A Sky Island is a unique feature in the desert where a mountain and it’s elevation creates a separate environment from the surrounding areas. The Pinaleños and Mount Graham were originally called Dził Nchaa Si’an by the Apache and is considered one of their holiest places. It was also part of the San Carlos Reservation until a presidential executive order in 1873 took it back and is now controlled by the U.S. government and the University of Arizona.
I do appreciate being able to visit these marvels. Personally I believe this mountain still belongs to the Apache people and our government should consider giving back the national parks to natives across both continents. Please consider donating to the NDN Collective Here's a related article to read in the Atlantic on the Land Back movement. RETURN THE NATIONAL PARKS TO THE TRIBES
Dził Nchaa Si’an is one unique Sky Island in the middle of the Sonoran desert of Arizona. My girlfriend Karla and I decided to get out of the record breaking heat in Phoenix to the mild ponderosa pine covered alpines. It was our first visit and took us about four hours to drive, most of which was just getting to the base of Mt. Graham.
As we climbed out of the scorching desert heat along the switchbacks of Arizona Route 366, we watched the dashboard thermostat drop rapidly and the elevation markers increase at the same rate. 100 degrees at 3000 feet, 90 degrees at 6000, 80 degrees at 7000, 70 degrees at 9000. All along the scenery changing from mesquites, cholla, and blooming yuccas to ponderosa, lush ferns, and aspen.
A friend of Karla’s mentioned staying at Shannon Campground as a kid, so we set our Google Maps destination to check it out. It’s a cul-de-sac essentially of about 10 camping spots in a valley surrounded with pines, wildflowers, abundant berry bushes and a small creek. At the end of the cul-de-sac is the heliograph trailhead.
Shannon campground has several spots in a narrow valley with a couple streams, one of which is dry. Our campground host introduced himself and warned us of a black bear he saw earlier in the day even showing me the video of the black bear retreating down a rocky slope into the valley. Our first evening he was kind enough to walk with us a few hundred meters down the Heliograph trail to a point where the black bear was in the morning. We talked a little bit about the berries, trees, and some of the settlers version of the history before heading back to our campsite. He made a point to mention it was the settlers history.
I took the initiative to look further into some of the Apache history and importance of the mountain range. One of the things in my early education that was missing was the nexus of settlers and natives other than the white washed version of Lewis and Clark. Arizona was first explored by Conquistadors and was apart of Mexico before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 where manifest destiny was actualized.
Our camp host told us the Albert squirrel was introduced for hunting purposes which had an adverse effect on the native red squirrel, which found refuge in the peaks of the mountain range until fires destroyed their habitat. Our host told us that hired assassins are removing the Albert squirrel. As you can see in the picture this little guy is quite diabolical with their plans to destroy the red squirrel and dominate Dził Nchaa Si’an. Sounds like a familiar narrative… They are pretty cool looking squirrels and I can see how they might make a nice little kabob. This was just one of many natural conservation errors made in America though.
One of the reasons I like to go into the mountains is to find peace from this world. As interconnected as we are in the city of Phoenix it’s nice to get away from the chaos. I set the hammock up for Karla and spent sometime meditating and watching a different kind of world. A world that was created without our help and will continue to exist many years after we are gone. Aspens shimmering leaves in the sunlight. Strange bird calls echoing in the canyons. Bears anxiously foraging for berries still blossoming and being pollenated by the bees. Listening to the wind squeezed through the arrangement of trees as if trying to speak to the visitors who have come from below.
The evening was peaceful and the temperatures cooled as we laid in bed trying to get a glimpse of the stars. We left the rainfly off the tent to look at the stars, but clouds and the moonlight kept the stars from shining at their brightest. Karla went to sleep as I laid there thinking about the bear and listening to something up hill breaking twigs and making strange noises.
The next morning we woke up and decided to travel further on Rt. 366 towards Riggs Flat Lake. The paved road turns to a grated dirt mountain road with steep cliffs shortly after Shannon Campground. The view is surreal of the desert below from the interior of the Sky Island. The road is lined with ferns and saplings where fire had burned the old growth. There is great relief looking down on a desert with searing heat from a mountain road with a gentle cool wind as if standing on a top of a towering monsoon cloud.
The road seems to wind along into an infinite forest. Along the way we pass some roads leading to the observatories blocked off from the public. It’s kind of a disappointment they are not open to the public, but they are also home to the Mt. Graham Red Squirrel, which are a protected species now.
There are a few monuments to the settlers along the road, one of which is Peter’s Flat. The Scotsman worked with loggers and grew potatoes covering them with ferns.
Across the dirt road was a nice primitive campsite too with a short walk to a beautiful western view. I wouldn’t mind camping there as I carry an E-tool (foldable shovel) to do my business, but Karla would prefer at the least on outhouse to do her business. We did get by on baby wipes for showers!
We continued our journey to Riggs Flat Lake a small lake created for watering cattle and damned in 1957 by Arizona Game and Fish for recreational fishing. The pines were clouding the air with pollen as you can see how it collects and washes ashore like uranium yellow cake.
We walked around the lake which is about a mile or so. Families were fishing and picnicking along the shore. Some even brought a boat with electric trolling motors. I think our next visit we will stay there to try and get some Milky Way pictures mirrored off the lake. Maybe even try a little trout fishing.
The most impressive display of beauty are the Arizona State butterfly the Two Tailed Swallows Butterfly floating around the entire preserve. I even happened to catch the trio below sunbathing on Riggs Flat lake shore line. What was even a little more special was seeing so many Sand Dune Wallflowers. I just found a few of them for the first time on Four Peaks. Dził Nchaa Si’an has abundant mountain flowers, but these tended to literally stand above the rest. Finding them with the Two Tailed Swallow Butterfly was about as picturesque as it gets.
I didn’t plan on writing so much about the trip, because I feel like there is so much more to learn about Dził Nchaa Si’an. It’s one thing to enjoy the nature naively and another to have a better understanding of what is there now, where it came from, and perhaps have some influence on preserving it’s future for others to enjoy and find the same peace.
