Favorite Location

[SuburbanArizonan]

Ok, since this place is sorta dead right now, I thought I'd start a topic!

Since Arizona is loaded with neat stuff to do, where do you like to be in the state, and what do you like to do when you're there? My favorite place and thing to do is just being at the top of the Mogollon Rim, looking out over the land. I find it peaceful. Now its your turn!

--Cody "Just trying to liven things up a bit" W

[BigCityAttitude]

In my aunt's pool in Surprise, cause damn is it hot!

[colin]

Holy crap, there's so much:

- Just about anywhere on the upper Verde River. There's a very isolated spot called Sheep's Bridge just north of Phoenix and across the river from the Mazatzal Wilderness that is just amazing, and I was at Perkinsville this past weekend which was just awesome (you can see the red rocks of Sedona in the distance from the hilltops).

- The eastern side of the Chiricahuas, especially when the creeks run in the spring.

- Bloody Basin: it's just off the interstate but it's SO isolated and beautiful.

- The Dragoons. You could stand on the main road for a full day and see 3-4 cars. There's also so much mystique behind them, like the whole Cochise thing.

- KofA near Castle Dome Peak. I've camped out here alone three times and have always been amazed by the experience.

- Redington Pass: Some of the best views of the Tucson Basin.

- Fairbank, a ghost town on the San Pedro near Sierra Vista. It hasn't been developed by the BLM yet, and the San Pedro Valley is GORGEOUS when the leaves on the alamos change in early Winter.

- The San Rafael Valley: right on the border with beautiful, sweeping grasslands and a ranchhouse that has been used in 4 or 5 films.

KofA has to be my favorite though. I've had some near-religious experiences out there despite being sober.

[Mith242]

Just curious, for those of us not as familiar with Arizona what is KofA? I haven't gotten to see a lot of Arizona but I did really like the Painted Desert area.

[colin]

KofA is a wildlife refuge in Western AZ north of Yuma. It stands for the King of Arizona Ranch. There's still some ranch stuff there, but I've never actually seen any cows there.

I only have one picture:

[SuburbanArizonan]

I love isolated places, though I fear getting stuck there. Kofa is prety cool. Love the Dragoons. So quiet, and legendary.

Who else loves hearing about the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine legend, in the Superstitions? I think its cool!

--Cody W

[convulso]

wow - so many amazing memories...no way to pick just one (hundred)...

in my experience, arizona (with the possible exception of the VOS - phoenix basin) could be a protected national park, top to bottom. from the time you hit the 'welcome' sign on I-40 coming in from new mexico to the time you bottom out near seligman on to kingman - damn. and that's just one interstate drive in the northern part of the state....

- monument valley

- north & south rims of the GC - and all the little hidden areas (like the havasupai community)

- flagstaff - man, what a great town.

- oak creek & walnut cyns

- it has to be said - all the 89A tourist towns (sedona, prescott, jerome...)

- organ pipe

- saguaro national park (or is it monument?)

- every last mind-blowing bit of the mogollon rim

- all the many dormant vocanoes with their fresh black basalt still in plain view (a lot of these are on the eastern side between the n.m. state line and globe)

- tucson!

phoenix is a low point for me. the sprawl, homogeneity, and bland newness is not appealing. the infrastructure is adequate, i suppose, but sunken interstates and southwestern motifs on the retaining walls are not my idea of civic beauty. they conceal what is often (not always!) ugly sprawl in the 'real' city. tempe, though by no means trashy, is a traffic nightmare that somehow manages to capture all the congestion and big-city frustration of phoenix with little of what would otherwise be college-town charm (a shame, since the ASU campus and environs are so nice). phoenix's growth has suffered terribly from the 'if we have endless land, we can build forever' syndrome. you could easily fit the metro area's population in one-third the space. talk about a lack of density...the drive from mesa to goodyear is almost as nuts as the drive from long beach to redlands...well, maybe not that crazy.

my favorite is probably the mogollon rim - anywhere along it. that, and the simple joy of driving west on I-40 from the rocky mountain wilderness of williams down, down, down to the western desert, where the mojave finally begins. there is a point on that descent where it seems that the whole West spreads out before you. what a reward to any cross-country road trip.

i hope to move to the southwest to continue grad school. i liked tucson and the way the UA campus fits into the city. it's a very small big city (or vice-versa). reminds me of albuquerque, but with an even more impressive natural setting.

[colin]

phoenix is a low point for me. the sprawl, homogeneity, and bland newness is not appealing. the infrastructure is adequate, i suppose, but sunken interstates and southwestern motifs on the retaining walls are not my idea of civic beauty. they conceal what is often (not always!) ugly sprawl in the 'real' city. tempe, though by no means trashy, is a traffic nightmare that somehow manages to capture all the congestion and big-city frustration of phoenix with little of what would otherwise be college-town charm (a shame, since the ASU campus and environs are so nice). phoenix's growth has suffered terribly from the 'if we have endless land, we can build forever' syndrome. you could easily fit the metro area's population in one-third the space. talk about a lack of density...the drive from mesa to goodyear is almost as nuts as the drive from long beach to redlands...well, maybe not that crazy.

Agreed. I've always disliked Phoenix, even driving through there (which is hard to avoid most of the time). I've found Tempe to be far too wealthy for my likes. Mill Avenue supposedly used to be sort of like what you find in the Nob Hill area along Central in Albuquerque, or around Main Gate Square in Tucson, but it has morphed into this awful collection of chain stores, office buildings and tacky brick facades.

i hope to move to the southwest to continue grad school. i liked tucson and the way the UA campus fits into the city. it's a very small big city (or vice-versa). reminds me of albuquerque, but with an even more impressive natural setting.

Also hotter than Albuquerque. I think you nailed it with the small town ideal. I'm amazed how everyone seems to be connected somehow here, especially in the Central area. It's the sort of place where it's very difficult to avoid seeing someone you don't want to see for a period of time without just staying home.

[MJLO]

my favorite place is at the top of superstition mountain. A climb I recomend to anyone on a day where it's not searing hot outside.