|
|
DORADO CRAFT CIDERS
SAN ANTON IO’ S CO LON IA L M ISS ION S
THE MEXICAN WOLF
REFINED LIVING, BIG ADVENTURES
The lure of the Grand Canyon Diving New Mexico’s great Blue Hole
M AY/J U N E 2 0 1 6
1
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 5
Natural Beauty
Bikes and bites in Utah’s parks Exploring the shores of Lake Powell
2
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 5
Phyllis Kapp
All the Dreams Come True 43 x 60 fr watercolor
Waxl ander Gallery celebrating thirty-two years of excellence
622 Canyon Road • Santa Fe, NM 87501 waxlander.com • 505.984.2202 • 800.342.2202
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
1
Welcome to NEVER-NEVER LAND. Rush hour is a beast.
GUNNISON-CRESTED BUTTE, COLORADO Try new things. Practice old habits. Relax and be yourself.
2
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Daily nonstop flights from Houston to Gunnison. gunnisoncrestedbutte.com/dorado (877) 381 9324
Texas-sized fun, all in one glorious place! Memorial Day - Labor Day, 2016 Experience a vacation destination like no other. Lush, climate-controlled indoor gardens welcome little explorers no matter the weather, while unique seasonal events and celebrations mean adventure is always close at hand. Take a dip in Paradise Springs resort pool & lazy river, now bigger and better than ever with a new Texas-themed, multi-level water play structure and more! Enjoy junior chef camps, live music and DJ parties, kid’s crafts, character meet & greets, themed interactive experiences and whimsical décor during our 13th annual SummerFest featuring the 1865 classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Book Your Summer Getaway Today!
GaylordTexan.com
| (817) 778-1000
PROUD PARTNER
PEPSI, PEPSI-COLA and the Pepsi Globe are registered trademarks of PepsiCo, Inc.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
3
TABLE of CONTEN TS
48
54
FEATURES
40
MAY/JUNE 2016
The National Parks at 100
48
Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service with a look at some of the Southwest’s best, from Arches and Big Bend to Zion.
Bikes, Bites and the Best of Utah What could be better than spectacular scenery paired with delicious food? Take a luxe cycling tour through Utah’s national parks on an epic culinary adventure. by Jen Murphy
54
Desert Island On the secluded shores of Lake Powell, summer’s neutral colors and sheer looks are a natural choice. photography by Erin Kunkel
64
Wild at Heart The Mexican wolf population sees a high degree of research and observation. Some people are worried it’s making the endangered animals less fearful of humans. by Will Grant
on t h e c ove r : Lake Powell, photograph by Erin Kunkel, styling by Stephanie Quadri.
4
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
LEFT: ERIN KUNKEL, STYLED BY STEPHANIE QUADRI. RIGHT, TOP: CONSTANCE HIGLEY, STYLED BY BRENDAN McCASKEY; JOEL SARTORE/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE (WOLF).
64
Escape ordi nary
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
5
20
32
26
71
36
DEPARTMENTS OUTDOORS
26 Deep Blue Something
Venture to the New Mexico desert for the ultimate diving experience.
IN TOWN
32 Beyond the Alamo
San Antonio’s missions offer a unique link to Texas’ colonial history.
80 M Y
DORADOMAGAZINE.COM
ON THE ROAD
36 Change of Arts
Discover how one man’s passion for the arts revived a small Colorado mountain town.
AT HOME
71 Desert Sanctuary
A science writer reconnects with nature in southern Arizona. Plus: Artful touches.
PA N O R A M A A SNA P SHOT OF T HE SOU T HWEST ’ S EV ENTS, C U LT U R E & P E O P L E TRAVEL
13 Rediscover the history of the American West at these road tripworthy towns, from Arizona to Texas.
GARDEN
16 These herbs thrive in
the warm climate of the Southwest. Here’s what to grow now and cook later.
DORADO
A New York transplant to the Southwest finds inspiration at Arches National Park in Utah.
8 Letter from the Editor • 10 Masthead • 11 Contributors
6
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
SHOP
18 ’Tis the season — we’ve
handpicked our favorite gifts for moms, dads and grads. Here’s what to buy for everyone on your list.
DRINKS
20 Best known for its
award-winning beers, the Southwest is becoming a hotbed for the next big thing in brewing: craft cider.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CRISTINA MITCHELL /STOCKSY; JEFF WASSERMAN/STOCKSY; COURTESY THE BLUE HOLE; JENNIFER BOOMER; DAVID L AUER; COURTESY NPS.
16
IF YOU WERE THE SUN...
YOU’D PLAY IT COOL. Flagstaff’s average summer temperature is a cool 82° flagstaffarizona.org | 800.842.7293 M AY / J U N E 2 0 1|6 • D O R A D O 7
L ET T ER FROM THE E DITOR
National Parks and Rec The Grand Canyon. Carlsbad Caverns. The Rocky Mountains. They are icons — colossal monuments that not only reflect the diversity and grandeur of the American landscape but also embody our nation’s highest ideals. “There is nothing so American as our national parks,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in a 1934 radio address from Montana’s Glacier National Park. “The fundamental idea behind the parks ... is that the country belongs to the people.” This year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and this issue marks the first anniversary of Dorado magazine. We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate both milestones than with a survey of our favorite national parks across the Southwest, from Arches to Zion. These protected spaces are an American birthright — the site of countless family vacations and cross-country road trip stopovers. In The National Parks at 100 (page 40), our writers share the personal, transformative moments they experienced while visiting these great natural wonders. Also in this issue, we visit some of the historical and natural parks that get a little less attention. Everyone remembers the Alamo, but few travelers make their way to San Antonio’s four other Spanish colonial missions, which are still being used for Sunday Masses
and weddings some 300 years after their founding (Beyond the Alamo, page 32). On the Arizona-Utah border, we explore the secluded shores of Lake Powell in a stunning summer fashion shoot (Desert Island, page 54). We hope this issue provides a little inspiration for your summer vacation — and that you get a chance to explore one of our national parks this year.
ON THE ROAD There are few things more quintessentially American than a road trip to a national park, such as Big Bend in Texas.
Jeff Ficker
JEREMY PAWLOWSKI
e d itor in ch ie f Dorado magazine
8
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
9
E D I TO R I A L
Editor in Chief
Jeff Ficker Creative Director
Caroline Jackson Crafton Design Director
Marc Oxborrow Associate Editor/Digital Editor
Ellen Ranta Olson Online Design
Chuck Rose, Aaron Heirtzler editorial inquiries: editor@doradomagazine.com PRODUCTION
Creative Shared Services Director
Christy Pollard Senior Design Manager
Todd Bartz Production/Pagination
Suzanne Duke Vice President of Enterprise Marketing
Kricket Lewis Subscription Services
Aani Parrish production inquiries: customerservice@doradomagazine.com
REALIZING your
DREA M
of HAVING an
ADVERTISING
Publisher
Chad Rose chadr@bcimedia.com Account Executives
Theresa Monaco
Lauren Reidy-Phelan
tmonaco@bcimedia.com
laurenrp@bcimedia.com
Marketing Coordinator
ORIGINAL , HA ND-CR AFTED
ENTR A NCE
Brittany Cupp Chief Executive Officer
Douglas Bennett Vice President of Finance and Operations
Bob Ganley To subscribe to Dorado magazine, visit doradomagazine.com. Dorado magazine is published by Ballantine Communications. Creative services provided by Casual Astronaut (casualastronaut.com). Dorado magazine will not assume any responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials. © 2016 Ballantine Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without prior written permission.
1275 Main Ave., Suite 737 • Durango, CO 81301 ballantinecommunicationsinc.com
10
lapuertaoriginals.com
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
CONTRIBUTORS
Photographer Erin Kunkel (Desert Island, page 54) works around the world but calls the foggy outer lands of San Francisco home. When she’s not behind the camera, she can be found gardening, cooking, dreaming of warmwater surf spots and road-tripping to the mountains of Colorado where she grew up. Her work has been published in Condé Nast Traveler, GQ, Architectural Digest and Sunset.
Texas-based journalist Michael Hardy (Beyond the Alamo, page 32) has written travel stories about New Mexico, Louisiana, Alaska and Sri Lanka. The former arts editor at Houstonia magazine, where he won the 2015 National City and Regional Magazine award for best arts and culture writing, his work has appeared in Texas Monthly, The American Scholar and The Boston Globe.
FAVORITE PLACE IN THE SOUTH W EST
FAVO R I T E PL AC E I N T H E S O U T H W E ST
San Juan Mountains, Colorado
Big Bend National Park, Texas
“I grew up in Colorado and have always loved where the lush San Juan Mountains meet the desert — the drive from Telluride to Canyon De Chelly is magic.”
“Because of its remote location in West Texas, hours from the nearest city, Big Bend isn’t overrun with tourists. There’s no better place to get away from it all.”
Writer Will Grant (Wild at Heart, page 64) was born and raised in Littleton, Colorado. He wasted a perfectly good bachelor’s degree in natural resources to live the good life as a Texas cowboy and horse trainer for six years after college. He’s been working as a journalist since 2010 and writes about the people, land and animals west of the 98th meridian.
Constance Higley (Bikes, Bites and the Best of Utah, page 48) is a food stylist and film photographer based in Phoenix. Inspired by the people, places and food of the Southwest, she loves telling stories by capturing the beauty of food and the importance of intentional gatherings.
FAVORITE PLACE IN TH E SOU THW EST
“From skiing to fly-fishing to the bluegrass festival, Telluride has always been a huge part of my life. It’s where I grew to love all the things that pushed me to pursue this career.”
Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, near Moab, Utah “The Needles District represents what I love most about the Southwest: It’s a rugged, labyrinthine landscape of sandstone and solitude.”
Experience outdoor recreation with spectacular views
Plan your visit today!
FAVO R I T E PL AC E I N T H E S O U T H W E ST Telluride, Colorado
Greenlee County, AZ M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O 11 www.growinggreenlee.org
economicdevelopment@co.greenlee.az.us
12
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
PANORAMA A S N A P S H O T O F T H E S O U T H W E S T ’ S E V E N T S , C U LT U R E & P E O P L E
T R AV E L
Westward, Ho! Rediscover the history of the American West at these road trip-worthy towns BY CELESTE SEPESSY
HISMITH83/FLICKR
The Hubbard Museum of the American West, a Smithsonian affiliate near Ruidoso, New Mexico.
PLUS:
16
| Garden
18
| Shop
20
| Drinks
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
13
PANORAMA
Tombstone & Bisbee, Arizona
Gonzales, Texas About halfway between San Antonio and Houston, Gonzales is one of the best-preserved historic cities in the
14
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Ruidoso, New Mexico
Clockwise from top left: A gunfight re-enactment at Tombstone’s O.K. Corral; the Gonzales County Courthouse, built in 1887; hold ’em or fold ’em at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino near Ruidoso, New Mexico.
region, with many houses and buildings dating back to the 1800s. MUST-SEE: Gonzales was the home of the first skirmish of the Texas Revolution, and visitors can see the canon responsible for the first shot for Texas independence at the Gonzales Memorial Museum. STAY: The Belle Oaks Inn plantation-style mansion matches the city’s heritage and charm; stay at the B&B for a grand experience, complete with a Great Gatsby-worthy garden pool.
Frontier history takes the forefront in this central New Mexico mountain town. Revisit the Lincoln County War on the Billy the Kid National Scenic Byway — more than 60 miles that wind through ghost towns, mining towns and undisturbed pastures at 12,000 feet elevation. MUST-SEE: Visit the Southwest’s Smithsonian affiliate, Hubbard Museum of the American West, for exhibits chronicling Native American, Hispanic and pioneer cultures. STAY: Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino sits under the Sierra Blanca Peak, making it the go-to basecamp for all things ski, golf or gamble. EAT: Enjoy a lazy morning (or happy hour with a Noisy Water wine) on the Sacred Grounds Coffee porch, which overlooks the city’s namesake Rio Ruidoso River.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: MATT McCL AIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETT Y IMAGES; DAVID HUGHES/ISTOCK; COURTESY INN OF THE MOUNTAIN GODS.
The silver boom heyday may have been in the late 1800s, but today, tourism is Tombstone’s main revenue. The tiny town was home to 1881’s famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which is now reenacted three times daily. MUST-SEE: Walk down the Tombstone Historic District and pop into the O.K. Corral and the Bird Cage Theatre for daily gunfights and nightly ghost tours. STAY: Head to Bisbee — Arizona’s great mining town just 25 minutes away — to spend the night in one of the Shady Dell’s vintage Airstreams or at the Copper Queen Hotel, a Victorian hotel built in 1902. EAT: Have dinner at Café Roka. This Main Street staple is Bisbee’s answer to localvore dining. Choose the short ribs with a zinfandel reduction, paired with an Arizona Stronghold red blend.
Texas is taco country, so have breakfast, lunch and dinner at Matamoros Taco Hut, where you can score dirt-cheap tacos made with maybe the freshest flour tortillas in the state. EAT:
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
15
PANORAMA GARDEN
Herbal Sensations These culinary herbs thrive in the warm climate of the Southwest. Here’s what to grow now and cook later BY E L L E N R A N TA O L S O N
A member of the mint family, lavender plants can do double duty as both an ornamental shrub and a culinary herb. They can be grown both indoors and out, but they thrive best in full sunlight and well-drained soil. Most varieties can be used in cooking — to dry lavender, snip the stems off the plant just after the flowers have opened and hang the stems upside down or lay them flat to dry. Wash the buds well, then dryroast them to remove some of the floral taste. TRY IT IN: The flowers lend a subtly sweet, citrus flavor to your favorite baked goods, such as lavender scones.
Mexican Oregano Typically relegated to those little packets that come with your pizza, oregano actually comes in two varieties — Mediterranean and Mexican — each with its own flavor profile. The Mexican variety is a bit more citrusy, with
16
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Give your dishes a little herbal pickme-up, like this baked brie topped with rosemary and a drizzle of honey.
CONSTANCE HIGLEY; OPPOSITE, CRISTINA MITCHELL /STOCKSY; ILLUSTR ATIONS BY ZHEMCHUZHINA / THINKSTOCK.
Lavender
Sugar cookies with lavender.
hints of lime that enhance the flavor of chiles and paprika, and it couldn’t be easier to cultivate. Full sun, heat and fertile, welldrained soil are all the plant requires. TRY IT IN: The herb’s citrus notes pair perfectly with traditional Mexican dishes like carne adovada.
Rosemary Stroll through any neighborhood in Phoenix or Tucson and you’re likely to be struck by the delightful smell of a rosemary bush — it grows so well in the desert that it’s become a mainstay as both a decorative shrub and a culinary herb. Rosemary thrives with six to eight hours of sun daily, even in the low desert, but it prefers the morning to early afternoon sunlight, with protection from the hot afternoon sun.
GET COOKING
Get the recipes for each of the dishes mentioned at doradomagazine.com/herbs.
TRY IT IN: When it comes to cooking, rosemary is surprisingly versatile — especially in beverages like lemonade spiked with the herb (and maybe a bit of vodka).
Desert Purple Sage All varieties of sage thrive in warm, dry locations, but you’re likely to be most successful planting desert purple sage, which is native to the deserts of the western United States. TRY IT IN: Sage’s earthy leaves have long been staples in hearty poultry stuffing and meat recipes, but it also pairs well with lighter items, like pasta and fruit. Our favorite snackable showstopper: caramelized pear and sage crostini.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
17
PANORAMA
DADS
MOMS
G R AD S
Poster Child Sometimes one word of motivation is all it takes. Channel their ambition with a stylish letterpress print. $42, westernrise.com
Drink Up
Hat Trick
Take breakfast in bed to the next level with this carafe set that doubles as a stunning objet d’art for her nightstand. $69, antekscurated.com
Ever since Teddy Roosevelt wore one on his trip to the Panama Canal, the iconic Panama hat has been the topper of choice for everyone from Paul Newman to Ernest Hemingway. This one is sure to stand the test of time. Starting at $600, montecristihats.com
SHOP
A Few of Their Favorite Things ’Tis the season! We’ve hand-picked our favorite gifts for the moms, dads and grads on your list B Y E L L E N R A N TA O L S O N DADS
See the Light Whether it’s cigars on the patio or a campfire in the woods, we like to channel the Boy Scouts: be prepared. Pack this hand-etched Zippo lighter by Brooklyn-based designer Jon Contino and you will be. $175, stagprovisions.com
MOMS
Well Booted From Mother’s Day brunch to an afternoon in the saddle, these Stetson boots pack a punch of both form and fashion. The leather keeps them classic, while the woven detail sets them apart from the rest. $335, stetson.com
18
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
GRADS
The Write Stuff Send them out into the real world in style with this limited-edition rollerball pen, crafted from 24-karat gold koftgari, titanium, Damascus steel and carbon fiber. $1,350, williamhenry.com
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
19
DRINKS
The Big, Boozy Apple Best known for its award-winning beers, the Southwest is becoming a hotbed for the next big thing in brewing: craft cider BY KARA NEWMAN
O
n the menus and blackboards of spots best known for wine lists and craft beer, another, up-and-coming beverage is finding its place. Hard cider was one of America’s original drinking traditions, dating back to Colonial days. Thanks to Prohibition, cider-making traditions slowly fell away. But
20
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
now, the fermented apple beverage is having a renaissance, including noteworthy sips made in the Southwest. “Cider is so versatile,” explains Josh Johns, manager/owner of Fire & Hops Gastropub in Santa Fe noted for its robust list of cider offerings, including New Mexico’s own Santa Sidra cider. Johns ticks off a number of motivations behind the cider boom: “It’s gluten-free. It’s refreshing, not high in alcohol. It doesn’t have as much gas, carbs or malt as beer.” But he soon lands on the ultimate reason to drink it: There’s a style for every taste, from bubbly and super-dry, almost like champagne, to sweeter pours flavored with fruits or spices. Echoing the rise in craft breweries during the last decade, artisan cideries have boomed in the last couple of years. Colorado and Texas in particular have been fertile ground for the exploding cider movement, which makes perfect sense given the thriving beer culture there as well. Consider, for example, Austin Eastciders, a pioneer among Texas cider-makers that
JEFF WASSERMAN/STOCKSY; RIGHT, COURTESY AUSTIN EASTCIDERS
PANORAMA
draws inspiration from English ciders (one of the founders, Ed Gibson, previously owned a cider bar in England). Using apples grown in Texas and elsewhere, Eastciders has become known for easy-drinking cider packaged in cans, such as Texas Honey Cider, blended with local honey. However, they’ve also made waves with experimental limited edition offerings, such as a cider infused with barbecue burnt ends for Austin Beer Week, and a forthcoming “bourbon cider,” aged in former Woodford Reserve barrels. Why the crazy experiments? Cider drinkers, particularly younger ones, are “looking for something different,” says Mark King, co-founder/president of Austin Eastciders. “People need to learn that they’re not sugar sweet — they’re not soda pop. They’re fermented apples. But once people get educated about the cider craft, they see how many flavors can be derived from the apples.”
www. haciendacollection.com
DRINK UP New to cider?
Give these three Southwestern favorites a try: S AN TA F E
Santa Sidra Dry
D E N VER
Colorado Cider Company
AU ST I N
Austin Eastciders Texas Honey Cider
Moderately dry (made with just a touch of cane sugar) and lightly fizzy, this is a crisp, refreshing and food-friendly pour.
Made with three types of hops and described by the producer as “a gateway cider for beer lovers,” it offers a bracing mix of citrusy lemon zest and fresh-cut grass.
Golden and fragrant, this mellow sipper made with local honey hints at caramel apples but doesn’t overwhelm with sweetness.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
21
SPECIAL SECTION
DRESS THE PART
Explore all the Southwest has to offer, from its high-end art galleries to the backcountry trails that beckon explorers. The experts at Chippewa and Filson share their top picks for what to wear and carry on any adventure. Shop these items at chippewaboots.com and filson.com
PERFECT FOR:
Trail Riding Near Taos Channel your inner equestrian in these sleek leather boots that work just as well in town as they do on the trail. Chippewa Women’s Roper Boots, $349.95
PERFECT FOR:
A Southwestern Music Festival ‘Tis the season for enjoying music in the great outdoors. Whether you’re heading to Telluride Blues and Brews or Austin City Limits, do it in style and comfort with these ankle boots. Chippewa Men’s Renegade Boots, $299.95
22
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Tickets? Check. Blanket? Check. Flask of bourbon? Check. Pack all the necessities in this just-theright-size duffle that’s durable enough to take a beating in the back of a truck (or the middle of a rowdy crowd). Filson Medium Duffle, $395
Go from the trail to town in style with a suede tote that’s rugged enough for the great outdoors and sleek enough for the big city. Made from boot-leather suede that’s weatherproofed during the tanning process, it’s the kind of bag that will only get better with age. Filson Rugged Suede Tote, $550
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
23
SPECIAL SECTION
PERFECT FOR:
Vintage Shopping
PERFECT FOR:
Hiking the Rockies When you’re hitting high elevations, there’s always a chance of stumbling onto some snow, no matter the time of year. These insulated, waterproof boots will keep your toes dry come hell or high water — literally. Chippewa Men’s Bay Apache Boot, $319.95
From Tucson and Durango to Santa Fe and Austin, the Southwest is home to some stellar vintage shops. Hit the shopping scene in your favorite town and dress the part in these Victorian-inspired lace-up booties. Chippewa Women’s Whirlwind Boots, $349.95
Heading to the mountains? Keep your gear dry with this lightweight, vinyl-coated backpack. The padded shoulder straps offer extra comfort for long days on the trail, while the oval base keeps it stable for easy loading on rocky paths. Filson Dry Duffle Backpack, $160
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
A Hill Country Hunt Stylish and waterproof, yes, but it’s the snakeproof feature that makes these a must-have for anyone heading out into the remote wilderness — especially if wading through tall grass is on the agenda. Chippewa Men’s Briar Pitstop Boot, $309.95 Swampy, muddy, messy — bring it on. This water-repellant travel bag has an interior pocket specifically for stashing muddy gear after a long day in the field. Filson Excursion Bag, $425
Large enough to pack your haul of vintage denim, light enough to carry through an airport all day, this rugged carry-on bag is built like a rolling suitcase, but with a soft cotton lining and interior straps to keep gear in place. Filson Rolling Carry-On Bag, $595
24
PERFECT FOR:
51A Highland Park Village, Dallas, TX 75205 M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
25
OUTDOORS
DEEP BLUE SOME THING Who needs the ocean? Peter Vigneron ventures into the New Mexico desert for the haunting experience of diving the Blue Hole’s secreted beauty
N
obody knows how deep the Blue Hole really is. In 1976, a pair of student divers squeezed through a narrow opening at the bottom of the hole’s uppermost chamber, descending to more than 100 feet. As the pair swam deeper, they kicked up a cloud of silt, which obscured the opening to the main cave. Neither made it back to the surface alive; it took a dive team from the New Mexico State Police six weeks to recover the second student’s body. Soon after, the city of Santa Rosa sealed the opening with a grate. When I visited Blue Hole this spring, teams of divers from the New Mexico State Police and the Albuquerque Police Department were dredging the upper chamber. The hole, 115 miles east of Albuquerque in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, is more than 81 feet deep but only 60 feet in diameter, and was formed when the area’s limestone bedrock was eroded and collapsed by an underground aquifer. As I watched, teams of
26
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
AQUA VITAE
New Mexico’s Blue Hole was formed when the area’s limestone bedrock was collapsed and filled by an artesian well, which pumps out more than 3,000 gallons of water per minute,
RYAN HEFFERNAN
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
27
According to local legend, the cave system could extend all the way to Carlsbad Caverns, 200 miles to the south, or even to the Gulf of Mexico.
STILL WATERS
Located 115 miles east of Albuquerque, the Blue Hole is the best open-water diving destination in the Southwest.
28
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Albuquerque, “everything turns very green.” In 2013, a team of divers from the ADM Exploration Foundation received permission to remove the grate and explore deeper into the cave system. Blue Hole is one of more than 20 lakes or sinkholes in Santa Rosa, several of which help feed the Pecos River. The water that feeds Blue Hole likely comes from the Ogallala Aquifer, and some of Santa Rosa’s sinkholes probably link up hundreds of feet below the ground. According to local legend, the cave system could extend all the way to Carlsbad Caverns, 200 miles to the south, or even to the Gulf of Mexico. If that is true, it makes Blue Hole part of perhaps the biggest system of caves in the world. The 2013 expedition didn’t make it far: Along with the grate, the city of Santa Rosa had dumped a truckload of rocks into the upper chamber, obscuring the tunnel into the lower chambers. The only glimpse of those caves came from the 1976 recovery mission, but there is at least one large chamber more than 200 feet below the surface. In late March, following the state police dredging operation and several expeditions to clean out the passage, ADM will return to explore further. Curt Bowen, ADM’s team coordinator, says Blue Hole could offer a major discovery. “This cave has the flow to have large-borehole capacity,” Bowen says. “We know that caves that have large amounts of flow” — Blue Hole’s 3,000 gallons is considerable — “also have large amounts of conduit, and there’s potential
COURTSEY OF THE BLUE HOLE
police divers cycled in and out of the water, siphoning out years of silt and rocks deposited from swimmers and the 1976 operation to install the grate. New Mexico may not have a reputation as a scuba diving mecca, but Blue Hole is the best open-water diving destination in the southwestern United States and part of a larger, unexplored network of caves. Groups regularly drive hours from Colorado, Utah and Texas, and over the past several years it has been the object of several exploratory cave-diving missions. Unlike other lakes and sinkholes in the Southwest, Blue Hole is fed by a powerful artesian well that pumps out more than 3,000 gallons of water per minute — enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool every three hours. The constant flow keeps Blue Hole from developing sharp temperature gradients and frees it from a visibility-obscuring algae, common in the region, that can make cave diving dangerous. Elsewhere in the Southwest, says Jason Greene, an instructor at the New Mexico Scuba Center in
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
29
DESERT DIVE
for large amounts of cave discovery beyond the restriction.” (Tragically, as this issue went to press, Shane Thompson, a member of the ADM team exploring Blue Hole, drowned at a depth of 160 feet.) Bowen doesn’t think there’s any chance the network runs to Carlsbad, but in past expeditions, ADM divers have mapped and documented the geography of hundreds of miles of new caves, and even discovered new species. “It’s secluded, it’s out there in the desert, and it’s never been touched,” he says. “There’s real science to be done there.” Hundreds of non-elite divers and swimmers visit Blue Hole every year, of course. Its 100-foot visibility and relatively confined space allow instructors to keep a close eye on students, making it a go-to location for divers hoping to gain open-water scuba certification. Recreational divers, of course, still won’t venture beyond the upper chamber. Santa Rosa’s 4,600-foot elevation means that an 80-foot dive in Blue Hole is comparable to 100 feet at sea level. Divers should be careful about traveling too soon after they dive, to avoid decompression sickness — Santa Fe, at an elevation of 7,000 feet, is only two hours away. Sean Greene, who has more than 100 dives at Blue Hole, recommends not flying for at least 24 hours after diving there. Blue Hole has two underwater platforms for divers to decompress while they surface, and the Santa
30
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
WATER DOWN
Over the years, the Blue Hole has been the object of several exploratory missions to map its immense underground network of caves.
Rosa visitors center has locker rooms and showers for divers who already hold open-water certs. A weekly dive permit costs $20, and a yearly permit is $50. Swimming is free, and there is a small diving platform on the hole’s eastern rim. Blue Hole has given New Mexico a strong dive community, and more than 3,000 divers train at Blue Hole each year. Several dive shops, including the New Mexico Scuba Center in Albuquerque, offer instruction. But be prepared: Because the well is constantly refreshed from the underground aquifer, the water is 61 degrees, no matter the season. That’s cold enough that divers usually choose a heavy, 7-millimeter-thick wet suit. It also makes for a refreshing swim when midsummer temps hit the high 90s. It’s unlikely that ADM will fully map Santa Rosa’s underground caves anytime soon. Cave exploration below 130 feet becomes time-consuming, and below 200 feet, perilous. “The chance is that the cave is going to be over 300 feet deep,” Bowen says. “But if you don’t go, you won’t know.”
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
For more of our favorite Southwestern adventures, visit doradomagazine.com/big-adventures.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CURT BOWEN; BEATRICE MURCH/FLICKR; RYAN HEFFERNAN.
The Blue Hole has become a popular destination for swimmers, as well as divers hoping to gain open-water scuba certification.
FIND YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE SECRET HIDEOUTS
PHOTOSUMMER New Mexico’s Destination for the Photographic Arts
· KILLER WEEKENDS · GEAR & HOW TOS
ADVENTUREPRO.US
From the project Future Perfect © Judy Natal 2016
Immerse yourself in New Mexico’s breathtaking landscapes and rich culture Beginning in June, PhotoSummer features photographic exhibitions, discussions, workshops and special events in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
photosummer.org M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
31
IN TOWN
BEYOND THE AL AMO Everyone remembers Texas’ most famous landmark, but few make their way to San Antonio’s four other colonial churches. Michael Hardy is a man on a mission
A
few minutes after noon on a Sunday, I stand beneath the whitewashed dome of an 18th-century Spanish church, listening to a mariachi band play a traditional Catholic hymn. Two violet banners flank the altar, rippling with air from an unseen vent. When the band finishes, the priest — a bespectacled Franciscan friar wearing a purple surplice and stole — stands up. “Welcome to the Mission San José,” says Father Rogelio Martinez, smiling and spreading his arms wide as if to embrace the packed congregation. “We come here to celebrate the Mass together. If this is your first time here, we would like to welcome you into our family.” Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, to give its full name, is one of the five Spanish missions established by Franciscan missionaries along the San Antonio River between 1718 and 1731 to convert Native Americans to Christianity and to reinforce Spanish territorial claims. Intended as self-sufficient settlements, each mission housed hundreds of American Indians under the strict supervision of Franciscan priests and the protection of Spanish soldiers. In exchange for food and security from marauding Lipan Apaches, some Native Americans agreed to live in the mission, work on a regimented schedule and receive religious instruction. Last year UNESCO designated the five missions as Texas’ first World Heritage Site. I’ve lived in Texas most of my life, but the only one of the five missions I had ever visited was the Mission San
32
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
SAINTS AND STONES
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CAROL HIGHSMITH/LOC (2); COURTESY NPS (2); ; SAN ANTONIO CVB
Clockwise from top left: the Moorish-influenced Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción; inside the restored Concepción; Mission San José, the “Queen of the Missions”; San José’s elaborately carved Rose Window; San Francisco de la Espada.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
33
BELL TOLLS
Mission San Juan Capistrano’s open, two-tiered belfry.
Last year UNESCO designated Mission San Juan Capistrano and four other Spanish missions, established between 1718 and 1731, as Texas’ first World Heritage Sites. war, neglect and encroaching development. Virtually all that remains today is the church, with its signature curved gable pediment — and even that was only added in 1850 by the U.S. Army to disguise the peak of the church’s new wooden roof. To see how the Spanish missions originally looked, I venture beyond the souvenir shops and photo-snapping tourists of Alamo Plaza to the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, created in 1978 to preserve the city’s four other missions, spaced about 2 miles apart along both banks of the San Antonio River, south of the city’s downtown. I begin my visit at the “Queen of the Missions,” the Mission San José. Thanks to a painstaking restoration carried out by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, it looks much as it did when it was completed in the 18th century. Surrounded by thick, 10-foot-high stone walls to
34
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
repel Apache attacks, the 8-acre open-air compound was used for cooking and military training. Built against the walls are reproductions of the spare, low-ceilinged living quarters where most of the mission’s several hundred Indians dwelled. On the north side of the complex are the mission’s most important buildings, the convento, where the missionaries and important visitors lived, and the church, which features a domed nave, a bell tower, and an elaborately carved baroque entrance façade. Built into the south wall of the church is the stunning Rose Window, considered the finest example of colonial Spanish stone decoration in the U.S. Although the church’s dome collapsed in 1873, it has since been fully restored, and San José is now an active Catholic parish that hosts weekly services, including its famous mariachi Mass. A friend of mine drives down from Austin to join me on my tour, and at the next mission, San Francisco de la Espada, we find a wedding in progress. Of the original five missions, only the Alamo is no longer a functioning Catholic church. In addition to holding regular services, the four missions are popular wedding destinations — so popular that the church is often off-limits to tourists, as today the sanctuary is to us. “I had no idea these missions were even here,” my friend marvels as we walk the peaceful grounds, enjoying the afternoon tranquility. “I thought it was just the Alamo.” Our luck improves at Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, where we arrived to find a wedding just letting out, the colorfully dressed guests taking pictures of each other in front of the oldest unreconstructed Spanish church in the United States. When the last of the guests finally exited the chapel, we slipped inside, reverently examining the Moorish-influenced architecture that has survived almost 300 years. My final stop is at the unprepossessing Mission San Juan Capistrano, best known for its dramatic white espadaña, an open, two-tiered belfry with room for three bells. Here, I follow a paved trail about a hundred yards down from the mission to a narrow stream marking the original course of the San Antonio River, which the region’s first Native American inhabitants called the Yanaguana, meaning “refreshing waters.” Over the ensuing centuries the river has been repeatedly dammed and diverted to reduce flooding, and later to create the concrete-lined River Walk, where today you’ll find tourists sipping an entirely different kind of refreshing water, otherwise known as margaritas. But standing above the ancestor river’s muchdiminished descendant, listening to the rushing water, it was just possible for me to imagine an earlier, wilder world in which an untamed river meant life and death to San Antonio’s missions — and the courageous souls who dared to make a home there.
TRAVELPIXPRO/ISTOCK
Antonio de Valero, better known today as the Alamo, site of the famous 1836 battle in which the Mexican army slaughtered nearly 200 Texas revolutionaries, including my ancestor Joseph Kerr, whose name is engraved on the grand memorial cenotaph in Alamo Plaza. Unfortunately, the Alamo is also one of the worst-preserved of the missions. Originally a 3-acre walled compound, it suffered over the centuries from
W W W . W I L L I A M H E N R Y. C O M
WI LLIAM H EN RY.CO M M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
35
ON THE ROAD
Once a magnet for summer travelers, Green Mountain Falls had fallen off the vacation getaway radar. Jen Murphy discovers how one man’s passion for the arts revived a small Colorado town
36
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
I
’ve always loved visiting sleepy destinations. Michigan wine country instead of Napa or Sonoma; the North Fork of Long Island instead of the Hamptons. There’s a certain charm and quirkiness to these more under-the-radar spots where locals vacation not because it’s trendy but because it’s tradition. When I heard of Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, a town of fewer than 800 people that sits just north of Pikes Peak, I was immediately intrigued. In a state of famous mountain towns — Vail, Telluride, Aspen, Breckenridge, Crested Butte — Green Mountain Falls has long been a locals’ secret. But in recent years, it’s gained national attention thanks to its burgeoning artist community and the annual Green Box Arts Festival. New York-based businessman and art collector Christian Keesee is largely responsible for the little town’s revival. At the turn of the last century, Green Mountain Falls was a summer vacation
COURTESY GREEN BOX ARTS FESTIVAL
CHANGE OF ARTS
GREEN DAYS
From left: An alfresco dance performance at the Green Box Arts Festival; Tomás Saraceno’s interactive sculpture Cloud City; festival founder Christian Keesee along with partner Larry Keigwin and son Blake; an evening concert under the pines.
mecca. “I grew up in Oklahoma City before the advent of air conditioning,” Keesee recalls. “Back then, any family from Oklahoma or Texas that could rub two nickels together would summer in Colorado to escape the humidity.” Keesee recalls long summer days fishing on Gazebo Lake, situated in the heart of town, and scrambling up trails to waterfalls in the surrounding woods. When Green Mountain Falls fell on hard times in the 1980s and ’90s, Keesee stepped in to save the place that held so many fond childhood memories. “I wanted to bring back the magic I experienced in the summers,” he says. “Green Mountain Falls had always been a wonderful place for people who like to relax and read and hike. But I thought, wouldn’t it be great if there was some intellectual or artistic component to the town.” Keesee, who is a member of the Director’s Circle of the Frick Collection in New York City, set about transforming old buildings into artist studios. In the summer of 2009, he introduced the
Green Box Arts Festival. The event, which takes place this year from June 26 to July 4, showcases works and performances from high-profile artists including international fiddle sensation Kyle Dillingham and sculptor Tomás Saraceno. A big draw this summer will be the Oklahoma City Ballet and throwback activities like bingo and square dancing. The festival’s success brought back summer crowds, and in turn, created the need for lodging. At the time, the only options were to rent a tiny cabin or pitch a tent. When a six-room lodge dating back to 1889 went on sale, Keesee purchased the building, gutted it and gave the town a destination hotel. The Outlook Lodge, which opened in 2012, was the impetus for a weekend road trip with my friend Katie. We were looking for a summer escape where we could unplug, find a bit of adventure and not break the bank. Green Mountain Falls, less than 90 minutes from Denver and 20 minutes from Colorado Springs, seemed like it could deliver exactly that. M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
37
RUSTIC PLEASURES
The Outlook Lodge and its new sister property, a restored 1950s motor lodge called the Little Beaver Inn, are best described as low-touch. There’s no reception desk or restaurant. Instead, a “local host” emailed us directions and instructions for retrieving our room key from a lockbox. We arrive to find a young couple from Boston sipping Colorado microbrews in rocking chairs on the wraparound front porch. They were contemplating skipping their conference in Denver and staying an extra few days at Outlook. Inside, the lodge is decorated with modern and midcentury furniture as well as original pieces by Kate Carr and other works from Keesee’s private collection. The shared kitchen, dining area and outdoor fire pit make the lodge feel like our own private home rather than a hotel. Katie and I set out exploring and well, small town might be an overstatement. Green Mountain Falls has one of everything you need: liquor store, post office, bar, deli, breakfast spot, church. We decide to explore the town’s original attraction: its system of hiking trails, accessible a short walk up the hill. Terry, our lodge hostess, prepared us brown bags filled with lunch from the town deli — turkey
38
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
sandwiches, potato chips, Gatorade and chocolate chip cookies — and trail maps. The 6-mile, out-and-back Catamount Trail takes us up steep switchbacks, past a cascading waterfall and through a technicolor meadow of wildflowers. We pause at the top and find a rock with epic views of Pike National Forest where we enjoy our lunch. We pass just two other hikers on our way down and marvel at the silence. To reward ourselves we head to the Blue Moose Tavern, where we feel like locals since we immediately recognize the Boston couple at a corner table. Colorado IPAs and an overflowing plate of nachos can only be followed by one thing: s’mores. Our welcome kit at Outlook included all the fixings — marshmallows, Hershey’s bars, graham crackers and roasting sticks. The four of us retreat back to the lodge’s fire pit. The clear starry night, the warmth of the fire, the sticky mess of melted chocolate and marshmallow kissing my lips makes me feel like a kid at summer camp. This is the magic of Green Mountain Falls. There’s a true sense of community that even strangers get to feel, whether you bond over the art experience, nature or toasting marshmallows around a fire.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF THE OUTLOOK LODGE; D. LAUER (2)
Clockwise from top left: A special delivery from The Pantry restaurant, known for its hearty “cowboy cookouts”; Keesee’s boutique hotel, Outlook Lodge; an evening fireside at the lodge.
Discover A Dozen Vacations in One Destination™ Get your free travel planner - www.durango.org - 866.631.7010
DORADOMAGAZINE.COM
Photo by Wally Pacholka, astropics.com
EXPLORE
DINE
ADVENTURE
5 Heavenly Spots Find out where to go for the best Southwestern stargazing.
7 Southwestern Chefs We Love Our corner of the country is home to some of the country’s most innovative chefs. Meet a few of the people who make the food that keeps us happy.
Up and Away Take to the skies in a hot air balloon, then end your day with a locally sourced feast in the desert.
doradomagazine.com/five-heavenly-spots
doradomagazine.com/float
doradomagazine.com/7-southwestern-chefs-love
Show us everything you love about the Southwest. Tag your photos with #MyDorado and we’ll share our favorites. @dorado_mag
@doradomag
/doradomagazine
/doradomagazine
editor@doradomagazine.com
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
39
40
• M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
The
National Parks at
100
THEY ARE OUR NATION’S GREATEST NATURAL TREASURE. CELEBRATE THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WITH A LOOK AT SOME OF THE SOUTHWEST’S BEST, FROM ARCHES AND BIG BEND TO ZION
Clockwise from top left: Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve; ancient ruins at Mesa Verde; a sea of cactus at Saguaro National Park; inside Carlsbad Caverns.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
41
The NATIONAL PARKS at
100
Road Trip ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, COLORADO The road out of the Fall River Visitor Center on the eastern side of Rocky Mountain National Park doesn’t look like much at first. The views are often blocked by trees. The asphalt bolts instead of swoops. From the seat of a bicycle it’s easy to believe things can’t get too tough. A few years ago I found myself in that park and on that road, the Trail Ridge Road, giddily zooming along to the sigh of a cool summer morning julienned in my spokes. It’d been years since I’d sat in the saddle of a road bike, but the movement, the rhythm, felt deeply familiar. Now, older and mellower, I settled in, strong and confident, just a dude in tights so tight they could make the wildflowers blush. Some friends and I had come to Rocky specifically to ride Trail Ridge, or 42 of its 48 miles anyway. Built in the 1930s, the road today must surely count among our country’s finest test pieces, especially for cyclists in a national park. Though the grade never goes beyond 7 percent, which is still pretty tough, about a quarter of the road remains above 11,000 feet. It is, after all, the highest paved through road in any national park, and it wends through fairytale terrain. There’s Hidden Valley and Iceberg Pass. Pullouts with
crenelated stone walls offer views of Forest Canyon and glimpses of Longs Peak, the park’s only 14er. Even at its high point, a butterfly might land on your nose. Eventually things did get tough. The road reared skyward and so began the long slog up nearly a vertical mile of climbing. I downshifted, found my spin and watched my sweat dot the pavement as the pace dropped to a crawl. On and on it went. Curve after curve. RV brakes singed the air yet somehow the suffering was all so lovely. The moody forests yielded to tundra. The tundra gathered into peaks. I saw bighorn sheep and elk. A stranger high-fived me when I hit the Continental Divide at a lung-taxing 12,000 feet. Although I never blew up and I never bonked, the hours-long effort had taken its toll. So that afternoon after burgers and beers in Grand Lake, a community of about 200 people on the western side of the park, I traded my ride for a fly rod and iced my legs in the cold waters of East Inlet creek. I caught one fish, then two, and soon more rainbows than I could remember. They were small but radiant and worthy, which, after a day like that, was exactly how I felt. —Tim Neville
Miles high on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.
42
• M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Colorado
NATIONAL PARKS Mesa Verde Great Sand Dunes Black Canyon of the Gunnison Rocky Mountain
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
43
A First Big Adventure BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, TEXAS Until I was 18, I hadn’t given much thought to Big Bend National Park, that yawning mass of Chihuahuan Desert that sprawls 800,000 arid acres across southwest Texas. I grew up in Minnesota, where “wild” meant freshwater lakes and pine forests so thick they blocked out the sun. Having so much beauty out our back door, my parents weren’t inspired to take their five kids on a National Lampoonesque National Park tour. My interest in Big Bend grew exponentially the year I was a broke college freshman who would do whatever it took to get away from the March freeze-thaw cycle in Minnesota. When my geology professor announced a spring
44
• M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
break road trip to Big Bend for an all-inclusive grand total of $150, I signed up without giving a second thought to the 2,746-mile, roundtrip van ride it would require. Almost immediately after the van turned south on I-35, the two seniors in the back row started discreetly mixing lemonade, beer and vodka, and passed it around the van in water bottles. As for food, our diet was largely corn tortilla chips and Pace Picante salsa, an exotic combo for a kid like me who grew up on cod and baked potatoes. By the time we arrived in Big Bend, 24 sleepless hours later, everything felt exotic: I was staring at a vast expanse of geologic wonders straight out of a John Wayne Western. The landscape was sparse, hot and intimidating,
yet alive with crimson hedgehog cactus flowers, and soaring peregrine falcons. We hiked the 14-mile South Rim loop with views deep into Mexico; studied 300 million-year-old sandstone layers; and paddled lazily down the Rio Grande River into Santa Elena Canyon, which shot 1,500 feet straight up from the river. I remember my geology professor, a bearded, recovering hippie, pointing to the rock layer on the canyon rim and referring to it as an “Oreo Cookie Layer.” I didn’t understand his analogy and hazily recall that I didn’t do very well on the post-trip geology test, either. Maybe that’s why, shortly after spring break, I switched my major from geology to philosophy. The rock formations’ names and ages may not have stuck with me, but my heady first visit to a national park, with its democratic promise of wild beauty for all, did. —Stephanie Pearson
P. 40–41, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY NPS; CHRISTOPHER MARONA /AR AMARK; KENNETH CANNING/ISTOCK; KURT LICHTENSTEIN/ISTOCK. P. 42–43: REGUL A HEEB-ZWEIFEL /JAI/CORBIS. P. 44: CAROL HIGHSMITH/LOC. P. 45: WITOLD SKRYPCZ AK /GETT Y. P. 46–47: PETE MCBRIDE /NATIONAL GEOGR APHIC CREATIVE.
The Rio Grande River, which marks the border between the U.S. and Mexico, flows along the southern boundary of Big Bend National Park; the soaring cliffs of Santa Elena Canyon.
Texas
NATIONAL PARKS Big Bend Guadalupe Mountains
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
45
The NATIONAL PARKS at
100
Canyon Dreams GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, ARIZONA I don’t know if I visited the Grand Canyon as a child. There are no photos, no stories from my parents about it. It’s a little weird, because I was born in Arizona — the Grand Canyon State — a place so deep in me that, when I leave it, I carry the scent of creosote and desert in my hair. I do have one vague memory of my grandfather standing on the rim in cowboy boots and a white T-shirt. But the image is so gauzy and thin, I think I must have dreamed it, even though my real-life memories of that man are as real as those walls that water and wind cut. No. The first time I went to Grand Canyon National Park, I thought a boy was going to propose. We sat on a rock ledge just off Bright Angel Trail, and I was convinced he was going to pull a ring from his pocket. There’s folly in certainty, though, and the big moment happened a few weeks later, when we were watching a college basketball game. The second time I went to the Grand Canyon, I stood only on its edge again, watching two California condors catch a thermal and glide until they dropped down into shadow and out of my view. I was there for a meeting, 10 years removed from the
proposal that wasn’t and gliding out of the marriage that grew from it. Still, though, I’ve not been deep into the canyon, the place where, Charles Bowden wrote, “the land rose, a river cut, the entrails of the Earth came into view.” I’ve tried. My backcountry permit requests through the park have been denied, but I keep submitting them — because I have to experience the shadows of the canyon for the first time in one big bite. Rim to rim and back again. As I write this, a photographer named Pete McBride is walking the length of the Canyon. That’s 277 river miles, but far more if you’re not in some rapid-riding boat. He is doing the thing I dream of doing, but in pieces. I am only good for 50 miles or so at a time. Still, though, he won’t see it all — because no one ever can. There are too many side canyons and waterfalls and winding nontrails that lead to nowhere and everything all at once. And I realize that, no matter how long it takes or how many river miles I travel elsewhere, there will always be canyon. It is the billion-year place, and I am just a whisper in its future, hoping to catch a thermal and fly. —Kelly Vaughn
Photographer Pete McBride captures a bird’s-eye view of the Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.
46
• M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Arizona
NATIONAL PARKS Grand Canyon Petrified Forest Saguaro
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
47
PARK AND RIDE
TerraVelo’s seven-day southern Utah itinerary takes cyclists through five national parks, including the red cliffs of Zion National Park.
BIKES, BITES AND THE
BESTOF
UTAH
What could be better than spectacular scenery paired with delicious food? JEN MURPHY takes a luxe cycling tour through southern Utah’s national parks on an epic culinary adventure
48
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Utah
NATIONAL PARKS Arches Bryce Canyon Canyonlands Capitol Reef Zion
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
49
I WISH I COULD FALL IN LOVE with the all-American
road trip. But hours in a car make me fidgety. My aversion to sedentary sightseeing is one of the major reasons that by my 30s I still hadn’t seen the legendary landscapes of America’s national parks. I’d trekked in Nepal and biked through wine country in France, but I had to yet to experience Yosemite, Yellowstone or the other wild playgrounds in my own backyard. When a friend told me about TerraVelo Tours, I knew my American road trip dreams had been realized. For me, the perfect road trip is by bike, not car. TerraVelo founders, David Levine and Rebecca Martin, found it crazy that so many Americans fly to Europe for bike vacations when they have spectacular scenery at home. “The difference is the level of luxury,” says Levine, who has cycled through more than 60 countries. “In Europe you can bike to a chateau for the evening and have a three-course gourmet lunch at a winery. We wanted to bring those standards to the States.” In 2014, Levine and Martin introduced weeklong itineraries in California, Wyoming and Utah. In a nod to the traditional park experience, cyclists camp along the way. TerraVelo camping, however, is
50
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
far from roughing it. Levine and Martin developed a five-star mobile glamping safari. Tents feel more like boutique hotel rooms, outfitted with Molton Brown toiletries and furnishings from ABC Carpet & Home, and a lounge tent has a fully stocked bar, club chairs and board games. TerraVelo’s southern Utah itinerary, which takes in five national parks in seven days, provides the ultimate deep dive into some of America’s most celebrated settings. I immediately enlisted my friend Phoebe, who admitted she was more intrigued by the fancy tents than the cycling. It’s a short drive from the St. George airport to camp, where our group of 15 is fit for carbon-fiber specialized Roubaix Expert Ultegra bikes. When Phoebe confides she usually rides a beach cruiser,
THIS PAGE: PHOTO BY CONSTANCE HIGLEY, STYLED BY BRENDAN McCASKEY. OPPOSITE AND PREVIOUS SPREAD, JUSTIN HACKWORTH.
COMFORT FOOD
Roughing it on the road isn’t too tough with luxe tents and dinners that feature braised quail with poblano chiles, saffron and chorizo.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
51
From left: TerraVelo guests can select a daily cycling journey that matches their ambition and skill level; a quiet moment back at the campsite; Arches National Park at night.
52
the staff switch her to a hybrid so she can ride in a more comfortable, upright position. Part of the appeal of traveling with TerraVelo is the flexibility. Guests who want to push their limits (me) and ride 100 miles a day can join the peloton group, while saner individuals (Phoebe) can opt to ride 20 to 35 miles a day, and spend the rest of the afternoon hiking, horseback riding or simply relaxing at camp. “I’m quite happy hanging at camp,” Phoebe assures the team after we assess our roving home for the next week. TerraVelo’s chef and sous chef have prepared a welcome feast of escarole salad with apple, blue cheese and hazelnuts, and apple-marinated tomahawk pork chops. “The food may turn me into a peloton-level cyclist so I can justify eating more,” Phoebe whispers as she requests seconds of the chocolate pot de crème. Our first morning we set out to explore Zion National Park. I always thought geology was boring, but this trip converts me to a rock nerd. It’s impossible not to be awed by the otherworldly landscapes, which seem to dramatically change every 10 miles. Our guide points out that millions of years ago we’d be pedaling through a vast desert. Intense winds blew the sand dunes on top of one another forming the cross-bedded red and white strata of Zion’s towering Navajo sandstone cliffs. The next
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
day, in Bryce Canyon, we find ourselves surrounded by the area’s famous hoodoos — tall, skinny spires that look like totem poles chiseled from stone. When you travel with TerraVelo, it’s easy to unplug. I rise each morning for sunrise yoga. Phoebe sleeps in and books afternoon massages. There’s no Wi-Fi at camp and very little cell service. Nightly entertainment consists of campfire conversations, guitar singalongs and Mother Nature. One evening a guest astrologer brings out a high-powered telescope so we can gaze at the Milky Way. Day four is like a best-of-the-best hit list. We start out riding along Scenic Byway 12, pausing to snap pics at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the wild Hogback Ridge, and cross into Capitol Reef National Park. With so many famous national parks, Utah’s state parks fly under the radar, even though they’re equally impressive. As we ride through the Martian-like terrain of Goblin Valley State Park, named for its spooky, goblin-shaped hoodoos, I can’t help but wonder if this area would have national status if it were in a state like Delaware, without so much competition. Phoebe surprises me the next morning at yoga. “I really want to try the crème brûlée French toast so I need to move more,” she whispers as we settle into our first Down Dog. I try to stifle my laughter. Our breakfast spread is impossible to resist.
L-R: JUSTIN HACKWORTH (2); PEXELS
ROCK AND ROAD
IT’S EASY TO UNPLUG. I rise each morning
for sunrise yoga. There’s no Wi-Fi at camp and very little cell service. Nightly entertainment consists of campfire conversations, guitar singalongs and Mother Nature. Yes, there are fresh juices and smoothies for the virtuous. But like Phoebe, I fall for baked, buttery, sugary goodness. We take a break from the bikes today and raft the Colorado River along the south end of Arches National Park, then hike to the iconic Delicate Arch where we picnic on poached tuna sandwiches and quinoa and avocado salad. I worried that a backdrop of rocks and desert would get tiresome, but when we reach Canyonlands National Park on day six I’m still mesmerized. Phoebe complains her legs are tired but I convince her to join me on Grand View Point Road’s 3,000-plus foot descent. “Downhill is easy,” I insist. “Gravity does the work.” While I find the descent thrilling, Phoebe finds it terrifying. Luckily, the sag wagon is always right behind ready to scoop up weary riders. Halfway down
Phoebe hitches a lift and happily takes in the views from the van. Our final night we give way to total indulgence. The chefs have prepared an elegant meal of braised quail with poblano chiles, chorizo and saffron, cilantro pesto-spiked whipped potatoes, and Brussels sprouts with walnuts and pomegranate. Wineglasses full, we toast our adventure, then go around the table and each share a highlight from the week. Everyone struggles to choose just one — hiking the red sands of Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, cycling past Chimney Rock, post-ride massages. When we get to Phoebe she doesn’t hesitate: “Getting to eat s’mores every single night.” Her answer leads to a bet over who can toast the perfect marshmallow and that leads to another late night singing, drinking and burning way more marshmallows than we brown.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
53
DESERT ISLAND On the secluded shores of Lake Powell, summer’s neutral colors and sheer looks are a natural choice PHOTOGR A PH Y BY ERI N K U N K EL S T Y L I NG B Y S T E PH A N I E QUA DR I
54
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Dress by Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti, available at Stanley Korshak, Dallas. Hat by Satya Twena, available at Calypso St. Barth, The Plaza at Preston Center, Dallas.
THIS PAGE: Shirt by Derek Lam 10 Crosby, available at Elements, Dallas. Leather necklace by Aaron Lopez Bautista, available at Shiprock, Santa Fe. Swimwear by Prism, available at Reveal, Dallas. OPPOSITE: Dress by Alexis and hat by Sensi Studio, both available at Tootsies, Dallas. Gold, agate and pearl earrings by Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson, available at Shiprock, Santa Fe.
56
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
THIS PAGE: Caftan by Rinku Dalamal, available at Calypso St. Barth, The Plaza at Preston Center, Dallas. Necklace by Diadem, available at Reveal, Dallas. OPPOSITE: Swimsuit by Oye Swimwear, and silk wrap by Lotta Stensson, both available at Reveal, Dallas. Sunglasses by Thierry Lasry, available at V.O.D., Dallas.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
59
Dress by Calypso St. Barth, available at The Plaza at Preston Center, Dallas. Earrings by B.Stellar, available at Stanley Korshak, Dallas.
60
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Bikini by Paolita, available at Calypso St. Barth, The Plaza at Preston Center, Dallas. Poncho by SU, available at V.O.D., Dallas.
62
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Skirt and top by Lela Rose, available at Neiman Marcus. Hat by Stetson. Model: Kait Ri at Kim Dawson. Hair and makeup: Patrycja Korzeniak at Ford/ Robert Black, using Vapour Organic Beauty. Shot on location at Lake Powell in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Special thanks to Lake Powell Resorts & Marinas, and to Captains Rusty Rath and Taylor Gage.
CRUISE CONTROL
For a look inside Lake Powell’s luxury yachts, visit doradomagazine.com/lakepowell.
The Mexican wolf population in the Southwest sees a high degree of research, observation and management.
WILD
AT
HEART
Some people are worried it’s making the endangered animals less fearful of humans
64
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
CAROL M. HIGHSMITH/LIBR ARY OF CONGRESS
BY W ILL G RA N T
LIKE ALMOST EVERYONE ELSE IN THE SOUTHWEST,
Last spring, to prevent one pack from eating Shirley’s cattle, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency charged with restoring the endangered Mexican wolf to the Southwest, fed the wolves logs of caked horse meat from Mexico, called carnivore logs. Shirley welcomes the relief from coursing wolves around his cattle, but doesn’t want the wolves to get too comfortable on the government dole. “There’s pluses and minuses to this whole thing,” Shirley says. “I think if you put collars on them, they’ll be somewhat more habituated to humans. If you go to den sites and feed them, they’re probably going to be more habituated. The alternative, though, is they could eat livestock.” Given the status of Mexican wolves — the subspecies was reintroduced to the area in 1998, and federal wolf managers say the current estimate of 97 individuals is but a start to full recovery — the animals are on the tranquilizer-dart end of intense research and management. Radio collars, health exams, relocations, supplemental feeding — all involve a degree of wolf-human interaction,
An Arizona Game and Fish official releases a collared Mexican Wolf that is part of the Hoodoo pack.
sometimes as indirect as the smell of truck exhaust wafting over a hillside, sometimes as direct as carnivore logs. “We do a lot of things to avoid that interaction,” says John Oakleaf, a wolf biologist with Fish and Wildlife. “We want them to stay away from humans.” Mike Phillips, a wolf biologist and director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund, has been working with wolves for 30-plus years. He was instrumental in reintroducing red wolves in the Southeast and gray wolves in the northern Rockies. He now oversees wolf operations at Ladder Ranch, Ted Turner’s 156,000-acre Gila County spread that’s been raising captive wolves for federal reintroduction for the past 18 years. Mexican wolves, he says, need a lot of attention. “Especially with large mammals, the beginning of restoration requires that you come into contact with the animals,” Phillips says. A high level of management is necessary because the population is small, which means that every individual wolf is considered high-value. Unlike wolves in the northern Rockies, Phillips says, the Mexican wolf population wasn’t able to “take off like a rocket.” Also, given the small gene pool — all Mexican wolves stem from a seed pack of seven individuals — managers have moved wolves to diversify genetics. Although habituation, as of yet, does not appear to be a pressing problem, a handful of rogue wolves have generated rumblings that wildlife managers are too hands-on with Mexican wolves. And the wolf most clearly responsible for those rumblings was a captive-bred wolf, dead now, called Male 1130. WOLF 1130 WAS BORN AT THE California Wolf Center in 2008. For seven years, he lived in various captive facilities, including Ladder Ranch. He probably spent as much time in the backs of pickup trucks as any wolf in the Southwest and ate as much human-provided food as any.
66
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
PREVIOUS SPREAD AND THIS PAGE: JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGR APHIC CREATIVE; OPPOSITE: GEORGE ANDREJKO, A Z GAME AND FISH DEPARTMENT.
rancher Nelson Shirley wants wolves to be scared of humans. Life — including raising cattle — is easier if wolves have a healthy fear of humans, he says. Shirley runs cattle on about 320,000 acres in western New Mexico, and it’s all wolf country, home to as many as seven packs last year.
67
“IT’S A MISTAKE TO ... EXPECT EVERY WOLF TO TAKE EXTRA STEPS TO AVOID ENCOUNTERS WITH HUMANS. SOME WOLVES ARE JUST NATURALLY CURIOUS.”
68
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
GEORGE ANDREJKO, A Z GAME AND FISH DEPARTMENT; OPPOSITE: JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGR APHIC CREATIVE.
A few months before Fish and Wildlife planned on releasing 1130, they trapped a wild female wolf from Arizona and put the two in a pen together, hoping they’d pair up and breed. Biologists saw the two in what’s called a “copulatory tie” and reckoned the female pregnant. Both wolves were released in eastern Arizona last April. When 1130 hit the ground, he left the female and headed east to New Mexico. Twenty-seven days later he confronted a dog and the owner of a mobile home in Catron County. He spent half an hour circling the home before leaving, undeterred by attempts to scare him away. The next day, not far from the mobile home, a man fishing looked up to see 1130 starDuring helicopter ing at him from the opposite bank. population surveys, the Game and Fish department A few hours later, a young girl will capture and recollar thought she saw a coyote among wolves for tracking. her family’s cattle and loped out to the pasture only to come upon a wolf. Her horse spooked, jerked the reins out of her hand and ran home. The wolf ’s final straw came that afternoon when a 2-year-old child reported to his mother that the neighbor’s dog, which was actually 1130, was at the house. The next day Fish and Wildlife issued a dead-or-alive order for 1130. Later that day, a USDA Wildlife Services agent shot and killed him. He lived 29 days in the wild. “If I had to pin it on one thing, I would say he was too old,” Phillips says. “Your best bet is to release fairly young wolves that are, ideally, reproductively experienced. I’ve also said that if I was the one making the decisions, I would have let 1130 go.” A lot of time and money had been spent on 1130: Setting him up with his wild-born girlfriend cost money and man-hours. He racked up a lengthy feed bill that even included live prey. He graduated from a taste-aversion program, a feeding regimen intended to convince wolves that cow meat makes them sick. Habituation in wildlife occurs on a spectrum. The far end of that spectrum — having little fear of humans — occurs as deer in backyard gardens and elk on golf courses. In Yellowstone National Park, wolves have learned that parka-clad tourists or the slam of a car door poses no threat to them, as biologists expected. There was one big surprise, though. “The observability of gray wolves in the park shocked us,” Phillips told the New Mexico State Game Commission last fall. “We never expected that they would be so observable. Now other than ungulates, bison and elk probably, gray wolves are
the most observable large mammal in the park.” Phillips saw other forms of habituation in red wolves in the Southeast. As part of the recovery, he had the job of feeding a female captive wolf carnivore logs. “We used these old military jeeps to feed her and pretty soon she was standing in the middle of the road waiting for us,” Phillips says. “We didn’t think that was a very good thing so we started feeding the logs to her from the air.” Though habituation hasn’t proved to be an extensive issue with Mexican wolves, it’s something everyone wants to avoid. Part of maintaining a healthy respect for humans in wolves involves proactive measures, like motion-detector noisemakers or electric fencing. Craig Miller, a senior representative for Defenders of Wildlife, has been promoting such practices since the mid-1990s. Defenders of Wildlife has been critical to addressing wolf problems in the Southwest and northern Rockies through outreach and education, by funding livestock-loss reimbursement programs, and even hiring range riders to watch ranchers’ cattle more closely. As far as outliers like 1130, Miller says the behavior might just be the nature of the animal. “One of the reasons we have dogs today as man’s best friend is because of wolves who had certain personalities that allowed them to be comfortable around humans,” he says. “I think it’s a mistake to go to a wild place and expect every wolf to take extra steps to avoid encounters with humans. Some wolves are just naturally curious and that can be misinterpreted as habituated.” Miller acknowledges that a high level of hands-on management isn’t ideal for the individual wolves, but the federal government is obligated to restore the population under the direction of the Endangered Species Act. Nelson Shirley sees a balancing act that lies in the hands of Fish and Wildlife Service. Monitoring the wolves allows him to better manage his cattle. Feeding carnivore logs eases wolves’ pressure on his cattle. But, like most people, he wants the wildlife to stay wild. “One side of me says let the wolves be wild, why run around putting collars on them?” Shirley says. “On the other hand, if they don’t have collars on and we don’t know where they are, we can’t move our cattle out of there or be more vigilant or whatever the situation may need.” M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
69
AT HOME · ONLINE
RIGHT AT HOME
Visit doradomagazine.com for even more stunning Southwestern homes
A SONORAN DESERT DWELLING Old meets new in this desert modern home in the foothills north of Tucson, Arizona. doradomagazine.com/home-tour-sonoran-desert-dwelling
70
A CHALET FOR MANY SEASONS Inside out, top to bottom, this creekside Steamboat Springs, Colorado home turns the traditional chalet on its head with a rooftop garden and modern style. doradomagazine.com/a-chalet-for-many-seasons
BACK TO NATURE A haven for anglers, this Colorado fishing retreat reflects a Texas clan’s passion for the outdoors. doradomagazine.com/a-chalet-for-many-seasons
ON THE ROCKS: A MOAB HOME TOUR Deep in the Utah desert, home is where you park your mountain bike at the end of a long day on the trails. doradomagazine.com/a-chalet-for-many-seasons
PHOTO TOUR: THE HOME THAT FRANK BUILT Take a look inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s final residential masterpiece. doradomagazine.com/photos-frank-lloyd-wrights-last-home
ARIZONA MODERN Amid towering red-rock formations, a groundbreaking architectural enclave is rising in Sedona. doradomagazine.com/arizona-modern
CABIN FEVER IN TELLURIDE How do you transform a dark, dated log cabin into a contemporary retreat? Discover a Telluride getaway that combines natural materials, industrial accents and an abundance of glass. doradomagazine.com/cabinfever
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
AT HOME
REFINED SOUTHWESTERN LIVING AND STYLE
Artful Touches Add style to your space with these 5 creative pieces BY E L L E N R A N TA O L S O N
1
Off the Wall
Think art is just for hanging? Not so fast. Bring an artistic touch to the table with these handmade dinner plates in blue and white marbling. Spitzmiller Dinner Plate, $95 shop.foundforthehome.com
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
71
AT H OME
3
Fashion Show
Sometimes pops of design come in the most unexpected places, as evidenced by this Missoni pouf. The diamondlike shape accentuates the striped pattern, while the contrast of black, silver and earthy hues makes it a true showstopper. Missoni Home Prescott pouf, $1,081 nestdallas.com
2
Wild West
When shopping for art, harness your own unique aesthetic. If your style screams moody and rugged, skip the bright colors and reach for an original piece like this skull painting by Todd Alexander. Elk Skull, $9,000 slategraygallery.com
Q&A
Bonnie French Gallery Director, Waxlander Gallery, Santa Fe
As the Santa Fe art season kicks off this month, it’s an ideal time to think about adding some art to your home. Here’s how to find the perfect piece. What’s the most important thing to keep in mind when shopping for art? Our owner Phyllis Kapp has a saying: “You should love the artwork you are putting on your walls. There is enough sadness in the world without having to look at something sad every day.” What’s the steadfast rule when it comes to mixing different types of artwork? The rule is that there are no rules. You can mix artwork that is different and it can look great. Again, it should be artwork you love and want to look at every day.
4
Form Meets Function
When it comes to displaying flowers, opt for something a bit more edgy than a traditional glass vessel. This sculptural vase, created from a single piece of alder wood, pairs perfectly with minimalist arrangements. Lilac vase, $120 store. okeeffemuseum.org
72
How can you keep an already decorated room feeling fresh? Rotate, rotate, rotate. There is a fallacy that if you own a piece, it needs to always be on display. Rotating your artwork keeps things fresh. You can move artwork around or even store it.
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
5
Modern Manor
The key to creating a uniquely styled home? Original art like this piece by Phillip Vigil. It’s the quickest way to add visual interest to an otherwise boring wall. July Series, $850 shiprocksantafe.com
What advice do you give to first-time art buyers? It is better to buy original artwork on a payment plan than it is to get a print of original artwork and pay less. Resale shouldn’t be your main consideration when buying art, but an original is more likely to go up in value than a print.
MYRON GAUGER (VASE); COURTESY SHIPROCK SANTA FE (PAINTING)
Can people on a budget add art to their home? Absolutely. Most galleries have payment plans to fit your budget — you just have to ask.
Just minutes from the charm and culture of downtown Santa Fe sits Las Campanas, a private golf and recreational community at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. It’s all here now, ready for you to enjoy, including two Jack Nicklaus Signature courses; a 7-court tennis pavilion; a state-of-the-art fitness center with indoor/outdoor swimming pools; an industry-leading equestrian program; and a warm and inviting Hacienda Clubhouse. Come and see why over 750 families already call Las Campanas home.
Discovery Package
CALL US TODAY TO FIND OUT ABOUT OUR SPECIALLY-PRICED INCLUDING ONSITE ACCOMMODATIONS AND GOLF LasCampanas.com |
(505) 986-2000
Homesites from the $70’s. Custom Homes from the $600’s. Brand new models from the $800’s. This promotional material is not intended to constitute an offering in violation of the law of any jurisdiction. Lot reservations or conditional sales only may be currently offered in certain neighborhoods. No binding offer to sell or lease this property may be made or accepted prior to delivery of a disclosure statement for the property that complies with applicable state law, including the New Mexico Subdivision Act. These materials and the features and amenities depicted herein are based upon current development plans, which are subject to change without notice. All lot owners are eligible to apply for membership to the private clubs; however, lot ownership is separate from club membership and does not provide any guarantee of acceptance. Additional membership fees and restrictions apply. Prices and incentives are subject to change without notice. c2016 Las Campanas Residential Holdings, LLC and Las Campanas Realty, LLC. All rights reserved.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
73
AT H OME
In the shadows of southern Arizona’s “sky islands,” a science writer has built a sustainable home that allows her to reconnect with nature as she begins a new chapter in life. Leigh Flayton pays a visit PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER BOOMER
Desert Sanctuary 74
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
75
76
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
AT H OME
T
he North American Cordillera mountain chain, which runs from Alaska through Mexico, fractures in southern Arizona, creating an archipelago of mountains known as “sky islands.” These heavenly mountaintop ecosystems vary radically from the desert sea that surrounds them. “Biologically, it’s amazing,” says my friend Adelheid Fischer, a nature writer and assistant director of the Biomimicry Center at Arizona State University. “You get a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and [the wildlife] all live together in ways that are unusual because they are at this ecological crossroads.” Fischer, 60, knows about crossroads. In 2005 her husband, ASU design professor Paul Rothstein, died suddenly at age 47. In the weeks that followed, Fischer presided over memorial services for family, students and faculty, but when they ended, she admits she couldn’t decide if she wanted to continue living. Fischer and Rothstein spent more than 25 years together and, in addition to a happy marriage, they shared a deep love of the natural world. Years ago they discovered the town of Portal in southern Arizona. A popular destination for birders and astronomers, this “Disneyland for biologists,” as Fischer’s heard it described, is also home to the American Museum of Natural History Southwestern Research Station. “It’s a center of gravity for some profound people and ideas,” Fischer says, and, after Rothstein’s death, she cobbled together the money to buy a double-wide trailer there, but quickly grew unhappy with it. She wanted something smaller and simpler, and with a “greater connection to the land around it.” When she found herself bemoaning this over dinner with her friend Darren Petrucci, an award-winning architect and ASU professor who was close with Rothstein, Petrucci offered to design her a house. But there was a catch: He wouldn’t accept any payment. “I looked at her and said, ‘Heidi, you don’t need to get [another] double-wide. Let’s design a house for you,’” Petrucci recalls. “As an architect, I can’t let any of my friends buy a double-wide.”
Fischer sold the trailer, bought 4 acres and, together, she and Petrucci conceived the Diapause House, named for a term pertaining to animal dormancy or rest, particularly in adverse conditions. Fischer wanted an affordable place where she could go to write and make a personal investment in a community, where there were people who cared about light pollution and “value the fact that you can see all these stars and really take action to make sure that they keep their lights low or cover their windows.” The Diapause House sits nestled in the San Simon Valley and is aligned with Cave Creek Canyon on the east side of the Chiricahua
OUTSIDE IN
Named for a term pertaining to animal dormancy, the Diapause House features sustainable details such as floorto-ceiling windows that allow air to cross-ventilate and solar panels that nest on one “wing” of the butterfly roof.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
77
AT H OME
ECO-FRIENDLY
An assistant director of the Biomimicry Center at Arizona State University, Adelheid Fischer often invites students, researchers and writers to stay with her, pro bono.
78
Mountains. Its sloped butterfly roof, sage-gray cement board sides, concrete base and floor-toceiling windows are unique to the valley, where the houses tend to be a hodgepodge of styles. Fischer is a stalwart environmentalist, so the house had to be passively heated and cooled — there’s no manufactured heating or air conditioning. In summer, it capitalizes on the Venturi effect, the principle that airflow speeds up as it is constricted. Cool air from the high country flows through the
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
constriction of the canyon into the valley, and Petrucci designed “nostril” windows near the ceiling that speed up airflow even more and clear hot air at night. Floor-to-ceiling windows face northeast and southwest, creating a “screen porch” at the center of the house that allows air to cross-ventilate and sweep heat away. The house is powered by solar panels that nest on one “wing” of the butterfly roof, and the entire house is powered down when Fischer leaves
The Santa Fe Scout Collection
Handmade in Santa Fe, One-of-a-kind Purses
— entering a resting, or diapause, stage — so it doesn’t draw any electricity while she’s gone. Soon, aluminum “veils” will be installed to cover the windows, allowing them to stay open on warm nights while keeping critters at bay. Perhaps the best part, though, is the cutaway deck in the roof where Fischer can stargaze without having to worry about rattlesnakes around her feet. And she can host dinner parties for up to six people up there as well. “Whenever you’re trying to make architecture on a low budget, it requires an enormous amount of design work because you can’t afford to have anything that’s excess,” Petrucci says. “You can’t remove anything. If you take the roof deck off you don’t have the carport. If you take the butterfly out you don’t collect the rainwater and the solar doesn’t work. If you take the middle porch piece out, you don’t naturally heat and cool the house.” “For a lot of people, “For a naturalist, it’s such incredible, continif there are no uous joy,” Fischer says of her life in Portal. “It’s the humanoids around, sense of enlarging how I define my community. they’re alone. ... For a lot of people, if there are no humanoids I throw a very wide net around, they’re alone. They feel lonely. But for around what I consider me, I throw a very wide net around what I consider my community, and my community, and it really encompasses it really encompasses nonhumans.” These days, Fischer spends as much time as nonhumans.” possible at the Diapause House and often invites students, researchers and writers to stay with her, pro bono. It’s her way of giving back to the community that has given her so much — that broken place in the mountain chain that gave her a renewed sense of existence after her husband’s death. It is where she convalesced, then chose to build a home, and where she is writing her new book, The Ecology of Grief, a series of literary nonfiction essays examining catastrophic loss and change in natural systems, bringing to mind the timeless Ernest Hemingway quote from The Sun Also Rises: “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” “Portal is a challenged landscape,” Fischer says, citing a long history of drought, overgrazing and fire suppression practices that have damaged the land, “but, at the same time, it’s incredibly rich. You can say that’s also true about our broken places. They’re incredibly rich places.”
Made from rescued Navajo rugs, embellished with vintage silver, horse tack, conchos, elk tips, fringe, and stone.
Available online at www.santafescoutcollection.com
Dana Waldon 505.660.6442
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 • D O R A D O
79
M Y DOR A DO ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, UTAH
Uprooting was a big decision, but we wanted a change, and we wanted access to the most spectacular thing about the Southwest: nature. This picture was taken at Arches, which features the largest collection of natural stone arches found anywhere in the world. We took a road trip there last summer for my youngest son’s fourth birthday. I’m counting down the days until we go back. B AT YA S T E P E L M A N, W H O G R E W U P I N N E W Y O R K C I T Y A N D R E L O C AT E D T O C O L O R A D O I N 2 0 1 1
/DORADOMAGAZINE
@DORADOMAG
/DORADOMAGAZINE
@DORADO_MAG
Tag your photos on social media with #MyDorado to show us what you love about the Southwest. We’ll share our favorites at doradomagazine.com.
80
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
[ LONE STAR ] State of the art.
Living Large, 2016. 36 in. x 36 in.
A lighthearted artist, musician and family man, John Lowery draws inspiration from the natural beauty surrounding his land in Burton, Texas. Visit the gallery in Round Top for original paintings and prints, or purchase online at humbledonkeystudio.com.
Humble Donkey, 2015.
Engelbrecht Longhorn, 2015.
Every time you buy art, a donkey gets its wings. 192 Henkel Circle | Round Top, Texas 78954 | 979.249.3814 | HUMBLEDONKEYSTUDIO.COM
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 5 • D O R A D O
3
4
D O R A D O • M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 5