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…
The summit of Wahl Knoll, a peak in Eastern Arizona’s White Mountains, offers a view of an expansive meadow and other rounded knolls. Reaching an elevation of more than 9,700 feet, Wahl Knoll is off State Route 261 northeast of Big Lake. | Joel Hazelton
Summer Wears a Green Gown
Editor’s Note: If you were with us last month, you might have noticed, and maybe even read, Nancy Newhall’s excellent story about Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. It was the first in a series of…
Sunlight breaks through monsoon clouds seen from Carr Peak in the Huachuca Mountains of southern Arizona. By Laurence Parent
This Is My Story: Laurence Parent
You never know what’s going to happen when you head out into the wilderness during the Arizona monsoon. I got a reminder of that in September 2024, when my wife and I went on a camping trip in the…
This sequence of photos shows how a sliver of sunlight interacts with a petroglyph at Puerco Pueblo, part of Petrified Forest National Park, during the summer solstice. There are numerous such solstice markers in the park. Photos courtesy National Park Service
Puerco Pueblo Solstice Marker
On the day before the winter solstice, I follow Jon Hardes up a scree-covered trail at Petrified Forest National Park. I’ve come to see a petroglyph known to interact with the sun this time of year,…
Arizona Highways Hall of Fame: Jack Dykinga
  Jack DykingaPhotographer Born 1943 JOEL GRIMES For the past 100 years, Arizona Highways has had hundreds of contributors. But only one…