https://www.phoenixmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/PHM1026EX01-1280x720.jpg

Distill a “sense of place” into a single word and it shakes out as terroir, a mot français used to describe the regional environmental elements and conditions that affect crops like wine grapes.

https://www.phoenixmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/IMPOSSIBLE_HIKES_mystery_valley-1280x720.jpg

Arizona hiking already has enough challenges – heat, lack of water, cacti, critters, crowds – to foil many without strong constitutions. Now try adding a layer of red tape. While most of the best hikes in the state are on BLM or Forest Service land, requiring nothing but shoes and a smile to get in, a few really extraordinary journeys lay tucked behind the gates of bureaucracy. A good hiker should know how to climb over obstacles. Here’s an insider’s guide to five of them.