It’s the season where in Arizona we all want to be outdoors. The desert, so cruel for so long, welcomes us again with open arms. If the blast-furnace heat of summer kept you off the trails for months, you’ll want to ease into things. To work yourself back into hiking shape, start with some easy trails.

Just don’t let the rating undersell their attractions.

Even trails regarded as easy reward alert hikers in countless ways. Each of these five trails delivers the full desert experience. Watch for wildlife and enjoy plenty of mild winter sunshine. Savor the big scenic views and admire the saguaros as tall as office buildings. That’s all worth getting out and walking around for a while.

For example, everyone should take a walk on the Jane Rau Trail as a tribute to one of the people who spearheaded the effort to establish the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.

Jane Rau is a longtime local community activist and educator. The trail that bears her name circles through a picturesque wash in the preserve, punctuated by tall saguaros and clumps of boulders. Brown’s Mountain, a slanted hump rising from the desert floor, and the smooth precision of neighboring Cone Mountain add vertical notes to the skyline.

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The remediation project is a multi-agency collaboration of local, state and federal land agencies working together to improve recreational opportunities in Prescott National Forest southwest of Cottonwood, AZ.

Trail construction began in 2019. Before that, the wash-riddled foothills surrounded by popular recreation hubs in Sedona, Jerome, Dead Horse Ranch State Park and the Woodchute-Mingus Mountain complex of routes were rife with user-created paths, shooting, and dumping that were disrupting the ecosystems and decimating native vegetation.

The destructive, anything-goes arena is gradually being replaced with sustainable, non-motorized trails that reduce erosion, protect natural assets and promote responsible use.

A map at the trailhead teases with an overview of planned trail development, and a little loop that was completed in early 2020 provides a tasty tidbit of what’s to come.

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Unlike the rest of the U.S., the sleepy border community of Ajo, Arizona, is busier than ever these days, as hundreds of border wall construction workers pass through each day.

“The rest of us are staying at home just the way the governor has ordered,” said Susan Guinn-Lahm, an Ajo resident in her 60s. “We’re taking this seriously. They are not.”

Local officials are alarmed by the impact on the workers and the rural border towns they are interacting with and, at times, living in.

Numerous residents in Ajo complained of construction workers having parties and coming into stores in groups as large as 20.

“As the rest of the country shuts down to stop the spread of COVID-19, construction crews continue building Trump’s vanity wall with billions of dollars in stolen funds,” said the Arizona congressman Raúl Grijalva. “The presence of large construction crews in small border towns threatens the health of those communities where they are already underprepared to deal with the coming public health emergency.”

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Arizona is sinking. The combination of groundwater pumping and warmer temperatures is shrinking aquifers and lowering water tables. And as the land subsides, fissures open, 2-mile wounds that devour infrastructure and swallow livestock. Four of Arizona’s five economic pillars — cattle, cotton, citrus and copper — use huge amounts of water, while the fifth, the state’s climate, is changing, making water scarcer.

Development and growth are intensifying the problem, despite relief from state laws and the existence of the Central Arizona Project, which began delivering Colorado River water to Phoenix and Tucson in the 1980s.

Today, where subsidence is worst, groundwater pumping isn’t even monitored, and big agricultural and anti-regulatory ideologues try to stymie any efforts to keep tabs on how much water is being pumped. Big corporate farms are sprouting in areas without CAP water and virtually no regulation on groundwater pumping.

More and more farms produce alfalfa, one of the thirstiest crops on Earth; the number of acres in hay production more than doubled between 1987 and 2017, and tonnage nearly tripled. Meanwhile, Arizona is getting even hotter.

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The dry and barren trail through Havasu Canyon refuses to give up the secret of what waits just eight miles away: an oasis of tumbling waterfalls and lush greenery, with turquoise pools that would seem more at home in Hawaii than in a remote corner of Arizona.

That’s precisely the draw of Havasupai Falls, a roughly four-mile gorge in the Grand Canyon carved over the eons by spring-fed Havasu Creek.

The Havasupai Tribe has for years opened its land to those wishing to explore what may well be the Southwest’s most beautiful tourist destination.

But hiking Havasu Canyon isn’t easy. There are numerous considerations: permits, reservations, weather, hike difficulty and trip planning.

Here are answers to the big questions about planning a Havasupai Falls hike…

At Organ Pipe National Monument in far southern Arizona, the landscape’s ecology confronts its militarization: A migratory corridor collides with a wall, a natural spring could lose water to pumping for concrete, and both migrants and locals who cross the Borderlands are monitored and tracked. Here amid a sea of saguaros, standing tall like giant green tridents, and organ pipe cacti rising in clusters like their namesake church organ pipes, the voice of local dissent grows louder.

Some members of the Tohono O’odham Nation, whose land spans both sides of the border, see the wall construction as the latest abuse from the federal government. “To the Anglo people, to the people of color, I want you to think back in terms of your own communities,” said David Garcia, a former tribal leader. “What may be going on in your communities has just started recently, but this has been going on for many centuries.”

The ongoing construction is already having ecological impacts and threatens to destroy or fragment habitat for 93 threatened, endangered and candidate species, according to a 2017 report by the Center for Biological Diversity. Already environmentalists fear that border wall construction, which involves mixing concrete with hundreds of thousands of gallons of water from nearby aquifers, could drain Quitobaquito Springs.

Vehicle barriers have been ripped from the ground, replaced by steel bollards. The difference is dramatic. Where the old barriers blend into the landscape — simple rusted metal columns a few feet high with big gaps in between — their successors resemble the bars of a giant never-ending jail cell.

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  A Texas man who had not been seen since before Christmas at Grand Canyon National Park was plucked by helicopter from a trail on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020 after hikers spotted him.

Martin Edward O’Connor, 58, was checked by an emergency medical team, cleared to go and reunited with a family member Thursday night, according to a park spokeswoman. It was not clear by Friday how or where he had spent the previous 11 days or what, if any, injuries he suffered.

O’Connor had last been seen Dec. 22, 2019 at Yavapai Lodge, a hotel within the national park where he had been staying since Dec. 17.

The first word that something was amiss came Monday, with a short news release and Facebook post from the Grand Canyon National Park: “Missing-Person Search Initiated at Grand Canyon.” The Park Service said O’Connor was believed to be traveling alone and asked anyone who saw or talked to him to get in touch.

On Wednesday, hikers did just that, going to a backcountry information office to report they had spotted the missing man, according to spokeswoman Lily Daniels. They said they saw O’Connor along the New Hance Trail, which the park says is “recommended only for highly experienced canyon hikers.”

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South Mountain cuts an impressive profile in the skyline south of downtown Phoenix.

The “mountain” isn’t a singular massif as the name implies, but a conglomerate of three parallel ranges that sit within the park boundaries and dovetail in a way that creates a fascinating environment of canyons, washes and rugged pinnacles. Over 50 miles of trails explore the park’s nooks, alcoves, high points and heritage sites.

Trails range in difficulty from the barrier-free Judith Tunell Trail near the South Mountain Environmental Education Center to the challenging routes that ascend the three ranges for panoramic views of the Valley.

As the park undergoes a major freshening-up in advance of its 100-year anniversary in 2024, there are more reasons than ever to take a hiking trip to this 16,000-acre municipal park and Phoenix point of pride. Improved facilities, more and better trails and upgraded trailheads will undo much of the spoilage caused by nearly a century of use.

Hikers looking for a trail with a moderate level of difficulty and enough elevation gain for outstanding mountaintop vistas will find the Ranger Trail is an excellent choice.

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Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado is an archaeological gem thanks to nearly 5,000 ancient sites. Founded in 1906, the park preserves the heritage of the Ancestral Pueblo people who lived in the dwellings for almost 700 years.

For a more peaceful journey through indigenous history, head to Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Situated in the northeastern part of the state in the Four Corners region, Canyon de Chelly is only 150 miles from Mesa Verde, but it feels like a separate world.

This territory reflects one of the longest continually inhabited regions on the continent. Various indigenous peoples including the Ancestral Puebloans and the Navajo lived in these canyons for nearly 5,000 years. Today, more than 2,700 known archaeological sites can be found in the canyons, including hundreds of Ancestral Puebloan villages and cliff dwellings.

The monument also represents a first-of-its-kind collaboration among the Navajo Nation, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The entire park is located on Navajo tribal land, and 40 Navajo families still reside in the canyon. In 2018, the three parties signed an agreement that outlines their commitment to sustainably manage the monument together.

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In the American Southwest, only 120 miles from one of the largest cities in the country, lies an outdoor and recreational wonderland of lakes, mountains, and desert just waiting for those who seek adventure and the chance to bring home a story. This astonishing place where “the desert meets the pines” is Prescott National Forest in Central Arizona, a year-round destination for camping, fishing, horseback riding, off-highway vehicle touring, and other exciting outdoor activities.

Prescott National Forest is guardian of more than 100,000 acres of wilderness, and part of a much larger area of protected lands as it borders three other National Forests in Arizona – Coconino National Forest, Tonto National Forest, and Kaibab National Forest. Prescott National Forest offers nearly 450 miles of scenic trails for hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, and mountain biking. The forest also contains a National Recreational Trail (Granite Mountain Trail) and a National Historic Study trail (General Crook Trail), and, with the mild climate of the area, visitors can enjoy hiking the trails year round.

Prescott National Forest also provides access to the Verde River, with opportunities for motorized boating, kayaking, and fishing. Once an active gravel pit, the Alto Pit in the forest is now a haven for off-highway vehicles like dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles. The 20-mile trail system offers something for everyone, with challenging rides for advanced recreationists and exhilarating learning opportunities for beginners. For more thrill-seeking visitors, Prescott National Forest has you covered with hang gliding, technical rock climbing and bouldering, and whitewater rafting.

When it comes to camping, the forest delivers a range of unique campsites and historic cabins that offer pine-clad mountain hideaways, rustic indoor retreats, and stunning stargazing spots. The best part of all is that there’s still a chance to plan a summer escape to this Arizona oasis.