Tall cottonwoods and flowering plants reach toward the steep sandstone walls of Paria Canyon, a remote destination in Northern Arizona. Known for its hiking opportunities, the canyon is part of the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. By Jack Dykinga
Colors: The Music of the Eyes
Editor’s Note: In the final installment of our centennial salute, we present an essay by Jack Foster, who ranks as one of the very best writers we’ve ever published — he…
Gil (left) and Troy Gillenwater search for a suitable campsite near the Sierra Ancha during their 1982 trek across Arizona. With them are Judy (left) and Grandma, their pack mules for most of the 810-mile journey. By Gil and Troy Gillenwater
The Path of Most Resistance
“We wanted to stay away from towns and cities and to trace the paths of Ancestral Puebloans and pioneers and prospectors. We wanted to walk 800 miles back into a different time and dimension.” —…
Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson made news around the world when she reappeared after her purported 1926 kidnapping — but nowhere more so than in Douglas, where her re-emergence set off a media frenzy. | LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KEITH WHITNEY
On The Third Day She Rose Again
A few hours before a summer dawn, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson walked out of the Chihuahuan Desert and came back from the dead. Five weeks earlier, on May 18, 1926, McPherson, one of Southern…
Much of Herb and Dorothy McLaughlin’s photography documented the rapid growth of the Phoenix area in the mid-20th century. This photo shows downtown Phoenix’s Central Avenue, looking north toward North Mountain. By Herb and Dorothy McLaughlin
Two Can Play at This Game
A‌bercrombie and Fitch, Sears and Roebuck, Mork and Mindy, Ben and Jerry, Simon and Garfunkel … some names are better together. They’re more memorable that way. And over time, it’s hard to imagine…
The clear water of Oak Creek tumbles over a small waterfall in the Slide Rock area of Oak Creek Canyon, near Sedona. At the time this photo was made, the Slide Rock area had not yet become an Arizona state park; it received that designation in 1987. By Josef Muench
Remembering Arizona
Editor’s Note: The celebration of our centennial continues with another wonderful piece from another wonderful writer. This month, it’s J.B. Priestley, the eminent novelist, playwright and essayist…
A color photograph shows a smiling white man in a blue plaid shirt. He is anchored to a rock wall with climbing gear and holding a camera with a large lens.
Help Support Our Friend John Burcham's Recovery
Earlier this month, our friend and longtime Arizona Highways contributor suffered a catastrophic fall while rock climbing in a remote part of Sedona. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and severe…
A new aspen shoot rises from earth charred by the Dragon Bravo Fire on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This photo was made just south of Cape Royal Road on October 1, the day the road reopened to the public. By Amy S. Martin
Listening to the Land: Reflections on the North Rim
A week or two after the summer solstice, mirage-inducing heat across the desert Southwest creates a low-pressure vacuum. Winds, weighted with moisture, sweep in from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of…
Stars and the Milky Way fill the night sky over Wotans Throne in a view from Cape Royal, on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim. The Canyon’s world-renowned dark skies have made it a haven for stargazers — and, since 2021, the home of an astronomer-in-residence program sponsored by Grand Canyon Conservancy. | Sean Parker
Making a Night of it
So, here I am, gazing more than 2 million light-years into the universe from a spot a mile deep and a billion years inside the Earth. I’m at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It’s 26 years ago — not…