"He was Some Pilgrim..." Ep. 25

Episode 25: Celebrating AZ

Lisa makes a stop at Picacho Peak she thought she’d never enjoy, but did,

then Julie shares friendship and laughter in a very unexpected setting: a hospital.

Mug: Picacho Peak

From “Arizona Friendtrips: Stories from the Road"

by Lisa Schnebly Heidinger

Picacho Peak is a stark landmark along Interstate 10 to many motorists who love to complain about how boring that drive is, the way recruits love to complain about military meals.

It is two additional things to me.

The first one is this: Picacho Peak is what makes Newman Peak the Most Ignored Mountain in Arizona.

I was introduced to Newman Peak while flying over it in a small plane.

The pilot pointed out that while it’s considerably larger than Picacho, everyone is so arrested by Picacho’s distinctive shape on the other side the road that virtually no one notices Newman.

Since then, I’ve done my part making it up to the poor rough, ungainly sibling across the from Picacho. Admittedly somewhat nondescript, Newman is 4,500 feet—­ although I found three different heights online.

And Picacho’s about 1,500 (I found four different heights). It deserves to at least be truly seen. But who among us hasn’t at some point felt like Newman Peak,as the world celebrates someone else in our airspace?

Should you drive by, or decide to stop, before you leave the area, please give a nod to the east side of the road, where Newman Peak (in my head, at least) yearns for a scrap of the attention Picacho gets. Thank you.

Copyright University of Arizona Press 2025, Used with permission

Uncertainty

by Julie Morrison

Arriving like the flier

between newspaper folds,

Uncertainty flutters, spilling out

to seek attention, advertising—

bold and neon—

dismissing any information

around her

as less important than herself—

overloud, unprepared,

and non-committal,

she flinches at the world

as though anyone, anything,

could be a purse-snatcher—

or WORSE—

and she can describe wrongs

exactly—

the more wrongs she points out

the more she feels right—

and though her litany

is breathlessly unrelenting

should you wedge in a question

like

what is her actual problem? or

what does she want to do about it?

she scoffs, sneers, sulks,

then starts over,

because—what do you know?—

she cannot say.

Copyright Julie Morrison 2025, All rights reserved