Things to Do in Cottonwood

There's something timeless about Macdonald Ranch. Maybe it's that visitors can take a guided horseback ride through the desert, pose for an old-time photo, or ride a stagecoach—which in certain cases, might be held up by actors dressed as outlaws. But whatever the reason guests dock their zeppelin at Macdonald Ranch, the staff hopes to treat them to a fun ranch experience. They surround them with music, cowboy shows, and seasonal attractions such as the annual pumpkin festival.

Macdonald Ranch covers 1,300 acres of the scenic Sonoran Desert. Whether on horseback or a hayride, guests can explore the area and view its desert flora, hawks, petrified spurs, and coyotes.

Randy Long entered the working world as a travel agent, a vocation that whet his appetite for globetrotting, adventure, and haggling with airlines. When he became a father and husband, he passed a passion for thrill seeking on to his family, and their recent escapades include scuba diving in Barbados and dog sledding in Alaska. It was this thirst for exploration and a love of aviation that drove Randy to become an FAA-certified powered-parachute instructor and found Arizona Powerchutes.

Powered parachutes are comprised of two-seater, wheeled carts that float 20 feet beneath 40-foot parachutes. At sunrise—or sunset during the cooler months—Randy and a passenger climb aboard the cart, and Randy hits the throttle, gathering speed for about 100 feet before the parachute fully inflates and hoists the cart into the air. Randy adjusts the altitude to his patron's comfort level and steers crafts over the exotic plants and mountain silhouettes of the Sonoran Desert, averaging a speed of 26 miles per hour. After journeys, powered parachutes float to land safely, as they are inspected by the pilot prior to each flight and by an FAA-approved facility after every 100 hours of operation.

Since hosting their first class in 1989, Arizona Climbing and Adventure School's instructors have sent an estimated 37,000 students scurrying up the earth's craggy cliffs. Instead of learning climbing in an indoor facility, participants climb nature’s precipices outdoors upon the Southwest's cliffs and mountains. Adventurer and school director Mark Brontsema guides his students and fellow instructors by a philosophy that emphasizes self-reliance, goal setting, and teamwork. He now brings more than three decades to his post as school director, taking time from a busy schedule that includes writing gear reviews for the New York Times.

The school offers a large number of courses that target students of varying skill levels and reveal technique secrets in small groups of two to six students. Classes may focus on rappelling and anchors, guide services, and equipment-free bouldering, which relies solely on the climber's hands, feet, and retractable suction cups. Adventure courses include day trips and overnight climbing excursions, while special workshops address topics such as backpacking, being an ecologically responsible climber and hiker, and using GPS devices.

Front Range Climbing Company offers some of the best guided rock climbing in Colorado. Try our climbing instruction from the very basics of the sport to the cutting edge of technical climbing. Our climbing classes don't stop at the end of the summer but continue through the winter months.

Cowboy Way Adventures’ veteran wranglers traverse this vast landscape and know the wilds of Arizona almost as well as they know the muscular steeds they captain. To introduce others to the untamed beauty of the Arizona countryside, they match riders with compatible horses and lead guided trail rides.

After pairing each guest with a steed that moonlights as a cattle horse and occasional lounge singer, the wranglers take parties through the pine-filled Prescott mountains, trotting alongside rocky cliffs and through the Verde River. Riders in Wickenburg wander down Sonoran Desert trails, past saguaro cacti and sandy washes that lick the bases of soaring cliffs. Those in Sedona follow red-dirt cattle trails before circling back to the stables, guided by the windmill in the distance.

Wranglers ensure a comfortable yet exciting journey that allows beginners to saunter along and advanced equestrians to gallop up hills and naturally occurring escalators.

At Lynda Orescanin’s lampwork studio, she melts rods and tubes of glass into silver-studded spheres and delicate aquamarine swirls. Intricately detailed and no bigger than an eraser tip, the glass beads resemble paperweights for a doll’s desk. “I love the way the glass flows,” says Ms. Orescanin. “I love that you can’t rush it.”

Ms. Orescanin brings that same passion and expertise to her shop’s jewelry-making classes. She seeks out striking materials for her students, from Czech pressed-glass beads and Afghan lapis to metal charms cut from recycled filing cabinets. Inside her intimate studio, she strives to create a nurturing, friendly environment that encourages experimentation. Classes allow up to six students to sidle up to the well-lit worktable and try their hand at making jewelry. Ms. Orescanin walks them through the basics of jewelry making, from tool use to beading technique. “People say, ‘Oh, I’m not creative, I don’t know anything about color,’" she says. "But when they finish something, I’m like, ‘Wow, it's magnificent. I would have never thought to put those together in that particular way.”