Jun 8 2009
Ramsey CanyonRamsey Canyon, located within the Upper San Pedro River Basin in southeastern Arizona, is renowned for its outstanding scenic beauty and the diversity of its plant and animal life. This diversity—including such highlights as the occurrence of up to 14 species of hummingbirds—is the result of a unique interplay of geology, biogeography, topography, and climate.
Southeastern Arizona is an ecological crossroads, where the Sierra Madre of Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, and the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts all come together. The abrupt rise of mountains like the Huachucas from the surrounding arid grasslands creates “sky islands” harboring rare species and communities of plants and animals. This combination of factors gives Ramsey Canyon Preserve its tremendous variety of plant and animal life, including such southwestern specialties as the lemon lily, ridge-nosed rattlesnake, lesser long-nosed bat, elegant trogon, and berylline and white-eared hummingbirds. For more information, visit the Ramsey Canyon website.
A Folklore Preserve?
Nestled in Ramsey Canyon is the Arizona Folklore Preserve. Founded by Official State Balladeer Dolan Ellis and in partnership with the University of Arizona South, the Arizona Folklore Preserve is a place where Arizona's songs, legends, poetry, and myths are collected, presented for audiences of today, and preserved for the enrichment of future generations. For more information, visit the Arizona Folklore Preserve site.
Canyon de Chelly National Monument
Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, the cultural resources of Canyon de Chelly include distinctive architecture, artifacts, and rock imagery while exhibiting remarkable preservation integrity that provides outstanding opportunities for study and contemplation. Canyon de Chelly also sustains a living community of Navajo people, who are connected to a landscape of great historical and spiritual significance. Canyon de Chelly is unique among National Park service units, as it is comprised entirely of Navajo Tribal Trust Land that remains home to the canyon community.
Horse-back riding, hiking, jeep tours and four-wheel drive tours are all available at Canyon de Chelly as well as ranger-conducted activities. For more information, visit the Canyon de Chelly website.
Aravaipa Canyon
As a prime example of the Southwest's desert country, narrow and twisting Aravaipa Canyon has few if any equals. Located 50 miles northeast of Tucson, It is a stretch of incredible scenic wonder, filled with biological treasures that have attracted enough human traffic to make overuse a problem since the 1960s. Aravaipa Creek, shaded by cottonwoods, has cut a trough up to 1,000 feet deep in the Galiuro Mountains, and the canyon walls are wondrously carved and painted in subtle sandy colors. The creek runs year-round from springs, seeps, and tributary streams, and along the water grows one of the lushest riparian habitats in southern Arizona. The main canyon's length is about 11 miles, and the Wilderness extends well beyond it to include surrounding tablelands and nine side canyons. Seven species of native desert trout may be found here, along with desert bighorn sheep, an extensive variety of large and small mammals and reptiles, and at least 238 species of birds. For more information, visit the Aravaipa Canyon website.
Aravaipa Canyon B&B
A “must do” in Aravaipa Canyon is the Bed & Breakfast, Across the Creek at Aravaipa. Because the inn is 3 miles up a gravel road and then across a stream (high-clearance vehicles recommended), it's a long way to a restaurant. Consequently, innkeeper Carol Steele provides all meals. Guests entertain themselves hiking in the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness, bird-watching, and cooling off in the creek. The casitas are eclectically decorated with a mix of folk art and rustic Mexican furnishings and have tile floors, stone-walled showers, and shady verandas. For more information, visit the B&B website.
Information and article courtesy: Arizona Office of Tourism
