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…
Grand Canyon wrangler Remy Kelbel prepares one of the mules at the South Rim for a morning ride. Kelbel is one of up to nine wranglers employed at the Canyon by Xanterra Travel Collection. By John Burcham
Riding High
‌Remy Kelbel was 4 years old when she rode a horse for the first time. She didn’t come from a riding or ranching family; it was pure chance that her Aunt Vonna took her to a stable near her hometown…
The setting sun colors the sky over the layered buttes of the Grand Canyon, as seen from the South Rim. Frequent visitors recommend arriving at the rim an hour before sundown to fully experience a sunset at the Canyon. By Adam Schallau
The Canyon
Editor’s Note: As we begin a new year, we continue the celebration of our centennial with another classic from our archive. This month’s piece was written by Frank Waters, a prolific, award-winning…
Storm clouds whip up waves on Lake Mohave. By Joel Hazelton
Joel Hazelton: This Is My Story
It’s good to have an excuse to leave the house, even if you aren’t that optimistic about what you’re going to find out there. Last March, my wife, Kristen, and I took our dog, Cholla, on an overnight…
An aerial photo of Lake Powell’s Reflection Canyon displays the reservoir’s current and former water levels, along with the canyon’s looping course. By Gary Ladd
Lake Powell
When plenty of water was sloshing around Lake Powell in the 1980s, I briefly encountered Floyd Dominy, who’d been the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation when Glen Canyon Dam was completed…
A 16th century map of the areas surrounding the Gulf of California.
Seeking Father Kino's Tinajas
Astrolabe photograph courtesy of Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago, Illinois.MY INTEREST IN FATHER KINO CAME FROM A PROJECT I PERFORMED FOR THE U.S. FISH…
Painting of children sitting around a fire lit by an angel is by Ted DeGrazia.
Christmas Everywhere
Cut the fruitcake, pour the sherry. Christmas comes, and it is very Queer and sweet that every nation Will pursue a celebration While the world is breaking under Such a blast of human thunder. Still…
Among the ways Arizona Highways has celebrated the Christmas season over the years is this Ed Ellinger photo from Red Rock Country. It appeared on the magazine’s back cover in December 1960.
Christmas Past
In 1956, Lawrence Clark Powell wrote an essay titled Arizona: The Wrinkled Land. Of all our contributors, he was one of the most esteemed. Among other things, he was John Steinbeck’s bibliographer…