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ARIZONA


It’s easy to lose oneself in the silence and majesty of the desert, and it’s notably free from crowds


L


ast summer, when American academic Eva Fisher camped in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert for the first time, she described her experience thus: “I began to shift, to reorient towards nature. I told the time by the appearance and disappearance of lizards, beetles and the occasional javelin. I knew it was night when the coyotes began howling, and morning when the hummingbirds started buzzing. For the first time in 31 years, I became deeply connected to nature and its infinite capacity for fascination.” Fisher had pitched her tent at the base of the McDowell Mountains, not far from Taliesin West, the former winter home of the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Today, Taliesin West is a popular tourist attraction forming part of the campus of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Take a tour and you’ll witness the ‘starchitects’ of tomorrow sketching their way towards future glory. The tour is fascinating – full of dazzling insights and striking architecture, as well as giving a glimpse into the life of an eccentric narcissist. But what really wows is the


62 — aspire june 2016


surrounding landscape. Officially labelled the lushest desert in the world, the russet-coloured McDowell Sonoran Preserve is dotted with yucca, agave and palo verde trees punctuated by cacti of all shapes and sizes. There are giant saguaros (the cartoon-like ones found in Mexico), bulging barrel cacti and cute fuzzy chollas, which have spurs on them that can actually ‘jump’. Aspire can vouch for this. Out here, it’s easy to lose oneself in the silence and majesty of the desert, and best of all, it’s notably free from crowds. Aspire completed a 6km loop and came into contact with only a handful of fellow walkers, a pair of deer and a jackrabbit.


At sunset the whole vista turns a pinkish shade of purple and the cacti develop halos. The small city of Scottsdale, just north of Phoenix, provides the perfect base for exploring the area. A far cry from the tourist-clogged towns at the mouths of state parks such as Flagstaff and Red Rock, Scottsdale is much more than a jumping- off point for hikers. Filled with quiet luxury, quirky architecture, sensational spas and artsy eateries, it’s one of the sunniest places in the southwest. In the past, it relied heavily on golf tournaments and business conventions for its footfall, but following the recession, the city repackaged itself as a hip destination for


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