Photograph by Suzanne Mathia
17th Annual Photo Contest Finalists
Photographs: Amon Carter Museum of American Art
The Enduring Photographer
Laura Gilpin was born on the north side of Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1891. At an early age, she was drawn to photography. Her father, perhaps glimpsing the talent she’d eventually share with the…
Photograph by Dawn Kish
Learning the Ropes
 “Live bait.”  That’s what today’s training is called. More properly, “tethered rescue” — an advanced swift-water technique for rescuing unresponsive victims from whitewater situations. The rescuer…
Photographs by David Zickl
In For A Bumpy Ride
This story starts with falling off a mountain bike, onto wet red clay, in front of a lot of people.  Riders from the Verde Valley Cyclists Coalition have offered to take me out on the first of two…
Photograph by Steven Meckler
Santa Cruz Chili and Spice Co.
Chiles have been a part of Jeanie Neubauer’s life for as long as she can remember: Her father, Gene England, started the Santa Cruz Chili and Spice Co. in 1943. Today, Neubauer runs the family…
Photograph by Nick Berezenko
Take the High Roads
WILDCAT CROSSING Bighorn sheep gather in a grassy meadow along Forest Road 24, part of the route to Wildcat Crossing. | Joel HazeltonWildlife-watching trips are great…
Photograph by John Burcham
The Grandmother of All Ponderosas
I call her the grandmother tree. She lives near the top of Mars Hill in Flagstaff, on a slope well away from established trails. Far bigger than any other ponderosa pine around, she is about 150 feet…
Photograph by Bill Hatcher
Great Big Trees
Standing just outside Saguaro National Park East, Nick Shipley and I take in the pale, jigsaw-puzzle trunks of sycamores towering all around us. Their graceful arms reach for the winter sky,…