This year’s Perseid meteor shower – the finest of all meteor showers – peaks in the pre-dawn hours tomorrow and Friday morning. If you’ve never seen the Perseid shower, or you’ve only noticed one or two meteorites incidentally from within the city, you really owe it to yourself to get out away from the city lights and catch it. And with the moon giving us ideal conditions, 2010 will be an exceptional year for this celestial show. In Phoenix, the tiny waxing crescent (new) moon sets tonight, Wednesday, August 11, at 8:15 p.m., promising dark skies that are ideal for meteor watching.

The best way to enjoy tonight’s show is to get out of the city. I live in northeast Phoenix, so I like to head east on Dynamite Road toward the Verde River. Ideal viewing requires you to get 100 miles or more away from the city. Sometime after the moon sets, and the later the better, grab a blanket, a pillow, and some water, and head to your dark sky area. Lay out your blanket and pillow and lie down with your feet pointing northeast. Look that direction toward the constellation Perseus, which is the apparent origin of the meteors. Meteors are best viewed with the naked eye, no binoculars or telescopes required.

The Perseid shower is considered the best because it peaks at 50 to 80 meteors per hour. In a really great year, like the one back in 1991, when I happened to catch the shower during an outdoor concert on the lawn in Tempe (roughly where the Madcap Theatre stands today), the meteors are almost continuous. I remember my grandparents telling me when I was very young about them driving across the barren and unpopulated Four Corners region back in the 50s and having to pull the car off the road when the sky just appeared to be exploding with falling stars. They were as much terrified as they were awestricken.

By the way, meteors are the bright streaks you’ll see flashing across the sky, what we commonly call shooting stars. Before they hit our atmosphere and heat to several thousand degrees, they’re called meteoroids. If they make it through the atmosphere without burning up and crash through your roof or into your cornfield, they’re called meteorites. But no worries: A huge percentage of meteors are about the size of a grain of sand, and they burn up completely streaking through our atmosphere.

Saturday, June 5, 2010, is National Trails Day, a celebration of our country’s bounty of wilderness and urban trails. There will be trail-related events happening across the country, including hikes, bike rides, runs, trail maintenance projects, bird watching, and much more.

Tonto Natural Bridge north of Payson, Arizona

For Arizona residents, my suggestion is that you take the day to get out and hike one of our endangered State Parks. More than two-thirds of our State Parks were scheduled to be permanently closed before this weekend due to budget cuts, but many of them received a death-row reprieve within the past few weeks, temporarily saved by contributions from local communities and private donors. National Trails Day is the perfect occasion for you to do the best thing you can do for the parks: Visit them! Check out the Arizona State Parks website’s list of the parks with hiking trails, grab your family and another family, and head out to see Arizona’s natural beauty and support the parks.

Do you like to hike the trails through Arizona’s unbelievable scenic diversity? Ever spent time cooling in the waters beneath Tonto Natural Bridge on a warm summer day? Are you interested in the fascinating history of our state? Then you better clear your weekends and plan to get out and enjoy some of Arizona’s remaining state parks before they close.

Due to severe budget cuts by the state legislature, 13 of Arizona’s state parks will close in early 2010, leaving only 9 state parks open. Four state parks closed last year after even larger budget cuts. Did you do the math? Almost two thirds of Arizona’s state parks will be closed by early June 2010. (UPDATED 6/2/10 – See the update at the end of this post re extended dates for closure.)

The parks will be closed in phases. The schedule follows; click the links to read mor about the parks and plan your visits, and please leave me comments about your favorites and your memories.

Parks Closing on February 22, 2010

• Homolovi Ruins State Park (Winslow)
• Lyman Lake State Park (St. Johns)
• Riordan Mansion State Historic Park (Flagstaff)

Parks Closing on March 29, 2010

• Fort Verde State Historic Park (Camp Verde)
• Roper Lake State Park (Safford)
• Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park
• Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park – One of the most visual and interactive of Arizona’s historical parks. Make sure you climb its watch towers and lock yourself in one of the adobe cells before its too late.
• Tubac Presidio State Historic Park (south of Tucson)

Parks Closing on June 3, 2010

• Tonto Natural Bridge State Park (north of Payson) – I haven’t been here for many years, but I’ll definitely head up to experience its wonder with my wife and kids in late spring. It’s one of Arizona’s most magical places.
• Alamo Lake State Park (Wenden)
• Lost Dutchman State Park (Apache Junction) – Holy cow. It’s almost unfathomable what we’re losing here if we lose access to Lost Dutchman. This is the gateway to popular Superstition Mountain hikes such as Siphon Draw and the Flatiron. Check out the moonlight hike on February 26 or one of the other guided hikes before this park closes.
• Picacho Peak State Park – Hike the trails in this park in the spring when the land is blanketed with wildflowers. The 2-mile hike to the peak is arduous but rewards you with incredible views.
• Red Rock State Park (Sedona) – This scenic nature preserve is set along the banks of Oak Creek below Sedona. This is a great park for a stroll with younger kids; it’s shady, scenic, and cool. I had the pleasure to help with writing the interpretive displays in the environmental center back in the mid-90s.

UPDATED 6/2/10

Tomorrow was the date for many of the second round of closures, but according to a press release on the Arizona State Parks website, most of the parks have been temporarily spared from closure by extraordinary efforts from local communities and private donors. Check out the State Parks site for information and park schedules, and get out to hike these parks while you still can!