Scott Thybony Commentaries

If you’ve done any exploring around the Southwest, you’ve probably visited a few places with rather ominous names: “Bloody Basin,” “Skull Valley,” “The Superstition Mountains.” Seems Arizona is full of places named after grim legends. “Deadman Flat” is no exception. It’s a place writer Scott Thybony has visited many times. In his latest Canyon Commentary, Thybony tells the tale of how “Deadman Flat” got its name. 

KNAU commentator Scott Thybony has – for decades – pursued an interest in sacred places of the wider Four Corners region. And it was on a trek to a Buddhist meditation center in Colorado that he realized just how well Zen and mountains go together. In his latest Canyon Commentary, Thybony delves into the mystic with the story of Stone Woman … and the reason for snow. 

Today, the country elects a new president, and along with it, a new First Family. There have been many notable - even infamous - First Family members, including Alice Roosevelt, daughter of former President Theodore Roosevelt. She was independent and brazen at a time in history when women were expected to be demure and take backseats to men. Her father had a problem with her behavior...Alice did not. She remained vibrant and outspoken all her life. Commentator Scott Thybony recounts Alice Roosevelt's adventurous trip to the Grand Canyon nearly 100 years ago as her father prepared to make it a national monument. 

There are countless places to go for a great view of the Grand Canyon. Akin's Perch is one of them. That's where the artist Louis Akin - in the early 1900's - painted one of his large-scale works of a storm swallowing up the Canyon. In this month's Canyon Commentary, Scott Thybony visits Akin's Perch to see the monsoon through a painter's eye.