EDITOR'S LETTER

LON MCADAM SHATTERED HIS KNEE. He's OK now, but a year ago, he wasn't sure he'd survive the ordeal. “I'll never forget that pain,” he says. “I pulled up my pant leg, and I could see that the tendons were spread apart. My knee looked like a giant pill with a line right down the middle.” It could have been worse, but not much. Especially when you consider that he wasn't strolling the greenbelt in Scottsdale when it happened; he was in the middle of a nine-day solo journey in the Superstition Wilderness, one of the most uninviting places in Arizona.

He was there by choice. As a landscape photographer who specializes in the Sonoran Desert, McAdam was headed to Rough Canyon with his camera when the tip of his boot hooked a rock and thrust his knee into a ragged boulder. Generally speaking, he was cooked. More specifically, as Kelly Kramer writes in Man vs. Wild: “He knew he was facing two problems. He was at the base of a rockslide, with his planned campsite about a quarter-mile up the trail; and his only water source was a small pool of water.” Making matters worse, the Superstition Wilderness is bear country.

He makes it out alive, of course, but you'll have to read Kelly's piece to find out how. As you'll see, it's a remarkable tale of survival, which is the theme of this month's cover story. In addition to Lon McAdam's great escape, we'll share the stories of two other men who beat the odds. We'll also give you some practical guidance on how to survive 10 of Mother Nature's most dangerous strikes, including rattlesnake bites, hypothermia and animal attacks. Another scenario is capsizing — what to do if you get tossed out of a boat — and no one knows more about that than Martin Litton.

Unless you're a regular on the Colorado River, you've probably never heard of Martin Litton. By all accounts, he's considered the godfather of Colorado River guides — he's been running the river since the 1950s. His greatest legacy, however, is a speech he gave to help stop the construction of two dams inside the Grand Canyon. When it comes to protecting the river, he's an absolutist.

Litton, who is 90 now and looks a lot like the old man you envisioned in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, recently made his final voyage down the Colorado, and he was kind enough to let our writer and photographer tag along. In Against the Current, Brad Dimock and Kate Thompson share their experiences and showcase a man accurately described as an Arizona icon. A few pages later, Sam Lowe does the same thing with train depots.

When it comes to iconic architecture in Arizona, train depots rank right up there. Back in the heyday of rail travel, there were about 60 stations around the state. Today, there are fewer than 40, and most of them are being used for something other than shuttling passengers. In Last Stop!, Sam takes a look at what's left. Like our cover story, this is a story of survival, and even though Sam didn't shatter a knee in the process of reporting it, he weaves a compelling tale. Time will tell how many depots beat the odds.

In July 18, 2008, we lost a good friend and a gifted photographer. Tom Vezo, a longtime contributor to Arizona Highways, died on a hiking trip in the Rincon Mountains of Southern Arizona. “Tom was one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet,” says Peter Ensenberger, our director of photography. “Not only was he one of the top bird photographers in the world, but he gave generously of his time to the protection of the species and habitats that were such a big part of his career as a wildlife photographer.” Larry Lindahl, another longtime contributor, echoes the praise: “Tom elevated bird photography to a new level with his elegant compositions, sense of design, and his patience to get fresh images, not just showing the birds, but telling their stories.” In addition to Arizona Highways, Tom's work has appeared in a who's who of publications, including National Geographic, Audubon, Discovery and Outdoor Photographer. “He was at the top of his game,” Pete says. “But most of all, he was a great human being, loved by all who knew him.” The Vezo family requests that any memorial donations be made to the Defenders Committee of Friends of Madera Canyon, P.O. Box 1203, Green Valley, AZ 85622.