Take a trip back through time aboard the Yuma Valley Railway. Traveling alongside the beautiful Colorado River, you will not only enjoy lovely views of the river and be able to watch the Sonoran Desert flow by, but also be able to view local wildlife in the West Wetlands Park, the only Nation Heritage Area [...]

Chiricahua National Monument, located in southern Arizona, is one of several “sky island” mountain ranges surrounded by expansive desert grasslands. Chiricahau was sculpted by ice, water and wind over millions of years. By far the most noticeable natural features in the monument are the rock pinnacles. Rising hundreds of feet into the air, many of [...]

In November 1974, two young cavers, Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts, were exploring the limestone hills at the base of the Whetstone Mountains in Arizona. In the bottom of a sinkhole they found a narrow crack leading into the hillside. Warm, moist air flowed out, signaling the existence of a cave. After several hours of [...]

Tucked in a canyon on the Colorado Plateau, deep within soaring sandstone walls, is one of the most sacred sites to the Navajo Indians. They call it tseyi “place within the rocks.” The name was corrupted by Spanish explorers to Chelly, and eventually to Canyon de Chelly. Just east of the town of Chinle, Arizona, [...]

Rustler’s Rooste, located in Phoenix, Arizona, promises beef and brew with a view … and they deliver. The legend goes that the original site, atop a butte in the foothills of South Mountain, was a hideout for cattle rustlers. These days, it’s a great steak, barbecue and beer spot. The two-story building, perched atop a [...]

Arizona is a land of contradictions. For many people, the state is synonymous with hot, low-elevation deserts, covered with cacti and creosote bushes. In point of fact, more than half of the state lies at an elevation of at least 4,000 feet above sea level, and it possesses the largest stand of evergreen Ponderosa Pine [...]

Who would guess that in the Spring, wildflowers bloom in profusion, even in the deserts areas of Arizona? Yet Arizona is famous for its yearly displays of color. However, there are two distinct wildflowers seasons, owing to the ranges in altitude. Therefore, we’ve broken this article into two sections — the top 5 place to [...]

For more than 1,000 years, the Hohokam peoples occupied the land that would become Phoenix and The Valley of the Sun. These amazing people created 135 miles of irrigation canals, growing crops and building a great civilization. Their irrigation channels were eventually modernized and adapted by several companies in Phoenix to continue carrying water to [...]

Arizona has a turbulent geologic past — covered by large inland seas on several occasions, uplifted, stretched, squeezed, uplifted again, rocked by thousands of volcanic explosions, weathered and worn. Thanks to these titanic forces, it also has a huge diversity of minerals found in few other places on Earth. In particular, the state of Arizona [...]

The people of Flagstaff, Arizona, have a unique way to ring in the New Year. No Waterford Crystal glittering ball for these folks! Instead, courtesy of the Weatherford Hotel, citizens and guests get to watch a 70-pound silver pine cone (8 feet long by 4 feet wide) make an elegant descent to mark the midnight [...]