Visit Grand Canyon fee free today

Grand Canyon visitors enjoy a South Rim sunset.

Today Grand Canyon National Park is celebrating Martin Luther King Day with FREE admission. MLK Day marks the first of several fee-free dates in 2013, including April 22-26 (National Park Week), August 25 (National Park Service’s birthday), September 28 (National Public Lands Day), and November 9-11 (Veterans Day weekend). Though most national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges don’t charge entry fees, Grand Canyon’s $25/vehicle entry fee is among the highest, making the park’s annual fee-free dates a good time to plan a trip.

Especially for families or budget travelers, fee-free days offer an opportunity to participate in what Wallace Stegner called “the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic.” The establishment of the National Park Service in 1916 meant we could set aside tracts of land and historic treasures for future generations to enjoy, and today, almost every community in the U.S. can boast a nearby preserve. In Arizona alone, we count 18 national parks and monuments, 6 national forests, and another half-dozen or so national historic sites, recreation areas, and wildlife refuges.

Whether it’s a walk in the woods or that time-honored American tradition, the family road trip, it’s crucially important to take time out for nature. Today, when our dazzling modern inventions take us farther from the natural world, that’s more true than ever. (Ever read The Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv? It’s a stunning examination of how “nature-deficit disorder” impacts mental and emotional development.) And, speaking as someone whose work involves sitting at a desk for long stretches, exploring nature is the best way to get up and get moving.

Showing up for fee-free days is also a way of participating in the democratic process. I could rant about how starving our parks of public funding is a blatant attempt at promoting privatization, but I’ll resist. And I could add that creeping privatization leads to higher entry fees, which in turn leads to an elitist system, but I’ll resist that as well. (I could also point out that those who protest fees are grabbing the wrong end of the stick … but who can blame them for taking that route, considering the current Congressional climate?)

So instead I will encourage everyone to vote with their feet and beat a trail to the nearest park to enjoy our national heritage!

Winter in Sedona

A storm breaks after leaving snow on Sedona's Capitol Butte.

During winter, the natural world seems to sleep. In Sedona, however, the winter months seem more like a magician’s spell. Autumn’s high tourist season is long past, and holiday visitors are gone. It’s this quiet, spellbound time that many of the town’s residents cherish as a chance to rest and reconnect with the attractions that inspired them to move here.

For visitors, this “off season” is a good time to rub elbows with locals and experience the natural world as it re-gathers energy for spring. And while the human social calendar is a bit thinner in January and February, Mother Nature continues to put on a show. Occasionally, snow dusts the tops of the red rocks, and sometimes a storm will blanket the forest floor, making it easier to see who’s been wandering the winter wonderland.

Tiny cloven prints a few inches apart belong to collared peccaries. Better known as javelinas, they forage in neighborhoods during winter months, parents and older sibs protecting the younger ones. Javelinas can reproduce year-round, and though most babies are born to coincide with the summer monsoon, two tiny brown-and-pink “piglets” showed up in my neighborhood in December. The precocious piggies trot along with the rest of the family band shortly after birth. Another morning, I watched nine mule deer cross the street and head into the forest, and last week a bobcat paused in the driveway. The ground is still damp from the last snowstorm, and trails boast a mosaic of prints.

Though days are short, the low angle of the sun sends rays deep into the alcoves where the prehistoric Sinagua Indians built their pueblos, and hikers may be surprised by the warmth of these original “passive solar homes.” In late afternoon, the setting sun burnishes Sedona’s red rocks, an especially dazzling sight if a breaking storm has topped the high peaks with snow, creating a contrast of light and dark, ice and fire. Nights are long and cold, but the air is crisp, and stars sparkle brilliantly.

By the end of January, nature is already beginning to stir. Manzanita and sugar bush show pink blossoms and buds in sunny locations, and green shoots mark future wildflowers. Sedona’s trails, always inviting, are lightly visited this time of year. Most of Arizona’s winter visitors tend to stick around the Sonoran Desert, where car auctions, the Phoenix Open golf tournament, and Scottsdale’s horse shows offer plenty of entertainment, and temperatures are a warm respite from harsher climates.

Sometimes, there’s a good reason to avoid visiting a popular location during the off-season, such as seasonal closures or unfriendly weather. But while Sedona’s winter weather is 10 to 20 degrees colder than the lower Sonoran Desert, it’s still relatively mild year round. Winter visitors to Red Rock Country will find Groupons or discounts on hotels and spa services, two-for-one restaurant specials, daytime highs around 50, and perhaps a dusting of snow.

In February the social calendar begins to pick up once more. The Sedona Marathon gets things moving on February 2, 2013, and five days later, Sedona’s first-ever yoga festival opens. By the end of the month, when the red carpet rolls out for the Sedona International Film Festival, daffodils and fruit trees are starting to blossom, and the town is already gearing up for spring break crowds.

Until then, Sedona rests quietly under winter’s spell….