The Trail of Many Tracks Road trip for the heritage traveler

With The Trail of Many Tracks, I’ve journeyed back in time exploring one of the last frontiers of the American West by car, located in northeastern Arizona. This self-guided auto adventure uses an interpretive CD and map.

The route covers from 280 to 440 miles, depending on how many side trips you make and can be done in segments or in its entirety. Directions are clearly given to take you from one stop to the next.

The Trail starts on Interstate 40 either at Winslow or the Lupton Welcome Center near the New Mexico border and loops through the White Mountains region; choose the CD for east or west travel depending on the route you prefer.

A fascinating history unfolds as you travel from Sanders and Zuni through St. Johns to the Round Valley, on to Greer, then Hon-Dah and Fort Apache and back up the loop through Pinetop-Lakeside, Show Low, Shumway, Taylor, Snowflake, Holbrook and Winslow — or the reverse.

TALES ARE TOLD

Travelers on the Trail can experience most of the varied cultures and influences involved from earliest times to the settlement of the American West. The area is rich in fossils and the tracks of dinosaurs. Numerous prehistoric ruins of native peoples are situated along the waterways.

Tales are told of Spanish sheepmen and New York bankers, Mormon colonists and Texas cowboys, black cavalrymen and Apache and Navajo Indians.

Follow or cross the Spanish explorer Coronado’s expedition route, Beale’s Camel Trail, Mormon Honeymoon Trail, great cattle trails from Texas, Santa Fe and Apache Railroads, the famed Route 66, and more. Drive through vast high grasslands and small farming valleys, between extinct volcanoes, and over forested alpine mountains replete with a variety of wildlife.

When the interpretive CD was first made available to the public, I was fortunate to be part of a media tour that explored a portion of the Trail. The tales told by the narrators were fascinating and gave a real sense of the continuity between past and present.

In fact, one of the special treats of the CD is that there are many “voices” — descendents of those who settled the area. I came away with a huge appreciation of our forebears and those who preceded them.

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

The Trail of Many Tracks not only guides you to the major attractions of the region, it takes you to hidden treasures that you might otherwise miss.

Off the beaten track you’ll find the Shumway Schoolhouse, oldest one-room school in Arizona; historic photos in the Hon-Dah Casino’s convenience store; a beautiful old Lutheran Church in Whiteriver and a historic cemetery at Fort Apache; the Little House Museum on the grounds of X Diamond Ranch; the Petroglyph Trail at Lyman Lake State Park; the murals on the Mission walls in Zuni Pueblo; and so much more.

HOW IT CAME TO BE

The inspiration for this guide came from the Four Corners network of heritage trails, including The Trail of the Ancients. Folks in the White Mountains area wanted to develop a route to tie in the Navajo, Zuni and Apache peoples and the many other groups that followed, to celebrate their very varied heritage.

It was a grass-roots effort and a labor of love: to work together to create a balanced representation of all involved while creating a route that worked for the traveler.

Grant aid from the Arizona Humanities Council and the U.S. Forest Service Community Development made possible the hiring of professional historian Richard Lynch. AmeriCorps volunteers recorded oral histories. A script was written and revised, and the route was driven numerous times to get the logistics completely worked out. Of all the heritage trails, this is the only one with an audio tour guide!

FREE, USER FRIENDLY

Two to four leisurely days is recommended for visitors to enjoy each of the stops along the way. Your user-friendly CD package can be obtained at visitor centers and chambers of commerce along the trail. It’s free.

You will be asked to fill out a brief information card that helps track who is using the CDs and, after your travels, the return of a survey card to share your reactions would be much appreciated. These will be entered in an annual drawing for a free weekend getaway and gift basket.

You may also download the CDs to burn your own. Or, if you wish, download the files to your iPod (or other portable audio player). You will find the files online.

Add a new dimension to your travels, expand your knowledge, and just plain have fun exploring this corner of the American West. And as you go, stop at one of the many rodeos, quilting bees, tribal fairs, or other small town events and get to know the friendly people along the Trail of Many Tracks.

Do you like to explore hidden byways? Does our pioneer history fascinate you? Are you curious about the story behind a name, a building, a route? Do you enjoy driving through beautiful scenic countryside? If you are that special kind of traveler who likes to look beneath the surface and beyond the obvious, The Trail of Many Tracks auto tour is tailor-made for you.

Find the monthly newspaper AZ Tourist News at participating Village Inn, IHOP and JB’s restaurants as well as your local Chamber of Commerce and convention and visitors bureaus.