Ron Dungan

A few words about the wild west

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Author: rondungan

Hiking Saddle Mountain Wilderness

Posted on May 12, 2022May 12, 2022 by rondungan

Saddle Mountain Wilderness is home to a small population of Apache trout. The fish are small and skittish, and the casting windows range from tight to impossible. Unless you enjoy nettles, snags and fishless days, leave the fly rod in the truck. This is a place to hike. The wilderness is on the eastern edge…

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Ralph Cameron

Posted on May 12, 2022May 12, 2022 by rondungan

Things never really change, do they? Take the Grand Canyon, for example. A century ago, the canyon looked much the same as it did today, with its red cliffs, its pink sunsets, its gathering storms, its grifters on the Rim, looking for a way to make a fast buck. Ralph Cameron has gone down in…

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Disclaimer:

Posted on February 27, 2022February 27, 2022 by rondungan

We live in a litigious, guardrail society, in which is necessary to state the obvious. Hiking the Arizona backcountry is dangerous. There is a perception that when a trail appears in a guidebook, or on a website, or in a magazine, it has been “tamed.” It has not. You are responsible for your own safety….

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The Apaches: A brief history

Posted on February 27, 2022February 27, 2022 by rondungan

Historians will lead you to believe it was all a misunderstanding. How the Americans, in their ignorance, failed to appreciate the differences between Apache bands, between raiding and warfare, how they had a tin ear for language and other cultures. The implication is that if only the Americans were not so stubborn, so unreasonable, so…

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Hiking the Alamo Canyon Passage

Posted on February 27, 2022February 27, 2022 by rondungan

A few things grab your attention when you hike the Alamo Passage of the Arizona Trail. The first is Picketpost Mountain – how it rises out of the Sonoran scrub and commands the view for about four miles as you move north to south. Telegraph Fire The next thing that will grab your attention is…

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American wilderness

Posted on January 17, 2022January 17, 2022 by rondungan

For four centuries, the continent never seemed to run out of anything. No matter where colonists built, or settlers plowed, or soldiers rode, or trappers roamed, there was something new to discover and exploit. Tribes were slaughtered, then domesticated, money changed hands and maps were redrawn. Mines played out but new ones were found. Timber…

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Hiking Soap Creek

Posted on January 10, 2022February 27, 2022 by rondungan

Decades ago, I backpacked into a place Soap Creek, tributary of the Colorado River in northern Arizona. It’s possible that just about everything about our trip was illegal – our dogs, our campfire on the beach, our feasting like Viking lords on a fat rainbow trout, howling at the moon. We did not have a…

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The border: A history

Posted on November 14, 2021January 17, 2022 by rondungan

Everything was up for grabs. For three centuries, England, Spain and France sent soldiers, trappers and merchants to plant flags, move goods, build forts. They drew maps to mark territory, signed treaties abused the natives, but their hold on North America was weak. All that time, Americans had put down roots along the eastern seaboard,…

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Hiking Canyonlands National Park

Posted on October 30, 2021February 27, 2022 by rondungan

Getting lost in The Maze I don’t know what I can tell you, other than don’t go, or think about it, or, take a friend and make sure you stop frequently for a map check. Getting turned around in The Maze is easy to do, and it’s not much fun. Trails are few and hard…

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Hiking Saddle Mountain Wilderness

Posted on August 26, 2021September 21, 2021 by rondungan

A walk on the wild side Saddle Mountain Wilderness is home to a small population of Apache trout. The fish are small and skittish, and the casting windows range from tight to impossible. Unless you enjoy nettles, snags and fishless days, leave the fly rod in the truck. This is a place to hike. The…

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Stories

You can now hang out in northern Arizona and snag a permit for The Wave without waiting in line. / Ron Dungan

The Wave is one of the most famous red rock features in the Southwest, but permits to the popular hiking area on the Utah-Arizona border are hard to come by.

Visitors will soon have a more convenient option to getting one.

It’s possible to get a permit to visit The Wave through a lottery, months in advance.

The other option was to wake up early and stand in a long line. But in mid-March, the line is going away, and visitors will be able to get permits on their phones.

The advanced reservation system will remain in place, but a new system will allow visitors in the Four Corners area to reserve a spot through an app, says David Hercher of the Bureau of Land Management.

“But the beauty of it is, that, you apply, and then you go on about your business. I mean, you want to go to Four Corners? Go to Four Corners. You’ll get a notification if you’ve actually been awarded a permit,” Hercher said. 

Because service is spotty in northern Arizona, he recommends downloading the app before you travel.

Flagstaff mushers are making some changes - my story on Here and Now.

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/01/17/arizona-dog-sledders-climate

Brewing day at The Shop Beer Co. / Ron Dungan

How craft brewers adjusted during the pandemic.

https://kjzz.org/content/1631717/arizona-craft-beer-finds-its-way-during-pandemic

A meadow along Canyon Creek, Tonto National Forest.

Western wildfires story for Colorado station KUNC.

https://www.kunc.org/2020-10-22/as-western-fires-burn-focus-narrows-on-forest-management-but-its-easier-said-than-done

Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, southern Arizona.

The secret, probably illegal burial of Edward Abbey.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/best-reads/2015/04/17/edward-abbey-last-act-defiance/25930091/

El Camino del Diablo, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, southern Arizona.

The Border, a history.

https://www.usatoday.com/border-wall/story/us-mexico-border-history/510833001/

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