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Exploring Arizona – Cochise County and the El Tour de Zona
I’ve mentioned the El Tour de Zona (ETdZ) in a couple of previous blog entries: (Exploring Brunckow’s Cabin: Arizona’s Haunted History and Exploring Arizona – Saguaro National Park: A Desert Wonderland). The ETdZ is a 3-day cycling event centered in the Cochise County city of Sierra Vista, Arizona. It is held in early to mid-Spring…
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Exploring Arizona – Saguaro National Park: A Desert Wonderland
Saguaro National Park is a protected desert landscape in southern Arizona, best known for its towering saguaro cacti, which can grow over 40 feet tall and live for more than 150 years. Located near the city of Tucson, the park is divided into two districts: the Tucson Mountain District to the west and the Rincon Mountain District…
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Exploring South Dakota: Hiking the Crazy Horse Memorial
Korczak Ziolkowski was a self-taught sculptor of Polish descent who had gained national recognition by 1947. That is the year when Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear reached out to him with a simple but profound request: to carve a mountain in honor of the Native American people and their heroes. Standing Bear’s vision resonated deeply…
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Exploring South Dakota – The Annual Buffalo Roundup at Custer State Park
Custer State Park encompasses 71,000 acres in the Black Hills of western South Dakota and is home to one of the largest publicly owned bison herds in the world. Each year on the last Friday of September, nearly 1,400 free-roaming bison are gathered by wranglers on horseback and driven across the open prairie to a…
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Exploring South Dakota – Cycling the Mickelson Trail
The George S. Mickelson Trail in South Dakota is a 109-mile rail-trail that winds through the heart of the Black Hills. Named for Governor George S. Mickelson, who championed its creation, it was completed in September 1998. History The trail follows the abandoned Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad corridor, which originally ran through the Black Hills. The…
