By Robert Samuelsen It’s hard to think about Arizona’s beautiful Town of Sedona without thinking about shopping, resorts, and hiking. Nestled on the edge of the Mogollon Rim, it’s red rocks with forested backdrops and volcanic caps make it an outdoorsman’s paradise. It’s this same scenery that defines it as a spiritual place – a place that a...
By Rob Samuelsen The noise woke me up in the middle of a dark summer night – the scratching and shuffling noise right underneath my cot. I was sleeping in an old style two-person wall tent with two cots and a wooden plank walkway in between the beds. My tired body tried to ignore it but the noise was moving around underneath me. Annoyed, I finally...
By Robert Samuelsen Nestled in the Tularosa valley in central New Mexico is the largest gypsum dunefield in the world! White Sands National Park includes 275 square miles of gypsum granules piled up in wind-blown dunes. While gypsum is plentiful, gypsum fields like White Sands are rare. To imagine bright white gypsum deposits 30 feet thick and up...
By Rob Samuelsen Historically, the Grand River originated from the continental divide in Colorado and flowed southwesterly across the Colorado Plateau to the confluence of the Green River. The conjoined river formed the Colorado River just south of Moab, Utah. For whatever reason, in 1921 Congress renamed the entirety of the Grand River to the...
By Robert Samuelsen In the amazing canyon country of southern Utah, there are naturally formed spans of rock – arches and bridges in geological parlance. In Arches National Park, there are over 2,000 documented arches while just a few miles south is Natural Bridges National Monument with three huge natural bridges. They may appear to be similar...
By Rob Samuelsen Many years ago my father decided to rent a Jeep in Moab, Utah to explore parts of Canyonlands National Park. At the rental desk, the attendant told my father that he was prohibited from going to Elephant Hill but other trails were open. As a teenager, the Elephant Hill prohibition made such a strong impression on me that it has...
By Rob Samuelsen For thousands of years, people have flocked to Sabino Canyon to use and enjoy the water because water is the lifeblood of the desert. Sabino Creek was a perennial stream funneling water from the higher elevations of the Catalina Mountains into an alluvial fan at the foothills of the mountain slope. More recently, the creek dries...
By Robert Samuelsen They won’t win a beauty contest, nor would they be considered a charismatic critter, but the collared peccary is commonly seen and is very much part of the arid southwest lore. Peccaries are territorial and mark their range using a scent gland on their posterior. By rubbing rocks and trees, they create an odiferous barrier of...
By Robert Samuelsen This may be a question that doesn’t need to be asked but it struck me as curious if not relevant. Somewhere between the perennial stream in the Sonoita valley and the dry sandy wash at the Tucson Country Club in mid-town, this watercourse changes names from Cienega Creek to the Pantano Wash. More narrowly defined, it appears to...
By Rob Samuelsen Since the early day of mankind, humans have used stone tools to prepare food. In fact, scientists have discovered grinding stones in all parts of the world going back more than 35,000 years. Here in the arid southwest, deep holes can be found in many streamside boulders where prehistoric people would gather to crush and mix leaves...
