4. Piestewa Peak Park (formerly Squaw Peak Park). A beautiful winding road takes you through an exceptionally lovely slice of natural desert, right in the middle of town. There’s a trailhead here for an extremely popular hike to the top of the 2,600-foot peak. Parking is limited, so be prepared to wait for a space, or to park far away and walk. If it’s too crowded, no worries, it’s still worth driving in, because the drive back out offers stunning views, all the way across the city to South Mountain.
Leaving the park, turn left on Lincoln Drive and travel 3.5 miles east, past the beautiful grounds of the Arizona Biltmore Hotel and golf course, to Tatum Boulevard. At Tatum, turn right and decide whether to end your day with a serious hike, or with a series of more touristy experiences. If you’re a hiker, head to:
5. Echo Canyon Recreation Area. From the parking lot just off Tatum and McDonald Drive, you can pick up a trail to the top of Camelback Mountain, the hump-shaped granite-and-sandstone behemoth looming above you, one of Phoenix’s most prominent landmarks. Fair warning: Parking can be even more challenging than at Piestewa Peak. The hike is rated strenuous, so don’t underestimate it. The payoff at the summit: some really great views, and marvelous photo opportunities.
For a less heart-racing but equally authentic Phoenix experience, take 44th Street south to:
6. Papago Park. This 1,500-acre park is home to the Phoenix Zoo, the Desert Botanical Garden, a great public golf course, and some wonderful rock formations, including the famous Hole in the Rock, a large eroded chamber that passes all the way through a sandstone hill—another great photo opportunity.
Leaving Papago Park, take Galvin Parkway southwest to Van Buren. A mile or so west and a block south, on Washington Street, you’ll find the:
7. Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park. This interesting ruin and display of artifacts tells the story of the Native American people who first settled the Salt River valley, some 2,000 years ago. These people, known as the Hohokam, built a sophisticated system of canals to shunt river water to their fields. In the late 1800s, long after the Hohokam were gone, European and American settlers co-opted the ancient irrigation system and enlarged it. That canal system still functions to this day.
There are many options for lodging in the Phoenix area. For a historic hotel, consider the Hotel San Carlos, an elegant downtown hotel that once hosted the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart. For a first-class resort, consider the Arizona Biltmore. Built in 1929, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and host to every U.S. president from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush, the Biltmore is the epitome of class.
| Phoenix Loop Highlights | ||
| Phoenix Points of Pridephoenix.gov/pio/points-of-prideSouth Mountain Park10919 S. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85042(602) 262-7393State Capitol Museum1700 W. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 85007(602) 926-3620azlibrary.gov/azcmHeard Museum2301 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004(602) 252-8840heard.org | Piestewa Peak Park2701 E. Squaw Peak Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85016(602) 261-8318Echo Canyon Recreation Area (Camelback Mountain)4925 E. McDonald Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85018(602) 261-8318Papago Park625 N. Galvin Pkwy., Phoenix, AZ 85008(602) 495-5458Phoenix Zoo455 N. Galvin Pkwy., Phoenix, AZ 85008(602) 286-3800phoenixzoo.org | Desert Botanical Garden1201 N. Galvin Pkwy., Phoenix, AZ 85008(480) 941-1225dbg.orgPueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park4619 E. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 85034(602) 495-0901Hotel San Carlos202 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004(602) 253-4121hotelsancarlos.comArizona Biltmore2400 E. Missouri Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85016(602) 955-6600arizonabiltmore.com |
Scenic Side Trip 5
Willcox to Benson
via Fort Bowie, Chiricahua National Monument, Douglas, Bisbee, and Tombstone
211 miles, 5 hours 45 minutes for drive time, more for optional routes, stops, and sightseeing
A Copper Queen trumps a Silver King in the town too tough to die
From Willcox to Benson on Interstate 10 is a distance of just 35 miles: a short, flat stretch that can be easily driven in half an hour. If you’re not in too much of a hurry, consider this scenic alternative. It will cost you 150 extra miles, and anywhere from 5 hours to a full extra day, depending on how much time you spend enjoying the stops along the way.
If you’ve already driven some of the other routes in this book, this one will be a change of pace. There isn’t a single white-knuckle mountain road, just gentle, mostly empty highways, and the total distance is only about 200 miles. There’s wonderful scenery, especially the amazing “hoodoos” in Chiricahua National Monument, but the primary attractions this time around are historical, with the vast, open countryside serving as context. Hike to the ruins of Fort Bowie, tour an underground copper mine, or watch a gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This is the Old West at its best, with some good fun for the whole family.
The Chiricahuas
Leaving Willcox, take the first exit off Interstate 10, Haskell Avenue, and follow it 4.5 miles to East Maley Street. This is the beginning of AZ 186, which will lead you out of Willcox to the southeast. The mountains looming in the distance are the Chiricahuas, so called because they were the territory of the Chiricahua Apaches. This rugged range is part of southern Arizona’s archipelago of “Sky Islands,” isolated peaks that support remarkably diverse ecosystems (see sidebar, “Sky Islands”). Surrounded by semiarid desert for miles in every direction, the Chiricahuas have pine forests in their upper reaches and are home to a wide range of wildlife, including mountain lions, ocelots, bears, and even the occasional jaguar.
Back in the frontier days, the latter half of the 1800s, this area was the scene of some of the most vicious fighting in the Indian Wars. The Apaches were the last holdouts against western expansion, and they didn’t let go easily. The two best-remembered warriors of that era, Cochise and Geronimo, were both Chiricahua Apaches, and both spent much of their lives in these mountains.
AZ 186 is a purpose-built highway with a single destination, the Chiricahua National Monument, but you can also see the Fort Bowie National Historic Site if you don’t mind a slight detour along the way. Fort Bowie was the headquarters of the Army garrison charged with bringing the renegade Apaches to heel. The fort was well provisioned, well manned, and extremely well armed. Even so, it took the Army more than 20 years to accomplish its mission—strong testament to the cunning and persistence of the Apaches. Armies are adept at fighting other armies. But when the enemy is truly dug in, so at home they’re like part of the landscape? That’s another kind of fight altogether, and it was a tough one, for both sides.
To see the old fort, keep a sharp eye out for Mogul Road, about 20 miles out of Willcox. Turn left (east), and follow that unpaved road for about 7 miles, until it joins Apache Pass Road, where you’ll find the parking area for Fort Bowie. The hike to the fort from here is about 3 miles round-trip and is rated moderate; interpretive signs will guide you. The fort, which was abandoned in 1894, is a fascinating ruin of crumbling adobe walls and foundations spread over a large area. Also on the site are a small museum and the ruins of the Butterfield Stage Coach stop, the target of many Apache attacks and the site of several bloody battles. As you hike back out through Apache Pass, imagine how it must have felt for the young soldiers who were stationed here 150 years ago. They were in forbidding terrain, surrounded
