Clifton is a copper town squeezed into a narrow canyon in eastern Arizona, where the San Francisco River cuts through red rock, and it looks the part: old brick storefronts, tin roofs, and houses climbing the hillsides in terraces. It has about thirty-seven hundred residents and a main street that still carries the character of a frontier mining camp. Just up the road is the huge Morenci mine, one of the largest copper operations in North America, and its open pit and its terraced waste dumps change the shape of the landscape for miles.
The town's history is rough and colourful. The old jail, hacked into the rock face in the 1870s, was said to be escape-proof, and visitors can still see the cells. Floods have damaged the town repeatedly, and the dry canyon beds nearby can turn into torrents in minutes after a storm. Chase Creek Street, the historic strip, is a good place for a walk and a cold drink before you start.
From here, the Coronado Trail begins. US 191 climbs out of the desert in a long run of tight bends, and its reputation rests on the count, about four hundred and sixty curves in just over a hundred miles, with hardly a straight section. The road gains thousands of feet, from the dry canyon through juniper and oak to pine and aspen forests, and the temperature falls with it. It is named for the Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who marched through the region in 1540 in search of golden cities, though the exact route he took is still debated.
Top the tank in Clifton, since there is almost nothing along the road, and the next supplies are in Alpine, a small village high on the plateau. Bring water and warm clothing, and expect rain in the summer afternoons. The road is narrow, with little shoulder, and logging trucks, elk and sometimes bears are on it, so keep alert. The best time is late spring or early autumn, when the air is clear and the forests are colourful. Sunsets in this part of the state are long and spectacular.