Arizona or Bust: Mark's Arizona Site

Arizona's 47 Wilderness Areas (Covering 1.4 million acres)

Maricopa County Park System (Greater Phoenix Area)

City of Phoenix Park System

HikeArizona.com (Very comprehensive)

AZ State Parks (There are 31 state parks.)

National Parks within AZ (There are 22 national sites in AZ!)

Virtual Hiking (See sites, before you go.)

AZ Central Hiking Archives (Covers the whole state in detail.)

Scottsdale Park System (Large number & variety of parks and trails.)

Seven Summits (7 highest peaks for hiking within Phoenix proper.)

  Camelback Mountain (At 2,704 feet, Best views in town, Strenuous)

  South Mountain (2,660 feet, Strenuous)

  Piestewa Peak (2,608 feet; Formerly named Squaw Peak, Strenuous) 

  Shaw Butte (2,149 feet, Moderate to Strenuous)

  North Mountain (2,104 feet, Moderate to Strenuous)

  Lookout Mountain (2,054 feet, Strenuous)

  Shadow Mountain (1,928 feet, Moderate)

There are numerous hiking and outdoor groups on Yahoo, and new ones are added frequently.  Here are the groups I belong to: 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/takeahikeaz/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canyoneer/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zion_National_Park_Hiking/ 

Hiking:  Before you go

1. Be sure to tell someone where you are going and approximately when returning.  (Even if it means leaving a message)
2. Add to cell phone:  Arizona Highway/Travel Info, 1-888-411-7623.  Be sure to call this line before you go, or from your cell while you're on the road.  (Or visit them on the web beforehand, visit www.az511.gov)
3. Wear Proper Footwear
4. Review maps and Forest Service or State/Local information and websites.
5. If going into remote/wilderness areas, avoid hiking alone. 

Hiking:  What To Bring (10 items recommended by Arizona Search & Rescue authorities, plus 4 of my own.)

1. Water - The guideline is to carry 8 ounces per mile.  If you have no idea how long you'll be hiking, take more than you think you'll need, and in case you run out on the trail, leave some inside the trunk of the car.  The goal is to remain hydrated, so drink a little even when you're not thirsty.  You'll drink more water if you can get at it easily.
2. Food - For short hikes, take salty snacks like nuts and seeds.  Those, along with dried fruits, need no refrigeration.  For long hikes, take along something more substantial, such as peanut butter & jelly.
3. Sunscreen - Apply sunscreen before going out in the sun, and re-apply often.  Even though you may not sweat as much as back home in Ohio, non-sweat formulas are best.  If you have fair skin, buy a small pocket-size or clipon keyring-size, as well as a larger bottle.  Your lips can also burn, so buy chapstick with SPF protection, found at every drugstore in Arizona, but not found often in Ohio.  
4. Camera - My personal favorite item to bring.  Don't forget yours.  My photo pages have over 150 Arizona pictures.
5. Hat - It's best to bring a tight-fitting hat as you never know when the winds will kick up, or it might be windy at higher elevations.  As a veteran of a sunburnt head, I recommend bringing it along.
6. Hiking Boots - For short hikes, graded trail (urban) hikes, or hikes where there is no elevation gain, tennis shoes will usually work out fine.  For all other hikes, hiking boots are highly recommended. 
7. GPS-Enabled Cell Phone - Though your phone may not find a signal in most state and national parks in Arizona, carry it with you on your hike for emergencies.  To get free up-to-date weather, travel and road-condition news, call Arizona Highway/Travel Info (Add to cell phone), 1-888-411-7623.  Be sure to call this line before you go, or from your cell while you're on the road.  (On the web, visit www.az511.gov)
8. Sunglasses - Since the sun is out 99% of the time, this is a requirement.  Be sure they fit tightly.
9. Whistle and CD - If separated from your party, these can be live-savers.  The whistle will also frighten some animals away, and the cd can be used as a reflector.
10. First Aid Kit - If you stay on the trail, you may never need a first aid kit, but its always good to have one.  In case someone has a bee allergy, Benadryl or other anti-histamine might be good.  At a minimum, carry tweezers (for cactus needle removal), a few bandages, antiseptic cream and aspirin.
11. Map & Compass - On longer hikes, a map can help you relocate your party, or at least allow you to backtrack if needed.  A GPS device is ideal.  Walkie-Talkies, the standard for many years, are falling out of favor due to satellite phones and GPS devices.  A compass will assure that you're heading in the right direction on the map.  Be sure that someone in your party knows how to read a map and orient a compass correctly.
12. Flashlight/Headlamp - If you happen to get lost, you may be hiking later than planned.  Some type of light will help prevent stepping on one of Arizona's many nocturnal creatures. 
13. Extra Clothing - If you happen to get lost, you may be hiking later than planned, and the spread between daytime highs and nighttime lows is often 30-35 degrees.
14. Other best bets for carrying on hikes, based on their weight - Pocketknife, Waterproof Matches/Cigarette Lighter, Garbage Bag (variety of uses)

• Rattlesnakes are usually shy, but can be provoked.  Whether you see one or hear one, simply step in the opposite direction.  Do not disturb it in any way.
• Due to the interior heat, never leave expensive electronics, film, or cameras loaded with film, in the car. 

With the popularity of shared-use trails (Horses, Bicycles & Hikers), there are a few simple rules:

• Runners and hikers yield to equestrians/horses

• Bicyclists should yield to everyone else

• Downhill traffic should yield to uphill traffic

Painted Rock Art is known as "pictographs", and pecked Rock Art is known as "petroglyphs".

One of the many things that draws folks to the great outdoors here in the southwest is the remains of ancient Native American cultures like the Hohokam around Phoenix and Tucson, the Salado in the Supes, the Sinagua up around the Verde Valley and Flagstaff, and the Anasazi and Mogollon along the Colorado Plateau country. It is a wonderful experience to encounter these ruins out in the wild, without fences, gates, signs, or trailmarkers. However, for this experience to continue, its important that people visiting the ruins act with respect - otherwise, it would be all to easy for the land managers to declare areas off-limits. Some basic rules should be followed.

• Leave it where it is
• Don't eat or go to the bathroom in a ruin
• Don't lean on the walls
• No pets!
• No fires                                                     
• Camp at a distance
• Don't touch the rock art; Rock Art, both painted "pictographs" and pecked "petroglyphs" are fragile, and easily affected by the oils in your hand.

The Colorado Plateau

The southern and western ends of the huge geological formation called the Colorado Plateau is referred to as the Grand Staircase.  Its layers of sedimentary rock have been lifted, tilted and eroded, and its colorful cliffs stretch from Bryce Canyon in Utah to Arizona's Grand Canyon.  The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, a separate park in Utah, is part of this huge formation.

The scale of the staircase is enormous...The sedimentary rock layers were 10,000 feet thick before erosion began carving. 

The bottom layer of rock at Bryce Canyon is the top layer at Zion, and the bottom layer at Zion is the top layer at the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon now estimated at 17 million years old, 3 times older than earlier estimates

It's been an icon of the majesty of nature, a popular subject of photography and a must-see vacation destination, yet the Grand Canyon's exact age has long been a mystery.  Scientists now say that at least part, possibly all, of the canyon is 16 million to 17 million years old.

The canyon's towering walls, with their endlessly alternating layers of rusty red and burnt orange-colored rock, serve as a vertical timeline of Earth's history extending over one billion years.  But while the age of the sediment layers has been well-established by geologists, settling on an age for the canyon itself was a bit trickier.  In recent years, geologists have bandied about two different theories on when exactly this natural wonder began to form, said Carol Hill of the University of New Mexico, co-author of a new study on the canyon's age.  One group dated it to a modest 5 million to 6 million years old based on the age of gravel washed down by the early Colorado River, while another group suspected that the western portion of the canyon is much older than that. 

In 2007, Hill, along with lead author Victor Polyak and co-author Yemane Asmerom, also of the University of New Mexico, used a recently-improved technique on mineral deposits collected at 9 sites.  By analyzing deposits from cave formations in one layer of the canyon's rock, they arrived at the more ancient age of 16-17 million years old, which is relatively young considering Earth's 4.5 billion years.  The finding was released in the March 7 issue of the journal Science.  

Why are the Red Rocks red?

The edge of the Colorado Plateau south and east of Grand Canyon, in Sedona for example, is called the Mogollon Rim.  Sandstone is porous, and when water carrying dissolved iron drains through the sandstone, some of the iron is left behind, and it is this iron in the form of iron oxide, which is red, that coats the grains of quartz and gives it color.  The red rocks of Sedona, then, originated from sediment in a sea or floodplain, while others originated from blown sand on dry land or in coastal areas. They can be distinguished by their colors, some more bright orange than others, some red, some tan. The bright orange rocks are more than 250 million years old. The white or grey rocks are either limestone that formed at the bottom of a sea, or else they are sandstone that has lost its red color because the color has been flushed out by water. There is also much basalt, extruded by volcanoes, in the area. Millions of years, sometimes hundreds of millions of years, went into the creation of what is now Sedona. 

Here is a great article on this topic, suitable for any reader:  http://geology.utah.gov/online/pdf/pi-77.pdf

Ever get lost while hiking?  I have....

Next time that happens and you're unprepared, direction can be determined by the sun, or simply look at the barrel cacti nearby.  (Pictured)

Unless there are extreme conditions (excessive shade or a steep slope), barrel cacti grow leaning south. 

Book:

• Arizona Birds: From the Backyard to the Backwoods, by Jim Burns' (Published by The University of Arizona Press, $17)

Area Audubon chapters:

• www.maricopaaudubon.org

• www.sonoranaudubon.org

• www.desertriversaudubon.org