The Lovely Months of Our Lovely Year

A person who attempts to describe the months of the year in Arizona is venturing into paths foolhardy and tricky, because one is dealing with a many-faceted, complex subject, a subject which knows neither the guide of any rule book nor is humbly submissive to the exhortations of the calendar. The seasons come and the seasons go, but no paragraph, however glib and expertly put together, could possibly capture the evanescent loveliness of the individual seasons for there is no seasonal line of demarcation for anyone of the four seasons in a land of many, many seasons. Unlike many other parts of our country, we cannot wake up one morning and say: “Ah! Spring is here!” “Summer begins tomorrow!” “Fall has finally arrived!” “Winter came in with a bang yesterday!” Arizona's greatest length, north to south, is 391 miles; east to west, its greatest width is 337 miles. Utah, along the parallel of 36 degrees and 41 minutes forms Arizona's northern boundary. Sonora, Mexico, along the parallel of some 32 degrees, forms the southern boundary of the state.

"Apple Trees Blooming in Oak Creek Canyon" BOB BRADSHAW

Elevation wise, the state has its singular and rather startling characteristics. The lowest elevation in Arizona, near Yuma, is 137 feet above sea level; the highest, Humphreys Peak in the San Francisco Mountains near Flagstaff one of the commonly called San Francisco Peaks is 12,670 feet above sea level, according to the Rand McNally World Atlas, considered an authority on such matters. (This authority, incidentally, lists Humphreys Peak as the thirty-second highest peak in North America.) In elevations alone, Arizona well deserves a sobriquet sometimes applied to it — Land of Contrasts.

In topography, the contrasts get all out of hand. Here you get into a potpourri of geography that runs all the way from the sublime to the more sublime. The state, for purposes of a simple, general discussion, is divided into three areas. The first is the Plateau Area of some 45,000 square miles in the northern and eastern portions with a general elevation of 6,500 feet. Great canyons have been sliced in this Plateau Area, the best known of which is Grand Canyon. In this area, also, is found the Painted Desert of Arizona, some 4,000 square miles in size, one of the true desert areas of Western America. The Plateau Area is abruptly cut off from the Lower Basin Area by the Mogollon Escarpment whose rim forms a rugged backbone for the state hundreds of miles long with precipitate cliffs hundreds of feet practically dividing the state in two. The Basin Area, of some 60,000 square miles, consists of a Mountain Area and a Plains Area, the latter comprising approximately 27,000 square miles. Simply speaking, you can say the state consists of plateau, mountains and desert, an admixture wonderfully sprinkled with rolling foothills, green grasslands, canyons, mesas, and valleys, a study in contrasts if there ever was one.

An uninitiated outsider, reading the weather reports in some distant place beyond our borders, must be puzzled if not perplexed at some of the strange weather reports sent out from our state. Several times last winter it was reported that Frazier, Colorado, and Maverick, Arizona, were vieing with each other for honors as being the places reporting the lowest temperatures in continental U.S.A. (We say "continental"

"The Blossoming Agaves" "It's Springtime in Canyon de Chelly" JOSEF MUENCH "Ho! Hum! It's Summer"

because with Alaska now one of our sister states we imagine all record cold marks are made on those cold, cold glaciers up that way.) Good old Frazier in the high Rockies! Good old Maverick in our White Mountains! They should get together sometime and have an old-fashioned clambake around a nice, warm fire! One day this past spring weather-minded followers of the Weather Man must have thought he had suddenly become slightly teched in the head when he reported that Yuma, with over one hundred ten degrees in temperature, was the hottest place in the United States, while Maverick, with just under freezing temperatures, was the coldest. What makes a report such as this so startling is that Maverick and Yuma are hardly more than three hundred miles apart as the jet flies (we regret that the crow had become outmoded as an instrument of directional guiding).

When you read seemingly impossible temperature reports from Arizona, you can have infinite faith in the veracity and integrity of the Weather Man. We have watched him carefully for a long time. When he comes up with reports that tax the credulity, it isn't his fault. These crazy, mixed-up things just happen to happen in a state where you never know what's going to happen. Strange, indeed, are the whims and moods of our weather! And what wonderful fun! Another thing that is confusing to one trying to describe the months as they roll by in Arizona is that they vary year by year as the weather varies. One never knows what the next year will bring although weather scientists tell us we have been in a state of drought for about two decades. We have had snow and rain in proper seasons, but moisture has been below normal for a long time. Every now and then an expert

will come up with the dire prediction we'll dry up and blow away. We feel, though, that a veteran official of the Salt River Valley Water Users Association had the right idea. He never worried when a dry spell would set in and water behind dams on the Salt River got precariously low. His answer to the prophets of doom was this: "The rains will always come." They always have, if not in such liberal quantities as we would prefer. In this respect our admiration for the Hopi Indians is unbounded. These patient, plodding people live in a land scorched by the sun and withered by the wind; a dry, baked land where it would seem impossible for any kind of life to exist. Life exists there and it is a good life, a life that pleases the Hopis and have pleased them for generations. Days of hard, glaring skies follow days of hard, glaring skies and then at the proper time clouds will form and rains will come and the good, rich earth will send forth bountiful crops to repay the Hopis for their patience and plodding, and, no doubt, to reward them for their reverent homage to the rain gods with their sacred dances for rain. Maybe we should all dance for rain, although it is doubtful that the rain gods would be impressed or moved with the rock-and-roll or the hot-cha-cha.

If you live where winter starts growling in November and reaches an angry roar by January (and if you find that roar getting just a little bit wearisome) may we recommend Arizona's sun country for refreshing relief from winter's inclemency. The expression "sun country" covers a lot of territory the desert areas of Southern and Central Arizona and even the warm valleys of higher elevations in Northern and Eastern Arizona. Here a January day is a day to remember: cool and crisp mornings and evenings with warm, balmy hours in between. Come prepared for shirt sleeve weather. You can leave your top coat at home unless you like to wander about and we have lots of places to wander about in. Some parts of our state knows genuine, no fooling winter. January finds the White Mountains and the San Francisco Peaks wearing heavy cloaks of snow. Those who would sooner ski than eat will find the ski runs at the Snow Bowl on San Francisco Peaks hard and slick and fast. And then there may be snow at Grand Canyon. When that happens you'll find one of Nature's most spectacular spectaculars (now we sound like a TV Guide), truly one of the greatest shows on earth if you are thinking in terms of scenery.

"Canyon of Flames" "Painted Desert Vista" CARLOS ELMER "Autumn in Sycamore Canyon"

Speaking in terms of scenery and referring to the Grand Canyon, you will find there an entire book of weather wrapped in one glorious package. The golden days of October on the North Rim and the Kaibab blaze out in November when winter comes. Generally, the middle of November finds the road to the North Rim from Jacob Lake closed because of snow. All winter long, and up to late spring, the North Rim and the vast Kaibab is buried in snow and silence. Long gone are the tourists and stilled is the rattle of pots and pans in the kitchen of Grand Canyon Lodge. Thirteen miles across the Canyon, on the South Rim, things are a'humming as usual. The sign means what it says: OPEN ALL YEAR. A mile or so below the North Rim, at Phantom Ranch on the very bottom of the Canyon, guests will be splashing about in the swimming pool and will be enjoying gorgeous hours in the warm sun. Winter and summer a mile or so away! February in the sun country is January over again but with a double accent. We think the most eloquent recommendation for the month is that ball parks atPhoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Yuma are filled with hordes of big and minor league ball players getting ready for the coming season. One thing to remember: muscles, however high-priced and talented, need lots of sunshine for proper conditioning. Arizona's beneficial February sun provides that in abundance. You can be sure that the discerning gentlemen who have invested millions of dollars in the aforesaid high-priced and talented muscles are going to see that the weather is right for training or they will shop around some place else. Apparently they are satisfied with what they get for their precocious properties because they come back year after year.

March is a repeat of January and February only the sun gets sunnier, with one possible exception. The sunny days of March are generally interrupted with rain and almost every year a spring storm will bring snow to the sun country. You awaken one morning and find the desert mountains, usually pink-to-purple in the early morning sun, draped in shining white. The snow does not stay long (the sun quickly takescare of that foolishness). What we see in the morning is evidence, though, that it does snow in the sun country. Desert dwellers greet these rare storms with delight. They sort of break the monotony.

"Autumn Serenity" DEBS H. METZONG

April and May are the spring months of the wild flowers, the richness of the floral display depending on the amount of moisture that has been bestowed upon the desert during winter and early spring. This varies from one year to another and is unpredictable. During a normal year, the verbenas will be a purple haze on the sand dunes around Yuma as early as mid-February. From then until late May you can find wild flowers throughout all the sun country depending on elevation.

With June (and you can depend upon it) summer comes to the sun country and about the best description of summer in the sun country is this hot, just plain hot . That one word also describes July, August and early September. By that time, though, winter has fled the highlands, where cool, spacious forests offer their sheltered comfort, easily and quickly, to those seeking respite from the heat. The summer months in the mountains of our state are lovely months, offering unlimited recreational possibilities in perfect weather.

Also, for delightful summer weather the range country of Santa Cruz and Cochise counties has much to offer. In this respect a casual glance at the map is misleading. These counties are cool oases in the middle of a wilderness of desert. Summer rains are frequent, cooling and refreshing. Folks living down that way contend theirs is the best of all best possible climates not only in summer but the year round and they needn't look to us for an argument.

"Winter in Northern Arizona" RAY MANLEY

"A Lonely Winter Road" WAYNE DAVIS

As we said earlier, anyone who tries to describe the months of the year in Arizona had better watch his step and tread lightly and with care. It all depends on where you are standing. A desert year is one thing; a mountain year is another; and the year of the high plateau country still another. There are delightful inbetweens in this extensive landscape of ours that react in their own characteristic manner to the leisurely passing of the months and respond in their own individual way to the nuances of weather, the dictates of the sun. When you try to put them all in one package, you had better have a very big package and use infinite artistry in gathering all the tag ends together.

The best thing to do is to set forth and follow the open road where your fancy wills and the road beckons.

Winter desert days are warm in the bright sun while the mountains just up the road a spell are gripped in the white, silent embrace of heavy snow. In the high plateau country the storms come and go, pushed by the wind over the mountains of Utah and the wind whistles mournfully around the hogans of the Navajo. Spring in the desert brings wild flowers if there has been rain. Mountain streams flow wide and full, carrying the spring thaws to farm lands below. Summer's sun brings a blanket of heat to the desert, refreshingly cooling breezes to the pine forests. In the plateau country in summer the sun grips the land firmly and the land lies hot and dry until late summer storms, heralded by massive cloud formations, bring welcome rains. In late September the frost hits the highland and patches of gold dot the mountainsides where the aspen have changed overnight from summer's dress to autumn's more modish colors. The months have gone slowly by, the lovely months, and the year ends and we see it go with regret because it has been a lovely year.