Arizona travel writer Roger Naylor on his year in trips — and what he’s looking forward to in 2026

As we wrap up 2026, let’s take a moment to live vicariously through a man who is never without a good trail to hike.

Roger Naylor is a longtime Arizona travel writer. He sat down with The Show recently to talk about his year in hiking and road tripping — and what he’s looking forward to next year.

Full conversation

ROGER NAYLOR: A lot of hiking to begin with, a lot of driving, a lot of road trips. The Route 66 Centennial is coming up in 2026, so I was making a lot of trips there as I was finishing up a book project. So it was nice, those old-fashioned road trips. You know, just driving with the windows down, pulling off, stopping for a burger here and there, and enjoying ... Brings back a lot of vivid memories.

But I had, you know, a few adventures as well. I did something I'd been wanting to do for a couple of years. I went up to Lake Mead National Recreation Area in the Lake Mojave, that section of it at Willow Beach, and kayaked to Emerald Cave. Which is a very popular Instagram, kind of famous stop, because it's a good photograph.

So I knew, you know, I kind of knew what to expect. I knew it wouldn't be secluded. I knew it's a small little cave and stuff. And I'm always a little nervous on water because I'm more of a hiker. I don't swim ... but it was flat water, it was easy, very accessible and beautiful.

And what I didn't know at that time, you know, I booked on a Monday. And Monday, Tuesday, that section of the river, the 30 miles south from Hoover Dam, are no motorized boat. So it was very peaceful. So it was just a whole bunch of kayakers out, kind of paddling up the river and then paddling back.

We waited our turn to go into Emerald Cave. And you kind of have to back in and, you know, snap your little photos and if you get there at the right time of day, the reason it's called Emerald Cave is because the sun comes in and it just turns the water this brilliant green, you know, all around.

So it was really, really lovely.

LAUREN GILGER: A standout moment in your year, for sure.

Roger Naylor

NAYLOR: Yeah, I enjoyed it. So —

GILGER: So what about along Route 66? You spent a lot of the year writing this book that just came out on Route 66, the Centennials coming up, as you said. Are there moments you had in reporting that or writing it or driving along there that stand out for you?

NAYLOR: Well, I always do with the book that I wrote, Arizona Route 66, road trip. I really wanted to focus on not just the history of the road, but what's available right now. I wanted people to have a chance at an old-fashioned road trip. Not an interstate road trip, not a place where you just stop at the first fast food place you come to and stuff.

So I really focused on mom and pop restaurants, mom and pop hotels, that still had that same feel, that two-lane road, that pulling off at a place I didn't know anything about. "Oh, that looks good. I like their sign. I'm gonna pull in here and try here." And sometimes, man, you just have such a wonderful meal or you come across a place with a great decor.

I stopped in Kingman at this little place called Grandpa's Kitchen. And how can you avoid that? And I mean, it's packed with places. The food was really good, and it's big portions and it's all bustling. But one table gets up to leave and the guy goes, "All right, see you tomorrow." And then another table gets up and leaves and goes, "OK, see you next week."

And so it's like, not only are there regulars, but the staff knows their schedule. They're so regular. It's nice to know those kind of places still exist. We forget about that sometimes. I stopped out at Kingman Airport Cafe and had one of the best burgers I'd had in ages. Just, you know, and the walls are surrounded with all this old memorabilia.

Because Kingman has an incredible aviation history. During World War II, it was turned into this Army airfield where they trained B29 gunners. People like Charles Bronson, Clayton Moore trained there and stuff. So there's all this wonderful memorabilia and photos, and I'm just eating this burger that's just out of this world. This is what road trips are all about.

These little tiny moments that you hold on to.

GILGER: Discovering something you probably wouldn't have otherwise.

NAYLOR: Exactly.

GILGER: I gotta ask about the Cleater Yacht Club, because this is such an, such an odd place and such a cool one. You went there this year?

NAYLOR: I did. You know, I wanted to write a story for the Arizona Republic about it. I wanted to head up to Crown King, up in the mountains there. But one of the stops along the way, because you take off on this dirt road and a few miles up Crown King, you're climbing an old railroad track.

So it gets a little dicey sometimes four-wheel drive is needed. But the first few miles still out in the open desert, out in the middle of nowhere is the Cleater Yacht Club ... It's just an old watering hole with a porch. But the backyard is just full of old boats and surfboards and, you know, all this, you know, very beachy. It's like a tiki bar, almost kind of feel to it.

News

Cleator is an Arizona ghost town in the middle of the desert with a watering hole — and a yacht club

Stina Sieg

Arizona is full of ghost towns. Spots that were once kept alive by mining or the railroad, that have pretty much blown away in the desert wind.

Listen

GILGER: But dry as a bone, right?

NAYLOR: If Jimmy Buffett had grown up in Phoenix, this is where he would go drink. You just feel like it. And so Buddy and I went out and, you know, we head up to Crown King, had our burger and did that. On the way down, we stopped at the Cleater Yacht Club and going for a cold beverage out in the middle of nowhere with a few regulars.

I think there were more dogs than there were customers. There were about three just kind of wandering around, just big sweethearts. And sitting out on a surfboard, having a cold beer in the desert, looking at the cactus. I think, yeah, I'm in Arizona. ...

GILGER: One of the big things that happened this year in your world, right, was just the big changes and cuts that came to public lands. I mean, national parks, national monuments being, first of all, attempts to scale back, but just massive budget cuts, staffing cuts, et cetera. What do you think about that?

Like, have you heard from folks in the parks and how they're kind of handling all this?

NAYLOR: I have, and it's very unfortunate. I had just written my book, "Arizona National Parks and Monuments." It came out the end of last year, and I was starting to do promotions and presentations and talks. And that's when the hiring freeze hit and the cuts came. And all of a sudden they couldn't even promote a lot of the presentation stuff.

Then staff cut back. So, yeah, I've been in touch with a lot of them and managers, and, you know, behind the scenes. They're holding on as best they can, but it is really a struggle, especially some of the smaller parks. That's where they were housed. That's, you know, where they lived, out in the middle of nowhere. And all of a sudden, not only were they without a job, but they were without a home and, you know, sent packing.

And I had a couple of parks managers tell me that if they lost one more person, they were going to have to close. I mean, they were just hanging on by a thread. So it was very difficult. And then the government shutdown came at really awful time, on top of that. There's going to be damage, there's going to be degradation.

The national parks, the state parks, all this, all the public lands, this is what makes Arizona so special. Is that, you know, we have these green spaces, we have open country around us at every level. Arizona is very good about setting land aside. And if we're starting to lose any of that, it affects communities, affects way of life.

GILGER: Yeah. So some concerns from 2025, I'm sure lingering into 2026. But let's end on a positive note. What are you looking forward to next year as we roll into the new year here?

NAYLOR: Well, obviously, the Route 66 Centennial is going to be a very big deal in Arizona, especially because we're the state that saved Route 66. We're the one — this is where the preservation movement began, where the tide of history turned. So a lot of — it's just going to be a great opportunity to get out and explore again.

I'm kind of overdue. There's a couple of state parks I haven't been for a while. Lyman Lake over in the White Mountains and Oracle State park down north of Tucson, I want to get to. And you know, there's always places, you know, that there was a time in Oracle Park I still remember I was hiking this trail, and it's a wildlife refuge, too.

And I stopped on this trail and this deer was just a few feet away from me and stopped. And we just stared at each other for the longest time. And I mean, I've seen a million deer on the trail and stuff, but we just had this quiet little moment. And I kind of reached for my camera and then it bolted.

I'm going, ah, I knew better. I'm no tourist. That was just one of those trail moments that I got to share that only I get to experience. So, you know, those little tiny moments, they just add up. They're important. And that's why we have these kind of open lands, these kind of parks there for us to enjoy, to experience.