Arizona has a lot of relatively unknown towns and regions. It was not until 1912 that the Arizona Territory was finally made into a state, the last one in the continental U.S. Over the last 33 years I have driven remote dirt roads and Jeep trails, hiked and backpacked into Wilderness areas and Native American reservations, and explored the odd spots of the state. I have made friends in many regions, often native residents, who have shared their intimate knowledge of out-of-the-way locales. I return to my favorite places frequently. If you have time on your visit to use Sedona as a base for day trips or overnight excursions, investigate some of Arizona’s Hidden Places. If not on this visit, then next time...

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Hiking, camping, biking, swimming, cliff jumping and diving, running, horseback riding, powerchuting, hang gliding, skydiving and touring by airplane, helicopter, automobile, van, bus, trolley, SUV, truck, 4 wheel drive vehicle. motorcycle, ATV, or Jeep is a personal choice and requires personal responsibility and accountability. Hiking, camping , and associated trail activities are dangerous and can result in injury and/or death. Outdoor activities, whether individual or commercial, expose you to risks. Risks are NOT eliminated by training or skill or having a cell phone with you. The information found on this website is not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. SedonaInformation.com assumes no responsibility, including but not limited to injury or loss due to the use of information found on this site.

Online Resources

Adventure Hikes and Canyoneering in the Southwest
dankat.com/sw hikes/content.htm

Check out the Arizona section for the Salome Jug, an incredible slot canyon that has a year-round stream, deep swim pools, and requires some technical rock climbing. Not for the novice. It takes about 2 ½ hours of highway driving from Sedona to get to the turnoff for the A+ Cross Road that will take you to Salome Creek and the Jug. Christopher Brennan provides extremely accurate driving directions, right down to the Mile marker and increments of one-tenth of a mile. His description of the hiking and climbing involved are about as good as it gets next to being there and his photographs give you an idea of what you’re getting yourself into. After you have read his Precautions Page, get going...

Todd’s Desert Hiking Guide
www.toddshikingguide.com/Hikes/Hikes.htm

What more can I say. Todd’s website is truly a gift to all those who discover it. One of my favorite sections on his website is “Secret Places – AZ”. Most of these hikes are oriented towards canyoneering with an emphasis on technical climbing for access. I prefer bushwhacking, Kung-Fu hiking, off-trail escapades, and canyon exploration without technical means, though I must say it’s fun to use his clues and at least try to figure out where the crazy hike he is describing might be found. Not to worry. Todd has an incredible variety of listed and defined hikes all over Arizona and the Southwest that will fulfill any explorer’s dreams. Of course, he’s hiked them all to boot.

Hidden Arizona: Places, People, and Businesses

Ajo Bikes
1301 E. Ajo Way
Tucson , AZ
520.294.1434
ajobikes.com

Since 1991 Frank Cook and crew have served up a crazy stew of two and three wheeled HPVs (human-powered vehicles) to the hungry clientele of Tucson and surrounding towns. Ajo Bikes is a massive store full of bicycle hustle and bustle and centered around the common theme of the joy of riding the highways, roads, and trails of the world. Frank got an early start in the bike business way back in 1974. His passion guided him along the two-wheeled trail, non-motorized of course, to create this outstanding bicycle heaven where everyone from toddlers, teens, to serious trainees can find the peddle intensity level they prefer and experience professional in-house guidance to support their ride.

I'm no newcomer to Frank's world either. I grew up on a Stingray with a banana seat, high chrome handlebars, and outrageously fat tires. I lived to ride and not only delivered papers daily but also rode to school, to swim team practice, and all over the forest preserves of Chicago's western suburbs. In high school it was a shiny new Raleigh Competition with Campy cranks and other state-of-the-art accoutrements that let me fly across the township like an eagle. Amazingly, though, I never caught the mountain bike fever and instead settled for a five-speed fat tire town bike, just right for zoomin' to the store or the local payphone.

Enter Frank Cook and his Bionx experimental crew. Bionx? Sounds like a new IPO or perhaps a artificial body part manufacturer on the biomedical frontier. Not so. Bionx is Canadian company (www.bionx.ca) that manufactures a bike kit that transforms an ordinary bicycle into a Lithium-powered supercycle, electric that is. Who knows, maybe I have been looking for a way to get into super shape and have fun at the same time and couldn't quite find a way to create that perfect Zen blend on a daily work-a-day level until now. Or perhaps it's the price of gas or the fact that our second car's tranny took a dive. You be the judge. All I know is that I have found the ultimate mix of exercise, travel, excitement, and pure childhood dream fun all wrapped up into my electric commuter mountain bike.

Imagine heading up a dirt road on the way to work, a 7 mile washboard dirt road that climbs 1.000 feet and has little traffic. Deer, javelina, and roadrunners dash across on occasion and baby bobcats have been seen playing on the side of the road near sunset. You hop on your trusty mountain bike, leave the pavement behind, and start your commute. Instead of a merely chugging your way up the grade your steady pedaling invokes a hidden assist that measures your pedal resistance and feeds you electric power accordingly. You set the power level and can design the calorie burn. Though you don't just sit there and glide up the grade (though on flat or near-flat surfaces you sure can!), you don't struggle to make it work either. You keep on keepin' on and are rewarded with a subtle boost that makes the ride go by quicker and easier, though no less fun. In fact, it's a whole lot of fun because you still get a workout, however your workout gets you much further down the road with much less effort.

Sounds sissy? Not even close. It's pure magic in a funny, new form, just like when the first bicycles hit the streets and the horses ran for cover. I cannot begin to tell you how much you might love this system. I find frequent excuses to ride to the grocery store a mile away rather than burn gas and drive the wagon. In town and at work I make sure everyone interested gets a test ride. And it's all smiles and laughter when they return. The Bionx is the perfect re-entry vehicle for older Terranauts who want to get back into bicycling and as well as back into shape. The Bionx kit can be purchased and installed by Frank and his crew on a wide variety of of bike frames including tricycles, mountain bikes, and ultra-lightweight road bikes so you have no excuse when it comes to how you plan to use it. It's not inexpensive though it does have an almost unheard-of 2-year warranty on the system components and a 1-year warranty on the battery. It's well-designed, sturdy, and costs only nickels and dimes to charge. I researched the kit's most expensive component, the 350 Watt Lithium-Ion battery, by calling several bike shops that sell the system, one in California and another in New York. I did this in order to compare notes with what Frank and his tech crew had explained to me about the system. Taking into consideration my 200 lbs., an average-weight mountain bike, and a brutal daily power discharge of the battery that takes place quickly on a short 60 minute ride, the battery will most likely last me 450-600 cycles. Put into another perspective, that's about 350 days of my daily commute of 23 miles round-trip. Totally economical. And besides, what price can you put on developing a healthy body and having miles and miles of fun?

Antlers Bar & Cafe
State Highway 288
Young , Arizona - 928.462.3265
Daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Whether you drive into Young via State Highway 288 from the south (30+ miles unpaved) or by Forest Road 512 from the north (16 miles unpaved), you'll travel many miles of dirt road with twisting, sometimes dangerous turns through roller-coaster sections of dense forest bordered by deep ravines and drop-offs. For your personal health and the safety of the back-country residents, please drive carefully and slowly on this quest for Pleasant Valley's hidden gems. This is one of the Southwest's most unique locales from both the natural perspective as well as the historical perspective.

Nestled below a section of Arizona's massive escarpment, the 200 mile-long Mogollon Rim, Young Arizona has a population of somewhere around 900 folks comprised of a nice cross-section of retirees, ranchers, Tibetan Buddhists, Mormons, and solitude seekers. Three public telephones, a few stores, and a lot of open land characterize this mountain valley Shangri-La. Here, too, you'll discover wilderness aplenty on all sides and in all directions; miles and miles of some of Arizona's most remote forest land and year-round stream terrain. It's a place that time seemingly forgot and the residents want to keep it that way. Keep this thought in mind if you visit because folks in these parts like their quiet seclusion and don't really care about sports bars and hi-def TV. This said, the Antlers Bar & Cafe is the perfect place to experience some local color and make friends with the Karaoke guy singing God Bless America at the end of the bar. Stay the night in one of the Antler's four rooms for rent and perhaps you'll dance the night away to the tune of an excellent CW band up from Apache Junction or Mesa while enjoying brews with the regulars.

The Antler's food is good, country-style cooking. Check out their pies, too. The Antler's fun began in 1946 and has continued to be the place to enjoy the end of a long day's ride or hard day on the ranch. Young is a fantastic base camp for super hikes that follow seldom-seen sections of streams such as Haigler Creek, Marsh Creek, Cherry Creek, Gordon Creek, or Tonto Creek. This is a valley, town, and bar that will find a fond place in your memory for many years to come.

C.O.D. Ranch
P.O. Box 241
Oracle, AZ
800.868.5617
520.615.3211
www.codranch.com

Oracle, Arizona is a peaceful, little town on the north side of the Catalinas just 30 minutes from Tucson. A small population of maybe 3,500 folks dots the map within this evergreen oak habitat. Edward Abbey spent many years in the neighborhood writing his eco-inspiration novels and earth-friendly articles and the Biosphere sits eerily a few miles out of town not far off the highway. All in all its a Taos, Sedona, or Santa Fe waiting to happen. What it's missing in pizzazz it makes up for in funkyness. Artists, poets, inventors, survivalists, outdoor types of all phenomes, and even a few gold panners make up just a part of the cultural stew. At an elevation of 4,550 feet the climate is cooler in the summer, especially at night, than almost any other southern Arizona towns except perhaps Bisbee. The rambling streets and hills and vales create homesites that provide either amazing views of the Catalinas and Galiuros or hidden domiciles tucked into oak groves and granite boulder spills. It's a unique place to live, work, or play and plenty of folks like Buffalo Bill Cody discovered that over 100 years ago. History abounds.

An amazing road, the Mt. Lemmon highway, leads east out of town and eventually turns to dirt for 20 some miles until it reaches pavement on top of Mt. Lemmon at a cool 9,000 feet above sea level. A few miles down the paved portion of this tiny avenue lies the historic C.O.D. Ranch, invisible to passing traffic because of its location in a wooded wash amidst the rural granite hills. Steve Malkin, the proprietor, has spent 35 years on and off in Oracle and most recently has skillfully renovated this handsome western ranch property. It serves primarily as a secret get-away for groups of 20 - 50 seeking a place for R & R, nature exploration, solitude and quiet reflection, or an inspiring get-together with friends, family, or co-workers. The C.O.D. is the kind of place you see in contemporary western movies when the director wants to set a mood of history-come-alive, rustic beauty, all endowed with a touch of gourmet class. Individuals and couples are welcome with advanced reservations though the clientele trends to the rent-the-whole-place, group-oriented kind. Small amenities like a private pool and hot tub add to the remote privacy atmosphere. And hey, Tucson, crazy culture and all, is only 30-45 minutes away if you feel like sushi some night or want to dance the night away at one of the many music venues that make that town musically infamous. All in all the C.O.D. Ranch fills some mighty big boots in the western world of historic ranch getaways so make sure to give Steve a call if you want to experience the real deal.

Essence of Tranquility
6074 S. Lebanon Loop Road
Safford, AZ
928.428.9312
www.geocities.com/essenceoftranquility
www.azhotmineralspring.com

One of my favorite secret stash getaways. Soak and renovate in 100 - 106 degree mineral water. The Safford area and Gila River Valley is well-known for its hot springs and hot wells. In fact it has the highest concentration of them in Arizona. Clarisse Drake owns and operates this low desert tropical paradise and works hard to keep it nice. Though tent camping or small R.V.s are welcome, there are Tipis and air-conditioned cabins for rent as well. Five private tubs and one outdoor tub grace the shaded area next to Clarisse’s home/office and are included in the price if you stay overnight. Day visitors pay by the hourly visit. I have watched this little homegrown resort grow from one tub with a trailer for rent into the mini-village it is today complete with common house, guest kitchen, Koi pond, and multiple outdoor tub rooms. Safford is an old farming and ranching community in the central part of Eastern Arizona that feels a bit like stepping back in time. It has a real downtown complete with a county building and town square. Downtown great Mexican food can be found at Chalo’s Casa Reynosa and the best breakfast for miles is served daily at the El Coronado Family Restaurant, a 1960’s diner on Main Street. Mt. Graham and the half-dozen or so astronomical observatories located on top make a nice side-trip from an overnight visit to the hot springs. For those who love to explore, dozens of local dirt roads get you out into the surrounding nature and extra special hidden destinations like The Gila Box, Bonita Creek, and Upper Eagle Creek. Call in advance for reservations, especially in cooler weather, because the Essence of Tranquility has scored a place in guide books like Falcon Guide’s Touring Arizona Hot Springs. It gets pretty busy with campers and tipi dwellers on the southwestern hot springs circuit and fills up particularly on Winter and holiday weekends.

Oh yes, in 2008 Clarisse added high-speed wireless internet access throughout the property, cable TV in the common house which is open to all overnight campers, tipi dwellers, and cabin renters, and added two smashing tile showers and a second bathroom to the common house as well. I am always pleasantly amazed at the way Clarisse transforms the Essence one step at a time to provide her visitors with an even more fulfilling experience.

GHS - George's Hamburger Shop
329 Hill Street
Globe , Arizona - 928.425.0650
Daily for breakfast and lunch

George and his wife run a tidy and tiny hamburger restaurant in Globe across from the grade school at the edge of Globe's old downtown. They offer a nice menu of Mexican food dishes in addition to the all-important hamburgers and french fries. Business really kicks in when lunch time comes so you might want to stop by before 11:30am or after 1pm avoid the crowds. My wife and I stumbled upon GHS on a trip from Sedona to Safford a few years ago. We're regulars now whenever we pass through Globe. When he's not busy during the lunch crunch time, ask George anything about Globe and he will be more than happy to provide you with an insider's view and knowledge. He has worked with real estate over the years and has considerable information concerning that particular local subject. Good folks all the way.

Golden Goose Thrift Shop
16701 N. Oracle Road
Catalina , Arizona - 520.825.9101
Open 10am - 2pm Tuesday through Saturday

Very few thrift stores have lines of customers waiting patiently outside before opening for a four hour window of shopping opportunity; fewer yet have extremely high-quality merchandise at crazy nice prices. The Goose is one of the few that does. The Goose is located just north of Oro Valley as you leave the Tucson metro area and head north on Oracle Road. The donations come from well-to-do folks that live in the adjacent golf course communities and retirement meccas. It certainly shows. Walk down the crowded aisles and watch the inventory fly off the shelves as hungry bargain finders scoop up big screen T.V.s, almost-new furniture, and every other household item you can think of. If I had a second-hand shop elsewhere, I would shop here and stock my store. Judging by the shoppers I've seen within the Goose I'd say that my idea is already in action.

Rodney’s
118 N. Railroad Ave.
Willcox, Arizona
Open 11am - 8pm Tuesday through Sunday
Monday 11am - 3pm

Rodney’s is a tiny restaurant tucked into the wall of historic buildings that lines one of Willcox’s famous streets, Railroad Avenue, and sits directly across from the city park featuring a large bronze statue of town hero Rex Allen, western movie star and country singer extraordinaire. If you blink, you’ll miss it, so slow down and look for Rodney’s sign and possibly a line of hungry patrons lining up on the sidewalk, awaiting their turn at the counter inside. Everyone from Frommer’s AZ Guide to the New York Times has discovered and written about Rodney’s place so it’s about time you did too. Try his catfish plate and pleasantly wonder how such great southern cooking found its way via Indiana (Rodney’s home state) to a little town in Arizona. P.S. - If you want to know who’s who in Willcox and what’s really going on around the area, ask Rodney.

The Station
1395 W. American Avenue
Oracle , Arizona - 520.896.9005 - 520.609.1162
Monday - Friday: 7am - 7pm
Saturday / Sunday: 8am - 4pm
www.fourthdimensionfuels.com

Megan Hartman owns and operates this wonderful store and community gathering place in Oracle, Arizona. The Station is the place to meet Oracle residents who are involved with green living, recycling, composting, African drumming, rammed earth building, rainwater harvesting, creative artwork, organic gardening, and alternative lifestyles. It's located next to the Oracle Fire Station on West American Avenue about 3/4 mile in from its intersection with Hwy 77 when you enter Oracle from the Tucson-side (west) entrance. Housed in an old air force barracks building that was moved to Oracle in the 1940's from Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson, the Station has a full line of natural foods, locally-produced goods, artwork, an espresso/coffee bar, and fresh treats. It's one of the few locations in southern Arizona where you can pull up outside and tank up with Bio-Diesel fuel for your green machine. Megan has dedicated a good portion of the Station as a community gathering place complete with a reading room and lounging area in front as well as the Back Alley Gallery, the back room of the Station, that hosts special events like the Saturday Farmer's Market, art openings, and classes. If you'd like to meet a nice cross-section of Oracle's cool residents, come on Saturday between 8am and 11am for the Farmer's Market and enjoy the constant flow of locals stopping in to sell their organic bounty, share local news, and sit outside in the courtyard enjoying the scene. It's a special place in Arizona. Megan plans to have an updated website in place for the summer of 2007. Until then her Bio-diesel division, Fourth Dimension Fuels, has a website explaining the benefits of the fuel they sell in Oracle.

Territorial Town Inn
628 South Main Street - in Old Town Camp Verde
Camp Verde, Arizona - 928.567.0275
www.stayinverde.com

When you travel by car and explore out of the way places, do you find yourself seeking out lodging that has local charm, character, and good value instead of staying in corporate, cookie-cutter hotels and motels? If so, the Territorial Town Inn will provide satisfaction on many levels. If you plan to explore a bit more of Sedona's surrounding sights such as Montezuma's Castle, Montezuma's Well, the Yavapai Tribe's Cliff Castle Casino, or the wild inner gorges of West Clear Creek's lower 25 miles, Camp Verde is the perfect overnight stop. And if you're visiting Sedona at the last minute during a busy holiday when every last bit of Sedona lodging is spoken for, you can do as I do and use the Territorial Town Inn as a safe harbor, serving as a convenient jumping-off point for a number of destinations including Sedona. The Inn is located in the historic, pioneer community of Camp Verde, just off Interstate 17 in the Verde Valley, the same north-central Arizona valley that shelters Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Cornville, Jerome, and Sedona. As you travel north or south on the interstate, take either exit 285 or exit 287 in the Verde Valley and make your way to Camp Verde's old downtown. Find and follow Main Street as it winds around the old downtown and look for the Territorial Town Inn on its west flank. It's about two blocks from Main Street's intersection with the General Crook Trail. If you need another landmark at this point just look for my friend Peter's drive-in liquor store just a hundred yards further. In fact don't just look, stop in and purchase a fine bottle back to your room. The owners of the Inn have done a tremendous job remodeling and re-designing an older motor hotel and transforming it into this comfortable, 12 room inn complete with southwestern interior design touches, super plush beds, and a nice front porch worth sitting on when the sun goes down. It's walking distance from oldtown C.V. though that doesn't mean a whole lot unless you want to browse through some amazing old antique and curio shops during the day since most local dining establishments are at least ten blocks or more distant. So relax, order in, and enjoy a quiet night of planning your next day's itinerary. There's really no limit to the exciting explorations available in the Verde Valley. I've spent 32 years in the Valley and still have a lengthy list of places on my "visit next" list. A week-long backpack traversing the whole 24 miles of Sycamore Canyon, the "Little Grand Canyon" at the Verde Valley's western edge, is high on my list...

Zemam's
2731 E. Broadway
Tucson , AZ
520.323.9828

Zemam's is located in Midtown Tucson on the N.W. corner of Broadway and Treat. If you like Ethiopian food you will leave totally contented; if you have never tried Ethiopian food and have an interest in ethnic, spicy cuisine, you'll probably enjoy it intensely. Owner Amanuel named his cozy restaurant after his mother and entertains an amazing cross-section of worldly clientele including local politicians, musicians, artists, students, hippies from the hills, gourmands, ethnic beatniks, and investigative diners. The food revolves around the regional bread of Eritrea and Ethiopia, injera, made from a grain called Maskal Teff. This somewhat rare grain has been carefully cultivated in Idaho (www.teffco.com) for over twenty years and fortunately allows true Ethiopian food to flourish in the United States. Injera is spongy, crepe-like, and round. It serves as the food plate as well as the utensils: you'll be using it to scoop up the food. Come with clean hands and an open mind since other eating utensils are not an option. I feel the best way to explore this spicy and well-seasoned food is to choose their sampler plate. Better yet, have your date get one too (with different choices) so that you can mix and match. For each sampler you get to select three of the dozen or so entrees, a totally filling and satisfying amount. My favorite dish is Yedoro Alicha, a mild, tender chicken that is slow-cooked with onions, garlic, ginger root, and spices. Bring your own wine or beer and Zemam's will serve it for you for a nominal corkage fee (they don't have a liquor license).