Illustration in shades of blue by Adam McCauley shows a sasquatch walking at night through trees with a similar shape to its body.
Neither Hide Nor Hair
SO, HERE'S MY BIGFOOT STORY. On the last night of a llama trek in California’s Sierra Nevada, we camped somewhere around 8,000 feet. It had been an eventful trip: creeks swollen by snowmelt, a near-…
Jagged mountains form a layered panorama at sunrise in a view near Rustler Park, part of Southeastern Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains. Named for the cattle thieves who once holed up there, Rustler Park is known for its birding and wildlife-watching opportunities. | Jeff Maltzman
The Great Beyond
Spring snowmelt fuels an ephemeral waterfall in Gaddes Canyon, south of Jerome, in late-afternoon light. This canyon is on the east side of Mingus Mountain, one of the…
Pioneering ornithologist Florence Merriam Bailey is shown in an undated portrait. Bailey’s method of quietly observing her subjects helped usher in the modern approach to birding and birdwatching. | Smithsonian Institution
Standing Perfectly Still
ON A LATE-SUMMER DAY IN 1929, all manner of visitors came to Bright Angel Lodge, the rustic hotel perched on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. A pair of rangers sat boldly, dangling their cowboy-…
Thunder River Falls pours from an opening in a steep cliff in the Grand Canyon. From here, the Thunder River — referred to in this story as Thunder Creek — flows for only half a mile to its intersection with Tapeats Creek, making it one of the world’s shortest rivers. By Rich Rudow
Thunder River: An Adventure in the Canyon
Editor’s Note: The celebration of our centennial continues with another wonderful piece from another wonderful writer. This month, it’s Jonreed Lauritzen, who was our intrepid wanderer in Northern…
A close-up of a light purple flower cluster against a green background reveals a camouflaged caterpillar with subtle orange hues.
Bruce D. Taubert: This Is My Story
Many landscape and nature photographers will tell you not to go out for a shoot with only one possible subject in mind, because you might not find what you’re looking for. As I’ve progressed in my…
Joseph Specter is pictured in the living room of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, in Scottsdale.
Joseph Specter
Frank Lloyd Wright had no regard for the tall. That’s a reminder many visitors receive when they explore Taliesin West, the legendary architect’s winter headquarters in Scottsdale. During Wright’s…
Bruce Simballa (on oars) and Kenton Grua (steering) guide an authentic Whitehall boat, the kind used by John Wesley Powell’s party, through the Grand Canyon’s Granite Rapids for an Imax film in 1984. Powell’s group portaged these rapids, but modern boatmen have the skills and experience to run these boats through the Canyon’s largest rapids. By Rudi Petschek
Whatever Boats You Float
The rapid we started with this morning gave us to understand the character of the day’s run. It was a wild one. The boats labored hard but came out all right. The waves were frightful and, had any of…
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…