex manse was home to the families of lumber merchants Timothy and Michael Riordan. Rangers give guided tours daily at the top of the hour. Open 8:30 Α.Μ. to 5 P.M. from May to October. Admissions $2.50-$6. Reservations recommended. (928) 779-4395; www.pr.state.az.us/Parks/parkhtml/ riordan.html. AH