Wonders of Arizona

In this final episode of our seven-part road trip through Arizona, we head to the Grand Canyon. Red rock spires and golden, the snaking blue of the Colorado River 5,000-feet below. Most visitors stand at the rim, take a photograph and leave. But that's only part of what makes this canyon grand.

We hike down the Hermit Trail with park geologist Anne Miller, descending through 1.8 billion years of Earth's history written into the stone. We find out about the indigenous history if the canyon, which has been used by native people for thousands of years. And end our journey at Shoshone Point and one of the most spectacular sunsets you'll ever see.

This is Arizona - the Wonder of the World.

Episode Highlights:

Hiking Back in Time

Follow geologist Anne Miller down the Hermit Trail, where every switchback takes you millions of years further into the past. Find out why the rocks at the rim are older than the dinosaurs, and how at the bottom of the canyon you can stand on the tops of mountains 1.8 billion years old.

An Ocean a Mile High

Discover a vast prehistoric sea pressed into the canyon walls, with crinoids like tiny stone Cheerios, clam-like brachiopods and ancient sponges, a mile above today's ocean.

A Living Landscape

The Grand Canyon isn't just ancient history. It's a living homeland. Eleven tribes hold it sacred, and Native communities still live on its rim and deep within its walls today. See the canyon through their eyes, and the landscape starts to reveal itself: pottery shards underfoot, petroglyphs on the canyon walls, and mysterious split-twig figurines, as old as Stonehenge, hidden deep in caves that almost no one will ever see.

Secret Sunset

Find out where to go for one of the most spectacular sunsets in the park. It's a mile's hike in, and worth every step. From a narrow peninsula of rock with a near-270-degree view, watch the buttes and temples below catch fire in the last light as the canyon turns slowly gold all around.

PLAN YOUR TRIP

This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a road trip you can take. Recorded entirely on location over two extraordinary weeks, Wonders of Arizona follows a new, bookable itinerary designed and road-tested by presenter and award-winning travel writer Aaron Millar (The Times, National Geographic Traveller and more), told through the voices of the people who know these places best. Hear it first, then make the journey your own.

To find out more go to:

USA and Worldwide Listeners: wondersofaz.com (https://www.wondersofaz.com)

UK Listeners: search up Wonders of Arizona at HaysTravel.co.uk (https://www.haystravel.co.uk/destinations/americas/rest-of-usa/arizona/wonders-of-arizona/wonders-of-arizona/) ... Or phone: 0800 408 4048

Thank you to our guests:

• Anne Miller, Geologist and Paleontologist, Grand Canyon National Park
• Vincent Diaz, Tribal Program Coordinator and Liaison, Grand Canyon National Park

Plan your visit: nps.gov/grca

Visit Hualapai lands in the western Grand Canyon: grandcanyonwest.com

FOLLOW VISIT ARIZONA:

Instagram: @visitarizona

Facebook: @visitarizona

CREDITS:

The Wonders of Arizona podcast is written and presented by Aaron Millar. Field recording and audio production by Jason Paton. Pre-production and itinerary by Brian Thacker. Produced by Armchair Productions for Visit Arizona.

In this sixth episode of our seven-part road trip through Arizona, we're doing something a little different. This isn't a journey to a place, but into a culture. Arizona is home to 22 Native American tribes, each with its own artistic traditions, and the Indigenous art made here is among the most beautiful you'll find anywhere.

Beneath Hole-in-the-Rock in Phoenix's Papago Park, where the ancestral Hohokam once tracked the seasons by the sun, a world champion hoop dancer brings the drum and the hoops to life. Then we travel north to the Hopi Mesas to meet a basket weaver whose art carries a powerful message for her community, and for all of us.

This is Arizona - the Wonder of Native American Art

Episode Highlights:

The Heartbeat of the Drum

Sit in the shade of an ancient sandstone butte as Sampson Sixkiller Sinquah and his uncle Zachary Smith play a powwow drum. Hear why the drum is known as the heartbeat of Mother Earth, and why every drum has its own spirit.

The Hoop Dance

Hear the story of the hoop dance, a healing dance passed down through generations. To the beat of the powwow drum, the dancer sends as many as a dozen hoops flowing around their body, forming flowers and globes, eagles and butterflies, and finally the circle of life itself.

Baskets From the Earth

Travel to Second Mesa on the Hopi Reservation to meet basket weaver Iva Honyestewa in her gallery, Iskaskopu, "the spring where the coyote burps." Find out how every strand of her baskets is gathered by hand from the desert, and why she always leaves an offering of cornmeal in return.

Weaving a Message

Discover the Pootsaya, a new kind of Hopi basket Iva created to bring her community together. Hear why she believes the feeling a maker puts into a piece of art stays with it, and reaches whoever holds it.

Walk the Hopi Arts Trail

Find out how you can visit Iva and other Hopi artists in their homes and studios, and take home far more than a souvenir.

PLAN YOUR TRIP

This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a road trip you can take. Recorded entirely on location over two extraordinary weeks, Wonders of Arizona follows a new, bookable itinerary designed and road-tested by presenter and award-winning travel writer Aaron Millar (The Times, National Geographic Traveller and more), told through the voices of the people who know these places best. Hear it first, then make the journey your own.

To find out more go to:

USA and Worldwide Listeners: wondersofaz.com (https://www.wondersofaz.com)

UK Listeners: search up Wonders of Arizona at HaysTravel.co.uk (https://www.haystravel.co.uk/destinations/americas/rest-of-usa/arizona/wonders-of-arizona/wonders-of-arizona/) ... Or phone: 0800 408 4048

Thank you to our guests:

• Sampson Sixkiller Sinquah and Zachary Smith, Sinquah Productions: sinquahproductions.com
• Iva Honyestewa, Iskaskopu Gallery, Second Mesa: hopiartstrail.com/member/iva-honyestewa
• Plan your visit to Hopi artists' studios: hopiartstrail.com

FOLLOW VISIT ARIZONA:

Instagram: @visitarizona

Facebook: @visitarizona

CREDITS:

The Wonders of Arizona podcast is written and presented by Aaron Millar. Field recording and audio production by Jason Paton. Pre-production and itinerary by Brian Thacker. Produced by Armchair Productions for Visit Arizona.

In this fifth episode of our seven-part road trip through Arizona, we hit the open road. Arizona has the longest preserved stretch of original Route 66 in the United States: more than 385 miles of neon, chrome and wide-open desert. And in 2026, the Mother Road turns 100-years-old so there’s no better time to drive it.

We start in Seligman, the little town where Route 66 was reborn, with pranks, classic cars and a world-record-breaking drive-in. We meet the 99-year-old ‘Guardian Angel of Route 66’ who is credited with saving the Mother Road. And along the way, we discover what Route 66 really means, and how its story mirrors the story of America itself

This is Arizona - the Wonder of the Road.

Episode Highlights:

The Snow Cap Welcome

Get sprayed with mustard, fooled by the door handles and offered a cheeseburger with cheese at Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-In. Hear how owner John Delgadillo's father turned a doctor's warning into a Route 66 legend built on laughter.

The World's Wildest Milkshakes

Find out how the Snow Cap broke a Guinness World Record with 266 different milkshakes, including flavors such as hot dog, and peanut butter jalapeño banana. Then meet the rusty old tow truck out back that inspired Mater from the movie Cars.

Blame It on the Bicycles

Travel back to the birth of the American road trip with historian David Purcell at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Discover the surprising origins of Route 66 and what it was really like to drive it in 1926: no pavement, no air conditioning, no map, and 25 miles an hour if you were lucky.

The Guardian Angel of Route 66

Meet Angel Delgadillo, the 99-year-old barber who watched his town die when the interstate came through, and then refused to give up on it. Hear how he led the fight to bring Route 66 back to life, and why he believes it still has something important to teach us.

PLAN YOUR TRIP

This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a road trip you can take. Recorded entirely on location over two extraordinary weeks, Wonders of Arizona follows a new, bookable itinerary designed and road-tested by presenter and award-winning travel writer Aaron Millar (The Times, National Geographic Traveller and more), told through the voices of the people who know these places best. Hear it first, then make the journey your own.

To find out more go to:

USA and Worldwide Listeners: wondersofaz.com (https://www.wondersofaz.com)

UK Listeners: search up Wonders of Arizona at HaysTravel.co.uk (https://www.haystravel.co.uk/destinations/americas/rest-of-usa/arizona/wonders-of-arizona/wonders-of-arizona/) ... Or phone: 0800 408 4048

Thank you to our guests:

• John Delgadillo, Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-In: instagram.com/delgadillosnowcap
• David Purcell, Supervisory Archaeologist and Historian, Museum of Northern Arizona: musnaz.org
• Angel Delgadillo, founder of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona: route66giftshop.com

FOLLOW VISIT ARIZONA:

Instagram: @visitarizona

Facebook: @visitarizona

CREDITS:

The Wonders of Arizona podcast is written and presented by Aaron Millar. Field recording and audio production by Jason Paton. Pre-production and itinerary by Brian Thacker. Produced by Armchair Productions for Visit Arizona.

In this fourth episode of our seven-part road trip through Arizona, we’re reaching for the stars. Northern Arizona has some of the darkest skies in the country, as well as the world's first International Dark Sky City in Flagstaff. If you want to see the Milky Way like never before, this is where you've got to come.

We stand on the rim of Meteor Crater, the best-preserved meteorite impact crater on Earth, blasted out of the desert 50,000 years ago by an asteroid traveling faster than the speed of sound. We step inside the historic Lowell Observatory, home to some of the most important astronomical discoveries in history. And in the center of downtown Flagstaff, we stand beneath a sky filled with more sparkling lights than you could possibly imagine.

This is Arizona - the Wonder of the Stars.

Episode Highlights:

The Day the Sky Fell

Walk the rim of the Barringer Meteor Crater, the best-preserved meteor impact site on Earth, and feel the raw power of the universe. The crater is three-quarters of a mile across and more than 550 feet deep, a hole so vast that two million spectators could watch from its slopes.

One Giant Leap

Hear how Meteor Crater helped make one giant leap for mankind possible, and why, from Mars rovers to NASA's Artemis program, this hole in the Arizona desert is still playing an essential role in space exploration today.

Staring Into the Sun

Look through a specially filtered telescope at Lowell's Giovale Open Deck Observatory and see the sun as few people ever do: dark sunspots, arcing prominences and ribbons of plasma, churning like a living thing.

Expanding Universe

Step back in time at Lowell Observatory with historian Kevin Schindler, inside the wooden dome of the 1896 Clark Telescope. Lowell is famous for discovering Pluto, but it was here that one of the most important discoveries in the history of astronomy was made, and it's a story almost no one knows.

The World's First Dark Sky City

Meet cultural astronomer Dr. Danielle Adams and discover how Flagstaff protects its stars, and why the night sky matters for our health, for nature, and for our sense of wonder. Then find out what it's like to stargaze from a brewery in the middle of town.

PLAN YOUR TRIP

This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a road trip you can take. Recorded entirely on location over two extraordinary weeks, Wonders of Arizona follows a new, bookable itinerary designed and road-tested by presenter and award-winning travel writer Aaron Millar (The Times, National Geographic Traveller and more), told through the voices of the people who know these places best. Hear it first, then make the journey your own.

To find out more go to:

USA and Worldwide Listeners: wondersofaz.com (https://www.wondersofaz.com)

UK Listeners: search up Wonders of Arizona at HaysTravel.co.uk (https://www.haystravel.co.uk/destinations/americas/rest-of-usa/arizona/wonders-of-arizona/wonders-of-arizona/) ... Or phone: 0800 408 4048

Thank you to our guests:

• Amanda Spencer, Head Tour Guide, Meteor Crater: meteorcrater.com
• Kevin Schindler, Historian and Public Information Officer, Lowell Observatory: lowell.edu
• Dr. Danielle Adams, Executive Director, Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition: flagstaffdarkskies.org

FOLLOW VISIT ARIZONA:

Instagram: @visitarizona

Facebook: @visitarizona

CREDITS:

The Wonders of Arizona podcast is written and presented by Aaron Millar. Field recording and audio production by Jason Paton. Pre-production and itinerary by Brian Thacker. Produced by Armchair Productions for Visit Arizona.

In this third episode of our seven-part road trip through Arizona, we explore one of the most unusual national parks in America: Petrified Forest. But this isn't like any forest you've ever seen. Here, giant trees that fell more than 200 million years ago have turned to stone, their insides glowing with reds, purples and yellows and their crystals sparkling in the sun. There are many places in the world where you can see fossils, but this is one of the few where you can actually reach out and touch them.

We hike through fire-painted badlands and fields of rainbow-colored logs, uncover 13,000 years of human history carved into the rock, and go behind the scenes with the paleontologists still unearthing creatures from the dawn of the dinosaurs.

This is Arizona - the Wonder of the Forest.

Episode Highlights:

A Forest Turned to Stone

Walk among the fallen giants of the Rainbow Forest on the Giant Logs Trail, home to "Old Faithful," a petrified log almost ten feet wide at its base. Then follow the Crystal Forest Trail, where quartz glitters along the path like stars in the midday sun.

Into the Painted Desert

Travel the park's single 28-mile scenic road through badlands striped like candy corn and past the Tepees, cone-shaped hills banded in rust and white.

Back to Time

Travel back more than 200 million years with Dr. Bill Parker, to a time when Arizona lay near the equator and looked more like Costa Rica than desert. Picture towering conifers lining an Amazon-sized river, ferns and cycads underfoot, and not a flower or blade of grass anywhere. Then find out how volcanic ash turned those fallen trees to stone.

Messages in Stone

Discover 13,000 years of human history, from Ice Age spear points made of petrified wood to an ancient pueblo built from it.

A Real-Life Jurassic Park

Go behind the scenes with lead paleontologist Dr. Adam Marsh as he reveals the skull of a Postosuchus, a crocodile relative that looked like a T. rex and ruled this land more than 200 million years ago. It's one of only a handful ever found.

What's Latin for Funky Worm?

Find out why paleontologists named the world's oldest known caecilian after a 1970s funk song, and hear our humble request for the next new species found in the park.

PLAN YOUR TRIP

This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a road trip you can take. Recorded entirely on location over two extraordinary weeks, Wonders of Arizona follows a new, bookable itinerary designed and road-tested by presenter and award-winning travel writer Aaron Millar (The Times, National Geographic Traveller and more), told through the voices of the people who know these places best. Hear it first, then make the journey your own.

To find out more go to:

USA and Worldwide Listeners: wondersofaz.com (https://www.wondersofaz.com)

UK Listeners: search up Wonders of Arizona at HaysTravel.co.uk (https://www.haystravel.co.uk/destinations/americas/rest-of-usa/arizona/wonders-of-arizona/wonders-of-arizona/) ... Or phone: 0800 408 4048

Thank you to our guests:

• Dr. Bill Parker, Chief of Science and Resource Management, Petrified Forest National Park
• Dr. Adam Marsh, Lead Paleontologist, Petrified Forest National Park
• Matthew Smith, Museum Curator, Petrified Forest National Park

Plan your visit: nps.gov/pefo

FOLLOW VISIT ARIZONA:

Instagram: @visitarizona

Facebook: @visitarizona

CREDITS:

The Wonders of Arizona podcast is written and presented by Aaron Millar. Field recording and audio production by Jason Paton. Pre-production and itinerary by Brian Thacker. Produced by Armchair Productions for Visit Arizona.

In this second episode of our seven-part road trip through Arizona, we head for the Sky Islands: isolated mountain ranges that rise out of the desert like islands from a sea. This is the most biodiverse region in North America, where jaguars and ocelots still roam and more than half of the continent's bird species have been recorded.

We take a nature tour with one of the country's foremost naturalists and survival experts, then head for Mount Lemmon, passing through six ecological zones in just 35 minutes. In terms of natural habitats, that's the equivalent of traveling from Mexico to Canada. At the top, we rope up for a Native American-led rock climb to hear what this remarkable eco-system means to the people who have lived here for thousands of years.

This is Arizona - the Wonder of the Sky.

Episode Highlights:

Islands in a Sea of Desert

You may never have heard of the Sky Islands, but naturalist Vincent Pinto says there's nowhere on the continent more alive. From hummingbirds and hawks to jaguars and golden eagles, life is everywhere in these mountain islands and the sea of grass between them. Take a nature tour with Vincent and discover this ecological wonder for yourself.

The Art of Seeing

Walk the trails of Raven's Nest Nature Sanctuary as Vincent teaches the art of truly seeing nature. Meet a rabbit that eats its own scat, a plant that smells like grandpa's couch, and the smallest butterfly in North America.

Stone Age Survival

Discover how to turn a rock into a knife sharp enough to use as a scalpel, taught by a wilderness survival expert who has consulted for TV shows including Marooned with Ed Stafford.

Navajo Heights

Travel to the top of Mount Lemmon with Diné (Navajo) climbing guide Aaron Mike, and hear why climbing is how he feels most connected to his heritage, and to the stories his people tell about the land.

PLAN YOUR TRIP

This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a road trip you can take. Recorded entirely on location over two extraordinary weeks, Wonders of Arizona follows a new, bookable itinerary designed and road-tested by presenter and award-winning travel writer Aaron Millar (The Times, National Geographic Traveller and more), told through the voices of the people who know these places best. Hear it first, then make the journey your own.

To find out more go to:

USA and Worldwide Listeners: wondersofaz.com (https://www.wondersofaz.com)

UK Listeners: search up Wonders of Arizona at HaysTravel.co.uk (https://www.haystravel.co.uk/destinations/americas/rest-of-usa/arizona/wonders-of-arizona/wonders-of-arizona/) ... Or phone: 0800 408 4048

Thank you to our guests:

• Vincent Pinto, Ravens-Way Wild Journeys and Raven's Nest Nature Sanctuary: ravensnatureschool.com
• Aaron Mike, Altitude Mountain Guides: altitudemountainguides.com

FOLLOW VISIT ARIZONA:

Instagram: @visitarizona

Facebook: @visitarizona

CREDITS:

The Wonders of Arizona podcast is written and presented by Aaron Millar. Field recording and audio production by Jason Paton. Pre-production and itinerary by Brian Thacker. Produced by Armchair Productions for Visit Arizona.

In this first episode of our seven-part road trip through Arizona, we walk among the ancient cactus forests of Saguaro National Park. Then we saddle up at White Stallion Ranch for legendary guns, dusty arenas and a campfire under the stars with a cowboy poet. It's a journey into the heart of one of the most remarkable deserts in the world, and into the mythology of the American West that this landscape helped shape.

This is Arizona - the Wonder of the Desert.

Episode Highlights:

The Desert Miracle

Hear why Ranger Jordan Camp from Saguaro National Park calls the giant saguaro a "miracle of the desert," and discover the extraordinary biology behind one of nature's most remarkable survivors.

The Symbol of the West

Find out how a cactus that grows only in the Sonoran Desert became Hollywood's defining image of the Wild West, and why the real desert is nothing like the movies.

Guns of the Wild West

Step into the armory at White Stallion Ranch as the resident gunslinger and raconteur lays out some of the most legendary weapons in American history, from the Colt revolver made famous by Wyatt Earp to Billy the Kid's fast-draw pistol.

Cattle Penning

Get into the heart of the action as Aaron, mic'd up and in the saddle for the first time, attempts to herd cattle on horseback at White Stallion Ranch. Spoiler: the cows were not impressed.

The Keeper of the Fire

As the sun drops behind the Tucson Mountains and the saguaros turn to silhouettes on the horizon, gather around a campfire with cowboy poet and musician Buck Helton, and hear a song about memory, tradition and what it means to keep a flame alive.

PLAN YOUR TRIP

This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a road trip you can take. Recorded entirely on location over two extraordinary weeks, Wonders of Arizona follows a new, bookable itinerary designed and road-tested by presenter and award-winning travel writer Aaron Millar (The Times, National Geographic Traveller and more), told through the voices of the people who know these places best. Hear it first, then make the journey your own.

To find out more go to:

USA and Worldwide Listeners: wondersofaz.com (https://www.wondersofaz.com)

UK Listeners: search up Wonders of Arizona at HaysTravel.co.uk (https://www.haystravel.co.uk/destinations/americas/rest-of-usa/arizona/wonders-of-arizona/wonders-of-arizona/) ... Or phone: 0800 408 4048.

Thank you to our guests:

• Ranger Jordan Camp, Saguaro National Park
• The whole team at White Stallion Ranch
• Cowboy poet and musician Buck Helton

FOLLOW VISIT ARIZONA:

Instagram: @visitarizona

Facebook: @visitarizona

CREDITS:

The Wonders of Arizona podcast is written and presented by Aaron Millar. Field recording and audio production by Jason Paton. Pre-production and itinerary by Brian Thacker. Produced by Armchair Productions for Visit Arizona.