The Desert Trails Are Getting Crowded. That Is a Complicated Good Thing.

Marcus was born in Tucson, educated at the University of Arizona, and spent 20 years as a national magazine writer before coming back to a state he had been explaining to outsiders his whole career. His byline has appeared in The Atlantic, Smithsonian, and a few others. He now lives in Sedona and writes about Arizona with the specific irritation of someone who loves a place that keeps getting misread. He is the writer editors call when a story needs more history than it thinks it does, and longer sentences than the editorial calendar would prefer.