The San Francisco Peaks, Arizona’s highest mountains, loom over a hillside of evergreens and wildflowers at sunset. The Peaks are sacred to several of Arizona’s tribes, adding deeper meaning to an effort to rename one of the summits. By Michael Wilson
Home of the Clouds
You don’t need a Ph.D. in anthropology to decipher the names of many of Arizona’s landmarks. The Grand Canyon is just that. The Vermilion Cliffs radiate a deep red at sunset. The Salt River flows…
Reddish ponderosa pine trunks contrast with green pine, spruce and Douglas-fir needles on the Kaibab Plateau, north of the Grand Canyon. Featuring elevations of up to 9,200 feet, the Kaibab Plateau is known for mild summers and snowy winters. By Tom Bean
Forested Highlands
Remembering gives a place life. Think back to plum-colored storms in summer and the sound of thunder booming through the woods. Ferns uncurl around fallen grays of aspen trees. The bright whites of…
Aspens mingle with ponderosa pines in Sandys Canyon, a scenic hiking destination southeast of Flagstaff. This view is from an overlook west of Canyon Vista Campground, which is just off Lake Mary Road (Forest Highway 3). By Tom Bean
Headed for Higher Ground
At Sheeps Crossing, in the White Mountains of Eastern Arizona, grasses and flowers grow on a log in the West Fork of the Little Colorado River. Sheeps Crossing, along…
A rolling sea of evergreens stretches to the horizon in a view from the White Mountains’ East Baldy Trail. This challenging hiking route is one of two that ascend Mount Baldy, the highest peak in the White Mountains. By Laurence Parent
Baldy: The Mountain and the Myth
Editor’s Note: This month, we continue the celebration of our centennial with another wonderful piece from our archive. Although we’re best known for our photography, we’ve also featured some…
Swimmers enjoy the Tempe Beach pool in 1943, 20 years after it opened. | TEMPE HISTORY MUSEUM
Summers at the Beach
As the sun rises over Tempe Town Lake, a goldendoodle pulls a woman wearing spandex along the paved riverwalk, past a flock of tethered swan boats. From the other direction, three college-age men on…
Author Noah Austin navigates an electric vehicle through the Tepees, a section of Petrified Forest National Park. While Arizona’s other two national parks, Grand Canyon and Saguaro, have fast charging stations nearby, the Petrified Forest area poses challenges for EV road-trippers. | John Burcham
Arizona Unplugged
“A national park is not a playground,” the late conservationist Michael Frome wrote. “It’s a sanctuary for nature — and for humans who will accept nature on nature’s own terms.” If we hold that to…
A Sikorsky helicopter lifts the remains of Chindesaurus bryansmalli, a dinosaur popularly known as “Gertie,” from the layered landscape of Petrified Forest National Park on June 6, 1985. The fossilized dinosaur was discovered near what now is called Hózhó Point. | Jeff Kida
Old News
On a cold, clear December morning, Adam Marsh takes in the panorama from Petrified Forest National Park’s Hózhó Point. Nearby, the Painted Desert Inn glows in the early light, its windows reflecting…
Amid falling rain from an isolated storm cell, a pair of rainbows appear over the sandstone buttes of Red Rock Country at sunset. In theory, all rainbows are double rainbows, but the secondary rainbow is often too faint to be seen. | Theresa Rose Ditson
Chasing Rainbows
Byron Neslen Another double rainbow contrasts with late-afternoon clouds near Stoneman Lake, south of Flagstaff. This photo was made during the summer monsoon, which…