Mapping Sedona

A map can be a key to adventure.

I'm delighted! A couple days ago, I learned that Rio Nuevo Publishers released the Sedona Map and Guide, a project that I worked on throughout 2012. This feels a little like sending a child off to college, then realizing when they come home for a visit that they've grown into someone remarkable. In a sense, I’ve worked on this project the entire 25 years I’ve lived in Arizona, collecting experiences and memories, seasons and stories. 

I realize that a number of people today think that maps will go the way of dinosaurs, thanks to GPS technology. But I love maps the same way I love books, as ink-on-paper talismans that hold potential riches of story and adventure. Of course, no piece of paper can truly represent the fullness of being in the landscape, but I think we came close with this project.

The main talent behind this map is Bronze Black, a Flagstaff designer/illustrator and river guide who produced a similar project, his Grand Canyon Superguide. In addition to trail information, Bronze incorporated my text and dazzling photography from Larry Lindahl, George H. H. Huey, and others, photographers whose work has been featured on the pages of Arizona Highways magazine. Dave Jenney, Caroline Cook, and the supremely talented folks at Rio Nuevo Publishers shepherded the map through the final stages, making sure it was not only accurate and useful but also an object of beauty.

I’d like to think that our enthusiasm for getting to know Sedona via mountain biking (in Bronze’s case) and hiking (my case) shines through. We wanted to convey Red Rock Country as an experience—not merely a beautiful landscape to admire from afar, but as a place of hidden canyons, fascinating history, wildflowers and wildlife, and awe-inspiring geology—all accessible and waiting to be explored.

Even if a two-dimensional rectangle of paper can’t hold the entire spectrum of Sedona, I hope this map will become a key for people to unlock their own experiences.